Tag Archives: healed

MARK’S GOSPEL…THE TALITH – 15

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Mark 5:21, 24-25, 27-29 NIV

[21] “When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 

[24] So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. [25] And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years…

[27] When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, [28] because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” [29] Immediately, her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”

This beautiful story, so packed with symbolism and meaning, is often robbed of its significance if we do not understand the “tallit”.

The Israelites were simple in their understanding and use of language. They did not function in abstracts. They expressed their thoughts in pictures of everyday life. The things they saw, did, and used formed the basis of their understanding of spiritual truth. Hence, for example, God was, to them, not some elevated,  invisible Being with attributes of wisdom, grace, etc…however we, with our westen-orientated philosophical minds perceive God, but the one who was  “el”.  In their language, “el” was illustrated by an ox head and a shepherd’s staff, symbolising the one who had strength and authority.

So, God used “pictures”, symbols to teach them spiritual truth. In the early days of God’s association with Israel, He instructed His people to sew tassles, “tzitzit”, on the corners of their outer garment to remind them of the place of God’s “Torah” in their lives.

Google explains…

“In the Bible, tassels (Hebrew: tzitzit) are a tangible reminder of God’s commandments for the Israelites, symbolizing obedience, covenant, and their unique identity as God’s holy people. Worn on the corners of their garments, these fringes with a blue cord were a constant visual prompt for the Israelites to remember and obey God’s laws rather than follow their own desires.”

In Jesus’ day, the outer garment, called the “tallit”, was a kind of all-purpose poncho, used as a covering by day and a blanket at night which eventually devolved into a prayer shawl.

Google again,

“In the Bible, the tallit refers to a fringed garment, also known as a shawl or mantle, worn by Israelites to serve as a reminder of God’s commandments. The concept originates from God’s instruction to Moses to have the Israelites attach fringes (tzitzit) to the corners of their garments to remember God’s laws, as found in Numbers 15:37-40.’ “

Each tassel had five knots, symbolising the five books of Moses, and four spaces, reminding them of the four letters, YHWH, in God’s name.

The corners of the garment “kanaph”, on which the tassels were attached, were known as “wings”… so, Malachi prophesied that …

Malachi 4:2 NLT

[2] “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings (Hebrew, “kanaph”). And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.”

Now, let’s put this explanation into our story of the woman with the bleeding problem. Probably with Malachi’s prophecy on her heart, she wanted to touch the tzitzit on thae “kanaph” of Jesus’ tallit, believing she would be healed…

…so it happened, exactly as she believed! Her action was not some random idea that, if she touched Him because of His reputation as a healer, she would be healed. She placed her faith squarely in God’s word, believing that Jesus was the one Malachi prophesied to be “the Sun of Righteousness” who had healing in His 

Notice how Jesus responded to her action. He called her, “Daughter!” and linked her standing in Israel to her faith. 

Mark 5:33-34 NIV

[33] “Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. [34] He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Jesus recognised her as a member of the children of Israel, a true daughter of Abraham because…she believed in the truth of God’s word. 

This is a clear teaching of Scripture…

Galatians 3:26, 29 NIV

[26] “So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith… 

[29] If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Gods Word is never a hit-and-miss record of events but a carefully-woven tapestry of God and people, every detail a part of the whole. How important, then, that we read it all, trusting the Holy Spirit to be our Supreme Teacher, tying every detail together to give us understanding and to grow our faith in the author of this infallible and divinely-inspired book.

RESTORED

Christian life, ,

PRAISE, MY SOUL, THE KING OF HEAVEN

  1. Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
    to his feet your tribute bring.
    Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
    evermore his praises sing.
    Alleluia, alleluia!
    Praise the everlasting King!
  2. Praise him for his grace and favor
    to his people in distress.
    Praise him, still the same as ever,
    slow to chide, and swift to bless.
    Alleluia, alleluia!
    Glorious in his faithfulness!
  3. Fatherlike he tends and spares us;
    well our feeble frame he knows.
    In his hand he gently bears us,
    rescues us from all our foes.
    Alleluia, alleluia!
    Widely yet his mercy flows!
  4. Angels, help us to adore him;
    you behold him face to face.
    Sun and moon, bow down before him,
    dwellers all in time and space.
    Alleluia, alleluia!
    Praise with us the God of grace!

Author: Henry Francis Lyte (1834)

Song available on My.Hymnary

This grand old hymn, based on Psalm 103, highlights the mercy and grace of God in the way He treats humans.

“Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven…” these are the work of His salvation plan, to get back on track His purpose for creating the earth and the human race to occupy and manage it for Him.

God is the great restorer of everything the devil destroyed in his determination to derail God’s plan. He promises restoration to His people, both in the Old and New Covenants, from whatever has broken, damaged, or destroyed them.

What does it mean that God is a restorer?

“Restoration simply means returning something to its original condition. Our belief that God is a God of restoration is the basis of our hope, and it is fundamental to our faith as Christians. We are reconciled to God, and our relationship with Him is restored forever, by faith in Jesus Christ.”

The Hebrew word for restore means “to go up” or “ascend”. What a beautiful way to understand restoration! There are many experiences in life that weigh us down, piling burden upon burden upon us… loss, pain, broken relationships, unfulfilled dreams, disappointment and disillusionment…

God intervenes in our lives with restoration… of hope, encouragement, new dreams and aspirations that enable us to “go up”, to ascend above the burdens to a new level of understanding and living.

God wants us to live above our circumstances, not under them. We choose to live under our burdens only when we keep looking at our problems and seeing them as bigger than God.

How does God restore us?

“He restores us to a right relationship with him through the gift of forgiveness and justification. He is able to restore earthly relationships. And he can even restore days and years that have been lost to the effects of sin (Joel 2:25). That has to be greatest evidence of the extravagant nature of God’s mercy.”

What is the spiritual meaning of restoration?

Spiritual restoration is that process by which God is restoring the image of Jesus in us. Through the tests He allows into our lives, we learn faith, submission, and obedience to Him and His Word that are the hallmarks of a true son. He works, in and through our “all things”, for our good.

Restoration of our lives to order and peace can only come when we learn to view our circumstances from God’s perspective, and when we come under the authority of His Word. Life on this earth will never be smooth or uneventful but…

… our hope is in God to restore everything Adam lost at the fall.

1 Peter 5:10-11 NLT
[10] “In his kindness, God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. [11] All power to him forever! Amen.”

When we choose to put our hope in Him, no matter what He permits in our lives that weighs down, God will restore us through Jesus. We can be sure, through our faith in Jesus, that He will restore us to His determined purpose… sons of God in His eternal kingdom.

To be continued…

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – THEY TOUCHED THE TALITH

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THEY TOUCHED THE TALITH

53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed. Mark 6:53-56

How did Jesus manage to keep up a schedule like His? Interrupted by a huge crowd when He was trying to get some “me time”, He put aside His own needs and taught the people all day. After feeding them and sending them away, He prayed all night, and then walked a distance on the water to catch up with His disciples. Then He was met by another crowd clamouring for attention, and many for healing. It seems that He moved around in that area from village to village and town to town, healing and preaching day after day.

There is another reference to His “talith” in this passage. “They begged Him to let them even touch the hem of His coat (the tassels of His talith) and all who touched Him were healed” (Vs 56). What was the significance of this? Malachi 4:2 – “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will with healing in its wings.” Were the people aware of the powerful imagery of Messiah in this prophecy? The tassels on His talith symbolised God’s name, God’s nature, God’s word and God’s presence.

The “kanaph” – the corners of the talith – are translated as wings which held the tassels. To touch the “hem of his garment” implied that their faith rested in everything the tassels represented. Jesus became the channel through which the healing power of God flowed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The faith of each person touching Him opened them up to the healing power of the Spirit flowing through Jesus.

In all this frantic activity around Him, how did He experience rest and replenish His strength? He maintained a constant awareness of the Father’s presence and tapped into God by remaining in the Father. He counsels us to do the same in the midst of demands, busyness, interruptions and responsibilities. To remain in Him keeps us connected to the source of strength and rest. We become channels that are constantly being replenished, not reservoirs that can run dry with no permanent inlet from God.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – IGNORANCE AND GULLIBILITY

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IGNORANCE AND GULLIBILITY

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11 Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him. Mark 3:7-12

Something else flows out of this passage. Although the demons knew who Jesus was, and blurted out the truth in His presence, their avowed intent was to lie, deceive and pervert the truth to as many people as they could, to discredit Him so that people would not believe Him. It is not the testimony of demons that should convince us of Jesus’ identity but the conviction that He is the son of God, based on the evidence.

Because human beings are frail and transient, (Psalm 103) we are vulnerable to demonic influences. If we are not convinced for ourselves who Jesus is, we will fall prey to deception because of our ignorance and gullibility. The people ran after Him from all over Israel and the surrounding territories because of what He could do for them. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie.

John warns (in 1 John 2:15-17), that the world and its concerns are as transient as humans are. If we attach ourselves too closely to the world and what it stands for, we are in danger of being swept away with it when it finally disappears. Our only guarantee of being part of the everlasting realm where God is, is to attach ourselves to Him and to shelter in Him where we cannot be lured away by deception (Psalm 91:1).

How do we do that in practice? By learning to become one (ECHAD) with God in what He desires. The domain where we experience oneness with God is in our thinking which ultimately influences our deciding, choosing and doing. When we begin to think like God, we begin to take shelter in Him and dwell in His protective shadow by faith in the truth.

If we are vulnerable to deception, then we can also be influenced by the truth and, when we believe the truth, our lives are secure in God who is from everlasting to everlasting. Our thoughts of truth bind us to the truth. As long as we think what is true, we are secure in God; we dwell in God and He dwells in us and we are part of His indestructible eternity.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – FURIOUS

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FURIOUS

“The meeting-place president, furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation, “Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath.'” Luke 13:14,

Strange, isn’t it, how reason, logic and even basic human kindness, leave the brain when a good deed is done that violates a religious scruple! According to this synagogue ruler, Jesus had done work on the Sabbath. First it was the Pharisees and now the synagogue ruler who was infected with the same ‘brain-damaged’ thinking.

On a previous occasion, when Jesus was attacked for healing on the Sabbath, (when in fact He had only spoken a word, and the man with a withered hand had been healed), He challenged their twisted logic by asking, “Which is right, to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath?” To Jesus, doing evil meant doing nothing, when someone was in need, because it was the Sabbath.  He hated it when rules cancelled out mercy.

But there was something far deeper than a religious rule that aroused this man’s anger. There was a fundamental flaw in his character which reflects the whole human race. It rears its ugly head more vehemently in those who are driven by religion rather than a restored relationship with God as Father.

Because God’s essential nature is love, He is lavishly generous to everyone, even to those who refuse to acknowledge Him. “…The Most High…is kind to the ungrateful and wicked…” Luke 6:35 (NIV). This kind of treatment to undeserving people sticks in the throat of those who hate God because it is so contrary to their own nature.

Jesus told a story about a farmer who went to the market place early in the morning to hire labourers. He negotiated their wages with them to which they agreed. During the day he hired more men and finally engaged the last few stragglers an hour before knock-off time. Those who had worked from early morning were furious with him when he paid the latecomers the same wage as they had agreed to received for a day’s labour.

The farmer’s response was, “Are you envious because I am generous?” The farmer’s generosity towards the men who had only worked for one hour brought out the true nature of the other labourers – envy. What is envy? Envy is not interchangeable with jealousy. It is the attitude that wants to destroy the one who, by acting contrary to their nature, shows them up for who they really are. It murders the one who does not bow to their command. It is the worst form of control. “Do what I tell you or die.”

Surprisingly, it was Pilate who accurately diagnosed the true motive of the religious leaders who delivered Jesus to him to be condemned and crucified. “‘Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?’ asked Pilate, knowing that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to them.” Mark 15:10 (NIV).

Envy is a powerfully destructive force that drives religious people to what is contrary to the image of God. It cancels out sane thinking, defies logic and motivates to murder rather than to submit to the truth.

Jesus chose to remain true to His own nature rather than bow to the scruples of religious people because He had come to put His Father’s glory on display. Being true to oneself is a risky business because it incurs a cost when it crosses the demands of religion.

We have to decide what will direct our lives – rigid adherence to rules because that’s what controls our lives, or the flexibility that comes with a heart of mercy. Living God’s way is not about trying to gain His approval but about living out of who we are, sons of God who have the nature of God and are free to live according to His love, mercy and compassion.