“Arise”

When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of the commotion. So he went in and said to them, “why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, Talitha koum, which means, “little girl, I say to you arise!” The little girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.
This passage speaks to us, not only of our human mortality, but our spiritual mortality as well. Jesus takes the hand of this little girl and tells her to arise; immediately life entered back into her body. It took great faith for the girl’s parents to believe Jesus when he told them that the girl was only sleeping; knowing fully that life had past from her. Today Jesus says to us, “Child, arise!” Arise from the darkness of our sinfulness and into his light. Only with faith can we transform our spiritual mortality from certain death to new life. Faith is a grace, given to us freely from a loving, compassionate, and merciful God. We need only to seek it out from within ourselves and to exercise it. Jesus says to us today, “Child, arise!” Have faith; seek out the Kingdom of God and we shall be changed spiritually from darkness to a new life in Christ.