The fringes on the hems of Jewish robes or the four corners of modern prayer shawls are reminders to keep all the Mosaic commandments, including the Ten Commandments. For many seeking help from Jesus, these fringes had come to signify more: the opportunity for healing. As Jesus walked the roads of Galilee and beyond, individuals sought him out—many hoping just to touch his hem to feel the healing power of the divine law of God, good, which he expressed through his Christly nature. 

For example, a woman who had suffered from an illness for 12 years made her way through a crowd and, on reaching Jesus and touching the hem of his robe, was healed. It wasn’t the physical touch of his garment that healed her, but the divine touch she felt as Jesus sensed her mental outreach and responded to it with his understanding of the law of God. This resulted in physical healing—she walked away whole (see Luke 8:43–48). Today, the Christly hem continues to symbolize the eternal healing power of God. 

Jesus may not be walking the roads of our hometowns today, but we can still touch this symbolic healing hem. How? The Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, points us in this direction: “Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress. The age seems ready to approach this subject, to ponder somewhat the supremacy of Spirit, and at least to touch the hem of Truth’s garment” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 170).