I’ve had a rough start to 2026. I’ve had a few months of pain, an unexpected trip to the ER, and an unexpected surgery. After getting out of surgery yesterday, the doctor mentioned there may still be one more surgery that I’ll possibly have to have to be truly healed. This health journey has been very surprising and scary, as I’ve been a relatively healthy person all my life. Save for a few broken bones here and there, my doctor visits consist of the dentist twice a year and an annual physical. ER trips and surgeries have never been a part of my life, and I’m only just now realizing the sheer luck I’ve had to escape these things. What a privilege and gift our health is!
But as I’m writing this, I’m only 24 hours removed from that surprise surgery. I’m in pain. I’m frustrated by the unplanned and expensive financial costs, and I’m anxious about all the missed work time. As I’m sitting on my couch trying to rest, I also feel myself wrestling. In moments of weakness, we want healing. But what if we don’t get healing?
Can these moments of weakness position us for dependence on God in new ways?
Today, I feel a deeper need to cling to Jesus. I feel the need to stay close to him. I didn’t expect this set of circumstances, but now that it’s here, it’s an opportunity. Will I rely on Jesus for the needs of my body? Or will I cling to control, bitterness, or resign myself to depression?
A woman who held on
Of course, I’m not the first woman in history to have suffered from a medical issue. In fact, Scripture is full of desperately sick people and their stories, and there is one particular story that stands out to me today.
It is about a woman who experienced twelve years of hemorrhaging blood. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record this story. This woman experienced twelve years of endless doctor appointments, spending thousands of denarii on medical problems, and after all that time and everything she did, she did not get better. In fact, she got worse.
“And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.” (Mark 5:25-26 ESV).
At least, when she was first diagnosed, the woman likely had hope. She had money to solve her medical problems, and she believed that the pain wouldn’t last forever. But could she say the same now after these many long years?
Somehow, in the midst of all her tragedy, she desperately clung to the belief that she could be healed. I imagine she prayed, agonized, and wept on her pillow each night, asking for God to heal her. After all, there were plenty of stories in her history where God intervened. Would he intervene for her now?
Surely, the God who delivered her people from slavery and rescued them from bondage could stop the flow of her blood and heal her from this disease. So she prayed.
One day, she heard reports.
She heard rumors in the streets of a man called Jesus, who had healed a paralytic. She heard whispers that he had touched a man with leprosy, and instantly the man was restored. She had even heard stories that he had healed demon-possessed individuals.
So, I imagine the woman started a new prayer.
Might this be her intervention? Could it be, in her day, after all this time, that God really was seeing her and her people? Was it possible that this man, Jesus, might come to her town, pass by her street, and could she be bold enough to ask him for healing? Could this be the long-awaited Messiah?
She was desperate. Yet like a rope pulled tight to the point of snapping, she still clung to hope.
Then one day she heard that the man Jesus was in her town. She ran from her home into the street, and there was a great crowd of people pressed around Jesus. He was going to be hard to get to, but she caught a glimpse of him, and without hesitation, she rushed in. She knew deep down in her heart that Jesus could heal her. Here was the man who had healed all those people, cast out all those demons, and had even stilled the storms. She didn’t think twice. And the gospel writers record what happened next.
the fringe
“She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment,” (Luke 8:48 ESV).
After touching the fringe of Jesus’ garment, the woman was instantly healed.
You read that right. After touching the fringe of Jesus’ garment, she was instantly healed.
Matthew and Mark’s gospels say the woman touched Jesus’ garment. Luke’s gospel says that not only did she touch his garment, but she also touched the fringe of his garment. The outer edge of his cloak. Matthew and Mark just say garment, but the Greek word that Luke uses indicates the tassels that Jews put on the edge of their garments.
In the book of Numbers, God commanded the Jews,
“Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and 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.” (Numbers 15:37-39).
The fringe on the edge of their garments, or their blue tassels, was meant to be a reminder of who God called the Jews to be. They were symbols of his everlasting covenant towards his people. And this woman, despite all her pain, was willing to grab onto Jesus’ tassel. She held on to the belief that her God healed. That he was good. She didn’t need the whole garment. She didn’t need a conversation with Jesus. She didn’t even need to be recognized. She just needed to touch the fringe of his garment, and she knew he would heal her.
holding on
I’m still sitting on my couch. I am feeling weak, but hopefully healing. Even so, I feel as if I’m hanging on by a thread… And maybe you feel that way too. I’m learning that weakness doesn’t disqualify our faith; if anything, it invites us to depend on God in deeper ways. The fringe of Jesus’ garment was enough for that sick woman, and He has not changed. That tassel, the little blue cord on the fringe of his garment, was a symbol of God’s covenant love and his deliverance of his people.
That fringe was enough because He was enough.
Long ago, a sick woman was hemorrhaging with blood for twelve terrible years, and she reached for the edge of Jesus’ cloak, and in one touch, her misery was ended. Maybe the crowds are pressing in on you, the anxieties of life are creeping in, and you feel as if you’re sailing across stormy and turbulent seas.
Or maybe you’re like me, and your body feels fragile for the first time, and you are a little scared. Whatever the case may be, hold on, friend, even if it’s only by a thread.
Because when we believe in Jesus, that sufficient Savior, the fringe is all we need.