The Tassels of Christ

After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.

Mark 6:53-56

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Tangible God

At the sight of Jesus, hope and expectation filled the hearts of people as they ran about gathering their sick and spreading the good news of his arrival. Compassion, kindness, and healing power emanated from Christ’s whole person, even the fringes of his garment. Never before in Israel’s history could God touch or be touched. The Greek verb haptomai (to touch) occurs thirty times in the Gospels in the context of Jesus healing or blessing children.

Healing Wings

The prophet Malachi had foretold the coming of “the sun of righteousness,” who would arise “with healing in its wings” (Malachi 4:2 or 3:20). The Hebrew word for “wing” or “extremity” (kanaph) appears in Numbers 15:38 to refer to the “wings” or “corners” of garments, upon which the Lord instructed the Israelites to fasten tassels (tsitsith).

Tsitsith (tassel) is derived from tsiyts, which has the meanings of “blossom,” “flower,” “shining plate” (as on the diadem of a high priest’s mitre), and “wing.” The noun tsiyts is related to the verb tsuwts—”to blossom, shine, sparkle.” Even in English, to “tassel out” means to bloom or blossom.

Healing Tassels

The original purpose of the tsitsith (tassel) was to be a blossom of obedience to the Lord’s commandments: “When you use these tassels, the sight of the cord will remind you of all the commandments of the Lord and you will do them, without prostituting yourself going after the desires of your hearts and your eyes” (Numbers 15:39). Abundant blessings bloom from the blossoms of obedience: “For the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul” (Psalm 19:7(8), RSV).

In the Greek translation of Numbers 15:38, kraspedon (fringe, edge, corner, tassel) corresponds to the Hebrew word tsitsith. Kraspedon is the very word used in Mark 6:56: “Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.”

Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.

Psalm 17:8

Traditional Chinese Translation

《基督的流蘇》
神的兒子乘著翅膀帶來了醫治。
他長袍的流蘇綻放著祝福。