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If I can just touch His hem...if I can just touch His hem...

Here she was, in the midst of a multitude of people, a place the Law forbade her to be. Why?

For twelve long years, she suffered with a condition, a hemorrhage of blood, one that the doctors could not cure. She spent all her money on their lack of knowledge.

Today, the rumor spread quickly through the local grapevine that the Man of God, Jesus, had just arrived.

And she heard the rumor: He was coming her way, within her reach.

Ostracized and considered unclean, she had been depleted of everything – physically, financially, relationally, and probably emotionally. But her faith remained intact, for she held onto the Scriptures. She clung to it, knowing this was her chance to touch the Man of God Who healed.

How did she know this? She was Jewish; she knew the Scriptures. She knew Jehovah-rapha from such scriptures as “I am Jehovah your healer” (Ex. 15:26 Masoretic Text), and “But to you who fear My name, the Sun of righteousness shall rise up and healing will be on His wings.” (Mal. 4:2 Masoretic Text).

And knowing the prophecies of the Messiah, she probably clung to these verses for dear life, “Surely He has borne our sicknesses and our pains…He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on Him; and with His wounds we ourselves are healed.” (Isa. 53:4-5 Mas Text)

However, I am sure one Scripture stood out in her mind, “In those days…men…shall take hold, and will seize the skirt of a man, a Jew, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” (Zech. 8:23 Mas Text)

Now, here was this Man called Yeshua, as the fulfillment of all the Scriptures. And “She said within herself, If only I shall touch His robe, I will be cured.” (Matt. 9:21 Received Greek Text)

So, she went into the streets searching for Him and found Him surrounded by a mob of people. Others in the crowd pressed into Jesus’ presence with their flesh, but this woman pressed into His presence with her faith.

Many images suggest that the woman crawled in the dirt to touch Jesus’ hem, but if she had, she would have been trampled to death. I wanted to title this: She Did Not Crawl in the Dirt! You’ll see why in a second.

People sometimes forget Jesus was Jewish, and He would have been following His Jewish heritage by wearing His traditional tallit or prayer shawl. According to the Code of Jewish Law, “Severe is the punishment of the one who neglects the performance of the Divine Command in putting on the tzitzit.”

God commanded the Israelites to make fringes or tassels on the corners of their garments that they would look upon them to remember all the commandments. The Hebrew word for fringe is tsiytsith or tzitzit. It also means a wing-like projection, a tassel, etc. Corners also means an edge, border, skirt, wing, etc.

The hem on the tallit was/is not as we know hems today. It was/is not just the end of the fabric turned under and stitched in place. The Greek word for fringe is kraspedon, which is translated hem and also means tassel, border, edge, skirt, etc.

There were/are strict rules for the construction of the knots and windings that made up (and still make up) the fringe. A tallit was/is treated with extreme respect; therefore, Jesus’ tallit would not have been dragging in the dirt. That would have been a disgrace.

Trembling, the woman flung her hand out, grasping the hem/fringe of Jesus’ garment. Immediately, Jesus stopped in His tracks, halted by a release of His power from her grasp of faith.

The Matthew account says, “But turning and seeing her, Jesus said, Be comforted daughter; your faith has healed you. And the woman was healed from that hour.” (Matt. 9:22 RGT)

The healing in His wings, in His fringe? In the making of the tallit, there were/are 39 windings of the fringe. Jesus received 39 lashings of the Roman whip for our affliction, for our healing!

When we realize the significance of the concept of the fringe to the early Hebraic mind, it becomes evident why this woman was instantly healed.

Are you a part of the crowd, just brushing up against Him, or are you seeking Him in the midst of all that’s going on around you? Does your faith press into His presence for all you need?

When health disintegrates, when money dissipates, when friends disappear, when the church and family disown you, what’s left? Your source of all the rest is Jesus and clinging to the fringe of His garment.

Jesus still comes today, in your direction, within your reach. He is passing by you today. Will you merely bump into Him, hoping something rubs off Him and onto you?

Or will you get close enough to reach out in faith to touch Him, to be made whole? Ask yourself: What will happen if I touch His hem?



*On Monday, joining up with...

Standing over the blistering heat of the fire, as sweat trails down his dirty face, the smith fans the blazing flames with his bellows. As he finishes the hammer he is working on, he gives it a thorough check, making sure it will meet the critical eye of the centurion. As a smith for the Roman army, all his work goes into the hands of the soldiers.

After the centurion picks up the ready tools from the smith and approves them, he sets out to deliver them to his soldiers. On his way, he gives the hammer to one of the best soldiers under his command. The soldier’s use of the hammer this day? Crucifixion duty.

The soldier has endured the burden of this duty before. He hates this gruesome task.

Under the strain of this assignment, he ambles his way to skull hill, better known as Golgotha, where he joins the centurion and the other three soldiers already there. Standing there chatting with them, he hears that three prisoners are coming to be crucified. One of the prisoners is his charge.

He waits.

Standing there, he realizes that what he is about to do is the antithesis of the weather: it is one of those breathtaking, spring days that warms and rejuvenates the soul. Rivulets of white stream across the azure sky. A gentle breeze distills the fragrance of the flowering blossoms into the air.

Yet, impending gloom hangs in the air.

A large, jeering crowd, intermingled with a great many mourners, moves toward the hill on the Via Dolorosa. Three men bent under the weight of their own crossbeam trudge their way up the hill. A short distance behind them is another man, whipped beyond recognition, stumbling with agonized effort every step of the way. So disfigured and injured that another man carries his crossbeam for him.

This bloodied mess of a man now stands before the soldier. He wonders: Who is this man? What could he possibly have done to deserve this horrible beating? Surely, he wasn’t a soldier for he wears no hobnailed boots; he’s merely an ordinary sandaled man.

Sweat beads up on the soldier’s forehead. His heart races. His tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth.

The other soldiers, now finished crucifying their two prisoners, help tie the soldier’s prisoner to the crossbeam while the soldier readies his nail-spikes and his hammer. He bends down, steadies the nail in one hand and draws back his hammer in the other hand.

But before he can bring it down on the nail, he glances over at the prisoner. Peering at him, through the streaks of blood covering his face from the thorny crown twisted onto his head, are eyes of piercing kindness he has never seen before.

The centurion yells the soldier’s name, startling him. “Get on with it!”

The soldier turns his head away to focus on the nail. He forces himself to do the job he was ordered to do. His stomach churns and he feels like retching.

Completing the nailing of this man to the crossbeam, he looks down to see that he is splattered with blood and his hammer drips with the red life of the man.

The other soldiers fasten the man to the upright beam and the crucifixion is finished. The soldier looks up as he hears the man say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

The soldier realizes now who this man is. Jesus. This is Jesus, the one everyone is talking about. Forgive? How can He forgive me for this horrid act?

He spins around as he hears the religious teachers and priests mocking this man on the cross. “He saved others, but he can’t even save himself! The King of Israel, is he? If he comes down from the cross right now, we will believe him! Let God rescue him now if he wants him, if he is the Son of God.”

One of the other criminals hanging next to this man Jesus says, “If You are the Christ, then save Yourself and us.”

But the other criminal rebukes him, “Don’t you even fear God as you’re dying? We surely deserve to die for what we’ve done, but this man? He hasn’t done anything wrong.” Turning to Jesus, he says, “Remember me when you enter your Kingdom.”

“Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” Bowing His head, Jesus says, “It is finished! Father, I commit My Spirit to You.” And He breathes out His last breath.

“Surely, this was a righteous man,” says the centurion, shaking his head, and then solemnly orders the soldier to stand guard.

Stand guard? I just want to get out of here. What have I done? So distraught that he cannot bear to look up at the naked body of this man on the cross, he lowers his eyes to the ground. He notices the bloody hammer still in his hand. He throws it down and backs away in horror.

Shame overwhelms him. He falls to his knees in regret.

Another soldier picks up the hammer and tries to give it to him. “Here’s your hammer” is met only with silence and a stare. He won’t touch it.

The next morning, the centurion finds the soldier dead.

~The hammer that dripped blood? Had my name engraved on it.

“Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;Buried, He carried my sins far away;Rising, He justified freely forever;One day He’s coming – O glorious day!”

~Thank You, Lord, for without Your suffering and death on the cross, I would have no resurrection joy!

~~In my joy, I agonized over this post. I know you understand why.


Participating today with...

Christianwriters.com on the topic of Joy. Please visit the other participants listed in the right sidebar.

"…you were not redeemed with corruptible things…But [you were purchased] with the precious blood of Christ.”(1 Peter 1:18a NKJV, 1 Peter 1:19a Amp)
I love some of those commercials that show an item, then list the price of something and, at the end, list something that is priceless.

That’s our redemption: priceless! Priceless...in the sense that we could never repay Christ for the redemption we have received.

But for Him: a very costly price. His life. But still...an unmeasured, priceless gift to us.

Jesus Christ released His earthly life to die an excruciating death on a cruel cross. Is there a greater sacrifice? The disciple John wrote, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13 NLT)

You are that special friend of Jesus; you are worth every drop of blood that He shed and paid for you. If you have accepted that sacrificial offer, you are the precious Bride of Christ, the Beloved Bridegroom.

Jesus paid the asking price for His Bride, “a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time,” (Heb. 10:12a Amp) “who gave Himself a ransom on behalf of all.” (1 Tim. 2:6 NKJV)

The Greek word for ransom, in the above verse, is used only this once in the Bible and means the redemption price of a slave or captive, that which is offered in exchange for another.

In that covenant exchange, Christ suffered death in our stead that we might walk in newness of His risen Life. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10 NKJV)

Redeeming us from our sins and ultimate spiritual death, Christ became our Kinsman-Redeemer, for He “purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse (doom) of the Law [and its condemnation] by [Himself] becoming a curse for us.” (Gal. 3:13 Amp)

The Greek meaning of the word used for redeem, I think, beautifully describes what Christ did for us. It means to ransom, to rescue one from loss to improve opportunity, to purchase one for his freedom from another’s power by paying a price to recover him, or to buy up for one’s self or own use.

He exchanged His life for yours. He redeemed your life to improve it, to give you abundant Life. He purchased you from the power of the enemy, redeeming you from a life of drudgery, from servitude to sin, from eternal loss, as He said, “So that anyone who believes in Me will have eternal life.” (John 3:15 TLB)

Great agony and heartache were the price of your redemption. Truly you are not your own. You were bought with a price.

Love and redemption: priceless!

May you know that Eternal Life that surges through your precious, blood-bought soul. And may the Lord reveal to you His presence in some special way this Easter season.

Heart murmurs…

* are extra heart sounds caused by turbulent blood flow, sufficient enough to produce an audible noise, ranging from very faint to very loud.
* are due to functions and activities of life or of living matter (physiologic conditions) outside the heart.
* are a treatable and preventable condition. If not serious, medication will improve the condition. If more serious, surgery may be in order.

But what if it is spiritual rather than physical? What then are those heart sounds, from faint to loud, due to conditions outside the heart?

Israel had this heart problem. What was it? Murmuring and complaining. And God was grieved and disgusted with this whiny bunch.

God once said to Moses and Aaron, “How long will this evil congregation murmur against Me? I have heard the complaints the Israelites murmur against Me.” (Num. 14:27 Amp)

What were the outside conditions that caused their murmuring? They deplored their situation. Israel “grew impatient along the way, and they began to murmur against God and Moses. ‘Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?’ they complained. ‘There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this wretched manna!’” (Num. 21:4-5 NLT)

David said that “they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in His promise. They murmured in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the LORD.” (Ps. 106:24-25 ESV)

The results of too much whine? The book of Numbers should be a red-flag warning to all of us. Because of their murmuring and complaining, God implemented numerous forms of punishment, among them…

1) fire
2) plagues
3) fiery serpents
4) death for the entire congregation except for Joshua, Caleb, and those under the age of twenty.

God chastised Israel, saying to them, “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness of [mind and] heart [in gratitude] for the abundance of all [with which He had blessed you], therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things.” (Deut. 28:47-48a Amp)

That was the Old Testament, you say. But has God changed?

The English translation of The Received Greek Text says in 1 Corinthians 10:9-11a, as Paul exhorts, “Neither overtempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and perished by serpents. Neither should you murmur, as also some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer. And all these things happened to those as examples, and it was written for our warning.”

All these things happened as object lessons for us, to warn us against whining, complaining, and not being grateful because of life’s adverse circumstances, that we might not receive God’s discipline. He may use different methods today, but His righteous anger has not changed.

Is a murmuring heart a treatable and preventable condition? Yes! To maintain spiritual health, we replace the whining that destroys the proper functioning of the heart with the remedy of praise and thanksgiving. However, if we do not work on our heart condition, God certainly will, using His own special type of surgery.

If Proverbs tells us, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (Prov. 4:23 NLT), and Jesus said, “Whatever is in the heart overflows into speech” (Luke 6:45 TLB), then we need to heed those words, for “He who guards his mouth keeps his life.” (Prov. 13:3 Amp)

All Israel had to do was step through the portal of thanksgiving, but their murmuring, disobedience, and impatience slammed the gate shut, barricading the entrance to God’s promise. For forty years, they lived next door to that land of milk and honey, but most of them never lived to set foot on it.

The wilderness takes its victims while they are yet wandering in their complaints. To live in the Land of Promise, you must step out of the wilderness of murmuring.

Does your heart pour out too much whine or pulsate with praise and thanksgiving?

~~Lord, my prayer is this, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (Ps. 19:14 NLT)~~

The Passover meal celebrated the Lord’s deliverance of Israel out of Egypt’s bondage and from the plagues God sent on Egypt, including the death plague, which was halted for the Israelites by the blood of a lamb smeared on the doorposts of their homes.

Before the onset of the first Passover, God told Israel, “Every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household,” (Ex. 12:3b NKJV) and, after smearing the blood of the lamb on the doorposts, they were to roast it and eat it in anticipation of what the Lord was about to do.

For us as Christians, because each of us has taken a Lamb into our heart’s home, smearing His blood upon its doorposts, we are able to celebrate communion, commemorating our release as God’s people from bondage, the plagues of life, and the deliverance from the eternal curse of death.

In order for us to partake of Jesus’ life through the Lord’s Supper as a vital part of our Christian walk, we need to understand cleansing and commitment, for sharing in communion is more than just a religious ritual.

According to ancient, Hebrew traditions, if two joined in a covenant and ratified it with a meal, which included the breaking of bread and drinking of a cup of wine, it meant they were eating and drinking of each other.

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus said, “I assure you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But those who eat My flesh and drink My blood have eternal life, and I will raise them at the last day.” (John 6:53-54 NLT)

Today, we Christians don’t give enough serious thought to what we are doing when we participate in the Lord’s Supper. In order to have our hearts right before God to take part in communion, we must…

…first, get right with others. Jesus declared in His Sermon on the Mount, “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.” (Matt. 6:14 NLT)

We forget that forgiveness is not optional! No right relationship with God can prevail apart from forgiveness of others. If we do not forgive others, then what is the point of commemorating what Jesus died to do for us?

…then, get right with God. “But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matt. 6:15 NLT)

Therefore, we cannot engage in the bread of fellowship or the cup of covenant with an accumulation of unforgiveness in our hearts, as Paul warns us, “So if anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, that person is guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking from the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup unworthily, not honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.” (1 Cor. 11:27-29 NLT)

We do not take communion to get right with God; we get right with others and God before we place that wafer on our tongue or lift that cup to our lips. Unfortunately, many Christians take communion all too lightly, not grasping the full intent of these verses.

…then, we seek communion at the Lord’s table. Partaking of the communion table is a physical testimony of a spiritual conversion, affirming that we have bound ourselves to Christ in covenant.

Paul said, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16 NKJV)

If we call it ‘communion,’ does that click in our finite minds what that means? The Greek word for it, ‘koinonia,’ means partnership, joint participation, fellowship, to share in common, intimacy, and so on.

Through communion, we take part in the sacrifice of Jesus’ body and His blood. In sharing the bread and the cup, we share in the intimacy of His fellowship, participating in the benefits of what He accomplished at the whipping post, in the judgment hall, on the cross, and through His resurrection.

What Paul said stands as relevant today as when he said it, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” (1 Cor. 11:26 NIV)

Oh, please, my Christian brothers and sisters, please see the crucial importance of having a right heart before God that you may share in the fellowship of the Lord’s Supper worthily.

I pray that, after reading this, you will never again enter into the Lord’s covenant meal the same as you did before. May this be life changing for each of you.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains and their sorrows].” Psalm 147:3 Amp

The Father once spoke these words to me...

“Those offensive cords of hate that wrapped the feet and hands of My Son became cords of great love to My children. When a heart is breaking, I take those cords and tenderly wrap them around that hurting heart so as not to bruise it, and ever so gently, I tie them in an eternal knot that cannot be undone.

The cruel nail scars in His hands should daily urge My children to keep their hands empty of the things of this world and ever open to My gifts and teachings. They should use their hands to work for My kingdom and raise them in praise.

The excruciating pain My Son suffered from the pounding of the nails into His feet should remind them that their painful struggles upon this earth are meant to cause their feet to follow in His footsteps for He walked a path that was common to all.

The crown of thorns so mockingly placed upon His head marked Him as different from the rest of the world. I make that crown of thorns into an eternal circle of love and place it upon My children as a constant reminder to be separate from the world. They should wear this crown in truest humility and love for Him. One day it will be exchanged for a golden crown of life.

The blood that spilled from His bleeding side should draw them into a covenant relationship with Him and remind them that He willingly became the sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins and to give them Eternal Life.

Oh, the love He bore as He hung there that day. In pain and agony, He suffered for My precious ones. His wounds should pierce into their very hearts and cause them to weep that their sins caused Him such suffering.

His chords of love should bind them in remembrance of His cross of sacrifice. His death and release from the tomb should remind them to daily aim at death to self and deliverance into newness of life. Because I love you, He died for you.”

“Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13 KJV)

Prayer: Oh, dear Jesus, Thank you that You suffered such great agony and endured it willingly for a world of lost sinners. For this, I am eternally grateful. This Easter season, may hurting and lonely souls experience those cords of love and accept Your sacrifice for them that they may have Eternal Life in You. Amen.

“I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion].” Gal. 2:20 Amp

“Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.”

I leave you with this video. It is really awesome. I hope you’ll listen to it…

Click here...That’s My King, Do You Know Him?

~~The blessings of Easter to you all, Lynn~~