Mark 5 - The Fringe of His Garment 

A study of Jesus, the woman who touched His cloak, and Jairus’ daughter

Following on from the previous studies on Mark’s gospel, including last week’s deliverance of the demoniac, the action has crossed to the other side of Lake Galilee now. With Mark’s frenetic pace, you almost get the sense of a ferry service ploughing to and fro across the lake, and the constant expectation that surrounds Jesus is once again present.

This time it is back to an orthodox Jewish audience, and this story begins with a Synagogue ruler asking for Jesus’ help. Mark, in common with his style, gives the Hellenistic version of his Hebrew title ‘bazzan’, indicating a kind of caretaker or warden. The request concerns his young daughter – and if you have been or are a parent then you will recognise the lengths you would go to for one of your children.

The story

Once again Jesus got into the boat and crossed Lake Galilee. Then as he stood on the shore, a large crowd gathered around him. The person in charge of the synagogue was also there. His name was Jairus, and when he saw Jesus, he went over to him. He knelt at Jesus' feet and started begging him for help. He said, “My little daughter is about to die! Please come and touch her, so she will get well and live.” Jesus went with Jairus. Many people followed along and kept crowding around. In the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had gone to many doctors, and they had not done anything except cause her a lot of pain. She had paid them all the money she had. But instead of getting better, she only got worse. The woman had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him in the crowd and barely touched his clothes. She had said to herself, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” As soon as she touched them, her bleeding stopped, and she knew she was healed. At that moment Jesus felt power go out from him. He turned to the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” His disciples said to him, “Look at all these people crowding around you! How can you ask who touched you?” But Jesus turned to see who had touched him. The woman knew what had happened to her. So, she came trembling with fear and knelt down in front of Jesus. Then she told him the whole story. Jesus said to the woman, “You are now well because of your faith. May God give you peace! You are healed, and you will no longer be in pain.”

While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from Jairus' home and said, “Your daughter has died! Why bother the teacher anymore?” Jesus heard what they said, and he said to Jairus, “Don't worry. Just have faith!” Jesus did not let anyone go with him except Peter and the two brothers, James and John. They went home with Jairus and saw the people crying and making a lot of noise. Then Jesus went inside and said to them, “Why are you crying and carrying on like this? The child isn't dead. She is just asleep.” But the people laughed at him. After Jesus had sent them all out of the house, he took the girl's father and mother and his three disciples and went to where she was. He took the twelve-year-old girl by the hand and said, “Talitha, koum” which means, “Little girl, get up!” The girl got right up and started walking around. Everyone was greatly surprised. But Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened. Then he said, “Give her something to eat.” (Mark 5:21-43)

Focus on Jesus

On arriving at the shore, Jesus is swallowed up by the crowd, and in that swirling throng is a woman suffering with some form of haemorrhage that has afflicted her for twelve years. The condition renders her ritually unclean. It doesn’t render her helpless, but it condemns her to a solitary life – if she so much as hugged her husband or child (if she has one), they are unclean. And she is rendering ritually unclean everyone she brushes against in the crowd. But she is focused on getting to Jesus, focused on what she believes will be her healing, and she has no time for social niceties.

Spiritual authority:  A Jewish tallit

Suddenly she is there, right next to this holy man whom some say is the Messiah, and she reaches out. And here is where it is likely to seem strange to some readers. Why is she touching His clothes? To help us understand more fully, it’s worth knowing what those clothes would be. Jesus’ daily dress would have comprised three articles: a breechcloth, equivalent of our underwear; a tunic (halluk); and a cloak (tallit). His cloak would have served as a blanket at night and, more significantly, as His prayer shawl, a garment that Jewish people pull up over their head when praying to block out external disturbances and ensure concentration on God. In the corners of the tallit would be cords or tassles called Tzitzit in Hebrew, in accordance with Numbers 15: 37- 41: “The Lord told Moses to say to the people of Israel, ‘Sew tassels onto the bottom edge of your clothes and tie a blue string to each tassel. These will remind you that you must obey my laws and teachings. And when you do, you will be dedicated to me and won't follow your own sinful desires. I am the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt.’”

In Jewish belief the tzitzit are of huge significance and are symbolic of a man’s spiritual authority.

In Jewish belief the tzitzit are of huge significance and are symbolic of a man’s spiritual authority. You see this in 1 Samuel 15:27: “As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the edge of Samuel's robe. It tore! Samuel said, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today, and he will give it to someone who is better than you. Besides, the eternal God of Israel isn't a human being. He doesn't tell lies or change his mind.’” A few chapters later, we see this symbolism reoccurring: “David sneaked over and cut off a small piece of Saul's robe, but Saul didn't notice a thing. Afterwards, David was sorry that he had even done that.” (1 Sam 24: 4-5)

Numeric significance

So, what made the tzitzit so significant? There were three things.

Hebrew and Greek are unusual alphabets in that letters also represent numbers. In Hebrew Aleph, the first letter, is the number one, the second is number two, and so on up to ten, then in tens up to one hundred, then in hundreds up to four hundred with the final letter the Tav. Tzitzit is spelt Tzadi = 100, Tzadi = 100, Tav = 400, making 600 in total. Hebrew only has consonant letters.
The cords comprise four lengths each through a small hole in the corner, leaving eight strands dangling.
The strands are tied into four pairs, each with a knot, and then the four pairs are tied together with a final knot, making five knots.

Taking these numbers, you get 600 + 8 + 5 = 613. The are 613 commandments within Torah. So, the Tzitzit are symbolic of the fulness of God’s Torah.

However, there are still two even more incredible symbols to be drawn from the tzitzit. 

The first is that in between each of the five knots are windings, as illustrated here:

As the illustration shows there are seven windings between the first and second knots and eight between the second and third knots; this gives a total of fifteen, equivalent to the letters Yud and Heh YH. There are eleven windings between the third and fourth knots; this is the equivalent of the letters Vav and Heh. So the windings across the first four knots are symbolic of YHWH. There are thirteen windings between knots four and five. Thirteen is the numeric value of two important Hebrew words. EChaD (Aleph, Chet, Dallitt), meaning One and AHaVaH (Aleph, Heh, Beth, Heh) – Love.

The windings between the Tzitzit knots therefore declare God is One and/or God is Love.

Healing in His wings

Secondly, the Hebrew word for Corner is KaNFie, spelt Kuph, Nun, Feh. However, as noted above, Hebrew is an alphabet of consonants (I sometimes smile imagining playing the Countdown letter game in Hebrew!) So, you may not be surprised that the same letters have another meaning – the Hebrew word CaNaFe, Kuph, Nun, Feh means Wings. Wings and Corner are spelt with the same letters.

Malachi 4:2 or (3:20 in the Hebrew Tanakh) states: “But to you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings [or corners].”

When this lady ignored all social conventions and pushed through the crowd to touch Jesus she laid hold of His tzitzit and, in so doing, saw the Son of Righteousness rise with healing in the wings of His cloak. With Jesus’ spiritual authority, symbolised here by His tallit, instead of being made ritually unclean by the woman’s touch, He makes her clean, whole and pure.

The text goes on to tell us that Jesus recognised that power had gone out from Him and asks the disciples who touched Him. They are bemused, they simply see the crowd, but I personally wonder if Jesus was asking the disciples in order to provoke the following conversation, which occurs when the lady knew, whether instinctively or in her spirit, that Jesus was referring to her. So she falls to her knees before Him and tells him everything.

Trust

Jesus’ response is so wonderful, and I apologise for the CEV translation used above, but in the best translations Jesus says to this woman, “Daughter, your trust has healed you” (CJB) I wonder how long it had been since this poor woman had been called daughter, had been viewed as someone worth talking to, had been treated as being whole.

I also wonder what had Jairus been thinking during this episode, particularly when the people arrive telling him not to bother the teacher any longer, as his daughter is dead? I can only imagine the look of devastation on Jairus’ face as he digests this news.

He does not just have the power and spiritual authority that enable Him to upturn the consequences of sin, disease and death, but the love to do it with gentle, tender, and practical care.

However, Jesus cuts right through it. I remember a Bible teacher once saying, “Jesus speaks to Jairus ‘look at me, look at me, look at me, trust me, I cast the demon Legion out, look at me’”. Following Jairus, Jesus, Peter, James and John make their way to his house, where, on arrival, they find a great crowd weeping and wailing. Jesus’ statement that the girl is not dead, merely sleeping, is met with jeers, the exact opposite of the faith of the lady in the crowd, and the very opposite of what He has asked Jairus for, so He herds them all out of the house. Then He takes Jairus, his wife, Peter, James & John to where the girl is. He takes her hand, again ignoring the social niceties of ritual cleanliness, (this action would have made anyone else unclean), and speaks “little girl, get up”. She responds immediately and everything is restored. Finally, in a touch that reveals the core nature of Jesus, the care He has for His creation, He asks that she is given some food.

This whole story speaks of the compassion that Jesus has for people who are suffering. He does not just have the power and spiritual authority that enable Him to upturn the consequences of sin, disease and death, but the love to do it with gentle, tender, and practical care. May we emulate His example.