She only touched the hem of his garment.
Song.
Here O my Lord I see thee face to face.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRl0p36-mcY
Reading.
Mark’s Gospel, chapter 5: verses 21 to 43
Song
My God is so big, so strong and mighty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyOdDrVnORc
“She only touched the hem of His garment”
This miracle is recorded by Mark, Matthew and Luke. The writers agree on the broad outline of the story, but differ in the details they supply. However, none of them tell us what Jesus was wearing at the time. In fact, none of the gospel writers ever tell us what Jesus was wearing.
If you think of an occasion when you might have had to describe a person to someone else, as well as details of height, build, face, hair and general manner, it is almost inevitable that the person’s clothes would feature in the description. So why did they not tell us?
Perhaps it is like so many aspects of the gospel stories, it is a different culture that we cannot really understand. Perhaps clothes were not as important to the people of the time as they are now?
Or perhaps there is another reason.
Imagine that a crime has been committed in an army camp. The witnesses could be asked to describe the culprit. There would be little point in including the information “He was wearing a khaki battledress.” If everyone is wearing the same thing, clothes are not distinguishing. At that time, clothes would not have vbeen distinguishing, most men would have worn much the same (see Numbers 15: verses 37-41)
The tassels on the prayer shawl worn by devout Jews have knots on. The knots remind the wearer of the commands given by God; there are various traditions, but the numbers of the threads and knots provide the prompts for the wearer. There is a blue thread in the fabric which represents the power of God running through everything.
Matthew and Luke tell us that the woman touched the edge of the garment, and even though Mark gives more details of this story, he does not tell us this. In Matthew chapter 14, verse 36 we again hear of someone being healed by touching the edge of the garment. Most scholars now think that she would have touched the tassel, the tsitsith, with its knots and blue thread.
She touched the symbols of God’s power. And by touching the symbols of God’s power, her faith healed her.
The woman suffered from a haemhorrage, and had done for 12 years. She could get no relief. She had spent vast sums on doctors to no avail. She would have been a total outcast, unable to take part in the normal activities of society and religion. Not only that, anyone who touched her would have been in the same boat.
She was desparate,she would have tried anything. Her faith meant that she saw a way, she touched the symbols of God’s power, and experienced the healing power of God.
Where does this leave Jesus? He would have been considered ritually unclean by the mores of the day. And he was on the way to the house of a ruler. Mark and Luke name him as Jairus, Matthew simply calls him a ruler. Whoever he was, he was important enough to be bothered about ritual cleanliness. Jesus could have ignored the touch, but actually drew attention to it. Then he went on to house where he would have suddenly become unwelcome!
The important parts of this story are that even though Jesus was rushing, he was on his way to an important engagement, he had time for this woman. Not only a woman, but an unclean woman, and an apparently hopeless case. Jesus talked of “Power going out”, God was working through him. This shows us that no case is hopeless for God.
The miracle breaks down artificial barriers created by people. The purity laws created barriers between people. Jesus showed that people were more important than the laws. In the same way as he broke down the barriers between people, he broke down the barriers between people and God.
It shows the need for faith. Without faith, nothing happens.
We are not told what effect the miracle had on the onlookers. Were they encouraged to greater faith? We are certainly told that people came to Jesus to see more miracles, perhaps they heard more, saw more and believed more as a result?
Have our barriers been broken down? Do our preconceptions blead us into eliminating people from the kingdom, perhaps branding them as hopeless cases, or do we have faith that God can work with anyone, anywhere?
When we pray for things, do we have faith? Do we expect results?
If we want miracles, and there are probably many we feel we need, we must have faith. We must be prepared to see the strand of God’s power running through everything. Without faith, nothing will happen. We need to have the faith to see God’s power in everything, and be prepared to touch the symbols of his power to enable the miracles to happen.
Song
She only touched the hem of his garment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILz9uFWnEAM
Prayer
Father God, open my eyes, not to see the world more clearly, but to see You. Open my eyes to see you working around me and in me. Nothing happens by accident. You orchestrate every day of my life. Allow me to see your hand in the mundane and the fantastic. Help me to trust in what I cannot see, and believe in Your invisible presence.
Song
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene
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