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Maybe the Best Thing

  “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”  (Mark 5:41) This scene from Mark is about the 12-year-old girl whom Christ brought back to life.  It’s a beautiful passage.

  Dr. Elizabeth Kubler Ross has worked with dozens of people who were dying of terminal illness. Many of the dying people she worked with were children. Sometimes after the person died they would be brought back through vigorous efforts by the doctors. At these times Dr. Ross wrote down what the person said after they were brought back to life. Here’s what she wrote about one such event:

  “We had one case of a child, a twelve-year-old, who didn’t want to share with her mother what a beautiful experience it was when she died. No mother wants to hear that their child found a place nicer than home. But this child had such a unique experience that she desperately wanted to share it with someone, so one day she confided in her father. She told him that it was so beautiful when she died that she did not want to come back. What made it so special, besides the fantastic love and light, was that her brother was there waiting for her, and he held her with great tenderness. After sharing this she said to her father, “The only problem is that I don’t have a brother.” Her father started to cry, and confessed that she did indeed have a brother, who died three months before she was born. They had never told her.”

  The death of a child is unlike other deaths. We expect to bury our parents.  We realize we might have to bury our spouse. But to bury a child... it is a pit of grief unlike any other I know. But keep in mind that, whenever Jesus performs a miracle, he’s also teaching us something.  Otherwise, we might end up simply being impressed at his miracle and not go deeper than that.

  Here’s what Christ is teaching us in the passage about raising the 12-year-old girl: Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are not earthly beings who are going to have a spiritual existence; we are spiritual beings currently having an earthly existence. Let me repeat that: Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are not earthly beings who are going to have a spiritual existence; we are spiritual beings currently having an earthly existence. Do you see how, in doing this for us, Jesus robs death of its power?  It’s a beautiful thing to think about. 

Maybe the best thing.

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