Holding On to His Garment
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2
It is December. Everyone is preparing for Bethlehem. Lights hung. Trees decorated. Carols in the air. But I am on the eastern shore of the Jordan. Waiting to go into Jerusalem.
This has been a long and slow journey traveling with Jesus. I started it in the new year before the great pestilence. I never imagined it would take as long to write his story as it did for him to live out the three years of his ministry.
Right now, we are paused by the river where John first called out the warning of repentance. But it has been a while since that prophet's head was served up on a platter. Ahead of us is more teaching about the Kingdom and the well-meaning hosannas as Jesus will enter his holy city on the colt of a donkey. More than the tables of the money changers will be overturned in the courts of the Temple during that final Passover. Prophesies will be fulfilled, and blood will be shed that will overturn the tables of Judaism forever.
Because something new is coming that no one could imagine even though the prophets had been preaching and predicting and prophesying it since that first ill-fated conversation between Eve and the serpent; the fallen angel with a deep grudge against God and all His Creation.
I have been walking the roads with Jesus through the very detailed remembrances of the four good news writers. Matthew, the very Jewish, very meticulous tax collector, and unlikely disciple. Mark, the young cohort of impetuous Peter. Luke, the good Gentile doctor, who carefully interviewed and investigated the claims about this fully-God-fully-man crucified by the Romans yet risen from the grave as a fully-living Messiah. And of course, John the disciple who understood above all else how truly loved he was. It is proving to be a remarkable journey. Their stories crisscross over each other with just enough variance to prove to me their stories are authentic.
Jesus sends them back to the ancient scriptures over and over and over again. He teaches God’s law as if he wrote it. He knows God’s heart as if he feels His emotions. He understands God’s thoughts as if they were his own. He details God’s Kingdom as if he has been there. It is good to read aloud his words so I can hear them with my own ears. He certainly is a challenge. If you sit with him for a while you begin to understand following behind him is not going to be easy. Or convenient.
My beautiful friend Ellie, fashion model tall, traveling the world from Milan to Dubai to Los Angeles will tell you the same thing. She is launching her fashion line, developing her brand, overseeing manufacturing, and accepting invitations to fashion shows that will literally shine a spotlight on her clothing line. Inside each garment hangs a label, attached with a ribbon, telling the story of Jesus. It is as offensive as he is. She was just asked to withdraw from two shows unless she removed the name of Jesus from each garment. She refused. Her garments were returned to her. The labels had been ripped off and thrown into the trash.
Yes, my head nodded. Yes. What an incredible opportunity she is being given to walk so closely behind her Lord that her hand is holding onto the hem of his garment. Yes!
Light entered into the darkness. Life entered into a world defined by death. But many prefer the darkness. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5 ESV
This week I have read late into the night the gathered stories of a woman who walked through the valley of the shadow of death until she caught ahold of the robe of Rabbi Jesus and never let go. Wednesday evening, the eve of Thanksgiving I pressed both my palms against her shoulders, pressing, pressing them back. I massaged her chest, outward, outward to open her lungs, moving my hands slowly to the bottom of her ribs. Looking into her eyes, I inhaled deeply, and exhaled slowly, encouraging her to breathe deeply God's breath into her lungs. We talked, and I read to her. She asked me to pray over her. I kissed her on the top of her head and said goodbye with plans to visit together her son Jacob’s restaurant in the New Year.
This week I write her obituary. Weaving together her stories from family and friends and caregivers telling of her courage and patience and boldness and kindness, her love and her light. Her name was Lauri. She was my friend for 29 years. God gave her the story of paralyzed arms and hands, feet and legs, through a sudden unusual encounter with polio in her 20s shortly after her son was born. Darkness and death descended. But she chose light and life and held tightly to the hem of a Savior. Her physical body was confined to a wheelchair, yet her spirit soared beyond earthly boundaries because of the name of Jesus.
Ellie’s story. Lauri’s story. Following Jesus is not going to be easy. Or convenient. The darkness will push against you. But it will not overcome the light and the life of Jesus.
“Joy to the World,” we sing, “the Lord has come!” He has. But he is coming again. And I am not ready. I don’t mean with my Christmas decorations or my gift buying. I have been given much, and much is expected of me. I have not used up my gifts given to me by God yet. There is still much to be done. And this season of expectation reminds me I am running out of time.
Each morning I feel the urgency to get out of bed early while it is still dark to read His words and ponder them. From my brain, where I wrestle to understand them until I hear his voice guiding my thoughts and they find their way into my heart and then out into a new chapter of The Stories of Jesus. I don’t know what God has planned for these words; I only know I must write them. And time is running short.
Because dawn is coming. The night sky is receiving the light that has yet to break over the horizon. But it is coming, nevertheless.
This is the command I hear this morning. “Hold on. Hold on to the hem of his garment.” Do not back down. Do not give in, do not give up. He is coming. He is coming.
Perhaps you need to hear these words.
He may be coming to you on a starlit night as a babe nestled in the arms of a young Jewish girl. Hold on. He may be coming to you, almost unreachable, surrounded by the crowd on his way to heal someone else. Hold on. He may be coming to you through palm-branched joy heralding hope as the coming Messiah, a king coming into his Holy City. Hold on. He may be coming to you covered in blood as he drags his own cross outside the city gates. Hold on. He may be coming to you through a locked door, a risen Savior with nail holes in the palms of his hands. Hold on. Or he may be coming to you as a mighty warrior on a white stallion with angel armies and trumpet blasts.
He is coming. So hold on to the hem of his garment. Hold on to his outstretched hand. Hold on.*
Always, always hold onto the words of God, protected and passed down through the generations. Isaiah prophesied it; Jesus fulfilled it. The Light was coming. Hold on.
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:1-3a, 6-7
When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned."
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:12-17
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
* Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:23-25
Hold On To Me Lauren Daigle