Dr. Lawrence Butler

The Bridge Church, Pembroke

As we closed our last lesson we saw Jesus at the home of Jairus amidst all the noise of grief and sorrow. Family, friends and professional mourners all blanketed the place with the pain and agony of losing a child. At the words of Christ that the girl was not dead but sleeping, people laughed and scorned the Messiah. He immediately put out all the unbelievers, took the parents and His few disciples with Him, and entered the room where the child was.

Life emanated from Him, but death held the child in his grip. Death was confronted by Life in this little town in the Middle East many generations ago. Here was a battle for the ages. Life and death were in a life and death struggle! Jesus took the child by the hand – warmth met coldness in that grip. Either warm would become cold, or cold would become warm. If death could defeat Christ in this little room, death could win at the cross. If the cold stiff body of the child could not be restored, how could restoration occur after three days in the tomb? Here occurs a power struggle between two great powers, and only one could be all powerful.

Why did Jesus ever bother to leave a crowd of needy people to go to one man’s home and heal one person? He could have stayed with the multitude and healed many instead of just one. But this ONE was important. Her life was chosen as a battlefield between Life and Death. When it came down to where the “rubber meets the road,” death got run over by the power of our Lord and Savior. Jesus said, “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise” (Mark 5:41). She immediately arose and walked. We don’t know how long it had been since she walked, but she walked this day. As many 12-year-old children are, she apparently was hungry and Jesus told them to feed her. People were greatly astonished, as well they should have been. Life won a great and necessary victory on this momentous day. (Read the other five previous lessons in order and you will gain a deeper understanding of this miracle.)