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Monday, May 18, 2020

Healing Wings {Mark 6}



I pray you are keeping up with Mark as we speed through these chapters.  We are going to slow down just a bit for a history lesson.

Do you ever wonder why people were healed in the New Testament from touching Jesus’ garment?  Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell the story of the woman with a “discharge of blood” who “touched the fringe” of Jesus’ garment and was healed (Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48).  And here in Mark 6:53-56, is the account of many begging Jesus to just touch the edge of His cloak and being healed.

If you are not an Old Testament scholar, you may not recall the Mosaic Law where God instructed His people regarding the corners, or fringes, of their garments.  Jews were to “Make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner” as a reminder that they were God’s people called to keep His commandments (Numbers 15:37-41). 

It seems like a strange instruction until we learn that in the Ancient Near East, the corner of a person’s garment represented his identity, it was a symbol of who he was and what he stood for.  That is why Ruth, when she was seeking marriage to Boaz, asked him to spread the corner of his garment over her (Ruth 3:9).  It was a request for him to identify with her.  Don’t miss this; the same Hebrew word means “wing” or “corner of a garment”.  In many translations make Ruth’s request as, “Spread your wings over your servant.”

When God spoke of making a covenant with Israel, He pictured Himself as spreading a corner of His garment over her (Ezekiel 16:8) – a symbol of identifying with her as His bride.  When David cut off a corner of King Saul’s robe, “afterward David’s heart struck him” (1 Samuel 24:5).  These pangs of conscience seem strange unless we realize that he had defaced an important symbol of Saul’s identity and divinely authorized kingship.

So important were the corners of a Jewish man’s garment in ancient Israel that the Old Testament closes with a prophecy of the Messiah that references the corners of His garment.



Again, the same word means both “wings” and “corners of a garment’.  At the heart of the Messiah’s identity would be healing – spiritual and eventually physical – for all who trusted in Him.

Initially when I began reading this chapter, I focused on “You give them something to eat.” (Mark 6:37).  We have to have the faith to feed the faith.  Spurgeon says, “Without  Him we can’t.  Without us, He won’t.”

Here’s the point loud and clear!  Jesus will give us all we need to meet the needs of the people around us so long as we recognize our own inadequacy and trust Him.  We all need the healing of Jesus’ wings.  Jesus has compassion on each and every one of us.  We need to “come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” (Mark 6:31).  Are you troubled?  Are you stressed out?  Take time – a lot of time and sink into God’s word.





I have heard many times these past few months that “we are all in this together”, and “we’re not in the same boat, but the same storm”.  Ladies, Jesus tells us during the storm, “Take courage, it is I (in the storm).  Don’t be afraid!” (emphasis mine).

I bet you can come up with a previous difficulty that made you feel like you were dragged through a knothole sideways; but what got you through that time?  And what did you learn from it?  Jesus is present with us and will be with us on the other side even though we don’t know what is there.  Reach out in faith and touch His wings and He will shelter you.

I don’t know where your faith has been during the past couple of months, but I hope you are resting here.  These verses are filled with hope.  Regardless of how it looks like now, God controls the future and everything will be made right.  We who have loved and served God, look forward to a joyful celebration.  This hope for the future becomes ours when we trust God with our lives.



Blessings,
Lisa