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Desperation Helps

Read Matthew 9:20-22, 27-30

The woman who touched the edge of Jesus’ cloak was desperate. She probably had prolonged menstrual bleeding which would have left her both anemic and ritually unclean (and therefore excluded from normal social and religious interactions). Mark also tells us (5:26) that she had tried many doctors and had spent all her money as her condition grew worse. She was physically ill, socially isolated, spiritually rejected, and financially destitute. She faced a very bleak future. 

Then along came Jesus and a new possibility emerged. She had a disease that prevented social contact, but she figured if she could just sneak through the bustling crowd without being noticed and brush against Jesus, she could be healed. And she was. She knew it immediately. So did Jesus. After taking such precautions to avoid detection, suddenly this woman found herself the center of attention, even halting the urgent mission that Jesus was on. 

Jesus stopped to assure her, “Your faith has healed you.” Now of course Jesus was not saying that the woman’s faith alone was what had healed her. It’s clear from the story that Jesus healed her. But her desperate faith in Jesus and his power had propelled her to seek healing from Jesus when others could not take the risk. 

The second story about the blind men clarifies the place of faith. Like the woman, these guys were desperate. Blindness is a huge challenge in any context, but in Jesus’ day, it was debilitating. The blind were dependent on others for everything. So the blind men (with their helpers) pursued Jesus crying out for mercy. Jesus’ question to them was, “Do you believe I am able to do this?” 

This is the big faith question for the desperate: “Do you believe Jesus is able to do this?” I could be splitting hairs, but Jesus’ faith question was not, “Do you believe I will do this?” That’s a question for Jesus to answer. But do we believe that Jesus is able, that’s the question we must answer. 

And desperation helps. I suspect that there are a lot of things that God is wanting to do, but we’re just not desperate enough to believe when we ask. Maybe we think there are other options. Maybe it’s just not a big issue for us. Maybe we can live okay with the status quo. Maybe it takes too much effort to really believe every time we pray. Jesus said to the blind men, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (9:29). It’s the same for us.