July 1, 2018
Mark 5:35-43…“He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum,’ which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement.” vss 41-42
On the surface, this is another miracle story, the raising of a little girl from the dead. There are other instances of things like this in the gospels and sometimes they leave us wondering: did this really happen or did Mark just make it up to show how great Jesus was? It’s natural to think like this, but the moment we ask such questions we miss the point of Mark’s message. He wants his readers to know that Jesus is the life-giver, that with the coming of Jesus death has lost its sting. Obviously, when someone dies there is bound to be weeping and mourning, it’s what we do in the presence of death. But that’s not the end of the story! It isn’t that we should expect that healers in our day should be able to make dead people live again. That just doesn’t happen, though there are countless stories floating around of people insisting that such things are possible and we’d like for those stories to be true. But in our hearts we know that there’s a cold finality to death, and it’s going to come for each of us. But Mark tells us that in Christ, things are different and there’s more to the story than meets the eye! And one day new life will amaze us all.
Thought for the Day: What do I imagine the new life to be like?
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