Posted on 08/23/2022 11:00:11 AM PDT by metmom
“A woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, ‘If I only touch His garment, I will get well.’ But Jesus turning and seeing her said, ‘Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.’ At once the woman was made well” (Matthew 9:20–22).
When the godly Sir James Simpson was on his deathbed, a friend said to him, “Well, James, soon you will be able to rest on the bosom of Jesus.” But Simpson replied, “I don’t know that I can quite do that, but I do think I can take hold of His garment.”
In her shame at being ostracized from her family and being ceremonially unclean, the woman here wanted to be unnoticed. She merely desired to touch Jesus’ garment, confident that such contact was enough to receive healing. In keeping with such confidence, she received immediate healing from her defilement.
Our Lord became aware of what had happened only as He realized that divine power had gone out from Him (Luke 8:46)—a realization that happened before He humanly knew of the woman specifically. His statement, “your faith has made you well,” simply assured her and the crowd that miraculous healing had occurred. Jesus did not care that her touching Him would make Him ceremonially unclean to the Jews. The Lord was touchable even by an untouchable.
Even though the woman’s expectations were likely not fully informed by Scripture—she might have superstitiously thought Christ’s clothes had inherent healing powers—He spoke to her caringly and compassionately: “Daughter, take courage.” In spite of other factors, the woman’s faith was genuine and acceptable to the Lord. It was enough to make her well.
Ask Yourself
Part of the balance of Christian faith is realizing that we are unworthy to touch the hem of His garment, yet are welcomed into His full embrace as an adopted member of His family. How do these two seeming incongruities come together and balance out in your worship?
From Daily Readings from the Life of Christ, Vol. 1, John MacArthur. Copyright © 2008. Used by permission of Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL 60610, www.moodypublishers.com.
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Studying God’s Word ping
The narrative becomes a little more complicated in the various Gospel accounts, when as Jesus is delayed due to the woman's actions, Jarius is notified that the daughter, to whom they were traveling, had just died. The woman is now clean (Healed) and suddenly is free from the option of a death sentence by Jarius.
In short, the woman put in all on the line, as if her actions spoke - 'If I can just get to Jesus, before anyone spots me, I will be healed.'
Great post, Metmom. Thank you.
As an aside:
“There is a garment that is known as the “Tallit”. The dictionary defines it as: “a shawllike garment of wool, silk, or the like, with fringes, or zizith, at the four corners...” It’s known to many Christians in modern times as the “prayer shawl”. It is a very important thing to the Jewish people (as well as many Christians). It was given to the people by God through Moses. The corners of the shawl are also known as “wings”.
This woman touched the “border of his garment”. It is believed that she touched the “wings” of his Tallit, in faith that if he was the Messiah as spoken of by the prophet Malachi, he would then have “healing in his wings”. Surely her faith and understanding of the prophecy was so powerful, that it even amazed Jesus! “Who touched me?” he says! He says he felt “virtue” go out of him into who touched him. The word “virtue” is defined as “moral excellence; goodness; righteousness” and “effective force; power or potency”. Jesus says: “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace”.
http://www.onechristianministry.com/truth-464.html
(I remember it being taught as a full robe and the embroidered borders at the bottom were the “wings.” But this makes the point either way.)
Both very excellent contributions to this thread.
Lots of insight here.
Our God is a wonderful God!
I appreciated and enjoyed your post, Dustoff45. God bless.
I place myself in the "...but if not..." bunch.
Nice additional info!
Thanks, Elsie!
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