Empty Suits

For 12 painstaking and exhausting years, this nameless woman suffered in silence. Alone, abandoned, and at her wit’s end, she had spent her last dime to find a cure. She suffered from an inexplicable condition the Gospels called an “issue of blood.” The Levitical Law banished such women to obscurity labeling them “unclean.” She desperately sought help from countless doctors and likely even the religious community, and they all simply made matters worse.

Desperate, tired, and depleted, she felt she had but one option; seek out the miracle-working rabbi. Due to the sensitive nature of her condition,  she tried to maintain a very low profile, it’s likely she literally crawled through the throngs of people to get to the teacher. She was bent on the conviction, if she could but touch the hem of His garment, she could be healed. In one incredible, unprecedented move, she reached out, touched the border of Jesus’ robe.

According to the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, The word translated “border” (kraspedon, Heb. tsitsith) is a tassel at each “wing” or corner of the tallith or mantle. The Law (Numbers 15:38-40) required that it should be bound with a thread of blue, the color of heaven, and so the type of revelation. The strict Jews to this day wear these tassels, though they are usually concealed. One of the four tassels hung over the shoulder at the back, and this was the one which the woman touched.

Upon the woman’s touch, Jesus felt “virtue” leave His body. This was a first and despite His divine aptitude, it even stopped Jesus in His tracks. The woman’s condition was healed immediately. No more doctors. No more early morning trips to market before the masses. No more early morning trips to the well before the arrival of the busy mothers. She was clean! She was healed! She was delivered! This was more than a condition, this had affected every facet of her reclusive life, and Jesus made it all possible.

She had tried 12 years worth of empty suits…the physicians, the priests, the “experts!” Are we more than empty suits, or do we possess the power of the Holy Ghost that will be the supernatural healing our generation is looking for?

She may not have touched Jesus directly, but He asked, “who touched me?” She could not reach Jesus, but she reached for the thing that had touched Jesus. The world may not immediately be able to touch Jesus…but if they reach out to you, someone who has touched Jesus, they will be able to touch the closest thing to Him…YOU!

“Serminutes” – Sermon in a Minute.  One Minute Inspirational Sermonettes, Devotionals, and Sermon Ideas for Busy Christians, Pastors, Teachers, and Bible Students!  Visit our ABOUT PAGE  for details on what exactly that is. Thank you for visiting today! May the Lord richly bless you.  ~ RD Mangold