Amid his daughter’s sickness the synagogue official had hope. His faith formed the central part of his life. He organized everything around that center point of faith. His faith and hope pushed him to action. He sought out Jesus and brought him back to his home. With all the interruptions and delays along the road the father brought Jesus back to his home.
While the father was focused on life and hope, the people around the family were locked into their formal traditions of death and mourning. These traditions are good in that they support the family in a time of grief and help the family manage and express the sadness. But they only expected death and sadness. So much so, that when Jesus announces new life to all there, they can only respond with disbelief, by ridiculing him, and by laughing in his face. Their lack of faith and their expectations of death and sadness are so ingrained in them that Jesus must put them out of the house.
Many times, we are very eager to continue with our routines or practices of death and we cling to despair in a way that makes it difficult for God to act in our lives. We end up like the mourners in this story – separated from the presence of God. As a consequence, death, despair, sadness, and mourning become the center of your lives. Instead of being brief moments or experiences, they become the center of our lives. This lack of hope and faith slowly invades all aspects of our life, especially the way we interact with others.
Jesus comes to heal all aspects of our lives. He comes to make us new so that we can live without despair, sadness, mourning, and death as the center of our lives.
He came and took her by the hand,
and the little girl arose.
Image: https://mjdasma.blogspot.com/2020/07/reflection-for-july-6-monday-fourteenth.html