“And wherever he came...they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well”.
(Mark 6:56 ESV)
In the Gospel of Mark, we find many striving to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. These people were desperate people in desperate circumstances, yet they understood “if I touch even his garments, I will be made well” (Mark 5:28 ESV). For what they rightly recognised was that power resided within that hem. They knew that just one touch could meet their need, could transform their lives.
It is a power to which Jesus himself testifies. In Mark 5:30, responding to a woman with an issue of blood who reaches out to touch his hem for healing amidst the throng of a pressing crowd, Jesus immediately perceives that power has gone out from him and asks “Who touched my garments?”
The touch of the garment also testifies to faith - and it is this faith, which activated the release of the power from Jesus’ garments. This lady and the many others who scrambled after Jesus to touch his garments that they might be healed trusted that that simple touch would heal them. Indeed, Jesus says to the lady with the issue of blood: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease” (Mark 5:34 ESV). Her faith delivered the healing.
There is also another, perhaps deeper wisdom woven into the hem of Jesus’ garment. The people recounted in Mark recognised Jesus’ power and had faith that it would deliver them, but they also understood that Jesus is enough. One touch and all would be well. It is the place we may grasp in the first wondrous steps of salvation - but more likely, it is the place we reach when our faith has matured. It is the place Paul inhabits when he says: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 ESV) and expresses that nothing can compare with “knowing Christ Jesus” (read Philippians 3).
For us too, Jesus is enough. It is because he is enough that a touch of his hem is all we need to find our victory – however desperate our situation. It is because he is enough that we can find contentment in the midst of trouble or lack. We may no longer be able to touch that hem physically, but we can still do so through prayer and the Bible and when we do, we find the impact on our lives every inch as powerful as for those in the Gospels. Finger his fabric today!
Copyright © Sharmila Meadows 2021
Scripture quotations are from The ESV®Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Your words have really spoken to me today Sharmila. I have some uncertainty around my health at the moment, and 'touching the hem' gives me hope. God knows the outcome and the master plan that is set out before us, and it is in Him that we must put our trust. Thank you so much.
Beautifully put, Sharmila. How often we put so much in the way of what should be so simple.
Dear Readers, thank you for visiting my Blog! I love the principle of touching the hem of Jesus' garments, recounted in the Gospels - and often reach for it when I need a fresh injection of Jesus. When I stopped to consider this act further, I found stirring lessons for our walk of faith. What does today's devotion say to you? Do join the conversation!