2126AFC062521 – Garments and Graces
Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Mark 5:28 – 28 for she said, “If I but touch his clothes*, I will be made well.”
Matthew 9:20-21 – 20 Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak*, 21 for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.”
* Talliit טַלִּית [taˈlit] is a Jewish prayer shawl, a covering worn as a cloak over the shoulders with two corners in front and two corners in back. At each corner there are twisted/braided threads called Tzizit – צִיצִית usually white threads and blue threads.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Christ Jesus our Lord. Today we will take a deeper look into a familiar story and hopefully gain some insights that will enhance our understanding of the content. In this Sunday’s readings we have two “plot lines.” The first is about a twelve-year old girl at the point of death. The second is about a woman who has been gravely ill for twelve years. The combination of the stories would have been very edifying for the members of the early church, especially those in Jerusalem. So let’s begin with a Spoiler Alert – SHOCKER! Jesus was a Jew!
Now why would that be important in understanding this passage? It is something we don’t really think about much because “it seems so obvious.” We should also remember that the people who became Apostles and Disciples also referred to him as Rabbi (teacher) or Rabbouni (Master Teacher). In the popular modern images we see of Jesus in the media like films and TV, Jesus is dressed a bit like the ragtag fishermen he called. I want us to envision him in the Synagogue or Temple, and extend that to his travels.
Although the New Testament is written in Greek – and Jesus had at least conversational expertise in it – he taught as a Rabbi in Aramaic and Hebrew when in Synagogue or Temple. While there he would wear a Tallit (tall-EET), a garment worn by men and women with very specific characteristics and purposes. It is primarily woven of fine white wool. The warp threads are tied off around the edges to make little fringe-like tufts. The blue-dyed wool is generally woven in horizontal stripes. The blue color represents royalty. Sometimes there is a prayer (in Hebrew) woven into the pattern. In this illustration, you’ll see that I added some ovals around the tassels hanging from the corners. Those are called Tzizit (sounds as it looks TZT-zit). One might think of it as a shawl – indeed it is; it is a prayer shawl that can be pulled up over the wearer’s head while praying. Jesus wore a Tallit like this because all Jewish men were required to wear one. It was positioned so that two corners were in front and two in back. For the Biblicist folks, Tallit and Tzizit won’t be in your KJV or NABRE per se. However, we have evidence of it in this passage: Numbers 15:37-40 – 37 The Lord said to Moses: 38 Speak to the Israelites, and tell them to make fringes on the corners of their garments* throughout their generations and to put a blue cord on the fringe at each corner. 39 You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. 40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and you shall be holy to your God. So scroll up and take a look at that note I inserted after our Key Verse. 
Here is an image of a set of Tzizit for a closer look. These devices were attached, as God had directed, to the four corners of the Tallit. Everyone had them, everyone knew what they were, everyone knew what they represented. When the woman with the twelve-year hemorrhage reached out to Jesus’ garment, she reached for his Tallit and held onto one of the Tzizit on the back. This is how the early Church would have understood this message. Sometimes we hear it was “the hem of his garment” and think of a long robe hemmed at the bottom. Sometimes we think it might have been the warp-tufts of his tunic (nope – woven in one piece from top to bottom). Her hope, her faith, her understanding of her role in life as a Jewish woman would have made the Tzizit the thing to touch. And what it touch it must have been! Here’s how it happened as reported by Luke in Luke 8:46-47 – 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; for I noticed that power had gone out from me.” 47 When the woman saw that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before him, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed.
Twelve years of suffering ended instantly! And yet somehow Jesus knew what had happened. This in itself seemed incredible because Jesus was in the middle of a large and noisy crowd. Jesus had just crossed from Gennesaret to Capernaum. In Gennesaret he had cast out the demon horde called Legion. Now, as he moved along the shore and into the town, a Synagogue official named Ya’ir (God enlightens) come to Jesus to beg for his daughter’s life – he asks Jesus to come lay hands on her. The crowd jostles and jabbers all around him, and then POW! A woman in that mass of people gets complete healing after twelve years. Jesus tells her “Daughter, your trust has healed you. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” In Jewish tradition, twelve is the number indicating completion, perfection, control. There were twelve sons of Jacob and twelve sons of Ishmael and from those sons were formed twelve tribes of the two nations. There are twelve months, twelve hours of day, twelve major constellations. And at the end of twelve years of suffering there was complete and perfect healing because of her faith – her trust in Jesus was “paid in full.” Now Jesus follows Ya’ir, and as they start off, someone from Ya’ir’s household breaks the news to Jesus that the child is on his way to see has died. Now it is time to pay attention to the girl’s age.
She is twelve. Coincidence? Not likely. Remember what we just said about the importance of the number 12. This child was at the age of her bat mitzvah, the coming of age for Jewish women. At that age the young woman is ensconced in the community and is subject to all Jewish Law. It is a time of completion, the “end of childhood” and the 
beginning of adult responsibilities – including the wearing of a Tallit, knowing the prayers, and going to Synagogue as an adult must. As they near the house, the professional mourners and some of Ya’ir’s family and friends are causing quite a commotion because of the child’s untimely death. Jesus tells Ya’ir, “Just trust and believe. She is not dead. She is only asleep.” They laughed at him, but he took the parents and Peter, James, and John (three witnesses for Truth, remember?) and went to her bedside. He took her hand and spoke in Aramaic saying “Talitha koum” – little girl, arise. She recovered immediately and completely, then got up and walked around. He cautioned the parents and witnesses to tell no one what he had done and told them to give her something to eat. What does this combination of episodes tell us?
A woman who had reportedly spent nearly all her money on useless cures from physicians put her faith in the powerful witness to The Law and God’s Holiness called a Tzizit, and after twelve years of suffering on a long road to what surely must have ended in death, she is restored to perfect health. A child who was ready to become a Jewish woman at her bat mitzvah is near death, but is restored to perfect health because of the faith of her parents. It both cases, the investment of faith is “paid in full” (↔ Click Link) with a miracle. For the woman, the girl, the parents, and the Rabbi this meant that at the next service in Synagogue, everyone would be dressed like this because everyone would be offering God 
the beautiful sacrifices he most desires – adoration, thanksgiving, praise, justice, and kindness. Now we have one additional incident involving the number 12. It’s also a very familiar story. Can you guess what it is? Here’s a hint: It involved the Holy Family in Jerusalem. I think you got it! Yes, Jesus was twelve years old, the last year of preparation before his bar mitzvah. It was at that age when he realized and accepted that his mission in life was to do the works of his Father. He got his first Tallit after that. And on the corners of the Tallit were the Tzizit.
The Graces these Jewish women received were not in or on the garment, they were not in the words of love and encouragement spoken to the parents. The Graces were in the Faith they all possessed, faith that Jesus could and would bring everything to perfect order again so that everything and everyone moved ahead twelve-by-twelve. If we will remember these stories with that in mind then we, too, will shall be holy to our God. ʻŌmea, it is precisely for that that he created us to be.
Remember him this way: Mark 6:53-56 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) – 53 After they had made the crossing, they landed at Ginosar and anchored. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, the people recognized him 55 and began running around throughout that whole region and bringing sick people on their stretchers to any place where they heard he was. 56 Wherever he went, in towns, cities or country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the tzitzit on his robe, and all who touched it were healed.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
