The eyes of the blind have been opened, the sick are healed, the lepers are cleansed, the spirits are driven out, and the violent storms are stilled. These are all amazing miracles that point us to the identity of Jesus and are signs of what the kingdom of God is like. However, there is one other enemy which hasn’t been dealt with. Death. Death won’t finally be put to death until later on, as with other illnesses, but for now, we’ll see that Jesus’ authority even goes beyond death.

Jairus demonstrated a great amount of faith here. He knows that Jesus is able to do heal his daughter, he pleads with him and Jesus agrees to go along with a great crowd. In the midst of this great crowd is a woman who demonstrates immense faith. She has been suffering bleeding, isolation from being unclean, and this has only been made worse from other doctors. Her faith led her to touch Jesus’ cloak, and it was her faith that led her to being healed. Jesus wasn’t angry, it wasn’t any magical power that his cloak contained, there was no superstition, but faith and compassion were at work here. Meanwhile, while all this is happening, Jairus’ daughter dies. The grief of her father and the community would have been overwhelming, but Jesus tells Jairus to believe.

Jesus goes to the house, brings only the closest disciples and the parents with him, takes the dead child by the hand and tells her to get up. The result? She is made alive! Jesus’ authority even stretches over and beyond death itself! The Kingdom is a place where death will have no reign! And we see this most clearly in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus will take go to the grave and will deal with our sin but he won’t stay dead. Three days later he will rise again. Death could not hold him down and if we repent and believe in him, death will not be the end for us. MC

Questions

Prayer

Lord God, thank you that death is not the end, that you have had the final say and that eternal life is found in you alone. In Jesus’ name, Amen..