James Nisbet Commentary - Matthew 9:21 - 9:21

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James Nisbet Commentary - Matthew 9:21 - 9:21


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WORSHIP AND SUPERSTITION

‘If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole.’

Mat_9:21

This story records a most remarkable instance of our Saviour’s treatment of ignorance and superstition. It was a poor conceit of this woman, says good Bishop Hall, that she thought that she might receive so sovereign a remedy from Christ without His heed, without His knowledge. Christ healed, so she supposed, not by the exertion of His holy will, but rather by a certain magical influence and power which she thought dwelt in Him. But while this woman’s ideas were thus wholly wrong, being tinged with much superstition and ignorance, the result of her practised faith was wholly excellent.

I. Superstition and faith.—There is a very frequent temptation for us, to whom has been granted, as we rightly consider, a purer revelation of Christian faith, to think harshly and intolerantly of those avowed Christians whose minds are as yet unenlightened on many points of Divine truth. We are tempted to regard their superstitions as a gulf across which we cannot embrace our fellow-Christians. It is good, therefore, to remind ourselves of this miracle of Jesus Christ’s. There is much spiritual worship in much apparent superstition; and, still more, there is much spiritual idolatry in that pride of better knowledge which can only think scornfully of our fellow-Christians because, in their guileless ignorance, they have been accustomed to bow their knees before a statue or to attribute fictitious power to an image of stone.

II. Only one received the blessing.—There was nothing in the hem of Christ’s garment more than in the hem of any other to convey a blessing. A multitude was thronging all round Him, hustling against Him, and yet receiving no benefit. Only one woman in all of that crowd believed that His Sacred Person was full of healing blessing, so that if only she could come in contact with Him she would be at once healed. She recognised that one touch of Christ could overcome all the powers of darkness of this world. And He in turn recognised that touch of timid faith, even amid the pressure of the crowd. It is thus to-day within the Church of Jesus Christ. The Christ still conveys strength and healing to us through outward means. And if the hem of Christ’s garment had such power to heal and bless when touched by faith, how much more shall the Body and Blood of Christ, received by faith in our hearts, have power for the strengthening and for the refreshing of our souls!

—
The Rev. Ivor Farrar.

Illustration

‘When Henry Martyn, the great and holy missionary, saw once in Spain a poor old crone bowing down and reverently kissing the feet of a stone image and bathing it with her tears, he reflected that, however much his understanding of the scheme of Redemption might be better than hers, very probably in faith and love she was his superior.’