And when the people of that place recognized Jesus, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. (Mat 14:35-36)
Sandwiched between two larger stories of Jesus’ ministry are three short verses. In these “transition” verses we get a glimpse of how Jesus’ ministry continued to spread. And each step contains lessons for us today.
Let’s start at the end: “As many as touched [the fringe of Jesus’ garment] were made well.” That is, those who touched Jesus were healed.
Now, these verses begin by saying that they “recognized Jesus.” What did they recognize about Jesus? The fact that all who were sick had only to touch the fringe of His garment to be made well.
It was evident to them: what Jesus touches is healed.
When you looked around in your life, what needs to be healed?
Your spirit? Things at work? At home? How’s your health—physical, mental, spiritual? Your sense of your self? Your media use? What you do to unwind? How’re your relationships? Things with your folks? The kids? Money stuff? How’s your spirit? Discouraged? Regrets? Failures? Secrets?
Our lives are full of things that could be made better.
What needs to be healed? What do we wish Jesus would come in contact with? What do we need Jesus to touch?
Prayer invites us to consider what in our life we’d like Jesus to touch and make better.
Most of us, we’re trying not to look too closely at the things falling apart in our lives. Trying not to worry about that weird rash or that increasingly confusing relationship. Trying not to worry about the effects of AI, about our friends, about our bank balance.
So the way we deal with our worries is to not look at them. "Everything's fine!"
When God invites us to pray, He’s saying to us, “How are you doing?”
What do we say? “Great, God, thanks so much for asking! How are You? Super-duper! Whelp, alright, talk to You later. Have a great day!”
God’s like, “You know that I actually know how you’re really doing, right? Why don’t we talk about it?”
Let me tell you something:
If Jesus came strolling into our town, your friends would try to bring you to Him. They’d say, “Hey, why don’t you go see this guy Jesus about ________________? He seems to be doing really great stuff for people.”
Indeed. Jesus does really great stuff.
Sometimes He does His really great stuff all at once, like He did in Matthew 14:36.
Most of the time He does His really great stuff slowly—one degree at a time… day by day (2Cor 3:18; 4:16)
But it is really great stuff. And I’m willing to guess that you need more Jesus just as much as I do. Well then, time to take a fresh inventory of “Things for Jesus.”
Make that list. Get in that line. Let's go talk to Jesus.
Photo by Aubrey Odom on Unsplash