I have a birthday coming up in a few days. I try not to think about how old I am. I often lie about my age, as a matter of fact <gasp>. Don't judge me. Twenty-nine was a good year. I've decided to stick with that.
My birthdays often make me think of being a little girl. There were definitely a few good birthdays in those single digit years that make me smile. I had slumber parties and stayed up late dancing (if that's what you can call it). I ate too much and laughed a lot. There were some rough years in there, as well. Life wasn't always super in my house.
Jesus knew a little girl once. This is the story that the Gospels depict of Jesus' encounter with this little girl. Things apparently didn't go very well for her, either. You never hear her name. You never see her face. But you get to see what happens when she meets Jesus.
"While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” 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.Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened."
So to sum it up, Jesus is busy healing one woman when Jairus walks up and doesn't even get the chance to ask Jesus to heal his daughter. Someone else tells Jairus that his daughter is dead. Don't even bother asking Jesus to heal her. She's gone. Jesus, in all His Glory says, "Just believe. I can still handle this." Jesus gets to Jairus's place and sees everyone crying. So he tells them to cut it out. Stop crying. She's not dead, but asleep. The word Jesus used for what we translate to mean "not dead" is "apothnesko ou" which means "absolutely not dead."
Everyone starts to laugh at Jesus. Not just laugh at Him, but laugh in scorn because they saw the girl die. Jesus hasn't even looked at her. How does He know? Right?
This is where it gets good. He walks into her room. He takes her hand. He says two words: "Pais, egeiro!" Pais means girl. Egeiro can mean two things. It can mean to rise from disease or death. Or it can mean to to rise from ruins or non-existence.
I don't know what happened to that little girl. I don't know how she died. But I know whatever happened to her just didn't matter any more once Jesus got close.
I love this story. Once I was a little girl. And I died a long time before I even knew I was dead. I had some things taken from me. And then I started to give them away. But I was dead, nonetheless. But then Jesus walked in. He got close enough to me to hold my hand. And He told me to get up - to rise from my ruins, from the non-existence that I had made. And then my spirit returned and at once I was whole.
How do you not love Jesus? When this is what He does - when this is what His entire earthly ministry and every goal of His entrance onto this planet was, how do you not love Him?
If you would like to meet this Jesus, you let me know. I can introduce you.
Praying for you all -
Tricia
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