Week 9…The Thread That Heals.

“Daughter, your faith has made you well.” – Luke 8:48

Friends, I know this verse isn’t from Leviticus, but I promise you it WILL make sense. Luke 8:48 is one of my most favorite verses. And it truly does connect with Leviticus 14! Chapter 14 is all about the regulations for defiling skin diseases and defiling molds. Sounds fun, right? Go head and read chapter 15, too. It’s there that you’ll find the compassion for the woman mentioned in Luke 8:48.

It’s in this chapter we find a scarlet thread, literally. A scarlet string was used in the cleansing ritual for someone cast out with disease. They were looked at as unclean, unwanted, and untouched. Dirty. Not acceptable. Alone. Could you imagine what that would feel like!? And yet, God made a way back. 

Through the Levitical cleansing law, God instructs the use of water, two birds, blood, cedarwood, hyssop, and a scarlet thread. It was the thread that bound together the animal, cedarwood, & hyssop (Lev 14: 1-8). It was a physical symbol of purification and restoration. A ritual way of saying: “You can come back into the community. You can be restored.” And for the outcast, it also meant hope…a new beginning. It was a physical act with a spiritual promise. And because we know the rest of the story, it’s a peek into the deeper promise that one day a true Healer would come. 

And here’s where the Holy Spirit took my mind when reading Leviticus 14. Fast forward to the Gospels, when centuries later that Healer walked the Earth. There’s an outcast woman and we don’t even know her name. But we know her pain.

 “‘When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period.” - Leviticus 15: 25

The woman in Luke 8:48 had bled for twelve long years. No doctor could find a solution. She was isolated. Weakened. Ashamed. According to the Levitical law, she was also labeled “unclean”. I always pause to think of this woman and put myself in her shoes. It feels like elementary school when my friends and I weren’t talking and I had no one to play with. I felt cast out watching the group play without me. I felt alone. Have you ever had a moment where you’ve felt this way? I can’t fully grasp the depth of grief and loneliness this woman must have felt being isolated for TWELVE long years because of what the Levitical law said about uncleanliness. 

But this woman, she was BRAVE. One day she heard that Jesus was passing by and here’s what she does when she sees Him… she doesn’t yell out. She doesn’t ask Jesus to stop.

As He walks by she reaches. Quietly. Desperately. She just touches the hem of His robe.

Now, here’s where it gets even more beautiful. Jesus wasn’t just wearing a robe. As a Jewish man, He would’ve been wearing tassels, called tzitzit, on the corners of His garment. That’s from Numbers 15 and Deuteronomy 22…God told His people to wear tassels woven with blue or “scarlet thread” to remember His holiness and His commandments.

When she touched that hem, she wasn’t just grabbing fabric. She was reaching for everything those threads represented, God’s promises. His purity. His presence. His restoration!  The law that had once excluded her was now fulfilled in the man walking before her and when she touched his hem, instantly healing flowed. I don’t know about you, but this thought alone makes me a bit emotional because it’s the same healing He offers to you and me despite our uncleanliness!

Considering the community, and the woman, were living under Levitical law…what do you think would have happened if she had touched someone from the community? Well, the law says that a person must follow the ritual for uncleanliness. I’m almost certain people avoided her and her touch. I wonder for how long this woman wasn’t hugged, looked at, or acknowledged…which breaks my heart so much. 

When she touched Jesus, what did He do? He didn’t gasp in shock because she was unclean. Jesus didn’t rebuke her. He didn’t recoil. He didn’t look at her and call her dirty, sick, or outcast. He stopped. Asked who touched him, then turned to her and spoke a new name over her. Instead of dirty, unclean, or outcast-  Jesus called her “Daughter.” He gave her a brand new identity and hope. He restored what sickness and shame had stolen: her health, her dignity, her place. The woman didn’t make Jesus unclean by touching Him. He made her clean, because He is holy…because He is the living sacrifice wrapped in the scarlet thread. 

Gosh, talk about a Jesus echo!!! 

The same thread runs through our stories. Maybe you feel unclean, too broken, too ashamed, too far gone. Maybe you’ve carried something for years that no one sees but you. You’ve tried everything and now you’re tired. Maybe you feel like you’ve been bleeding emotionally for years…carrying pain, trauma, or silence and all you’ve got left is one small, trembling reach.

Here’s the truth: That’s all it takes.

That same Jesus walks your way and the hem of His grace still trails behind Him, within reach!! The thread that once tied a cleansing ritual together now ties your heart to His. And, friend, it’s not the tassel or thread that heals you. It’s Him!

Just reach. 

Reflection:

• Are there any area of your life feels too “unclean” for God to touch? Or, if you cannot think of any, reflect on areas that use to be “unclean” and thank Him for giving you a new identity.

• What would it look like to reach out to Him today…even if it’s just with trembling faith? Imagine it in your mind. Sit or lay down in a quiet place. Imagine yourself on your knees and Jesus begins to walk past you. You’re kneeling there with all your pain and suffering. Your eyes struggle to see past the people, but atlas you see his feet come into view with his robe hovering above. Imagine seeing the chords, the hem, the scarlet thread. Imagine your hand reaching out, and grabbing ahold of it. Imagine INSTANTLY feeling warmth, love, peace, compassion, kindness, understanding, and healing flowing from the hem of his garments into your fingers and through your body filing you up from head to toe. Imagine Jesus then kneeling, gently grabbing your face with his gentle hands and lifting your chin to meet His warm gaze. Imagine His eyes looking into yours and all you see is how much He adores you. He sees your pain and suffering, but He sees beyond it. He sees YOU. Imagine his voice staying, “Daughter (or son), you are healed”. Feel his embrace. Feel that you belong. Feel the truth that you ARE HIS and whole.

Prayer:

Jesus, I’ve tried to hold it together, to heal myself, to fix what’s broken. But I can’t do it all on my own. Like that woman, I come quietly, humbly, and desperately. I reach for You. Not for religion. Not for ritual. For You. Thank You for not recoiling from my mess, but meeting me in it. Thank you that in you alone carries the healing I need. Amen.