ON THE VANGUARD

HEALING IN HIS WINGS part 2
“But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.”
Malachi 4:2

Yesterday we looked at the verses within the Torah that explain the wearing of the tallit. While we answered the question of which garment the healing of the wings rest in, we left open the question of whose garment this passage may be referring to. Today I would like to answer this question for you. In order to do so, I direct our attention to the New Testament Gospels, starting with Matthew.
In Matthew 9 we read of Yeshua being approached by an official whose daughter had just died. In full faith, the official asked that Yeshua would come and lay hands on his daughter, so that her life may be restored. Yeshua and his disciples got up and began making their way to the man’s house when a woman who had been suffering with a hemorrhage for twelve years touched Him. In reading in the book of Mark, we find that doctor expenses alone had taken her funds and her health had not progressed (Mk 5:25). So then in faith, she determined that if she could touch the hem of His garment, she could be made whole. But how had she determined this?
Remember, she too was Jewish. She too had been raised under the guidelines of the Torah. As such, she had probably learned at a young age that according to Numbers and Deuteronomy, the men were to wear the tallit with the tzitzit hanging in the corners. But, it is possible that she also knew the words of Malachi, that healing would come in the wings. If she could only touch the wing, the kanaph, the hem of His, Yeshua’s, garment, then she could be made whole. As this portion of the New Testament is written in Greek, let us consider the term KRASPEDON. She knew that in touching the kraspedon, the hem, the fringe, the tassel, of His garment, she would be healed. The wings that Malachi spoke of that the healing power would come from were those of Yeshua.
In looking then at the Gospel of Luke, we read that Yeshua turned about and questioned who had touched Him (Lk 8:45-46). Yes, many people were standing around, pushing in and bumping, but He singled out one specific touch. He singled it out because in the moment He had felt healing power flow out of Him. The woman felt this power also, for when the people were questioned, she did a quick examination and noticed that she was completely and immediately healed (Lk 8:47-48). It was her faith that had made her whole. It was her faith that if she could touch even the fringe of His garment, she could have life restored.
So this then begs the question. Where is our faith? I remember as a student chaplain in college praying for many people and wondering why they were not getting healed. Perhaps I was not praying the right prayer for them. Or perhaps their faith was small. Where are those who, like this woman, are not looking to stand in a prayer line but rather have the faith that their healing will come if they can only touch the hem of His garment? We read it in Malachi, that He comes with healing in His wings. Let us be bold and get our healing. Let us risk the crowd, risk the stares, risk the trouble to touch His hem and find our faith meeting with His power. Let us be like this woman, and find healing in Yeshua’s wings.