Matthew 14:34-36: Many sick are healed
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Matthew 14:34-36
We are told that the sick were brought to Jesus with the request that they be allowed to touch the edge of his cloak to be healed, rather than asking Jesus to touch them, which appears to have been the way Jesus healing ministry had typically been done prior to this point. While not explicitly stated, the fact that the request to touch his cloak is mentioned at all suggests it is in some way noteworthy or novel. There are three plausible reasons I can think of for the nature of the request:
FOOTNOTES:
1. Just how hectic Jesus' schedule had been over the preceding period is explicit in the preceding verses of chapter fourteen. Jesus was brought word of his cousin's execution, but the crowds would not let him find any solitude despite his taking a boat across the lake. Rather than resenting them, however, his compassion moved him to heal their sick. A large portion of his day was spent in that work, and then, when evening came and the people were hungry, he met their physical need for food with a miraculous provision. Only after he had sent both the crowd and his disciples away did he finally find time for solitude. The next day, before the sun was up, he walked some mile across the sea of Galilee to join his disciples (and calmed the storm). Then, it would seem almost immediately upon his arrival on the opposite shore, people begin to bring him their sick with word going out to the surrounding countryside. Given this pace of ministry, it is certainly possible that Jesus was weary.
2. Randy Clark, "Ministry of Healing", Rock Church. https://youtu.be/Pm9SYPdtmcU?list=PLW5mx3BXIhVnTttCnujf2K3kyjrNiTqKQ&t=650. Published 6/19/2018. Accessed 3/8/2019.
3. "Upon a certain occasion only one woman in a great throng touched Jesus with faith for healing. Later on, whole multitudes did so. It is a matter of enlightenment and faith." F.F. Bosworth, Christ the Healer, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 1973, 9th Ed., p. 166.
4. Rob Bell gives a fantastic presentation of this in a YouTube video posted at https://youtu.be/DswAPdgfRMs?list=PLWKVA-QpFvjKg6qiEj4CNZHnTzwAWThfY&t=158, and the same concept is covered in an article posted in the blog "Life between the Trees" (https://lifebetweenthetrees.com/2012/08/17/healing-in-his-wings/).
Matthew 14:34-36
We are told that the sick were brought to Jesus with the request that they be allowed to touch the edge of his cloak to be healed, rather than asking Jesus to touch them, which appears to have been the way Jesus healing ministry had typically been done prior to this point. While not explicitly stated, the fact that the request to touch his cloak is mentioned at all suggests it is in some way noteworthy or novel. There are three plausible reasons I can think of for the nature of the request:
- Jesus was weary1, perhaps needing a physical respite, and moving the "work" of healing (the physical coming and touching) into the auspices of the people allowed Jesus to at least stand or sit in one place.
- Word of the hemorrhaging woman's healing had reached that location, and the people were emulating her because that was — in their understanding — the way this healing thing worked. This is the conclusion drawn by Randy Clark, who sees in the text an implied causality of testimony about one healing leading to more healings happening in the same manner.2 F.F. Bosworth draws the same conclusion.3
- Some existing cultural expectation led the people to anticipate healing as a result of coming into contact with Jesus.
The explanation that Jesus was weary and therefore let the people do the work, while plausible, is in no way stated by the text. If is fair to say, then, that although we cannot rule this out, it is not something we get directly from the text. Rather, it is a conclusion we read back into the account. In fact, as we are told that the request to touch the edge of Jesus cloak came from the people, it seems unlikely it was because of fatigue on Jesus' part.
What about the second idea: that they were emulating the hemorrhaging woman? The Old Testament does instruct the Israelites to recount God's deeds to inform the faith of subsequent generations (Deuteronomy 6:20, Psalm 78:4, Joel 1:3). In another place (Numbers 15:37-41), God tells the Israelites to put tassels on the corners of their prayer shawls to remind them of the Torah. So the general idea that our faith can be built up by external stimuli — be it physical props or someone else's testimony — is clearly there in Scripture. That said, there seems to me to be an inconsistency in Clark's defense of the idea that manner of the woman's healing led to others believing they only need touch Jesus cloak to be healed.
Clark argues that the crowd's belief (Matthew 14:34-36) stemmed from hearing about the woman's healing (Luke 8:43-48), but he also says the woman's action was because she heard about other's touching Jesus and being healed (Luke 6:17-19) because of the power going out from him. Those first people, in Clark's argument, realized they only had to touch Jesus' clothes — and not Jesus himself — to be healed, and then the woman copied them, with others subsequently copying her. All of that seems quite reasonable, except for one thing: the only part of his garment people expect healing power to pass through is the edge of his cloak. Why not his sleeve, or his sandals, or that beauty pageant sash he always seems to be wearing in children's Sunday school pictures? Why, specifically, the edge of his cloak?
Interestingly, the Hebrew word used in Numbers 15:37 for the edge of the prayer shawl (כָּנָף, or kanaph) is also the word for a bird's wings. In Malachi 4:2, it says that there will be healing in God's wings. Because Malachi spoke about the Messiah, it would have been a natural extrapolation to apply that verse to the Messiah. With that in mind, it would have made perfect sense for Jews in Jesus' day who identified him as the Messiah, to expect physical healing to be available through the tassels at the corner of his prayer shawl, or as the NIV calls it, his edge of his cloak.4
This, I think, is a better explanation for people anticipating healing via contact with the "hem of Jesus' robe" than the explanation Clark and Bosworth offer. Having said that, it is also apparent that the Bible does indeed speak of the value of one person's testimony as a formative tool for shaping and informing the faith of others. That is, after all the very purpose of the Gospels themselves. However, as Malachi's prophecies were understood to be messianic, the request also hints that the general perception of Jesus (at least among the non-elite Jews) was that he was not just a healer, but that he was the promised messiah.
This, I think, is a better explanation for people anticipating healing via contact with the "hem of Jesus' robe" than the explanation Clark and Bosworth offer. Having said that, it is also apparent that the Bible does indeed speak of the value of one person's testimony as a formative tool for shaping and informing the faith of others. That is, after all the very purpose of the Gospels themselves. However, as Malachi's prophecies were understood to be messianic, the request also hints that the general perception of Jesus (at least among the non-elite Jews) was that he was not just a healer, but that he was the promised messiah.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Just how hectic Jesus' schedule had been over the preceding period is explicit in the preceding verses of chapter fourteen. Jesus was brought word of his cousin's execution, but the crowds would not let him find any solitude despite his taking a boat across the lake. Rather than resenting them, however, his compassion moved him to heal their sick. A large portion of his day was spent in that work, and then, when evening came and the people were hungry, he met their physical need for food with a miraculous provision. Only after he had sent both the crowd and his disciples away did he finally find time for solitude. The next day, before the sun was up, he walked some mile across the sea of Galilee to join his disciples (and calmed the storm). Then, it would seem almost immediately upon his arrival on the opposite shore, people begin to bring him their sick with word going out to the surrounding countryside. Given this pace of ministry, it is certainly possible that Jesus was weary.
2. Randy Clark, "Ministry of Healing", Rock Church. https://youtu.be/Pm9SYPdtmcU?list=PLW5mx3BXIhVnTttCnujf2K3kyjrNiTqKQ&t=650. Published 6/19/2018. Accessed 3/8/2019.
3. "Upon a certain occasion only one woman in a great throng touched Jesus with faith for healing. Later on, whole multitudes did so. It is a matter of enlightenment and faith." F.F. Bosworth, Christ the Healer, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 1973, 9th Ed., p. 166.
4. Rob Bell gives a fantastic presentation of this in a YouTube video posted at https://youtu.be/DswAPdgfRMs?list=PLWKVA-QpFvjKg6qiEj4CNZHnTzwAWThfY&t=158, and the same concept is covered in an article posted in the blog "Life between the Trees" (https://lifebetweenthetrees.com/2012/08/17/healing-in-his-wings/).
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