The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Feel Like An Outcast? Touch Jesus’ Garment

Episode Date: February 15, 2019

Have you ever felt like an outcast? This is a show of hope and possibility. In the old testament, because the righteousness of Israel could not overcome the sin and unrighteousness of Egypt, Israelites were given a law that separated them from that unrighteousness. In the new testament, however, Jesus reaches out and touches those very people. Why? Because his righteousness is powerful enough to overcome the darkness and unrighteousness in this world. He cleanses us so that we can come and touch the Son of God. It is the people who feel like outcasts that Jesus longs to touch. He longs to give their lives significance and meaning. Jeff explains the context behind the bible passage about the woman who touched Jesus’ garment (Mark 5:25-34) and shows you ways to reach out and touch him today. For the full shownotes, go to ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow or email us at [e-mail] to get them delivered stright to your inbox.

You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show, Episode 102, Feeling Like an Outcast, Touch Jesus Garmint. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven Show. Hey, welcome to the show. I've got an exciting show for you today, a show. of hope, a show of possibility. Have you ever felt like an outcast? I have. Remember in school growing up feeling like an outcast and wondering if anybody would ever want to marry me when I got older. I know that a lot of people feel that way, and perhaps you do. So today's the show for you.

I'm so glad that you took the time to join me. I appreciate your involvement with the show and sending me notes on what you'd like to hear about or questions that you might have, and we answer those questions. We read all the emails that come in, and you can send your questions and your comments to The Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. You know, throughout the years,

I'm very aware of the people who feel like outcasts in life. When you turn the television on in the evening and you look at all the game shows and people, you know, on the voice, and America's got talent and all the Grammy Awards and everything else. It seems like everything is going well for so many people. But for many of us, and maybe you feel this way, you don't feel like you're really in. And maybe growing up in school, you didn't feel like you were part of the in crowd

or you were not part of the jocks and the cool kids, sort of speak. And that's kind of the way that you have felt, kind of like an outcast. and many of us can feel like outcast in society that our life isn't significant. It doesn't matter. Nobody cares. And we can feel like that really for a lot of different reasons. One of those reasons is that perhaps is something that happened to you when you were growing up. Maybe even the way you were treated by your parents or a relative or a teacher, a coach, something like that. I've heard of many stories where coaches demoralized young people with the things. they said and the criticism that they brought to the playing field, and it has kind of followed them. In my case, I felt sort of like an outcast starting in sixth grade when I, I know it sounds trivial now, but at the time it was big, I wet my pants in front of the whole school in an auditorium listening to a speaker. And from that point on, I sort of felt like an outcast, you know, and I struggled in junior high with acne, and I just didn't feel good about

myself. I felt like an outcast. I felt dirty, if you will. And this can happen to you with experiences that you've had, maybe with a past boyfriend or whatever. But I want you to know that it's people who feel like outcasts that Jesus longs to touch and to give their life significance and meaning. And I believe he has that for you today. And I want to share with you a story from the scriptures that is very, very powerful, and it involves the touching of Jesus garment, and we're going to get deep into that. Now, this is going to be one of those lessons where I'm going to give you a lot of notes in the show notes, and if you are not getting show notes, send me an email, the Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com in the subject line, just put, I want those show notes, and we'll send them to

you for every show. I mean, you're going to get them, and then you don't have to get in a car accident, writing down Malachi chapter 4 in verse 2. You can just enjoy the ride and listen and perhaps go back and get the show notes and even listen again. But it's one of those shows where I'm going to ask you to listen to it, but then perhaps go back with your Bible and underline some scriptures that I think will feed you for years to come. And it's going to give you a look into the first world, first century of Jesus teaching and even the garments that he wore. And I'm going to include in the show notes a picture of a prayer shawl that I'm talking about in the lesson today called a talit, a prayer shawl that Jesus was familiar with, and there were corners on the tassels on the

four corners of the garment called tzit, tzziot, plural. I'm going to send you a picture of that in the show notes, so you'll have an idea of what I'm talking about. But the story that I want to share with you today comes from Mark chapter 5 versus 25 through 34, and it's a common, well-known story about a woman with an issue of blood. She had a hemorrhage, a bleeding that she went to doctors and tried to get it fixed, taken care of, and only got worse. And she was at Wits' end, and she ended up running into Jesus. So let's pick it up with Mark Chapter 5. Let me read this story to you, and then we'll make some comments on it about how Jesus really, really his love, his power, his anointing, flows to those who feel like outcasts, for those who feel they're

dirty, or they are in the margin. You know, they're not part of mainstream. And maybe you feel like that. Maybe you know of somebody who feels like that. Well, this is a show that you can send on to them. Well, let's read the story. Mark 5, 25 through 34, and there was a woman who had a flow of blood for 12 years and who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she had and was no better but

rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, if I touch even his garments, I shall be made well. And immediately the hemorrhage ceased and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power, had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, Who touched my garments? And his disciples said to him, well, you see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say who touched me. And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling, and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her daughter,

Your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease. Wow, what a, what a powerful story. An amazing story. I mean, we could spend, we could spend three or four shows just talking about different aspects of it. But I want to get to the heart of this woman who no doubt felt like an outcast. Now, the reason I say that she felt like an outcast is you have to understand the law in the Hebrew scriptures and the mindset of the day. And that is that when women were in their menstrual cycle, they were considered in the Hebrew scriptures unclean. And when they were finished with their menstrual cycle, they would go through a ceremonial cleansing procedure where they would go and dip in what was called a mikva, a water, like a tub of water, flowing with

living water. That's water that's moving. And they would be ceremonial. clean, and then they could be back intimate with their husband. But while they had the flow of blood, they were considered unclean. And an unclean woman does not touch men and is considered unclean. And so what she does here in coming up behind Jesus, notice that she comes up behind him, not straight face on, but behind him, kind of demonstrates that she knows she's in a load of trouble as far as this bleeding, but she wants to reach out and she wants to touch a part of Jesus' garment. And it's very clear in the gospel there in verse 30 that she wants to touch his garments. And the question is, what part of the garment is she touching and what will

happen if she touches that particular part of his garment? Well, we know she's healed. But what's really interesting is this and all just a little bit of commentary before we get to the garment that he was wearing, and you can look in the show notes and see a picture of that kind of a garment, was that Jesus is being pressed by the crowds. Now, a few weeks ago, at the time of this show, the Super Bowl took place, and the Patriots, again, were playing the Rams, and they won again. And afterwards, you might remember, CBS covered this, Tom Brady was absolutely inundated by the press and people from every side. In fact, it sounded a little dangerous, and he kept saying to the crowd, move back, move back, come on, come on. And he was really being pressed. Now, I imagine that that's the

kind of scene here where everyone's pressing in around Jesus. Reporters wanted to get a quote, and people want to touch him and see him, talk to him, ask a question, perhaps. And suddenly, he says, who touched me? Who touched my garments? And the disciples, I believe with sort of a chuckle said, Lord, I mean, I think of the Tom Brady situation. Lord, there's people all around you. What do you mean who touched you? He goes, no, somebody touched me. Healing, virtue, power went out from me. And it turns out it was this woman who reached out and touched the hem of his garment. She touched the edge of his garment. Well, she was considered ceremonially unclean. And so this took chutz This took guts for her to do, but she had to have had tremendous confidence that even a person who's considered unclean could touch the Son of God.

And you see, this is the beautiful thing about Jesus, is that in the Pharisees' worldview, the word Pharisee means a separated one. And for the Pharisees, they separated themselves from everybody else. Nobody touches me. I don't touch women who are in the menstrual cycle, Gentiles, and so forth. and their separateness was a sign of their quote-unquote holiness. Well, Jesus turned that upside down, and we find out that his holiness will withstand anything that is considered unclean in the world. And so when she touches him, he's not going to condemn her, even though she thinks that,

that, oh, no, I've done something wrong. She starts trembling, and she fell down and she told him the truth. Isn't it funny how the view we have of God sometimes that he's going to take a club and beat us or we try to approach him and I'm so dirty and he doesn't want anything to do with me. Well, she broke through that and she touched him and she ended up becoming healed. Well, what about this garment that she touched? What did it symbolize? What's going on here?

Okay? In the Jewish culture, in the Jewish culture, starting way back in the Old Testament, they were told to attach tassels. on the four corners of their garment. You can read this in Deuteronomy chapter 22, and in Numbers chapter 15, and when they came out of Egypt, they were told by Moses in the law to make tassels on the four corners with a blue cord on each tassel. So there would be white tassels and then one blue cord on each end, and it would be a reminder of the commandments of the Lord. And the Jews believe that there were 613 commandments. And so the way that they tied,

these tassels, look at the picture when you get out of the car, when you tie these garments or these tassels, you would tie them in such a way with knots and wrappings that would have a numerical equivalent of all four put together of 613, which when you look at the tassels on the corners of your prayer shawl, you would be reminded that you're a son of the commandments. You're a daughter of the commandments in today's language. Now, you've been bar mitzvid. Now, if you go to New York or someplace where the Orthodox Jews live, you'll see that even still today, they wear these tassels on the four corners of their garment, but they wear it under their garment with the tassels out along their leg. That's called a Talit Katan, a small talit. The large talit is a prayer shawl. It too

has these tassels with the cord of blue on it. Very, very interesting. And so the four corners, now this is so fascinating, and this is why I said later, I think you might want to take a piece of paper and write some of these scriptures down. The Jews believed that in the days of Jesus, they believe that when the Messiah finally comes, he will have healing in his tassels. On the four corners of his garment are these tassels, and they will have healing virtue. Now, they get this even from the Old Testament. The very last book of the Old Testament is Malachi. And in Malachi chapter four, the last chapter four in verse two, it says,

But for you who fear my name, the son of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. Now that's a key verse, Malachi chapter four and verse two, because it says, that the Son of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. Now, here's what's interesting. The four corners of the Talit, of the prayer shawl, that the woman touched. These are called in Hebrew the Kanaf, K-A-N-A-P-H, the Kanaf. The Kanaf is the Hebrew word for wings. And the four corners of the prayer shawl are called the wings of the prayer shawl. And the tassel, are attached to the kanaf. They're attached to those four corners of the garment,

whether it's a Talit or a Talit Katan, the smaller one. Now, they believed that there were, and they were taught, and it's in scripture, Deuteronomy 22, in Numbers 15, that there are seven white strings per corner in one blue thread. Okay. Now, the seven represent completeness and covenant. white symbolizes purity. Blue, unity. So that gives you seven white strings and a blue string for a total of eight. And eight is the number of new beginnings. Now, let me ask you a question. If you feel like an outcast, you feel like a nobody, you feel dirty, do you need a new beginning? I'm going to challenge you to touch Jesus. I'm going to challenge you to touch his garments. And we'll get to that in just a little bit. We're going to take a break when I come back. I want to get into that and more about these garments that Jesus wore, what the woman did, and what is available to you today. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven Show. If you're looking for a way to learn more about your Catholic

faith, I invite you to check out the Ascension Presents YouTube channel. You're going to find tons of free videos featuring Catholic presenters like Matt Frad, Leodero, Jackie Bobby Angel, and Emily Wilson. Go to YouTube.com slash Ascension Presents. That's YouTube.com slash ascension presents. And if you like what you see, please share and subscribe. Welcome back. We're talking about the garment industry today, what Jesus wore. You know, Jesus was a Jew. He was a Jew raised by a Jewish mother, Jewish stepfather, prayed as a Jew, taught as a Jewish rabbi. He observed all the feasts, the coach, everything. And it's so beautiful to to study him within the culture. And one of the things that we know he did is he wore the prayer shawls

and they called the Talit and the Talit Katan underneath the garments with the tassels on the four corners which represented the 613 commandments. And we know that this woman in Mark chapter 5 reached out, an unclean woman, and touched the edge of his garment, and she was healed. And virtue, healing virtue went out from Jesus. And we know that the four corners represent, they represent a completeness, covenant, a purity, unity, a new beginning. And that's what this woman needed, right? Purity and a new beginning.

And I'm asking you today, do you need that? Do you need a new beginning? Have you been caught up in sin to the point where it's just demoralized you? And you need a new beginning? This is for you. This is for you. It really is. This is for you. I like what Zachariah said in chapter 8 and verse 23, said 10 people, 10 nations will come from nations and crowd in around one Jew and will reach for the corner of the garment because we have heard that God is with you. Isn't that beautiful?

That's exactly what happened in Mark chapter 5 is that this woman reached out for the corner of garment. And it says that one day, all the nations, 10 nations, will come together, and they're crowd around one Jew, Jesus, and they will receive this healing in a powerful way. I love that. And as I said, the rabbis of the first century taught that the tzit-zit, that is these tassels of the Messiah, would have healing virtue. Now, what's interesting about this is that we see the same type of story in the Old Testament where we see the story of David and Saul. Do you remember that story in 1st Samuel chapter 24 where David was hiding in a cave from Saul? Maybe you remember that. And then Saul came in to relieve himself, and David reached over and he cut off the end of

his garment. He cut off the piece of Saul's garment. And then later was smitten with guilt, and he raised it up and yelled to Saul, hey, buddy, look over here. I could have killed you. what did he do? He cut off the titsyote. He cut off the hem of the garment. He cut off that corner, the kanaf, right? And it was believed that an interesting point about this is that that the tzit, these tassels on the edge of the garment, stood for royalty. Royal, blue, true blue. This represented something about the kingdom, right? And it also represented something of authority, and especially the Tzitiote of the king, had special grace. You know, this is a man of authority. And then it had tremendous blessing and protection in the Jewish culture. And that's why

they get married under what's called a Hupa, a symbol of God's protection and inclusion in the covenant family. A hoopah is like a big prayer shawl. And this would remind them that they're being married under the commandments of the Lord. So it represented royalty and authority and blessing and protection. And this woman with the issue of blood wasn't outcast, it considered unclean. Nobody could help her, not included, and now she's made clean by touching Jesus. I say all of this to say that in your life today, in your life today, I am encouraging you. to reach out and touch Jesus. So how can you touch Jesus today? Obviously, we don't wear the Cizziot in these garments during mass or times of adoration, but there are ways that you can touch him.

The greatest way to touch Jesus, if you're feeling like an outcast, is to receive him with all humility in the Eucharist. Anytime you receive the Eucharist, the Lord comes into you and into your body and shares the grace of the Trinity with you. That is the life of the Trinity. You can touch Jesus by reading the scriptures and taking them into your heart and doing them, putting them into practice. In this way, he can cleanse us and he can give us peace, as I mentioned in a show a few weeks ago, that obeying God's word brings you peace in your life. You can touch Jesus by going to an hour of adoration at your local church. If your church doesn't have adoration, that is, the blessed sacrament on display in a chapel where you can go and sit before

the king of kings and the Lord of Lord, and reach out and touch the hem of his garment spiritually, find a place where you can go in your diocese and spend some time with him. And so another place that you can reach out and touch Jesus, which I love so much, is in the morning. You know, my wife and I have kind of a habit every morning when we get up. We go downstairs and I make her tea. And we sit together around a small table overlooking a pond outside. And we both grab our Bibles and we read the gospel of the day. And we do Lexio Divina. And we're doing it separately, but then we share with one another. And during that time of prayer separately, we reach out and touch him because we hear a personal word from him for that day. And then we can take that word into the day. And that's another

way that we can reach out and touch him. So you've got the mass, you've got the word of God, you've got devotions, you've got adoration. There are a number of ways that you can reach out and touch him. And that's the easy part. The hard part sometimes is getting over the fact that you feel like an outcast, that you feel rejected, that you're not worthy. And you know what? None of us are really worthy in our own right. But due to the work of the cross, Jesus makes us worthy to receive him. And he cleanses us so that we can come and touch the Son of God. This is the beautiful thing about about the Lord is that, you know, in the Old Testament, because the righteousness of Israel could not overcome the sin and unrighteousness of the nation of Egypt, they were given a law

which separated them from unrighteousness. And then Jesus comes on the scene, and he doesn't do that. He reaches out, and he touches the unclean. He touches the outcast. He touches those who are broken, and he makes them whole. Why? Because his righteousness is powerful enough to overcome the darkness in this world. If you don't get anything else out of this show, I want you to get this. No matter what happened to you when you were growing up, no matter the guilt and the shame that you experienced while you were in college, no matter what happened to you in terms of something physical that set you back or you had an injury that really, really

compromised your ability to be successful in your own eyes. I want you to know something. The way the world might look at you is one thing. But I know this. The Lord sees you as a daughter. The Lord sees you as a son and he welcomes you. And like the woman in Mark chapter 5, you might come up behind him and just try to get a touch of that garment. You know what? Today, you can face him. You can look at him. straight on. And you know what the goal of all of this is? Oh, wow. It is to see him face to face the beatific vision that one day in heaven will all see him face to face. Until then, we can reach out and touch him and we can know him. And we're looking through like a glass darkly right now, but then it'll be face to face. And so I want to encourage you today that if you're feeling like

an outcast and you're feeling like the dirty one and that nobody would love you. I want you to know that Jesus does. And I want you to know that he knows when you're pulling on him in power and virtue will leave him and go into your life. And I want to encourage you to reach out. And if you're struggling with some physical ailment, I want to encourage you to find a priest who can pray for you. You know, we can all pray for each other. But sometimes I think it's a nice point of contact in that anointing of the chrism oil for a priest to pray for you, the anointing of the sick. And as that happens, I want you to know, in the sacraments is the greatest way to reach out and touch Jesus. And so if you're hurting today and you're in sickness or some malady, I want you to, I want you

to reach out and touch the hymn of his garment, and I want you to exercise that faith that you have and say, Jesus, yes, I do feel like an outcast. I do feel like I'm not worthy. but Lord, I know that you are the one who reaches those who feel like I do, and I want you to reach out. I want to pray for you today, all right? I want to pray that you'll do that, because I know the Lord is faithful and true, and those who come to him, he will not, he will not reject, but he loves you, and his righteousness is enough to handle your situation. I can imagine that when he looked around and said, who touched me? And the disciples said, what do you mean who touched all these people? No, no. Somebody touch me differently than the crowds. You see, the crowds want to get near him.

It's quite a spectacle. There's Jesus of Nazareth. But one woman, she wanted something from him. And that faith was released, and she received it. So I want to pray for you today. In the name of the Father and the Son, in the Holy Spirit, Lord, I lift up my friend today who might be feeling like an outcast or dirty. I pray for them, Lord, that you would bless them. and that they would come to you and with that faith touch you and receive what they need from you today, that you are not going to push them back. You're not going to ridicule them. You're not going to be angry with them, but you're going to accept them with those eyes of yours and that heart of yours. I thank you for doing that today, and I pray that it'll be a new day, just like the woman with

the issue of blood. It will be a new beginning, a new beginning of purity, a new beginning of unity, a new beginning of completeness as they touch the hymn of your garment. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. My friend, I hope you have a great week and truly reach out, reach out, and touch the Lord. And I want you to know I love you. And I'm praying for you. And I ask you to continue to pray for me. And look at the show notes. I'm going to have a picture of that garment. And you'll know exactly. exactly what I'm talking about. I have a bigger picture and then a tight picture of the tassels,

and they're tied in such a way is to equal the fulfillment of the law. All 613 commandments. And Jesus, yes, he is the fulfillment of the Hebrew scriptures, and he is here to touch your life. Amen? God bless you. You have a great week.