Article February 1, 2021 Issue

Hems and crumbs—a search for healing

Even the simplest desire for good hints at our innate relationship to God, the source
of all good.

Cheryl Ranson

Two unnamed women in the Bible have taught me something about heartfelt longing for healing.

One, part of a crowd whose traditions led them to see her as unclean or impure, quietly and resolutely made her way to Christ Jesus. As the scriptural account records, she “came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole” (Matthew 9:20, 21).

The other, despite the disciples’ protests, loudly and just as resolutely called to the Master. When Jesus pointed out that his mission was specifically to the Hebrew people, she replied, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27).

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