Martin Luther’s sermon on the raising of Jarius’ daughter.
In short, we are taught here not to look at our need according to human reason with carnal eyes, but with the eyes of faith. These are eyes which, when they behold sin, death, and hell, can nevertheless say with assurance: “I see no death, feel no sin, and am not condemned, but behold in Christ nothing but holiness, life and salvation.”
Martin Luther
Matthew 9:18-26 (KJV)
While [Jesus] was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus rose and followed him, with His disciples.
And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her He said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.
And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, He said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at Him. But when the crowd had been put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went through all that district.
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Introduction: Two Miracles
IN today’s Gospel you hear of two miracles, both of which are great and excellent. The first is of the woman whose faith in the Lord Jesus is so firm that she hoped to be healed at once, if she could but touch the hem of His garment secretly and without His knowledge. The other is of a certain ruler who also believes that the Lord is able to restore his daughter to life, though she was already dead. In both miracles faith is highly praised, that it may serve as an example for us, because faith in Christ accomplishes such great things, in order that thereby we may be encouraged gladly to approach Him, in whom no one has ever trusted in vain.
The Woman Healed of a Flow of Blood
In the first place we have here the example of the poor woman who was afflicted with a dangerous and severe disease. St. Mark mentions especially that she “had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.” The miracle is that, after so long a time of effort, she is speedily healed by the Lord, though she does nothing more than what she had heard of some others who had only touched His garment. She is convinced that she also will be healed; presses through the crowd to the Lord; does not even ask Him, but thinks in great humility of obtaining her object secretly; she therefore touches His garment. All at once her condition was changed for the better, as she had believed; the issue of blood ceased, from which she had suffered much and for the healing of which she had tried many things and spent all she had, but all in vain and to her own great injury. As St. Mark says “she was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.”
Jesus Wants the Woman’s Faith and His Compassion to be Known
Here we must notice particularly that the Lord does not want us so to steal help from Him that no one shall know anything of it; therefore He asks: “Who touched my clothes?” To the apostles this question seems to be a foolish one, because the people were crowding very closely around Him. But the Lord knew what the apostles did not know. It was not a mere touching with her hands, the woman had touched Him with her heart and firm reliance on His grace and omnipotence. Therefore a special virtue had gone out from Him which He felt. Such touching the Lord, for our example, does not want to remain secret. With His questions He presses upon the woman, and she has to come out and be seen and to acknowledge before every one publicly all that has occurred in her case, in order that He may have occasion to praise such faith of hers. This is the most agreeable and the highest service, in which He is well pleased. Therefore He also praises the woman and addresses her cordially, saying: “Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole.” Now the disciples themselves must confess that the question of the Lord was not vain; it was not a common, but a peculiar touching, which concerns the Lord and us all.
Jesus Extols Faith
Yet it seems singular language which the Lord here uses. He confesses that virtue is gone out of Him. As now the woman stands before Him and acknowledges the benefit bestowed by Him, He gives no indication that a virtue has gone out from Him, but ascribes all to the faith of the woman, although not she herself, but the Lord has helped her. But the Lord observes this manner in order to inform us thereby how well He is pleased if you expect from Him everything good and ask Him for help. It is as though He would say: “See to it, and learn to believe confidently, no matter in what need you are, that I will indeed more readily help you than you are prepared to ask. I am much more ready to deliver you from death than you are to desire life.” This He proves by the fact; it is easy to obtain from Him the healing power so much desired.
This example should teach us to believe and to expect everything good from Christ, in every time of need and anxiety. But, the fact is, we hear it preached, we are told of it at home, and perceive the miracles which He continues to perform every day, and yet we are very slow to believe. Whoever sees his cellar and granary filled may believe, and yet doubts whether he will have enough to eat and to drink for a year. Those who enjoy good health believe that God can help them. But when we are exposed to poverty and disease, then our faith is at an end. Then we do nothing but complain and cry, and imagine help to be found nowhere, though we are informed every day that God will be gracious unto us and help us through Christ.
How does such conduct of ours correspond to that of the woman who perhaps has heard of Christ and His miracles but once or twice, and yet approaches Him with a faith so strong, that, if He had been away above all the heaven, she would have torn them asunder and brought Him down and compelled Him to help her? For, as we have said, He can not refuse to help if He is asked earnestly and in true faith.
We are slow to Believe
Therefore we are indeed unhappy people, because we are so well provided with the Word of God and yet are so very slow to believe. This is the fault of the devil and of our shameful old Adam. For if we had an earnest desire for righteousness and salvation and all that we need, we would believe in the Lord Jesus and hope for everything through Him. For faith, as you have heard, can never be put to shame. Therefore the Lord extols faith very highly, saying: “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” The same faith in Christ will also help us, raise us from death unto life, conquer the devil, dispel our sins, and give us eternal life; all of which, though it is done by Christ, is nevertheless ascribed to faith. For it can never be obtained without faith. Even Christ, the holy sacraments, and the Word of God, or the preaching of the Gospel, can not help or benefit us without faith. Faith must do it, else it will never be done. So much concerning the first miracle.
The Second Miracle: Raising Jarius’ Daughter from the Dead
The other miracle is that wrought on the little girl, who, as St. Luke tells us, had lived as long as the woman had been afflicted with disease. Nobody expected anything else but that the maiden would surely have to die; therefore all preparations usually made in such cases had been completed. The minstrels were at hand to perform their part of the funeral service. The Jews had no church-bells as we have. Instead of tolling the bells at funerals as we do, they had their minstrels to sing funeral hymns. A great many people had met for the burial, and there was a great throng of those coming and going, as is usual at the death of a prominent person.
When all had despaired of the maiden, and no ground for human hope was left, seeing that the child was dead, the father is taken by the singular thought, that if he only had Christ, his deceased daughter might be made alive again. For this his words indicate: “He worshiped Him, saying: ‘My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay Thy hand upon her, and she shall live.’” And although St. Mark and Luke tell us that the ruler had come to Jesus when his daughter was at the point of death, yet they inform us that she was dead by the time Christ entered the house. They also are careful to inform us that the father continued to believe notwithstanding, and to trust in the Lord that He would help and restore her to life. Who in all his life has seen or heard of more singular people than these?
Examples of Faith
The woman who had to despair of all human help is determined to be well, if she only could get near the Lord and touch the least hem of His garment. And she is not disappointed in her expectation; as she had believed so is her experience. And the father whose daughter was dead, begins to think if the Lord would only lay His hand upon his deceased daughter, she would live again.
Faith vs. Reason
Yes, you may rejoice, the laying on of hands might accomplish something, if we had to deal with a common sleep and not with bitter death itself. In this case no hand, no shaking, no push, no calling, or anything else, will be of any use; it will all be in vain. So reason will and must argue, it can not do otherwise. But the ruler thought differently, else he would have stayed at home and not run after Christ.
Here we see once again how well the Lord is pleased with such faith, which is altogether foolishness to reason. For although He had important work to do and was led into a spirited discussion with the disciples of John, when He perceived this faith and confidence He arises at once to follow the ruler and to do as this man believed.
Jesus Comforts the Father
Therefore, when He entered the house and saw all the preparations for the burial, He is afraid that the father, beholding the lamentation and the example and unbelief of others, might be discouraged, and hence at once speaks words of comfort to him, and orders the people who had need for the burial to leave the house. It is as though He would say: “What are you doing here? Do you expect to have a funeral? Oh no, to some other place where someone has died: here no one is dead; the maid only sleeps.”
Others answer: “No, she does not sleep, but is dead; we are here for the purpose of burying her. You must not take us to be so ignorant as not to know the difference between sleep and death.” Hence the Evangelist says, “They laughed Him to scorn, as though He were a fool who does not know what sleep or death is. But the Lord insists on His opinion, and is determined to show that He was right. No one agreed with Him except the father of the maiden. This sufficed for Him; for his sake, that is, for the sake of his faith, He gave the proof that He was right, whilst if the father had not believed, the maiden would not have slept, but would have remained dead. Such a great thing is faith, that trusts in the Lord Jesus for every blessing.
Jesus Raises the Little Girl
Therefore the Lord steps forward, touches the maid, and shakes her a little with His hand, just as we deal with a sleeping child when we endeavor to awaken it. Thus the father believed, and the Lord wishes to do as the father believed. And soon the maid arose, as if she had enjoyed a good and sound sleep.
“Not dead, sleeping…”
These words which the Lord here speaks, “The maid is not dead, but sleeps,” we should diligently study. They are words of comfort, for which, if they could be purchased, we should cheerfully give all that we possess, in order that we might retain, understand, and believe them as they were intended. Whoever could look upon a dead person as though he were lying upon a bed asleep, and so change his vision as to consider death to be a sleep, would have reason to be proud of a peculiar science not understood by anyone else.
But we see and experience in ourselves and others, that the more reason holds sway over a person, the less he believes and the more he is inclined to laugh, as we here see the people mocking the Lord, and asking: “Should this man be able to raise the dead unto life? He must be out of His mind, because He considers a dead person to be asleep and capable of being awakened by the touch of a hand.” The wisdom of God is so high that human reason considers it to be altogether foolishness.
Suppose a child of yours had died and I would tell you: It is not dead; do you not see that it is merely asleep, and that it can be awakened by a finger? Would you not regard me as mocking you in your grief and ask me not to trouble you? The very same thing the people here tell the Lord Jesus.
In the Sight of Christ Death is Sleep
Therefore learn from this Gospel lesson, that in the sight of Christ death is nothing more than a sleep; as we here behold Him awakening the dead maid by the touch of His hand as from a mere sleep. Sickness also is no sickness before Him; as is seen in the other example of the woman, who was very sick, but whose sickness had to cease and depart as soon as she came to Christ and touched His garment.
In the Eyes of Christ
Thus the Lord deals also in other infirmities and distresses. The blind who apply to Him for help receive their sight, the sinners are justified, and the lost are saved. He indeed deals with us wonderfully. His words in our eyes seem not only vain, but even contrary to the facts. Before the eyes of all others the maid was dead; but “before my eyes,” Christ says, “she lives and is asleep. David is in his own eyes and in the eyes of all men a poor shepherd, but before me he is a king. And all of you who believe in me are poor sinners in your own eyes, but before me you are great saints and like the angels of God. For only a word is necessary, and sin, disease, and death must pass away and make room for righteousness, life and health. As I speak, so all things must be.”
The Lord God here makes use of a marvelous word when He says of the maiden: “She is not dead, but sleeps;” which words are a great falsehood in the eyes of the world. If He had merely said, “she sleeps,” the people could have taken it to be the sleep of St. Michael, which lasts till the day of judgment. But He says in plain words: “She is not dead, but sleeps.” In your estimation and in your eyes she is dead, but before me she liveth. And in order that you may behold the truth of my words I awaken her by the touch of a finger, as you are accustomed to awaken your children from sleep.
We are Taught to Use the Eyes of Faith
In short, we are taught here not to look at our need according to human reason with carnal eyes, but with the eyes of faith. These are eyes which, when they behold sin, death, and hell, can nevertheless say with assurance: “I see no death, feel no sin, and am not condemned, but behold in Christ nothing but holiness, life and salvation.”
Thus, when I am poor I feel no poverty; I feel as though I had plenty of everything; for I have Christ who can give me at all times all I need, though I possess nothing. Whoever has eyes of this kind might glory in having Christian eyes. He would view things otherwise than the world does in times of famine or of pestilence. In times of famine everyone will look at his supply in cellar and granary, and feel according to the amount of that supply. If it be large he will feel happy; if small, he will feel discouraged and despondent. So also in times of pestilence. Whoever then can flee will do so, and seek safety at some other place. But a Christian who has a strong faith in Christ, would argue thus: “Though I were attacked, if possible, by a thousand pestilences, I will not fear death, because I have Christ. If it is His will, no pestilence shall harm me any more than a flee, which may bite and sting me a little, but cannot take my life.” And certainly if one could had such faith, he would feel secure, fear nothing, and be of good cheer. But because we do not believe and have no spiritual eyes, but look upon everything with carnal eyes, we are afraid and despondent, and are given to foolish thoughts, as though we could flee many miles from the wrath of God.
Christian Eyes cannot see Death
Now the Lord Jesus testifies that also those live unto God who, according to our view, have died, been buried, and decayed long ago. Therefore the Lord says, Matthew 22: “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Therefore Abraham, Isaac and Jacob must live and not be dead, though they have lain in the earth thousands of years, and are long since turned into ashes so that neither hair nor skin is left. But Christ proves plainly that they are living; because unto God all must live, while to us all is dead. For the world and human reason can not see anything but death. But the eyes of Christians should see what they do not see, but only hear in the Word, as the father and Christ here look upon the deceased maiden.
Christian Eyes See Forgiveness
What is here said of death may also be said in reference to sin. I am required to know and to confess that I am a sinner, and yet to believe and hope in pure holiness and righteousness. For these are the words of Christ in Baptism: “He that believes and is baptized, shall be saved.” And in the Sacrament of the Altar: “Eat, this is My body given for you. Drink, this is My blood, which is shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.” Words like these I am required to believe to be true, and though in myself I see and feel only the contrary, I am not to regard this, but only to look upon the Word, and hear what it says.
Close Your Carnal Eyes, Open Your Spiritual Eyes
Thus when you see a Christian die, you behold a dead person; but close such carnal eyes, and open the spiritual eyes which behold the Word, and you will find that such person is not dead, but living before God. For here is the Word of Christ: “He that believes in Me, shall never see death.” Thus we should learn from our Gospel lesson, that all misfortune, no matter how great it is in your eyes, is less than nothing before the Lord. For if death is to be nothing for a Christian, then blindness, deafness, leprosy, pestilence, and other diseases must be still less. Therefore be not alarmed when you discover in yourselves sin, sickness, poverty, or other ills; close your carnal eyes and open your spiritual eyes, and say: “I am a Chris tian and have a Lord who can remove all evil by a word; why should I trouble myself so much? For as easily as He could deliver the maiden from the bodily death into which she had fallen, He can also help us, if we but believe and trust in Him for help.”
Faith: A Powerful Gift
We should remember also that this maiden experiences help, not through her own faith (for the dead do not believe, as they do not see nor hear), but through the faith of her father, which faith of another is so strong that it becomes the means of her restoration to life. For, as Christ says, “All things are possible to him that believes.” Such a powerful gift is faith! No matter how great a thing is, if you can but believe it and trust in Christ for it, it shall be, and neither death nor the devil shall be able to prevent it. This we learn from both miracles in our text; they are pointed out to us and the excellencies of faith are extolled by our Lord, in order to incite us to look upon the creatures in a far different light as they are in the sight of God from what they are in our sight.
The Gift of Spiritual Eyes
Though to ourselves therefore we appear to be dead, covered with sin, and prostrated by pestilence or other diseases, yet should we believe that God looks upon these things in a different light, and joyfully exclaim: “Though I am surrounded by poverty, pestilence, and death, yet as a Christian I know nothing of poverty, pestilence and death; for before my Lord Jesus it is all riches, health, holiness and life. And though I do not see it now, only a word of His is needed, and I shall see it with bodily eyes, that it is true and will surely come to pass.” May God, for the sake of His Son, our Redeemer, through His Holy Spirit grant us such spiritual eyes, that we may look upon all misfortunes differently from what the world does, always be comforted, and finally be saved. Amen.
Listen to Martin Luther’s Sermon on Two Miracles, Matthew 9:18-26 (Trinity 24, House Postil)
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