Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Luke 8:51-55 When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child's father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. "Stop wailing," Jesus said. "She is not dead but asleep." They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, "My child, get up!" Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.
GET UP!
Everyone knew the little girl was dead. Jesus knew it. Her parents knew it. The professional mourners who were wailing outside knew it, and they laughed when Jesus suggested that her state of death did not concern Him any more than if she had been asleep. "What can He do?" they all wondered.
What can He do, indeed! Only raise her from the dead! You parents can imagine what an impact this must have had on the father and mother. Imagine the amazement that ran through the house when the girl who had been dead all of a sudden stood up!
We shake our heads too and we think, "Wow!" Perhaps we even think of our own children when we hear this lesson. If you're like me, you have those scary moments once in awhile where you picture losing a child. You might think, "If that happened, it would sure be nice for Jesus to come along and raise my child from the dead!" The beauty of it is that He promises to do exactly that. Jesus does not let His children die. After all, through faith in His redeeming blood they are members of His own family -- children of the heavenly Father. Jesus has promised to get them all up from death to live with Him forever. As the Apostle Paul wrote (1 Co 15:52): "For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."
For Jesus, bringing someone back from the dead is no more impossible than rousing someone from sleep. The twelve-year old daughter of Jairus shows us that. The Lord's own resurrection from the dead proves it too. "Because I live, you will live also," Jesus tells us (Jn 14:19). That goes for children and adults alike.
