UPDATED Today’s Spiritual Food for Thought is an updated version of AMI QT Devotional first posted on August 27, 2013.

Spiritual Food for Thought for the Weekend 

“The Train of His Robe”

Luke 8:42b-48

As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians,[f] she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

What made the woman touch Jesus in faith?  Was it a common belief that a sick person could be cured by touching someone who is thought to have the power of God?  Or was there more to it than that?  At the risk of reading slightly into the text, recall the prophet Isaiah who “saw the Lord… the train of his robe fill[ing] the temple” (Isa. 6:1).  What Isaiah saw was God’s glory.  

Could it be that the woman, along with many others in Israel, was familiar with the train of God’s robe and believed that it was another expression of God’s glory?  Could it be that when the woman was touching the edge of Jesus’ cloak, she believed that the carpenter’s son was more than a healer of sick bodies, but the long-awaited Messiah?  Was she getting a glimpse of God’s glory?  

The moment she encountered God’s glory, immediately she was healed!  She experienced the truth of Malachi 4:2: “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”  The “train of His robe”, “healing in its wings”, and “the edge of His cloak” not only present a similar imagery, but they also describe one common theme: God’s glory.  

Pray for God’s healing wing to touch you and others.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, may Your magnificent glory fill my life so that my whole self may be restored and redeemed in Your Son Christ.  Amen. 

Bible Reading for Today: 2 Kings 15-16