Matthew 9:18-26; Psalm 93

Matthew 9:18-26
Today we look at two more of Jesus miracles. One is the raising of a Jewish leader's daughter, and the other is the healing of a woman who had suffered for 12 years with a bleeding problem. At first these may seem unrelated, but we know that they are included together for a reason.

The Jewish ruler was a man named Jairus who was a leader in the Jewish synagogue. We know this from the parallel accounts given to us in Mark and Luke. It must have been difficult for him to come to Jesus at the death of his daughter because of pressure from other Jewish leaders who openly opposed Jesus. Jairus indicates that he believes Jesus can restore his daughter's life. v. 18 Jesus got up and went with him, but they are interrupted by a woman to believes she can be healed from her bleeding simply by touching the hem of Jesus' garment. Jesus perceived her faith and her need responding, "Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you." And she was indeed healed.

When Jesus arrived at Jairus' home, the funeral activities were already in progress, and the mourners laughed at Jesus. Their laughter was short-lived when Jesus "went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up." v. 25 As we can well imagine, "news of this spread through all that region." v. 26

Warren Wiersbe draws an interesting parallel between Jairus and the woman in The Bible Exposition Commentary, Vol. 1, p. 35. He mentions that Jairus is a well-respected Jewish leader with religious responsibilities in the synagogue. The anonymous woman had no such prestige, and in fact she was kept out of Jewish worship because the bleeding deemed her ceremonially unclean. The leader's daughter had been healthy for 12 years and then died. The woman had suffered for 12 years and was now healed. Jairus need was public, the woman's private. Yet both of these came to Jesus, and he met their needs! We can come to Jesus and trust Him and His promises no matter what our station in life is or what our problems may be.

Psalm 93
What do we learn about God from this psalm?

• He reigns! v. 1
• He is robed in majesty. v. 1 
• He is eternal; He always has been and always will be.. v. 2
• He is mightier and has more power than anything we can think of. vv. 3-4
• His Word is forever. v. 5
• His holiness is perhaps His most important characteristic (if ranking by importance is even possible).  His holiness will adorn heaven. I don't know exactly what this means, but I believe it. God's holiness, along with everything else about Him is eternal. v. 5