Matt 9, Hebrews 13, and James 3

[Jacob Ben Avraham]

MATTHEW 9:20-26   

     These verses relate the story of the woman who had an issue of blood.  Probably her menstrual cycle was continuous or very irregular.  In such a condition, if she was married, could not have any sexual contact with her husband, had to sleep in a separate bed or even a separate room, and could not go to worship service at the Temple. 

     She saw the opportunity to be healed by Messiah Yeshua/Jesus.  Took advantage, and was healed.  First, she recognized Yeshua as a healer, who had the power from God.  Had she not had this belief or faith, she would not have came close to him.  But she did, and she took action.  She reached out and touched his "Tzitziot" (the fringes on the four corners of his outer garment). Immediately, her blood flow stopped, healing was achieved.

     Her inner thoughts:  "If I only touch his garment, I shall be healed"   Yeshua's response;  "Your faith has healed you."  Now, How did the writer Matthew know about her inner thoughts?  She could have told him afterwards, or the Spirit of God revealed those thoughts to him to write them down
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     We are reminded of the verse:  "Faith without works is dead."  The woman illustrated her faith when she reached out and touched the hem of the garment of Yeshua.  Not that the Tzitziot had any magic power in themselves, but Yeshua did! and that power went through his body and into the fringes. 

     Had she doubted, she would not have been healed. She might have just watched Yeshua go by without doing anything, she would have continued to have the issue of blood.  Imagine if Noah "believed" that God would send the flood, but did not follow through to build the Ark.  Today, we would all be either fish or plants.  The world would have been destroyed, including Noah, yet he put action behind his faith, and thus, he and his family were saved to repopulate the earth.

     May we all put action behind our faith so as to receive blessings from above. 

HEBREWS 13:4

    "Let marriage be respected by all, and the bed undefiled.  But Elohim shall judge those who commit fornication and adultery ." 

Many treat marriage as something that can be deleted at will, or a game, or just not take said commitment seriously, but God DOES take it seriously.  In a marriage, there are three persons in that covenant;  The man, the woman, and God himself.  Call it a "three-some" Husbands and wives are to love each other and treat each other with respect.  God is an "action" not a "feeling".  "For God so loved the world that he GAVE..."  "Giving" is an action. 

In a marriage, both partners give of themselves.  They give to each other and they give to God.  Just as adultery exists in marriages today, so did it exist in times before, even the people of God went after strange gods, bowing down and worshipping them, thus committing adultery before their "Bridegroom". 

Let us all, who are part of the "Bride of Messiah Yeshua" be faithful to our "bridegroom" and not let the riches or power of this world take us away from our worship and honor to Adonai, which should come first place, especially on the Sabbath and on Sundays.

JAMES 3:2-12

    Here the text talks about our tongue, full of venom, full of curses, a tongue can not be tamed, issuing forth blessings and curses alike.  Because of our sin nature  "Yetzer Hara" in Hebrew, our carnality shows its ugly head.  A tree can not produce two kinds of fruit, but the tongue can issue forth both words of blessings and words of curses, gossip, talebearing, slander, etc..

    According to the ancient rabbis, a tongue which let loose slander, gossip, untruths, etc  brought leprosies of all types.  Thus the skin condition of a person told of the person's inner corruption.  I know that can't be proven by science, but if you have a skin condition which is abnormal, some skin disease which is noticeable, do an inner self check, maybe you have said things in a rush, hurt feelings, confess before our Heavenly Father, it could be that the skin condition or disease might disappear.  Of course, it is not the case all the time, but it is something to think about. 

     The rabbis of old always said to listen carefully, that is why we have two ears, but jut one mouth, and one tongue in our mouth.  Listen, then process what we heard in our brains, then, think about how we will respond.  Be quick to hear but slow to speak.  And when we do speak, weigh our words as if we were purchasing gold.  Wouldn't we rather give a piece of gold to someone, rather than a piece of dung? then let our words be like gold and not like dung.

Have a blessed week.       Ben Avraham