VI.
Let’s look at the passage again –

Matthew 9:18-26

While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district.

VII.
As I was doing some background reading on this, i came across this note in the New English Translation,

Matthew 9:23 Hired flute players were a standard feature at Jewish funerals in the first century. According to the Mishnah (m. Ketubot 4:4) the husband was responsible to provide flute players for his wife’s funeral: “Even the poorest man in Israel should not hire fewer than two flutes and one professional wailing woman.”
Which got me wondering.

Did the father call on, that is hire, these folk to mourn for his daughter. Or maybe they heard of their daughter’s death and since this man is probably prominent in the community they showed up in hopes to be hired?

What do you think brought them to that time and place?

VIII.
And while we are thinking about what brought them to this scene, what brings each to this place. What do we see, and in some cases hear, from them?

How do they relate to one another?

And how do they relate to Jesus?

What do they ask, either actively or passively, from Jesus?

Put yourself in this scene and look at each person. What do you see in their faces?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}