Mark 5:21-43
41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.
As Jesus arrived Jairus’ home, amid the commotion of loud crying and wailing, Jesus announced that “the child is not dead but asleep.” The mourners laughed at him. Jesus removed the laughing sceptics and took only the girl’s parents, and the three disciples with him inside, took the girl’s hand, and commanded her to rise – and she did! The now-wailing, now-laughing (professional?) mourners were so invested in the rituals of death that they had no room for the life that Jesus was pronouncing. Where do you need to experience the life that Jesus proclaims this advent season? What in your life needs to respond to the word of Christ calling it forth to life?
Just as Jesus entered the room where death had the final word and said, “Get up!” So, he enters our world, your life and mine – with his life-giving power. The mourners laughed because they could only see what was. They were so comfortable with death’s finality that they were incapable of imagining resurrection. They had lost hope. But Advent calls us to wait with the relentless hope that God speaks life into the dead places of our lives. That the same Christ who rose from the dead demonstrates his resurrection power in tender moments where he takes us by the hand and says Get up!
Where do you need to experience resurrection power this Advent season? What dreams, callings, or relationships have the “mourners” convinced you to bury? How can you respond with audacious hope this Advent as the word of Christ calls them back to life? Jesus extends His hand and says to whatever feels dead in you: “get up!” This is our Advent hope – that nothing is beyond the reach of His resurrection power.