She’s Alive!

“And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth.  And they laughed Him to scorn.”  Matthew 9:23-24

Jesus had been dining with His disciples when several tax collectors (publicans) and sinners (considered by the self-righteous leaders as everyone else besides themselves) came into the house and sat down with Jesus.  They came because they were interested in what He had to say.  However, some Pharisees saw them and questioned the disciples as to why Jesus would eat with these scoundrels.  Jesus heard the Pharisee’s question and replied that those who were well did not need a physician, but those who were sick required the aid of a physician.  He was of course referring to sin sickness, and He was the Physician who had the cure.  When he left the gathering, He was approached by disciples of John the Baptist wanting to know why His disciples didn’t fast.  He basically told them that they would fast later, but now was not the time while He was with them.

As He was speaking to John’s disciples, a ruler of the synagogue named Jairus (Mark 5:22) came to Jesus and asked Him to come and lay His hand upon his daughter who had passed away.  Jairus had faith that Jesus could bring her back to life.  On their way to the ruler’s house, a woman with an issue of blood made her way to Jesus in the crowd, touched the hem of His garment, and was healed immediately.  This must have been a real encouragement to Jairus.  Even though he was Jewish, and most of the men in the synagogue were against Jesus, he apparently believed that Jesus had been sent by God.  Seeing this woman healed in such a miraculous manner would only have strengthened his faith in Jesus.

When they all arrived at the ruler’s house, many people had come to mourn for the little girl.  That’s what we do when someone we know passes away.  We drop everything and support the loved ones of the deceased person through visitation, bringing food, and comforting as best as we can in those difficult days.  However, apparently the method of mourning was quite different in ancient Israel.  They were playing music and being very noisy.  We normally keep things rather quiet in respect for the family.  Jesus recognized their loud expressions of grief but knowing that the child would be brought to life again, He said, paraphrasing, “Please leave.  The child is not dead, but only sleeping”.  Some of them likely thought Jesus had lost His mind.  They began to laugh and sneer at Him.  It was obvious that the little girl was dead.  What was His problem?

I have always been astonished at how those folks could laugh at Jesus to His face, but most of them didn’t look at Him the way that those of us who claim Him as Lord and Savior do.  Jairus and Jesus’ disciples may have been the only ones in the room who recognized Jesus as coming from God.  I imagine Jairus was embarrassed by the behavior of his friends and neighbors.  But never mind them.  They saw that Jesus meant business and left the room where the child was lying out as a corpse.  All Jesus had to do was to take her by the hand and pull her up out of her death bed as she opened her eyes.  Imagine the look on the faces of the mourners when she walked out of the room.  We realize that there likely were skeptics among them who claimed that she really had not died, but was just unconscious because they certainly did not want to believe that Jesus could do such a miracle.  There will always be skeptics whose pride keeps them from recognizing Christ, the miracle Worker, Savior, and Lord.  However, not everyone in that house that day was a skeptic.

The girl’s mother and father who had witnessed their precious daughter returning to life must have been indescribably overjoyed.  Very few people have ever experienced seeing their loved one brought back to life.  The faith of these parents was strengthened even further.  Jesus instructed the visitors to keep quiet about this miracle (Mark 5:43), but there was no way that they were not going to tell everyone with whom they came in contact about a child being brought back from death to life.  This was one of the ways that Jesus was being known across the land.  Every time He did a miracle, more people heard about Him, but so did the Pharisees and other religious leaders who were becoming even more fearful of the attention that He was receiving from the common folks.  I can hear them now, “We must do something to stop this Man.  Our positions as religious leaders are in jeopardy.”  I can also hear the regular folks saying, “Did you hear about the little girl who died, but this Man called Jesus went to visit her home and the next thing you know, she is up walking and talking?  What do you make of that?  Who is this Man called Jesus?”  It is a real shame and disgrace that folks aren’t that inquisitive today to know more about Jesus.