“Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Today?

Matthew 9:18-38 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

¹⁸ While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples.

²⁰ And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; ²¹ for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will get well.” ²² But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” At once the woman was made well.

²³ When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, ²⁴ He said, “Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him. ²⁵ But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. ²⁶ This news spread throughout all that land.

²⁷ As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” ²⁸ When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus *said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They *said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” ²⁹ Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!” ³¹ But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land.

³² As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him. ³³ After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” ³⁴ But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

³⁵ Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

³⁶ Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then He *said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸ Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

In today’s text we see Jesus healing these people in response to their faith. The synagogue official came to Jesus saying: “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.” The woman, who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, said:   “If I only touch His garment, I will get well.” Finally with the two blind men the account goes like this:  “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They *said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.”   In Mark 11:22-24, Jesus says: “Have faith in God. ²³ Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. ²⁴ Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.”     Surely then we see both from today’s text and Jesus words that our faith is critical to our seeing and receiving miracles.

In Mark 6:1-6, we see another interesting account of Jesus response to faith, or in this case the lack of faith.               Jesus went out from there and *came into His hometown; and His disciples *followed Him. ² When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? ³ Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him. ⁴ Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” ⁵ And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And He wondered at their unbelief.       The people of Jesus hometown knew Jesus the man. They were familiar with Him from the time He lived with them in their town. They recognized Him as  the carpenter, the son of Mary. Their familiarity with Jesus the man hindered their ability to see Jesus as Emmanuel, God with them. Knowing the man, they could not receive from God.       The same thing can happen to us in the church today. If we focus too much on Jesus the man, if we try to live like He lived, focusing on the human actions and accomplishments of Jesus rather than seeing and knowing Him as Christ and as God, our lives are limited to the things which can be accomplished in human terms.

Hebrews 12:1-2 says:   let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,       Jesus says: “Have faith in God” Jesus Himself is God. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. It is not a question then of the amount of our faith, whether it is enough. Jesus says:  if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.(Matthew 17:20)    It is the object of our faith that matters. We must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not on Jesus the man, not focusing on Jesus life, what He was, but rather focusing on who He is. Recognizing what He did on the cross was His greatest work, a work that we neither can nor need to duplicate. We need to focus not on the Jesus who lived as a man, but rather on the Christ who is risen.     Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.  (Romans 8:34) Our faith and our focus must be there, in the heavenly realm where the work of Christ is complete.

We must be careful though that we as believers do not hold ourselves or other believers responsible for the results of our prayers or our faith. I have know many people, strong in their faith in Christ, who have prayed believing for a miracle yet have not received it here in this earthly realm. The lack of results does not mean that there is a lack of or misplaced faith. We can’t always know or comprehend the plan and the will of God for each situation. As believers we have the confidence of knowing that our true home is in the heavenly realm. All that we need both now and for eternity is already finished and complete there.

Prayers that have not been answered in the way we hope or expected should not keep us from continuing to pray and believe in miracles and the power of God. We should continue to seek first the kingdom of God. We should pray as Jesus taught us to pray: Your will be done, Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.

The final thing in today’s text says:      Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then He *said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸ Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”    We are those workers Jesus has sent out into the harvest. If we want to see more miracles, if we want to see the kingdom of heaven here on earth, then we should do what Jesus said. We should focus not so much on living like Jesus the man, but rather on following the call and commission of Jesus the risen Lord. He says: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶ He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. ¹⁷ These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18) Jesus says:  Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14)    He is there, with the Father. See Him as the risen Lord and believe He will do what He said if we will keep our eyes fixed on Him, Jesus, the Christ, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, the risen Savior, Redeemer, the one who restores.

Thank You Father, Son and Holy Spirit.    Amen.