The Lesson of the Tassel

There is an odd verse in Deuteronomy 22:12 in which God tells the Israelites to sew tassels on the four corners of their garment. I understand that it was a common practice to wear a rectangular outer garment in that day.

I think most people are familiar with the fact that the Israelites were delivered from centuries of slavery in Egypt and then wandered around in the wilderness for forty years before moving in to conquer the "Promised Land" - some of which is the land now occupied by the nation Israel.

During this time Moses, their humble leader, passed God's laws and precepts for societal structure along to them. The book of Deuteronomy is something of a review of those concepts. So the command to install tassels on their garment is actually a restatement of something said earlier.

In the book of Numbers, chapter 15, you can find the original outlay of that concept:

...Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.' " Numbers 15:38b-41 NIV

So the tassels were to serve as reminders... the slender blue thread would catch the eye - blue: the color of heaven or the heavens.

The tassel would cause them to Look, to Remember, to Do the things God had said and to Not Do the things that come from their own nature. Every morning as the outer garment was put on and the tassels passed before their eyes they would look, remember, remember to do what God had said and not to do the desires of their own hearts. Again, in the evening as they disrobed to retire, they would see the tassels and remember.
Throughout the day as they moved about the camp, perhaps their eyes would fall upon the tassel on someone else's garment and it reminded them of heaven.

Time passed, the tradition continued -Jesus probably wore these tassels on His garment.

Perhaps it was one of the tassels on His robe that held captive the attention of a desperate woman whose life had been ruined by sickness. She had determined in her heart - maybe it was a prayer - but she said "if I can just touch the hem of His garment..." - the fringe, the tassel.

Can you become that woman for a moment?
- short, rapid breaths because of the discomfort of the disease and the exertion of trying to fight through that crowd.
-despair! The noise of the throng seems to indicate He has moved out of reach! Oh - if only you could see Him!
-suddenly there is a momentary break in the mass of bodies and you catch sight of it - the tassel... the objective!

She finally made it and the reminder of heaven with the cord of blue, became the point at which she found restoration and healing.

What about the woman thrust into the middle of one of Jesus' teaching sessions. She was dragged there - barely clothed- by a group of pious old men. They did not really do it to shame her. They were unconcerned about how she felt. They merely wanted to use her as a pawn in their game of religious oneupmanship. Her situation would allow them to present a convoluted conundrum to this young upstart of a Teacher.

She just looked down as this disrupted classroom now became a court room and the Judge before whom she stood was stooping ... writing on the ground. She did not dare lift her eyes above His feet, maybe she just watched that tassel sway above those feet, in the morning breeze.

The elders that accused her . . . she had seen tassels on their robes as they drug her through the gravel of the street. But their tassels were large and drew one's attention- not to heaven - but to the wearer.
This Teacher - His tassel now served as a point of focus, something to look at in order to shut out everything else.

Suddenly she was shaken back to reality by the dull thud of stones dropping to the ground behind her.
Had it begun?

"Woman, where are your accusers?"

And she cut her eyes to each side and became aware that they were gone.

"Neither do I condemn you ... go and sin no more..."

She returned to the tassel and the tiny thread and raised her eyes to meet His! From a small reminder of heaven to Heaven come to earth!

Six days before He would be crucified, Jesus was enjoying a meal with his friends. It was a banquet - a celebration of sorts; at the table sat Lazarus, a man that had recently died and Jesus had raised back to life. It was his sisters, Mary and Martha that were preparing the meal. As was her custom, Mary left the kitchen work with Martha and went back to the table to be near Jesus. She brought with her, an expensive aromatic ointment and began to anoint His feet with it. She wiped away the excess with the long flowing locks of her hair.

It was a moment of pure, uninhibited - unquestioning worship.

And there was the tassel - I believe it likely brushed across Mary's face as she wiped those feet she held dear.
And that moment - of unfettered obedience coupled with the overwhelming aroma and the caress of that tassel across her cheek - was probably etched into her memory for eternity. What a scene!

Look.
Remember.
Do as God has said.
Do not do as your nature dictates.

All this at the sight of a tassel with a single strand bearing the color of heaven.

Today - I believe that Jesus fulfilled the laws of the Old Testament; so I do not have to do anything to earn His salvation. But I further believe that there are many things I should do because of that salvation.

What does the color of heaven compel me to do?

To look to Him and remember the Lord God that has delivered me from bondage.
To do the things He has told me: to love my neighbor as myself and to love God with all my heart.
In so doing, to avoid the things that my own selfish nature would cry out for.

How do I see the color of heaven today? In the western society I live in, I see very few tassels.

I can see the color of heaven in the morning sky...perhaps in the eyes of a person in need of God's compassion... maybe in the songs of the birds and the scent of the honeysuckles.

Every encounter, every word, every breath, and gentle nudge from God's Word... these can all color my thinking and they are opportunities to view each day through heaven's prism.