Says Who?! (Matthew 9:18-34)
June 1, 2025
Jordan Byrd
I’m the kind of person who’s always a little hesitant to ding the bell at a desk. I figure the other person must be busy with something important. They’ll get there when they can. But when we really need something, we know that dinging the bell usually gets someone’s attention, and they respond to the need. Today, the good news I hope you’ll hear from God’s word in Matthew 9 is this: Jesus shows us that God is always ready to respond.
We live in a world where we’re tempted to believe that God rejects us, when our prayers aren’t answered HOW we want, or WHEN we want. That our problems aren’t IMPORTANT enough for God to care, “God’s got bigger problems than mine.” “Who am I–just one person among billions.” That God only responds to certain people—the ultra-religious, the super-holy, the ones who seem to have it all together. But not someone like me. Not someone with my mess. Or that I haven’t used the right formula to get God’s attention. I’ve prayed every day. I’ve given up ______. I’ve served. I’ve tried to live right – and I still, I’m tempted to believe God is distant, busy, or doesn’t care about me.
But God’s word in Matthew 9:18-34 tells a different story. While we’re tempted to believe our own perceptions or our limited experiences shape our view of God, Matthew 9 gives us a clearer picture—of how deeply God cares for us; and we see that in Jesus, and how Jesus interacts with the number of people throughout Matthew 9:18-34. Like I often highlight, Jesus is the clearest picture of God we have. As Colossians 1:15 says, The Son [Jesus] is the IMAGE of the invisible God….” (Colossians 1:15) So, when we’re tempted to believe God is distant, or busy, or uninterested in us–Jesus shows us otherwise. Jesus reveals a God who is present. A God who is active. A God who cares. Jesus shows us that God is always ready to respond.
For many of us, our grandparents were always there when we were in need. When I needed a ride to gymnastics in middle and high school—1 to 2 days a week, 2 hours there and 2 hours back—who drove me? My grandparents. When my brother wanted to buy a dirt bike, who gave him a loan? My grandparents. When me, my brother, or my sister had a school fundraiser or needed support for sports or activities, who were the first to support us? My grandparents. Now, my grandparents have been generous people—they’ve always helped lots of folks—but they weren’t ALWAYS helping random kids. They PRIMARILY wanted to help their grandkids. The ones who were part of the family. The ones who were familiar.
So too in Jesus’ day, when a Jewish synagogue leader comes to Jesus because his daughter has just died, it’s no surprise to the Jewish crowd that Jesus would stop, show up, and help. After all, this man fits all the "RIGHT" criteria: He’s a man (in a male-dominant society). He’s Jewish (one of God’s people). He’s a religious leader (a leader of the faith community). He checks every IMPORTANT box. He’s the Jew of Jews—familiar, respectable, one of their own. “Of course he would get the attention of God’s presence in Jesus.”
While this man is exactly the kind of person we’d expect Jesus to respond to, his request introduces a twist. He isn’t bring a request to Jesus for himself. He’s asking for his daughter. In Jewish culture—and in the ancient world in general—daughters were not as highly valued as sons. Sons carried the family name, the inheritance, and the legacy. So, for a synagogue leader to go out of his way to seek Jesus in the wake of his daughter’s death, that’s already unusual. Jesus also gives attention to the loss of the girl—a loss that society may have seen as less significant.
But not Jesus. This moment shows us something powerful about the heart of God. If you look at Matthew 9:17-18, you’ll notice something else—this man interrupts Jesus. He steps in during a conversation Jesus was already having, from the verses just before this story. And what does Jesus do? He doesn’t say, “Hold on.” He doesn’t say, “I’m busy.” He doesn’t put the man in a queue, or make him wait his turn. No. Jesus responds. He takes the man’s situation seriously. Jesus cares deeply for this man, his family, and especially the life of this girl—a girl others might have overlooked. Jesus is always ready to respond.
One of my favorite movies is Big Hero 6. At the beginning of COVID in March 2020, I made this meme using a scene from that movie—because it perfectly captured the new reality we were stepping into. For about a year (or more), the world became leery, cautious, and even afraid—afraid of getting too close, afraid someone might expose more people to the coronavirus. That whole season was marked by boundaries, by distance, by isolation. People washed hands constantly, sanitized surfaces, and kept space from others—all before trying to interact with others. That same kind of social boundary and distancing is exactly what the woman in Matthew 9:20 was feeling and experiencing.
Similar to the synagogue leader’s story, this moment captures this lady breaking social norms in a big way. Here, a woman—approaching a man in public. In that male-dominant culture, that alone would have been frowned upon. But even more striking—this woman is suffering from prolonged bleeding, which was likely a chronic uterine hemorrhage. Think of a woman on her period but it never stops. In Jewish culture, this condition wasn’t just painful and exhausting—it made her ceremonially unclean. We get a glimpse of this in Leviticus 15:25–28, “‘When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. “‘When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. Now imagine this woman in Matthew 9. She’s been bleeding for twelve years. She never gets a chance to complete that seven-day process. She’s stuck—trapped in a permanent state of being “unclean.” She can’t go to the temple. She can’t be touched. She’s isolated. She’s exhausted. She’s desperate. And that’s exactly why she seeks out Jesus.
But again, this moment, like the previous one, shows us something powerful about the heart of God. If you look at Matthew 9:19-20, you’ll notice something similar—this woman interrupts Jesus. She steps in during Jesus’ interaction with the synagogue leader. And again, what does Jesus do? He doesn’t say, “Hold on.” He doesn’t say, “I’m busy.” He doesn’t put the woman in a queue, or make her wait her turn. No. Jesus responds. He takes the woman’s situation seriously. Jesus cares deeply for the woman. Jesus is always ready to respond.
Here in WNY, we all know the story of Josh Allen’s professional football career. But as many of us remember, Josh wasn’t considered a “can’t-miss” prospect coming into the NFL. Sure—he had all the physical tools that COULD make him a great quarterback—a cannon arm, big frame, athleticism—but he came from a no-name high school in rural California, had no Division 1 scholarship offers, started out at junior college, and eventually got noticed at the very well-known football powerhouse known as the University of Wyoming (insert sarcasm). Going into the 2018 NFL Draft, Josh was seen as “raw but promising”—but not until right before the draft did the football world start to take him seriously as a top pick. But the Bills’ staff saw something more in him. While most of the football world saw Josh’s traits, only the Bills were willing to risk that Josh had greater potential. And that kind of deeper vision—that ability to recognize something greater—is what we see in the two blind men in Matthew 9:27.
These two men cry out to Jesus: “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” That phrase “Son of David” is a loaded, messianic title—a direct connection to the promise of a King who would come from the royal line of King David and bring justice, healing, and restoration. These two blind men are saying something bold about Jesus: “We believe you’re the One. The One we’ve been waiting for.” As Jewish men, they would’ve likely known the words of Isaiah 29:18–19, “In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see…” They likely found hope in those words. And here’s what’s fascinating: Until Jesus, there are no recorded miracles in the Bible of someone who was physically blind receiving sight again. Yes, in 2 Kings 6, Elisha prays and the Aramean army is blinded and then sees again—but that was different. That was temporary blindness, given and taken by God. But this? This healing of actual blindness was something only the Messiah was said to do. So these men have likely heard about Jesus’ ability. They’ve followed him—maybe at a distance. They’ve heard the rumors, the stories, the miracles. And they believe: “This Jesus isn’t just a teacher He’s the One.” But they also could’ve doubted. They’d likely just encountered Jesus touching the unclean woman and raising the dead girl—which, by Jewish law, would each make Jesus unclean. They could’ve said, “Wait a minute, would the Messiah break those purity protocols?” But like the Bills with Josh Allen, they saw something greater. They saw more in Jesus.
And as they come to Jesus, what does Jesus do? He doesn’t say, “Hold on.” He doesn’t say, “I’m busy, I have to get back to the conversation I was having earlier, when I got interrupted.” He doesn’t put the two men in a queue, or make them wait their turn. No. Jesus responds. He takes the two men’s situation seriously. Jesus cares deeply for them. Jesus is always ready to respond.
A few weeks ago our TV screen went black—but the TV was still on. You could still hear the sound. And if you held a flashlight up to the screen, you could just barely see a faint image. So, like you do, I went to YouTube hoping somebody out there had a fix. Eventually, I figured it out—the backlight had gone out. It could be repaired, but the fix was tedious and complicated. And it left us asking the question: "Is this TV too far gone to be worth saving?"
Now hold that thought—because that’s the same kind of question the people in Matthew 9:32ff might’ve been asking: This man—demon-possessed, mute, suffering—and the folks who brought him to Jesus—they probably wondered: “Is this guy too far gone?” “Has evil taken too strong a hold?” “Is there even hope left?” And that’s a question we’ve all wrestled with too. “Is my situation helpless?” “Is my issue too complicated?” “Is my life too broken to be saved?”
But again, this moment, like the previous three in Matthew 9:18-34 shows us something powerful about the heart of God. If you look at Matthew 9:31-32, you’ll notice something similar, again—this demon-possessed man interrupts Jesus. He is brought to Jesus while Jesus is already on his way somewhere else. And again, what does Jesus do? He doesn’t say, “Hold on.” He doesn’t say, “I’m busy.” He doesn’t put the man in a queue, or make him wait his turn. No. Jesus responds. He takes the man’s situation seriously. Jesus cares deeply for the man. And Jesus’ response indicates that that the man IS NOT too far gone, as he frees him from the demons bringing destruction to his ability to speak. Like the other three situations in Matthew 9:18-34 Jesus is always ready to respond.
Throughout Matthew 9:18-34 Jesus responds to SAVE those of status, those without life, the ostracized, the blind, and those who seem too far gone. In the interaction with the woman, the women seeks healing from Jesus, and Jesus indicates that her faith in Him heals her. The terminology for “heal” here can also mean “save.” Eastern Orthodox theology, I think rightly, has highlighted that Jesus saves by healing us. And that’s what we see in these stories. Jesus saves by healing. (Matthew 1:20-21) Earlier in Matthew’s gospel, in Matthew 1:20-21 we see this same nuance, when the angel told Joseph “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will SAVE [or HEAL] his people from their sins.” Throughout Matthew 9:18-34, we encounter Jesus saving, or healing ALL people. That ALL people is why it is included in our mission statement: Guiding ALL people to abundant life in Jesus. Because ALL people matter to Jesus. And only Jesus can HEAL all people from a life of destruction to an abundant life—which is what we see in all of these encounter with Jesus in Matthew 9:18-34.
While we live in a world where we’re tempted to believe that God rejects us. That our problems aren’t IMPORTANT enough for God to care. That God only responds to certain people. Or that we have to use the right formula to get God’s attention. God’s word in Matthew 9:18-34 shows us how deeply God cares for us. Jesus, God’s Son in flesh and blood reveals a God who is present with you. A God who is active in your life/ A God who cares for you. Jesus shows us that God is always ready to respond to you.
Believe in Jesus as the God and Lord of your life.
As you reflect on Jesus in Matthew 9:18-34 I invite you to respond to God’s Word by believing that Jesus shows you who God truly is: That God is present, active, and concerned about you right NOW! If you’ve never placed believe in Jesus as THE God and the LORD of your life, I invite you to find me, or another trusted follower of Jesus to help you take your next step of belief. Following Jesus isn’t a one time belief, but a series of beliefs in Jesus, each and every moment of life. If you realize you need Jesus to heal your life, from where it is right now, I invite you to unite yourself to Jesus in faith as you’re immersed in the water of baptism.
Believe that Jesus is present, active, and concerned for you.
If you already have faith in Jesus, and have united to Him in baptism, How are you doubting God’s ability to readily respond to your situation right now? I invite you to trust—to believe—maybe for the 10,000 and 1st time that Jesus is present, active, and concerned about your situation. That Jesus has time for you. That Jesus is ready to do whatever is needed to heal and restore your situation. Jesus shows us that God is always ready to respond to you. Because here’s the good news we’ve encountered today: Jesus is always ready to respond to you.