The sermon continues a series through the Gospel of Matthew, arriving at Matthew 9:18-35, the third grouping of healing miracles in the book. The preacher frames the entire passage around one question: why did Jesus perform healing miracles? The answer is not simply that healing is an arbitrary messianic sign, but that every messianic sign carries meaning tied to the identity and mission of the Messiah. Drawing on Isaiah's prophecies of the virgin-born Immanuel and the ruler from Bethlehem, the sermon argues that healing signifies the reversal of the curse of Adam's sin. As in Adam all die, so in Christ all are made alive; if Jesus can save from sin, he can also reverse sin's bodily effects. The healing narratives function like the refrain of a song throughout Matthew, constantly reminding readers that Jesus' mission addresses both sin and suffering, and that these miracles are grouped thematically (not chronologically, as in Luke) to prepare the reader for Matthew 11, where Jesus will answer John the Baptist's doubts by pointing to exactly these signs.

The sermon then walks through the raising of the ruler's daughter, interwoven with the healing of the woman with the discharge of blood. The ruler, almost certainly a synagogue official (named Jairus in Mark), kneels before Jesus and asks him to touch his dead daughter — a request that, under Mosaic law, should render Jesus unclean, since only close relatives could touch a corpse. The sermon draws two observations from this: first, that Jesus does not disregard the law but transcends it, because when Jesus touches the unclean, the unclean become clean rather than Jesus becoming defiled — as already shown when Jesus touched the leper in Matthew 8. Second, the ruler's faith, though real, is described as less complete than the centurion's faith in Matthew 8, since the ruler still felt Jesus needed to be physically present and touch his daughter. Even so, Jesus responds with mercy rather than rebuke.

On the way, a woman who had suffered a discharge of blood for twelve years — rendering her ritually unclean and socially isolated from worship and community — reaches out in secret to touch the fringe of Jesus' garment. Jesus does not rebuke her for her furtive approach or for any imprecise theology about the healing power of the cloak itself; instead he turns and declares, "your faith has made you well," locating the power in faith in him rather than in any object. The sermon highlights that in both this healing and the raising of the daughter, it is the desperate and unclean who approach Jesus, boldly risking making him unclean, and yet Jesus remains untainted while they are cleansed — foreshadowing how Jesus, per Isaiah, would ultimately bear people's diseases and sorrows himself.

At the ruler's house, professional mourners and flute players — customary at Jewish funerals — laugh at Jesus when he says the girl is not dead but sleeping. The sermon insists the girl was truly dead, citing Matthew's own narration and Jesus' later statement in Matthew 11 that "the dead are being raised." Jesus' language of sleep echoes Old Testament euphemisms for death ("David slept with his fathers") and connects to his later debate with the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, the afterlife, and the reality of souls, angels, and demons — a "hedonist" theology, in the preacher's words, that collapses meaning into the present life alone. Jesus refutes them by arguing God is the God of the living, not the dead, and is still the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Unlike Elijah and Elisha, who raised the dead only by prayer to God, Jesus raises the girl by his own authority and command, demonstrating power over death itself and provoking unease among Jewish leaders who could not accept what that implied about who he was.

The sermon then turns to two responses of unbelief that frame this display of power. Two blind men hail Jesus as "Son of David," a messianic title, yet after being healed they disobey his explicit command to tell no one — showing that recognizing Jesus' identity is not the same as submitting to his authority; healing miracles are meant to point people toward faith and obedience to his preaching, not merely to publicize him as a wonder-worker. Then the Pharisees, faced with an undeniable miracle — a mute, demon-oppressed man made to speak — cannot deny Jesus' power but refuse to attribute it to God, instead accusing him of casting out demons by the prince of demons. The sermon notes this rejection stems from the Pharisees' inability to accept a Messiah who rebukes their false religion rather than affirming their traditions, and previews Jesus' fuller reply in Matthew 12 — that a kingdom divided against itself could not stand, and that Jesus' plundering of Satan's dominion proves he does not serve Satan. The sermon closes by urging worshippers not merely to admire Jesus' power but to respond in faith and obedience, as those who are personally unclean yet welcomed and cleansed by the Messiah who bore their sin and sorrow himself.

Bible Verses Used

• Matthew 9:18-35: The sermon's main text — the raising of the ruler's daughter, the healing of the woman with the discharge of blood, the healing of two blind men, and the healing of the mute demon-oppressed man.

• Matthew 8:17 (quoting Isaiah 53): Cited to show Jesus' healings fulfill Isaiah's prophecy that the Messiah would take on human illnesses and diseases.

• Isaiah 7:14: Used to explain the sign of the virgin-born Immanuel as a messianic sign with theological meaning, not an arbitrary wonder.

• Micah 5:2 (paraphrased as "Bethlehem... ruler in Israel"): Cited as the sign that the Messiah, as son of David, would be born in Bethlehem to restore David's kingdom.

• 1 Corinthians 15:22 (paraphrased "as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive"): Grounds the theological claim that healing miracles reverse the curse introduced by Adam's sin.

• 1 Kings 2 ("David slept with his fathers"): Shows the Old Testament pattern of describing death as sleep, explaining Jesus' statement that the girl was "not dead but sleeping."

• 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 4: Referenced as prior resurrections performed by Elijah and Elisha through prayer, contrasted with Jesus raising the girl by his own authority.

• Matthew 22 (debate with the Sadducees, "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" / "God of the living"): Used to show Jesus affirming the resurrection and the reality of the afterlife against Sadducean denial.

• Matthew 11:5: Cited as Jesus' later appeal to these very healing miracles as evidence for John the Baptist that he is the Messiah.

• Matthew 12:22-30 (previewed): Referenced as the fuller confrontation where Jesus answers the Pharisees' accusation that he casts out demons by Satan's power.