The fringe of His garment

These healing miracles happened in Gennesaret, just after Jesus and His disciples had crossed the Sea of Galilee, where Peter had attempted to walk on the water, and Jesus had calmed the storm. It reminds us of the woman who had been healed from twelve years of blood-flowing after she also touched the fringe of His garment (Matthew 9:20-22).

The Greek word for fringe used here, is kraspedon, which is a translation of the Hebrew words kanaf and tzitzit. In Numbers 15:38 God instructed the Israelites to attach fringes or tassels (called tzitzit) to the corners of their garments (this corner is called the kanaf), and because Jesus was born as an Israelite, He followed the commandments of the law of Moses and wore tassels on His garment.

The people were therefore touching the corner and tassels or fringes on the garment of Messiah to be healed, touching the very symbol God gave the Israelites to remember to do His commandments and be holy unto Him, as explained in Numbers 15:40.

The fact that they believed that healing was to be found by touching the fringe of His robe, is because they knew the Scripture from Malachi 4:2 “But to you who fear My name The Sun  of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings;” where the word ‘wings’ is the Hebrew word kanaf – the fringe of Messiah’s garment! They knew that this verse referred to the coming Messiah, and they believed that this was who Jesus was – they literally touched the fringe of the Sun of Righteousness and received their healing in His wings/fringes!

Our God decided to live here on earth among us, brushing shoulders with us human beings, allowing people to touch His clothes to be healed. He is not a far-away God, unapproachable and untouchable. Indeed, He became our High Priest that understands everything we are going through here on earth, as He experienced the same (Heb 4:15).

Points to ponder:

Think about Jesus’ closeness to you, how He knows every intimate detail of your life, how He loves you despite knowing all about you! And move closer to Him. The woman with the issue of blood had to fight through the throng of people surrounding her to get closer to Jesus. Do not let family/friends/colleagues deter you, rather let your desperation become faith with singularity of purpose – only God can heal and save – move so close that you can touch His garment!