Touching the Hem of His Garment, part 5

Going back to the woman who came to Jesus for healing; she pressed through the crowd, and went for the “hem of His garment.” She went after the tassel on the edge of Jesus’ “tallit,” His prayer shawl.
 
    For many reasons these tassels were the point of contact she needed, to help her release her faith, to receive a miracle in her life. To her, they represented the Word of God, which is always the place where we can find healing for all the needs in our life. They represented the authority of Jesus, and His power to heal. She had heard that He taught with authority, and when He spoke, people were healed.
 
    There’s even more to these fringes. The prophet Malachi spoke of the Messiah of Israel, in Malachi 4:2, he said this concerning the Messiah… “But for you who revere fear My Name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in His wings…”
 
    The woman had heard that Jesus could be the Messiah. Maybe, she remembered this messianic promise from Malachi, and thought… “If I am to be healed, then will it be found in His wings… the tassels on His shawl.”
 
    Maybe, she had heard of the miracles referred to in Mark 6:56, where it says, “Wherever He went, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him that they might touch just the end of His robe. And everyone who touched it was healed.” Whatever she had heard - By faith, she reached out and touched the fringes of His garment, and was healed.
 
    But listen friends, the power to heal wasn’t in the fringes, or the tassels, or the prayer shawl. The power to be healed was in releasing her faith, in the power of Jesus to heal. The tassels only served as point of contact for the releasing of her faith in Jesus! What about you and me? Do we have the simple faith to reach out and touch the hem of the garment of Jesus? If you do, He is waiting to meet your needs, even today.
 
    We cannot look to a prayer shawl and its tassels for our healing. We must put our faith in Christ alone. Mankind has a great tendency to make objects sacred, as though they, somehow, have some mystical power to heal or change a life. But objects that we may look upon as having great spiritual significance, the truth is, they are still only objects. They only serve to remind us of the true source of power to heal and to save. Don’t revere the object! Revere the God represented in and by the object!
 
    Sometimes though, objects are still used as a point of contact for the releasing of our faith. We use the oil to anoint those who we pray for. The Apostle Paul sent out cloths that he had prayed over, that brought people to the point of being healed. Sometimes we need a physical “point of contact” that helps us exercise our faith in God. That is what the hem of Jesus’ cloak was to the woman in this account. However, we must guard, carefully, against attributing to objects and people, the glory and honor which belongs to God’s alone.
 
    Because of her faith to believe and receive the power, or virtue, flowed from Jesus and into her body, instantly performing the miracle she so desperately needed. The burden of being unclean was gone. She was called, “daughter,” restoring her relationship with God and with her people. And, Jesus made sure to let everyone know her healing was not because of some magic, or superstition about the “hem of His garment,” her faith had healed her, her faith in His power, as the Son of God, to heal.
 
    That’s what Jesus wants to do for every one of us! He wants to remove the burden of sin and shame, to bring us back into a right relationship with God, and He wants us to know that it is purely a work of faith: faith in the power of His shed blood to cleanse us, and in the power of God to save us. But it is all by faith in Him, not by any other works that we must somehow do.
 
    One more thing for us to see about this woman, she had a strong “push through” kind of faith. She had a pushy faith, a faith that made her elbow her way in, and refuse to take “no” for an answer, and didn’t care what anybody else thought. She wouldn’t quit believing, or quit pressing in, until she got her answer.
 
    Listen, Jesus loves you and is fully aware of the weaknesses of your faith. But He is encouraging you, to take courage, put your fears aside, and “go for it.” If you falter, He is by your side and He will help you. He is teaching and urging you to trust in Him. And He says to you, as He said to the sick woman who pushed through her fears, “Daughter (son), your faith has healed you. Go forward in peace.”
 
   Do you need to touch Jesus today? Has He been speaking to your heart this morning? Act on whatever He is speaking to your heart – the sooner, the better!    End