Healings at Gennesaret

88 – Healings at Gennesaret; Matthew 14:34-36, Mark 6:53-56 

Matthew 14:34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed. 

 Mark 6:53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed. 

Commentary 

Gennesaret was an area (what we in the U.S. might think of as a county) on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, and the area was known for its fertile soil, in which figs, olives, palms, and other trees grew well. In fact, the name means “garden of riches” (The Word in Life Study Bible). According to Josephus, the area measured thirty furlongs in width and twenty in breadth (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/14-34.htm). There is a town of the same name (often referred to by the Hebrew Chinnereth) in the same vicinity (Joshua 19:35). However, it seems as though the specific town in which Jesus may have arrived was Capernaum, which was part of the Gennesaret district. Scholars believe this to be the case because of the account in John 6:22, 25, 59 (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/14-34.htm). 

The type of healing people experienced in this passage recalls the healing of the woman with a bleeding disorder, the news of which had surely already spread there, since the two sites are geographically close. Jesus did not announce His plans to visit this area, but because of how quickly the people were able to mobilize, Jesus found those with infirmities everywhere He turned. When I conjure the image of this in my mind, of Jesus being constantly groped, I know He was doing what He came to do, but I can see how it was exhausting. The New King James says that as many people as touched Jesus’s garments were made perfectly well. From the perspective of someone who has ailments that have irritated or even plagued me, the idea of being made “perfectly well” sounds like a dream. I feel sure that I would have made my way to meet Him, without giving a thought to His stamina; it is difficult to reconcile the idea of a boundless God in a fragile human form with finite physical limitations. Remember that Jesus felt power go out of His body when the woman with the bleeding was healed, but He was eager to do what His Father willed and was committed to healing as many people as possible. The fact that people had only to touch Him or His clothing may have meant that He could heal even more people in a short amount of time. 

Gill’s Exposition of the Bible points out that the way the people went out of their way to so quickly spread the word and bring the sick to Jesus is a moving example of the way they loved their neighbors. It is also a stunning example of faith and a demonstration of their sense of unworthiness that they should only be allowed to touch His clothes and not engage the man Himself. Recall that the woman with the bleeding issue was made well because of her faith (not through His actual clothes), and all the people in this study passage who begged to touch the hem of Jesus’s mantle were certainly made well by the same means.  Touching Jesus’s clothes or person did not have power to change anyone without two elements: their own faith and Jesus’s willingness to heal. Remember that those who crucified Jesus touched Him, but they certainly were not changed. The hem, although the extremity of the garment, was in fact significant because it was where the Jewish men wore their tassels with a blue thread that symbolized the divine origin of the commandments (Numbers 15:38, 39) (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/14-36.htm). This doesn’t mean it held any special power but possibly gives us insight into why the people sought that particular article.  

The hem/tassel of Jewish garments played an important role in the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament. David cut off a corner of Saul’s garment (which may have been the part of his clothes that showed he was royal) to prove he could have killed Saul when Saul was sleeping. Saul tore a corner off Samuel’s garment when Samuel rebuked him for not killing the Amalekites. Elisha was given Elijah’s mantle when Elijah was taken to Heaven. Later, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for enlarging their fringes because of pride and self-importance. Therefore, the Jews would have held this article in high regard, but there may be even more to it. Why did the woman with the bleeding issue come up with the idea of touching the tassel in the first place and thereby set the precedent of healing through touching Jesus’s clothes? “According to the prophecy in Malachi 4:2 it says “But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings’…”  The word “wings” used here is the same as the word “borders” seen in Numbers 15:38. So the woman knew that if this is the Messiah, then surely if I can just get close enough to touch the hem or the borders of His garment, I can surely receive healing. She was embracing the promise that the Messiah had healing in His wings” (https://endofthematter.com/2015/10/why-is-there-healing-in-the-hem-of-jesus-garment/). The woman demonstrated her knowledge of prophecy and sincere faith that Jesus was the Messiah. The others who followed suit on the shores of the Sea of Galilee also had faith and may also have recognized the prophecy in action, but they partly (likely) acted due to the news of the woman’s healing by touching Jesus’s clothes. In either case, they went to great lengths to find Jesus by placing themselves in marketplaces where it was rumored He had gone. They clearly believed, or they would never have dragged litters or limped for miles based on hearsay.  

How much do you love your neighbor? Enough to drag him into town when he can’t get there by his own means? Enough to simply tell him about Jesus? 

References 

Matthew 14:34 

Luke 5:1 On one occasion, while Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret with the crowd pressing in on Him to hear the word of God, 
 
John 6:24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum to look for Him. 
 
John 6:25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they asked Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?” 

Matthew 14:35 

Acts 3:10 they recognized him as the man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 
 
Acts 12:14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the gate, but ran inside and announced, “Peter is standing at the gate!” 

Matthew 14:36 

Matthew 9:20 Suddenly a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak. 
 
Matthew 9:21 She said to herself, “If only I touch His cloak, I will be healed.” 
 
Mark 3:10 For He had healed so many that all who had diseases were pressing forward to touch Him. 
 
Mark 8:22 When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 
 
Luke 6:19 The entire crowd was trying to touch Him, because power was coming from Him and healing them all. 

Mark 6:53 

John 6:24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum to look for Him. 
 
John 6:25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they asked Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?” 

Mark 6:55 

Acts 5:15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 

Mark 6:56 

Numbers 15:37 Later, the LORD said to Moses, 
 
Matthew 9:20 Suddenly a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak. 
 

Mark 3:10 For He had healed so many that all who had diseases were pressing forward to touch Him. 

Commentary 

Joshua 19:35 The fortified towns were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Kinnereth, 

John 6:22 The next day the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there except one, and that Jesus had not gotten into the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had departed alone. 

John 6:25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?” 

John 6:59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. 

Numbers 15:38 “Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a violet thread. 

Numbers 15:39 It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, so that you will do them and not follow your own heart and your own eyes, which led you to prostitute yourselves,