The Frindge of His Garment
Touching the Tassels of Jesus “the fringe of his garment” Mark 5:27 and 6:56 in light of Numbers 15:38-40.
"Speak to the peole of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garment througout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my comandments and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God."
The prayer tassel is a call so that people would remember the Sinai covenant stipulations so that they might do them by remaining dependent upon God in prayer for the sustenance of their lives, living in the holiness of obedience. We pray because we realize our absolute need for Him flowing out of our desire to live lives in dependence upon him alone. Our dependence upon God expressed in prayer manifests itself in our obedience to the commandments. For the commandments are, after all, the promises of God's sufficiency in disguise.
Holy obedience is really just dependency upon the sufficiency of God. Why are we commanded to not steal? Because God promices to sustain our every need. We don’t need to steal to find sustenance any longer. God will provide it. The commandment not to steal is the implicit promise that God will provide for our needs.
Prayer expresses our dependence upon God, and the ultimate expression of our dependence upon God manifests itself in the prayer for forgiveness. For the core of the dependent heart is a repentant heart—a heart desperate for forgiveness. In 1 Kings 8, Solomon prays over and over again that every time people come to the temple and to the Holy of Holies and there pray, he prays that the Lord would forgive their sins. This forgiveness, which manifests itself on the mercy seat in the Temple on the Holy of Holies, covers their disobedience to the Law. Therefore every time people look at their prayer tassels, and remember the commandments of the Lord, they ought to realize their disobedience, realize their need for forgiveness, and therefore renew their dependence upon God through the renewal of their own heart by means of the forgiveness of their sins; so that now being restored to God’s presence by virtue of their forgiveness they might indeed keep the commandments of God, which originates in a changed heart. So we are to look at these tassels and remember the commandments of the Lord and so to do them, not following after our own heart and our own eyes which we are inclined to go after wantonly, but instead remembering the Lord our God who delivered us our of the Land of Egypt (1st Exodus) and who delivered us from the sinfulness of our own hearts by removing our hearts of stone and replacing them with hearts of flesh through the Spirit which has come upon us because of what Jesus has done (2nd Exodus). When the crowd grasps for Jesus’ tassels, he remembers the commandments of God, which at their heart is love manifesting itself in obedience.
Jesus manifests the heart of the law in the administration of mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and sacrifice to the woman, to the crows, and to us. For when wegrasp at Jesus’ tassels, he remembers the Law of God and maintains obedience to the Law by manifesting the Law as it is meant to be lived: in love. This then stands in direct contrast to the Pharisees who "follow" the ritual and purity laws contrived by men in the very next section in Mark (7:1ff). For in contrast to the Pharisees, where does true purity come from? A changed heart! A heart that seeks obedience to the Lord originating in a forgiven heart. Jesus is the one who overcomes impurity by the forgiveness of sins that leads to the renewal of repentance and obedience in his followers. This is true purity in contrast to the ritual purity that the scribes and Pharisees were attempting to push on people. A changed heart expresses itself in obedience to God, not men. Obedience is being, not doing.
So where does the ultimate healing from God come from as we see from Jesus response to the woman with the flow of blood or the crowds of Gennesaret? It comes from the forgiveness of sins unto a changed life originating in the compassion of Jesus. Our ultimate healing is found in the Mercy of God, flowing out of love, which Jesus remembers when people seek to touch the fringe of his garment, the tassels on his cloak.
"Speak to the peole of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garment througout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my comandments and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God."
The prayer tassel is a call so that people would remember the Sinai covenant stipulations so that they might do them by remaining dependent upon God in prayer for the sustenance of their lives, living in the holiness of obedience. We pray because we realize our absolute need for Him flowing out of our desire to live lives in dependence upon him alone. Our dependence upon God expressed in prayer manifests itself in our obedience to the commandments. For the commandments are, after all, the promises of God's sufficiency in disguise.
Holy obedience is really just dependency upon the sufficiency of God. Why are we commanded to not steal? Because God promices to sustain our every need. We don’t need to steal to find sustenance any longer. God will provide it. The commandment not to steal is the implicit promise that God will provide for our needs.
Prayer expresses our dependence upon God, and the ultimate expression of our dependence upon God manifests itself in the prayer for forgiveness. For the core of the dependent heart is a repentant heart—a heart desperate for forgiveness. In 1 Kings 8, Solomon prays over and over again that every time people come to the temple and to the Holy of Holies and there pray, he prays that the Lord would forgive their sins. This forgiveness, which manifests itself on the mercy seat in the Temple on the Holy of Holies, covers their disobedience to the Law. Therefore every time people look at their prayer tassels, and remember the commandments of the Lord, they ought to realize their disobedience, realize their need for forgiveness, and therefore renew their dependence upon God through the renewal of their own heart by means of the forgiveness of their sins; so that now being restored to God’s presence by virtue of their forgiveness they might indeed keep the commandments of God, which originates in a changed heart. So we are to look at these tassels and remember the commandments of the Lord and so to do them, not following after our own heart and our own eyes which we are inclined to go after wantonly, but instead remembering the Lord our God who delivered us our of the Land of Egypt (1st Exodus) and who delivered us from the sinfulness of our own hearts by removing our hearts of stone and replacing them with hearts of flesh through the Spirit which has come upon us because of what Jesus has done (2nd Exodus). When the crowd grasps for Jesus’ tassels, he remembers the commandments of God, which at their heart is love manifesting itself in obedience.
Jesus manifests the heart of the law in the administration of mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and sacrifice to the woman, to the crows, and to us. For when wegrasp at Jesus’ tassels, he remembers the Law of God and maintains obedience to the Law by manifesting the Law as it is meant to be lived: in love. This then stands in direct contrast to the Pharisees who "follow" the ritual and purity laws contrived by men in the very next section in Mark (7:1ff). For in contrast to the Pharisees, where does true purity come from? A changed heart! A heart that seeks obedience to the Lord originating in a forgiven heart. Jesus is the one who overcomes impurity by the forgiveness of sins that leads to the renewal of repentance and obedience in his followers. This is true purity in contrast to the ritual purity that the scribes and Pharisees were attempting to push on people. A changed heart expresses itself in obedience to God, not men. Obedience is being, not doing.
So where does the ultimate healing from God come from as we see from Jesus response to the woman with the flow of blood or the crowds of Gennesaret? It comes from the forgiveness of sins unto a changed life originating in the compassion of Jesus. Our ultimate healing is found in the Mercy of God, flowing out of love, which Jesus remembers when people seek to touch the fringe of his garment, the tassels on his cloak.
posted by A. Engler at 11:09 AM
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