The Hem of His Garment

I was asked to layread yesterday. The passage that I was asked to read was Matthew 14:32-36. The passage read immediately before that was Luke 8:43-48. The passage in Luke talks about the woman with the issue of blood that was healed because she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. Some people may need to be reminded that it wasn’t the HEM of the garment, it was the HIM in the garment. In any case, the passage in Matthew talks about other people, many other people, touching the hem of His garment and being healed. I have read that passage many times before, but it never occurred to me until yesterday that there were lots of other people crowding Jesus as he went His way in Luke 8, but only the one woman got healed. Many people in Matthew 14 got healed. Why the disparity? Because of faith. The woman in Luke 8 believed that she would be healed. Those around her may have believed that Jesus could heal them, but they didn’t act on their faith. The people in Matthew 14 had the same kind of faith that she had.

In 2 Kings 5, there is a story of a man named Naaman, who was a Syrian with leprosy. Naaman’s wife had a Hebrew servant girl who told them that, in Samaria (capital of Israel) there was a prophet of God who could heal Naaman. Naaman went to the King of Syria, who encouraged him to go, and gave him a number of valuables with which to buy Naaman’s healing. When Naaman got to Elisha, the man of God would not take anything for the healing, but told him to go dip himself seven times in the Jordan River. Naaman went away angry, and talked about the rivers in Damascus that were, in his eyes at least, better than Jordan. One of his servants implored him, and reminded him that had come all this way to seek a healing, because Naaman believed that this man could heal him. If the prophet had told him to bring a hundred Philistine scalps, or perform some act of great courage, wouldn’t Naaman have done that? But, because the man of God said, wash, and be clean, you’re going to go back to Damascus with your leprosy? So Naaman turned his chariot around, and went back to the Jordan River, and dipped himself seven times, and was healed.

I bring up the story of Naaman to illustrate the difference between having a belief and acting on faith. They are very closely related, but they are not the same. Hebrews 11 is full of reminders of men of faith, and each time, it tells us what each of those people did that shows us the faith that they had. Naaman went to Samaria believing that he could be healed, but he had to take action on that faith before he was healed. The woman with the issue of blood acted on her faith, and she was healed. The people around her believed, but they didn’t take action. James 2:17 says, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” Let’s be honest about it, you can’t show somebody what you believe until you act on that belief. You can say, “Well, God knows my heart,” and He does, but, in all honesty, do you want Him to know that you believe, but you aren’t willing to act on what you believe?

The Love of God

I was listening to the radio this past weekend, and they were talking about “love languages.” They were talking in terms of married couples, that is, husband and wife, but it occurs to me that the church is the bride of Christ, so, to some extent, this sort of thing applies to all of us. Of course, it is important that we love the Lord, but we are also commanded to love one another.
All of us have needs, but we have different ways that we treat our needs. Some people advertise their needs to anyone who will listen, while others of us try to hide our needs. I don’t think that whining is a Christian virtue, but, then again, I don’t think that one should expect God to meet every need just through prayer. Somewhere in between, there is a balance. Don’t misunderstand me, sometimes God will send someone to you because you are in need and you have prayed about it. Sometimes, though, once we have prayed, we need to allow ourselves to be led to the person that God wants to have help us. The old adage is, “God helps those who help themselves.” Sometimes it isn’t enough to pray, one has to be willing to step out in faith, although sometimes praying is all one can do. Remember that God sent Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch, and He sent Ananias to Saul, but He also sent Jairus and the woman with the issue of blood to Jesus.
The flip side of this is that we, as Christians, need to be alert, aware, and prayerful of the needs of others. Just because someone voices a need, it doesn’t necessarily follow that God wants us to tend to that need; He may have a different plan than the one that seems obvious. On the other hand, just because someone doesn’t ask for our help (or even specifically says that they don’t want our help), it doesn’t necessarily follow that they don’t need it (word of caution, though, if you try to help someone who has specifically asked you not to help, make sure that it’s of God, or you’re just going to make a mess). We should have the kind of love for people that God has; to see the needs, and to be ready and able to do what’s best for those around us.
Some years ago, Twila Paris came out with a song (and an album) called, “Cry For the Desert.” At first, the title didn’t make sense to me, but after I got it home, and read through the written text that came with it, I came to realize that ‘desert’ just fits in song lyrics better than, ‘people lost in the wilderness of sin,’ which is what the song is really about. If we love each other, and we love those outside the faith, then we will have compassion for them as well. That involves seeing people the way that Jesus sees them, which isn’t always easy for us to do. More recently, Brandon Heath has come out with a song that says very much the same thing called, “Give Me Your Eyes.”