In Luke 8:41-56 we have the account of the sickness and death of the 12 year old daughter of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue.  The ruler had come to Jesus seeking help for his sick daughter.  While with Jesus he learned that she had died (vs. 49).  Jesus simply told Jairus to “fear not, only believe and she shall be made whole” (vs. 50).  When Jesus arrived where the dead child lay he said “Weep not; she is not dead but sleepeth.”  The mourners laughed (vs 53) but Jesus followed through with raising the dead child (vs 54-55).  At times Jesus would identify the dead as sleeping as in his raising of Lazarus who had been dead four days (John 11:11).   In both the instance of the child and Lazarus, Jesus identified belief as an essential/important component of the event. Physical death was secondary to the spiritual.

We see a similar situation in John 5:14 where Jesus healed a 38 year old man who had been severely handicapped from birth.  Jesus said to him “Behold thou art made whole; sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee”.

The death of a child, a brother, a friend and a lifetime of being handicapped was still considered as light compared to the sin and lost condition of man.  How serious is our sin and the gospel message that calls us from it? Would we take any of these physical events lightly?

In a society where irreverence and entertainment are predominant let us never forget to take the message of God and our sin seriously.  Whether teaching, preaching, reading or listening, the message of God is a serious matter.  As someone has said: The more serious we are about our condition and sin, the more thankful we will become for our Savior and Lord.

How God Saves – -Keep the Faith