The Hem of His Garment

I'd like to tell you the story of a woman.  I don't know her name; in fact it's quite likely that most people who passed her on the street didn't know her name either - and didn't care to know it.  Those who did know her most assuredly tried to avoid her if at all possible; perhaps her own family had abandoned her.  She had no money and she was very ill; tired not only physically, but emotionally.  The isolation and loneliness and illness had gone on so long...had it really been 12 years already?

For 12 years she had been bleeding, hemorrhaging if you will; anemic, weak, seeking answers from doctors who took all she had but in the end had no answers for her.  She was alone and without hope, desperate for healing.

You probably recognize this woman from the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.  Even though she is nameless to us she was obviously very important to our Lord as she is mentioned in three of the four gospels and is known as the woman with the issue of blood.  Did you ever wonder what it would be like to live with that title?  We women can imagine what it would be like to bleed for 12 years - the exhaustion, anemia, frustration.  But as a Jewish woman in 1st century Jerusalem under the Levitical Law she would also have lived in isolation because she would be labeled 'unclean'.  Her own family, if they touched her, would themselves become unclean and would have to go through ritual cleansing before being able to enter synagogue or temple.  She herself would never be allowed to worship there.  If she sat on a bed or a mat it too became unclean to others.  If she was married her hemorrhaging would have allowed for her husband to divorce her; if not married, she never would be.  She must have been very lonely and very desperate.  For 12 years she had been looking for hope through the doctors and longing for restoration to her family and community.

One day in what must have been her final act of desperation, as Jesus was walking through the streets with people pressing all around Him, she pushed her way through the crowds, thinking:  "If I just touch the hem of His garment I will be healed."  So she reached out through the throngs and reached down - perhaps she was on the ground - and she grabbed hold of His hem.  Immediately she was healed!  This was not an isolated incident either.  Matthew also tells us that people brought all their sick to Jesus and begged Him to let them just touch the hem of His garment, and all who touched it were healed.

What was it about the hem of His garment that brought healing to those who just touched it?  Why not grab His arm or His leg?  To understand what was going on we need to understand a bit of Jewish Law in Jesus' day.  In the Book of Numbers the Lord God said to Moses:

"Speak to the Israelites and say to them:  Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.  You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them..."

"Throughout the generations to come..."  So every law-abiding Jewish male wore tassels on the edges or corners of his garment.  Jesus was not only a Jew, He testified that "I have kept My Father's commandments" (John 15)  so we can expect that He too, as an observant male Jew, wore the tassels on the edges or corners of His garment.  Because these tassels were designed by God to call every Jew to remember all the commands of the Law, they came to symbolize the authority of God.  They were a visual reminder not only to the person wearing the tassels but also to everyone he would come in contact with that this person belonged to God, and as such was part of a kingdom of priests.

In addition to the corners of the garment representing God's authority, they also came to represent God's refuge and healing.  The Hebrew word translated for 'corners' of the garment is also the word used for 'wings', as in: 

"I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed."

or

"But unto you that fear My Name shall the Son of Righteousness

the Messiah

rise with healing in His wings."

When the woman with the issue of blood reached out and grabbed the corner of Jesus' robe she was grabbing symbolically on to the authority of God and the healing power of God.  She believed that all of that was manifested in this one man, Jesus.  As she grabbed on, she was healed - instantly.

There are many people in our community who, while not having the same illness as this woman in the gospels, share the same feelings of isolation and abandonment - they are bleeding out spiritually, seeking solutions in all the wrong places.  They are in desperate need of healing that can only come through the touch of Jesus Christ.

So I'd like to challenge you as I challenge myself.  When Jesus walked among the people the corners of His garment were visible to all who came in contact with Him; they could see it, they knew what it represented, and they could reach out, grab hold if it and be healed.  We don't wear tassels today that indicate God's authority in our lives.  Instead we are clothed with the Holy Spirit and with acts of righteousness.  What does that look like for you and for me?  When we walk through our daily lives is there something people see, people who are experiencing seasons of hopelessness, people who are desperate for restoration and healing?  Is there something about us that they might see and think:  "Oh, if I can only reach out and touch them and what they have I will be healed."  And then do we allow ourselves to be touched by them.  We have the answer and His Name is Jesus.  May we walk through our lives and our communities letting our 'tassels' show so that all may see and glorify our Father in heaven.