Mark 5:21-24

Mark 5:21-24 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.

Mark 5:34-43 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?” Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

This is a great story, one that reveals that Jesus had power over death. Jesus' journey to Jairus' house to heal his Jairus' daughter was interrupted by the incident with the woman who had bleeding problems. Jesus heals her, but then finds out that Jairus' daughter is now dead. Instead of quitting his journey to Jairus' house, He tells the synagogue ruler not to be afraid, just believe that God can do great things. This must have been very difficult for Jairus, but he carried on with Jesus under those instructions. Today, there are many who are sick, some of them with dire diseases. Some of these people will die today. Probably all of them cried out to God in some way for their deliverance from death. However, they will die. Does God still heal? Yes, he does. He will always be in the creating business, and sometimes we are the recipients of that creating. But all of us are designated to die. Because of sin, we are all sentenced to death. None of us can predict accurately when we are going to die. But we will all die. Doesn't God care. Yes, he cared so much that he sent his Son to free us from sin and death. He sent his son to make us well. But when? As soon as we are believers, we have become free from sin and death. We in our day are consumed with the idea of escaping death, and rightly so, for we are flesh. But in the day of the apostles of the early church, they chose Jesus over death. By that I mean, when they accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, they knew their lives were in danger of being terminated. They knew that a sentence of death was placed on their lives as soon as they became believers. But, they chose Jesus Christ over death. They counted their lives as being worthless, not worthy to be protected.

Notice in the above passage, Jesus tells the caretakers of this little girl to give her something to eat. To sustain the life that was within her, she needed food. We all need food, rest, and exercise to sustain the life within us, but that is not the eternal life within us. We are eternal beings, and as eternal beings, we will always chose Jesus Christ over the desires of this life. And the chief desire of this life is to maintain it. Yes, we should pray for healings, we should believe for them. We should have faith in God that He can do anything. That is our position as believers. But as God's children, we will always chose him over death. We will always choose his life, over our temporal life. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55) We are free from the sting of death. We are God's child whether we die in the flesh today or tomorrow. For we are eternal beings sown from incorruptible seed.