According to the Gospel of Mark, as Jesus passes through

Gennesaret Kinneret () is the name of an important Bronze and Iron Age city situated on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, mentioned in the 14th century BC Aqhat Epic of Ugarit, and in the Old Testament and New Testament. Older Bible translations ...

, just after the account of him walking on water, all those who touch the edge, or Hem, or

fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts * Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe" * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * The Fringe, the ...

of his cloak are healed: The same account is given in Matthew 14:34-36. In both the gospels, those who were sick aimed to touch the tassels (Greek: gr, κράσπεδον, ''kraspedon'') of Jesus' garments, "which in accordance with , the Jew wore on each of the four extremities of his cloak". First-century historian

Flavius Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

refers to the Gennesaret area as having very rich soil. The town was perhaps halfway between

Capernaum Capernaum ( ; he, כְּפַר נַחוּם, Kfar Naḥum, Nahum's village; ar, كفر ناحوم, Kafr Nāḥūm) was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It ...

and Magdala. This account is seen by some as a vindication of the reverence paid to

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tang ...

practiced in the Catholic and Orthodox churches. As

John McEvilly John McEvilly (1818–1902) was an Irish Roman Catholic Church clergyman who served as the Archbishop of Tuam from 1881 to 1902. He was born on 15 April 1818 in Louisburgh, a small town near Westport, County Mayo, Ireland., ''The Episcopal Su ...

notes, this is because Jesus, "far from condemning, as superstitious, the respect and reverence paid to the clothes which He wore, even directly sanctions it, by working miracles in approval of it."

References

{{Miracles of Jesus, state=expanded Miracles of Jesus

See also

References