Note: Notes used from Max Lucado's book "He still moves stones"
Title: Touching the Hem of His Garment
Theme: To show what it means to take “risky faith”
Text: Luke 5:22 - 34
Jesus was His was to Jairus’ house. Jairus was ruler in the synagogue. He was a religious leader. Normally they would had nothing to do with Jesus but this man had fallen on desperate times. His daughter had fallen sick and she was going to die except for divine intervention.
She needed the touch from the master. So Jesus makes His way to Jairus house.
The Bible says, “a great multitude followed Him”. He could hardly move through the streets. We see this often as people would crowd around Him. Maybe waiting on Him to heal them. Maybe trying to see what He was going to say. Either way they crowded Him or “thronged Him”.
In verse 25 we are introduced to “a certain woman”. We are not told her name or where she was from. We are only told of her desperate condition. We are told three things 1. She has been bleeding for 12 years, 2. She had spent all that she had 3. She was getting worse.
“But for a Jewess, nothing could be worse. No part of her life was left unaffected.
Sexually ... she could not touch her husband.
Maternally ... she could not bear children.
Domestically ... anything she touched was considered unclean. No washing dishes. No sweeping floors.
Spiritually ... she was not allowed to enter the temple.
She was physically exhausted and socially ostracized.
She had sought help “under the care of many doctors” (v. 26 NIV).
The Talmud gives no fewer than eleven cures for such a condition. No doubt she had tried them all. Some were legitimate treatments. Others, such as carrying the ashes of an ostrich egg in a linen cloth, were hollow superstitions.
She “had spent all she had” (v. 26 NIV). To dump financial strain on top of the physical strain is to add insult to injury.
“Instead of getting better she grew worse” (v. 26 niv). “ – Max Lucado “He Still Moves Stones”
Truth of the matter is she is down to her last prayer. She has lost everything. For us it is hard to understand this unless you have been at the bottom. All you are do is just hanging on to a thread of hope and it seems that could be cut at any moment.
Maybe she was coming back from this last doctor as she noticed the crowds. There is no doubt that she had heard of Jesus but could just as easily passed it off as another superstition. Another “Miracle Cure” that would fall through.
Risky Faith
Something stirred inside her. Something told her that this was not the same. Something spoke to her and said just reach out and touch him. The crowds were there.
Vs. 28 describes her thoughts, “"If only I may touch the hem of His garment, I shall be made well."
There was a risk here: I love the way Max Lucado puts it in He Still Moves Stones
“To touch him, she will have to touch the people. If one of them recognizes her ... hello rebuke, good-bye
cure.
But what choice does she have? She has no money, no clout, no friends, no solutions. All she has is a crazy hunch that Jesus can help and a high hope that he will.
Maybe that’s all you have: a crazy hunch and a high hope. You have nothing to give. But you are hurting. And all you have to offer him is your hurt. Maybe that has kept you from coming to God. Oh, you’ve
taken a step or two in his direction. But then you saw the other people around him. They seemed so clean, so neat, so trim and fit in their faith. And when you saw them, they blocked your
view of him. So you stepped back. If that describes you, note carefully, only one person was
commended that day for having faith. It wasn’t a wealthy giver. It wasn’t a loyal follower. It wasn’t an acclaimed teacher. It was a shame-struck, penniless outcast who clutched onto her
hunch that he could and her hope that he would.
Which, by the way, isn’t a bad definition of faith: A conviction that he can and a hope that he will. Sounds similar to the definition of faith given by the Bible. “Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he is real and that he rewards those who truly want to find
him” (Heb. 11:6).
And she took at risk of faith. She moved through the crowds and stretched out her had and with a lunge touched the hem of His garment. Or as some has noted to tassel of his prayer shaw.
The Greek word translated "hem" or "border" (Strong's 2899) literally refers to the fringes or tassels of a robe or outer garment. The corresponding word in Hebrew is tzitziyot and it had special meaning under the Law concerning the outer garments of Jewish men. The LORD 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... and will be consecrated to your God (Numbers 15:37-40 NIV). These tassels or fringes on the bottom of their garments were to remind each Jewish man of his responsibility to fulfill God's commandments. Because they were hanging on the four corners of their robes in full view of everyone including themselves, they would be a constant reminder to walk according to God's laws. The wearing of such garments with four fringes was still being practiced at the time of Christ, and even today among the orthodox Jews in the form of the prayer shawl.
http://www.christadelphian-advocate.org/features/qbox/qbox60.html
I love the Greek definition here that says fringe. On the fringe of her faith.
Mustard Seed faith
Matthew_17:20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; [82] for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
Mustard Seed – heard from a preacher
1. Small seed
2. Grows 9ft tall
3. Takes over the property
4. Hard to get rid of ones it is rooted
It is not about Form but Fact
What is important to see in this action of faith is not the form in which she did it but with the conviction that she did it.
Healing Begins when we do something
“Healing begins when we do something. Healing begins when we reach out. Healing starts when we take a step.
God’s help is near and always available, but it is only given to those who seek it. Nothing results from apathy. The great work in this story is the mighty healing that occurred. But the great truth is that the healing began with her touch. And with that small, courageous gesture, she experienced Jesus’ tender power.
Compared to God’s part, our part is minuscule but necessary. We don’t have to do much, but we do have to do something.”
We have to move. We can’t just sit there. We can’t just wait on someone else. Yes we may be devastated in our condition but that must not hinder us in moving forward by faith.
God Honors Risk-taking Faith
When arks are built, lives are saved.
When soldiers march, Jerichos tumble.
When staffs are raised, seas still open.
When a lunch is shared, thousands are fed.
And when a garment is touched—whether by the hand of an anemic woman in Galilee or by the prayers of a beggar in Bangladesh—Jesus stops. He stops and responds.
Two Things Happened
Mark can tell you. When this woman touched Christ, two things happened that happen nowhere else in the Bible. He recorded them both.
First, Jesus heals before he knows it. The power left automatically and instantaneously. Vs 29
How did Jesus distinguish between her touch and the touch of others? It was the heart of faith that made the difference. It was the risk of faith, the desperation of faith, the lunge of faith.
Second, he calls her daughter. “Daughter, your faith has made you well” (v. 34 nkjv). It’s the only time Jesus calls any woman anywhere daughter.
This is a spiritual connection. He not only changed her physically condition but He also changed her spiritual condition.
Conclusion
So where are you? Maybe you are sitting on the outside looking in. Watching as people get to the altar to meet the master. Maybe you wonder in your self, “Am I worthy enough? Do I have enough faith?”
This morning God is looking for some Risk takers. People who are willing to take a risk of faith.
