Great Faith

Day 1: Follow Me

Matthew 9:9

“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and 
Matthew got up and followed him.”


REFLECTION

Matthew was not waiting in a synagogue or seeking a rabbi. 

He was at his tax booth — a place of commerce, compromise, and social shame. 

Tax collectors were viewed as collaborators with Rome, traitors who profited from their own people. 

Yet it is here, in the ordinary and even scandalous details of daily work, that Jesus shows up and speaks two simple words: “Follow me.”

What strikes us is Matthew’s response. 

There is no recorded hesitation, no negotiation, no “let me think about it.” 

He simply got up and followed. 

The call of Jesus carries with it its own power — not coercion, but an irresistible invitation to something better than what we already have.

Perhaps you have felt unworthy of being called. 

Perhaps the place you sit feels too ordinary, too compromised, too far from anything holy. 

Matthew’s story declares that Jesus comes to us where we are, not where we think we should be.


REFLECTION QUESTIONS

Where are you sitting right now — what “tax booth” represents your current station in life?

Is there anything keeping you from rising and following when Jesus calls?


PRAYER

Lord Jesus, thank You for finding me where I am — not where I think I should be. Like Matthew, let me hear Your call above the noise of my daily routine and have the courage to rise and follow. Amen.



Day 2: A Table for the Broken

Matthew 9:10–11

“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’”


REFLECTION

Matthew’s first act after following Jesus was to throw a dinner party. 

He invited his people — the marginalized, the morally questionable, the ones no respectable teacher would be caught sharing bread with. 

And Jesus sat down at the table with them.

The Pharisees’ question was not really a question — it was an accusation. 

To them, holiness was maintained by separation. 

You kept yourself clean by keeping distance from the unclean. Jesus operated by an entirely different logic: holiness is not diminished by contact with sinners; it transforms them.

We are often tempted to believe that our value comes from our associations — who we are seen with, what groups we belong to. 
Jesus’ willingness to eat with sinners challenges every hierarchy we construct. His table has always been set for the unlikely guest.


REFLECTION QUESTIONS

Who are the “sinners and tax collectors” in your world whom you might be tempted to avoid?

How does Jesus’ example challenge the way you think about your own social circles?


PRAYER

Father, thank You that Your Son sat down at tables where no one else would. Give me the grace to extend hospitality and presence to those the world overlooks, just as You extended it to me. Amen.



Day 3: Mercy, Not Performance

Matthew 9:12–13

“On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”


REFLECTION

Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). 

This was not a rejection of worship or obedience — it was a rebuke of religion disconnected from compassion. 

The Pharisees were meticulous in their rituals yet blind to the suffering person sitting across the table.

Jesus identifies himself as a physician. 

A doctor’s presence in a hospital is not a scandal — it is a necessity. 

The sick are exactly who a doctor should be with. 

In the same way, Jesus’ presence among sinners is not a compromise of His mission; it is the mission itself.

This passage invites us to examine the motives behind our own religious practice. 

Are we performing sacrifice — doing the right things to maintain status or manage guilt — or are we extending mercy, which flows from a heart transformed by having received it?


REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In what areas of your life might you be offering “sacrifice” (outward performance) while withholding mercy?

How has receiving mercy from God changed the way you treat others?


PRAYER

Lord, search my heart. Where I have traded mercy for performance, forgive me and restore me. Let my faith overflow into compassion for the people around me who need a physician. Amen.



Day 4: Faith That Interrupts

Matthew 9:18–19

“While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, ‘My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.’ Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.”


REFLECTION

Jairus was a synagogue leader — a man of religious standing in a community that was growing increasingly suspicious of Jesus. 

Coming to Jesus in public was a risk to his reputation. 

Kneeling before him was an act of worship that could cost him everything. 

Yet he knelt anyway, because his daughter was dead.

Notice the extraordinary nature of his faith. 

He did not say, “My daughter is very ill — please help.” 

He said she had just died, and yet he still believed Jesus could do something. 

His faith was not contingent on circumstances being favorable. 

He brought his worst moment to Jesus.

Jesus’ response is equally remarkable: He got up and went. 

No deliberation, no theological test, no conditions. 

The faith of a desperate father was enough to set Jesus in motion. Whatever you are facing today, your desperation is not too great for Him.


REFLECTION QUESTIONS
  
What “dead situation” in your life have you been afraid to bring before Jesus?

What would it look like for you to kneel before Him with that request today?


PRAYER

Jesus, I come to You with the things I have given up on. Like Jairus, I kneel before You, not because circumstances are hopeful, but because You are. Rise and come with me into the impossibilities of my life. Amen.



Day 5: If I Only Touch His Cloak

Matthew 9:20–22

“Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’ Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed at that moment.”


REFLECTION

Twelve years. 

The duration of this woman’s suffering is not a minor detail — it frames everything. 

She had spent all she had on doctors, and she had only grown worse (Mark 5:26). 

Under Mosaic law, her condition made her ceremonially unclean, which meant twelve years of isolation, shame, and exclusion from worship.

She approached from behind. 

She did not announce herself or make a formal request. 

Perhaps she felt unworthy of a direct encounter. Yet her quiet, trembling faith — “if I only touch his cloak” — was enough.

What Jesus did next is stunning. 

He stopped. 

In the middle of an urgent errand to raise a dead girl, He stopped. 

He turned. 

He saw her. 

He called her “daughter” — a term of intimacy and belonging, not distance. 

Her healing was not a side effect; it was a full, personal encounter. 

Jesus does not dispense healing while looking the other way. 

He sees you.


REFLECTION QUESTIONS

Is there a shame or wound you have been carrying quietly, afraid to bring it directly to Jesus?

What does it mean to you that Jesus called this woman “daughter”?


PRAYER

Lord, I reach for You today with whatever faith I have, even if it is small and trembling. I believe that You see me — not the crowd around me, but me. Heal what only You can heal. Amen.



Day 6: She Is Not Dead, but Asleep

Matthew 9:23–26

“When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, ‘Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.’ But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region.”


REFLECTION

The mourners were already there — flutes playing, weeping in full voice. 

In the ancient world, professional mourners were hired swiftly after a death. 

The crowd had already written the ending. 

And when Jesus said she was not dead but asleep, they laughed at him.

This is a picture of what unbelief always does: it mocks the possibility of resurrection. 

The crowd’s laughter was not malicious — it was simply confident that they knew how reality worked. 

Death is final. 

Everyone knows that.

Jesus put them outside. 

He did not argue with their laughter or try to convince them. 

He simply removed the noise and went in. 

Then He took her by the hand — a touch of stunning tenderness — and she got up. 

The news spread through the whole region.

There are voices in our lives that rehearse our endings — that mourn what is past as if it cannot be restored. 

Jesus steps past all of that. 

He is not discouraged by death. 

He is not rattled by the laughter of those who see no hope. 

He takes us by the hand and calls us to rise.


REFLECTION QUESTIONS

What voices in your life are playing the funeral music for something God may not be finished with?

How does the resurrection of this girl point you toward the hope of your own resurrection in Christ?


PRAYER

Jesus, silence the mourning voices that have convinced me certain things are over. Come into the room. Take me by the hand. Let me rise — and let the news spread. Amen.