The Man Who Did The Waking

I love the short, sweet accounts in three of the gospels of the time Jesus brought Jairus's twelve-year-old daughter back from the dead. Jesus, about a third of the way into His three-year earthly ministry, had been going about working miracles and teaching. People were talking of the things He had done among them; the heady buzz of hope grew louder each day and multitudes gathered everywhere Jesus went. In Capernaum He was approached by Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue who in desperation begged Him to heal his little girl who "lay a dying."

There was a lot to say; after all, she had been on the other side and knew some things that had to be of great interest to her relatives.

Of course Jesus followed Jairus to his house (although He already knew the address). Along the way he healed a lady who had suffered from an "issue of blood" for twelve years ... the same amount of time Jairus's daughter had spent in the bosom of her family. When Jesus got to Jairus's house, he found a bunch of folks weeping and wailing because the damsel had gone ahead and died. But Jesus rebuked them for making all the racket, telling everyone to hush because the girl was only asleep.

(I think what He meant was, Yes, she's dead and gone, but I'm God and to Me that's only sleeping. Hold on and let Me illustrate what I mean.)

Then Jesus took the child's hand and spoke kindly but authoritatively to her. He did not have to repeat Himself; she got right on up from her sickbed. He knew she was hungry because the sick (not to mention the dead) don't have much of an appetite, and He told her mom to quick run and make her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Even though the Bible does not say so, knowing little girls (and having been one) like I do, I'm pretty sure that once the initial shock had worn off and Jairus's daughter had a full belly, she started talking. There was a lot to say; after all, she had been on the other side and knew some things that had to be of great interest to her relatives.

Jesus woke me too, a long time ago. But even when your eyes are wide open you can get weary and sort of go to sleep again. Some people inexplicably get sleepy when they are nervous or afraid or sad. Kind of like an avoidance maneuver. But God in His wisdom uses many things and many people to wake us from all the different types of sleep there are, and I've been awakened a couple more times since that first time. And on each occasion when my eyes fluttered open I was looking right into the face of someone extraordinary, someone who really saw me, someone who managed to say with their bright smiling eyes that it's, you know, okay to be the way I am. But ... get up. Get up! Don't keep lying there.

Get up, do something about that hunger, and let's hear what you have to say.

Comments

[Keli]

Very nice! I'm afraid I do get forgetful now and then (though not as often as I used to, thankfully!) especially, as you say, when I'm nervous or fearful or upset. I carry around a few choice words as a reminder.

[Audrey]

Wow, that was very good. I really enjoyed reading it and how very true. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on that subject.

[Robyn]

I've been wondering about what exactly happened with the girl. The Bible says it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment. A few questions remain about that. Obviously she was not a man. But if she was dead, then came back to life, she died again later on, right? And what about people today who are declared dead, but come back to life? more than once? And which judgment? I'm not all that familiar with Revelations and I'm afraid that if I just sit down and read it on my own that I will misinterpret something.
I love the part about Christ waking you up. That's a great way to explain how I sometimes feel.

[Jennifer]

Well, first of all, the word "man" in this context means "mankind" ... or, specifically, human beings of either gender.

You raise some excellent questions. My personal thoughts are that when Christ wanted to perform a miracle, as He clearly did in this case in order to demonstrate his mighty power to anyone who might be privy to the details of these events, His intervention was supernatural and as He is God, and became the will of God in that particular case.

Perhaps God allows some to "sleep" in a way that appears to be death, but is not actually death. While I'm certainly not a doctor or an expert of any kind in these matters, I personally do not believe that people ACTUALLY die in hospitals or whatever today, and then are "brought back" to life. I think they appear to be dead but really are not, and they are revived before what is most likely a very imminent death.

I think we can rest assured that once someone's soul has gone to Heaven or to Hell, whichever the case may be, it does not come back. But there is obviously a "twilight" between life as we know it and death as we recognize it, that mimics death very closely.

That happened just a few weeks ago ... it was in the news. A young man heard himself pronounced dead and knew that his parents had given permission for his organs to be harvested. They were about to take his internal organs when he managed to move and someone saw it, and he was spared. He is normal today and on the mend (he had been in a coma for four months).

The human body is an amazing thing, and we have a mighty God!

I have a good book on Revelation that I will loan to you! I probably should read it myself first!