Beneath the Healing Wing of the Almighty (Mark 6:53-56)

“When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and beached the boat. As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Him. They hurried throughout that vicinity and began to carry the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard He was” (Mark 6:53-54). I can feel their excitement even now as I type these words. For those who had so long been under the tyranny of the Devil there was hope. The gentle healer had come!

For long years they had waited for the promise spoken in Malachi to be fulfilled. They been told that, “the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings” (Malachi 4:2). Four hundred years of silence followed this prophecy, and then in their lifetime John the Baptist had burst on the scene! He was a messenger from God, “One crying out in the wilderness; ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’” (Mark 1:3). Jesus had come. They recognized Him. And what was their response to His presence? “They hurried throughout that vicinity and began to carry the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard He was” (Mark 6:55). Every broken body on those stretchers represented a broken heart and broken dreams, not only of the sick person but of all who loved them.

Now at last there was hope that the tyranny and oppression under which they had suffered for so long was at last broken. “Wherever He would go, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him that they might just touch the tassel of His robe. And everyone who touched it was made well” (Mark 6:56). What was represented by this tassel? This tassel would have been on the prayer shawl worn by Jewish men.  The Hebrew word for the tassel was “Kanaph.” It can be translated “wing”. The first time this word is ever used is in Exodus 19:4: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings (kanaph), and brought you unto
myself.”

Whoever touched it was made well. The Greek word for “to be made well” is sozo. It means “deliver out of danger and into safety; used principally of God rescuing believers from the penalty and power of sin - into His provisions (safety).”* As this story unfolds before me, my heart begins to beat faster. By faith I see Him. The sun of righteousness has come with healing in His wings, so I come by faith. I come and bring to Him in prayer the ones I love who cannot walk on their own. I seek shelter and healing for myself and those I love beneath the healing wing of the Almighty.

*HELPS Word-studies