Matthew 9:18-26
Chapter 9
18
A Woman Healed and a Child Raised to Life
While Jesus was speaking to them, a synagogue official approached him, bowed before him, and said: “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hands on her, and she will live.”19
Jesus stood up and followed him with his disciples.
20
Then a woman who had been suffering from severe bleeding for twelve years came up from behind and touched the edge of his cloak;
21
for she thought:
“If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
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Jesus turned, saw her, and said:
“Courage, my daughter, your faith has saved you.”
From that moment, the woman was healed.
23
When Jesus arrived at the official’s house and saw the flute players and the excited crowd, he said:
24
“Go away! The girl is not dead. She is only sleeping!”
And they laughed at him.
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But once the crowd had been gone out, Jesus went in, took the girl by the hand, and she stood up.
26
The news of this spread across the entire area.
Commentaries
A Woman Healed and a Child Raised to Life.
Both miracles are connected and appear in the three synoptic Gospels. In both stories, faith and contact with Jesus are essential, linking the need of those who come to Jesus to be restored to full life. Matthew, as usual, stylizes, summarizes, and emphasizes the main message: on one hand, the faith of the official and the woman; on the other, Jesus’ power over sickness and death. For Luke and Mark, the official’s daughter was very ill; for Matthew, she was already dead, considered an impure corpse, just as the woman’s illness was seen as unclean. The pain of this father and the shame of this woman can symbolize all our personal and collective struggles.