Jesus Raises Jairus’ Daughter – by Ritchie Way

Sep 2, 2015 7400

jairus-daughter-1‘A leader of the synagogue, named Jairus, came there, saw Jesus, and fell at his feet. He begged Jesus, saying again and again, “My daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so she will be healed and will live.” So Jesus went with him….

Some people came from the house of the synagogue leader. They said, “Your daughter is dead. There is no need to bother the teacher anymore. But Jesus paid no attention to what they said. He told the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

Jesus let only Peter, James, and John the brother of James go with him. When they came to the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus found many people there making lots of noise and crying loudly. Jesus entered the house and said to them, “Why are you crying and making so much noise? The child is not dead, only asleep.” But they laughed at him.

So, after throwing them out of the house, Jesus took the child’s father and mother and his three followers into the room where the child was. Taking hold of the girl’s hand, he said to her, “Talitha, koum!” (This means, “Young girl, I tell you to stand up!’? At once the girl stood right up and began walking. (She was twelve years old.)

Everyone was completely amazed. Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell people about this. Then he told them to give the girl something to eat’ (Mark 5:22-23,35-43 NCY).

Jairus must have been at the end of his tether for him, a respected religious leader, to fall face down at the feet of the radical preacher, Jesus, and beg him, over and over, to come and heal his dying daughter. Jesus agreed to his request and they set off together, but interruptions occurred along the way, delaying them. Then some people from Jairus’s house came to inform him that it was too late, his daughter had died, and that he shouldn’t bother Jesus any more.

The assumption was that time was greater than Jesus, and this time, time had won. As long as there was a glimmer of life left Jesus might have been able to revive the sick person, but once life left the body then that person passed from the realm of the possible into the realm of the impossible-beyond help. But the news of the death of Jairus’s daughter didn’t faze Jesus a bit. He put his hand on Jairus’s shoulder and said to him, “Don’t be afraid. Just believe.”

Believe what? you may ask. Believe that death is not the ultimate victor, and that Jesus is more powerful than death.

Jesus would not honour the cessation of life by calling it death. To him it was nothing more than sleep, from which the dead person would wake, either now or later. ‘Sleep’ was not a euphemism that Jesus used for death. If it were then his statement, “The child is not dead, only asleep” would have been nonsensical. It would have been like saying, “The child is not dead, only dead.” Death is not the end because Jesus would conquer it.

For unbelievers death is the last stop on life’s road. Any suggestion that the dead will rise again will provoke the same response as Jesus’ statement to the mourners did—scornful laughter. But their laughter caught in their throats when the happy girl danced into the courtyard where the mourners were gathered.

Yes, Jesus is ‘God with us.’ Nothing was too difficult for him. His ability to rescue the physically dead testified to his power to rescue us—the spiritually dead—also.

– Ritchie Way

Eliezer Gonzalez

Nov 3, 2017

I'm sorry. I don't know.


Cara Sego

Nov 2, 2017

I would like to know who painted the beautiful painting that accompianed this written piece?


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