Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning and Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers with us this morning.

Now it may seem strange to have a woman sharing a Father’s Day message.

After all I am not and will never be a father.

I can observe dads and see what they do but I will never know what it means to be a dad.

Something I do know about though is being a daughter.

This morning we will be looking at a tale of two daughters.

One daughter is a twelve-year-old child, the apple of her father’s eye.

She is an only child and her father holds an important position in the community.

There is no doubt in my mind that her father spared no expense in providing her with the things she needed.

She probably wore the finest dresses and had ribbons for her hair.

I assume she had a nanny and a private tutor.

Since our story takes place 2000 years ago, I also expect that her father had begun laying aside some funds for her dowry.

The other daughter in our story is an older woman.

I suspect that she is widowed and that her parents have long ago passed.

Either she doesn’t have children or they are grown and have moved away so there is no one really to take care of her.

At one time she too was the apple of her father’s eye and had had substantial wealth but when we meet her it is all gone.

Turn with me to Matt 9.

When you reported to work on the first day of your new job how important was it for you to pay attention?

Very.

When the boss took you for a tour of the building or showed you which key opened which door, or gave you a code for the copier, or showed you where the emergency shut-off button was for the machine you were operating; did you pay attention or did you just let him talk?

You paid attention.

Quick question, who wrote the book of Matthew?

Matthew.

These events take place right after Jesus calls Matthew to be a Disciple (verse 9 tells us that.)

Matthew hadn’t been traveling the countryside with Jesus.

He probably heard about the miracles Jesus performed, but this may be the first time he saw them for himself.

We know that after his calling Matthew invited Jesus and those traveling with him to his house for dinner.

Afterwards they were criticized both by the Pharisees & John’s disciples for not only talking with tax collectors & sinners, but for eating with them.

\\ \\

Picture yourself, 1st day on the new job, and someone is raking your new boss over the coals for having hired you and then for having lunch with you.

I’ll bet you’d be curious to see what he has to say.

Now Matthew is listening intently as Jesus put his criticizers in their place when someone interrupts the conversation.

If it were me, I’d want to know what was so important.

Who was this man?

Matthew 9:18

18 While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him

Now this just isn’t any man.

He’s an official in the synagogue, highly respected by the people of the village.

He hadn’t been invited to the dinner at Matthew’s house.

But he made his way to Jesus none-the-less.

His entrance must have cause quite a stir because Jesus stopped speaking.

Then this man, Jairus by name, did something totally out of protocol.

He bowed low in an act of reverence to Jesus.

What would cause such an important man to humble himself like that in front of a large group of people?

 

18b [he] said, “My daughter has just died.

If we look at the parallel reference in Mark 5:21 it says his daughter /was at the point of death/.

Now this isn’t an example of two verses in the Bible contradicting each other.

If we were to translate the Greek we would find that Matthew tells the story using verbs in the past tense.

After all he was there.

He’s recording his memories.

Mark wrote in the present tense.

He wasn’t there.

We also know that Mark’s readers were going through persecution at the time.

He wrote in the present tense so his readers can identify with what’s going on.

The accounts don’t contradict each other.

The bottom line is that his daughter was really sick, probably in a coma.

18c But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.”



Why would he say such a thing?

I suspect that as president of the synagogue he had heard quite a bit about Jesus.J The Jews of this time had a long tradition of rules and regulations regarding illness and cleanliness.

If someone had suffered from an illness or disease he had to be separated from the rest of the people so as not to spread the contagion.

When a person’s health returned, the law required that he present himself to the priests who would certify that person clean.

Then and only then could he interact with the rest of the community.

Jairus had probably heard how Jesus had healed before.

/Maybe/ he was the one who certified some of them clean.

/Maybe/ someone had told him that Jesus put his hand on them and they were healed.

The bottom line was that his little girl was sick and what ever it took, he was going to do all he could to get her well again.

If that meant that he had to humble himself and beg this man to come and touch her, he was going to do it.

19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.

I doubt very much that we are talking about just Jesus and the twelve.

We know that besides those Matthew had invited to dinner, Pharisees & John’s disciples had come to question Jesus.

And since they had to walk to Jairus’ house, chances are that many more people joined the parade on the way.

20 Just then a woman

In the same way Jairus interrupted Jesus as he was defending his association with tax collectors & sinners, someone or something interrupted Jesus’ journey to Jairus’ house.

Can you imagine what was going through Jairus’ mind right then?

I imagine that he had just taken a deep breath, and his worry had turned to hope.

Jesus was surely going to heal his little girl.

Yes everything was going to be all right and then, what’s this?

Why is He stopping?

He can’t be stopping.

20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.



Just like Jairus this woman had obviously heard about Jesus.

But she couldn’t just walk up to him the way Jairus did.

She was one of those unclean people they kept on the fringe of society.

She had been an outcast for twelve years -- the same amount of time as Jairus daughter had lived in health.[1]

Turn to the parallel reference in Mark 5:26 and lets fill in more details.

26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.

27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him.

He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

This woman probably pulled her scarf down to hide her face and blended in with the crowd.

She wouldn’t dare call attention to herself especially with Jairus in attendance.

Stealthily she had made her way to Jesus.

Then she reached out and caught the hem of his garment.

Instantly she was healed.

She knew it, but she dare not cry out.

She had violated the law, she had come into the village an unclean outcast and had mingled with the people; for that she could be stoned.

31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.

33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.

34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.

Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”