I lost my mother 10 months ago when she died of complications due to emphysema and old age. I have come to know that it is quite painful to lose a parent, especially if they have played a strong, supportive role in our lives. My mom was the matriarch of our family. She planted the seeds of faith in us, acted as a great source of unity for the family, taught us many lessons about life, fed us like royalty, lent us her ear and gave us advice, and loved us with a mother’s tender love. Her departure from this world has left a hole in our lives which aches, often at some of the strangest moments.
As painful as this experience has been, I know that there are worse kinds of suffering in our world. One of the greatest forms of suffering on this earth is when a parent endures the death of a child. Jesus encounters such a tragedy in today’s Gospel passage when a synagogue official named Jairus is informed that his twelve-year old daughter has died. Our Lord demonstrates tremendous compassion for this man and his heartbreaking tragedy. In fact, Jesus is deeply moved by his pain and offers him a totally unexpected gift. Jesus goes to the girl’s home, brings the mother and father into her room, and raises her from the dead with the words, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” Jesus actually restores her to life and reunites the sorrowing family.
Through the eyes of faith, we see Jesus acting with great charity and power in this Gospel scene. Yet, Jesus is asking us to look even deeper into the meaning of this event. A key to this deeper meaning can be found in our Lord’s words to Jairus after he receives news of his daughter’s death: “Do not be afraid. Just have faith.”
Jesus is reminding us by word and deed that He is the God of the living and the dead; He is Lord of life. He demonstrates His lordship by raising this precious child from the dead. He restores her to her family by returning her to this present life. However, Jesus comes to do much more than give this little girl another 60 or 70 years on this earth. Jesus comes to redeem the world from sin, to repair our broken relationship with our Heavenly Father, and to open the gates to eternal life. His ultimate goal is to make it possible that every person ever conceived could be united with the Holy Trinity in an intimate bond of faith and love for all eternity.
Faith in this great truth that God offers his life and love to us freely and that He desires to draw us up into his very existence for all eternity transforms our lives on this earth and dispels fear. “Perfect love drives out all fear” (1 Jn 4:18). If we truly believe in Jesus, if we accept that He is the way, the truth and the life, then our lives on this earth are marked by a peace, a humble confidence and a joy that this world cannot give. We find ourselves with nothing real to fear. It is such an incredible blessing to go through life with this kind of faith and trust in God.
When I think of my mother these days, I still feel the ache in my heart that she is not here to call, to visit, to kiss on the forehead, to share a meal with or to go for a ride in the car with. However, in my sorrow I am deeply comforted by Christ and my faith in Him. I find tremendous comfort in knowing that Jesus died on the cross for my mother. I take great pleasure in pondering the fact that God has welcomed her into His eternal embrace where s is loved more than I can possibly imagine. I am grateful for all that Christ suffered and endured so that He could say to my mom from heaven, “Little girl, arise!”
