{"id":1699,"date":"2022-06-06T09:43:29","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T13:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1699"},"modified":"2022-06-06T09:43:29","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T13:43:29","slug":"talitha-koum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/06\/talitha-koum\/","title":{"rendered":"Talitha Koum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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If you\u2019re a parent, and your child is seriously ill, nothing else matters.

You would move heaven and earth to find the right doctor.  You would pay any price for the right medicine.  If you could, you would gladly take her place. 

In the case of a synagogue leader named Jairus, it meant tracking down the controversial teacher from Galilee whom so many said could heal the sick.  We don\u2019t know anything about Jairus\u2019 background or theological convictions or political inclinations.  But his role as a synagogue leader suggests a serious degree of education and status.  Maybe Jairus considered himself a cut above the itinerant Jesus.

Until his daughter got sick. 

One of my friends wouldn\u2019t give televangelists and healing ministries the time of day.  Then he got cancer.  He found himself channel surfing through religious TV stations late at night, listening for the first time to preachers he had recently identified as hucksters \u2013 just in case they had something to share that might connect him to God\u2019s healing power.  When people feel desperate, they quickly become open to desperate measures.

So it is with Jairus.  His daughter is near death.  She\u2019s only 12 years old.  Her whole life should be in front of her.

Propelled by urgency, he falls at Jesus\u2019 feet.  \u201cHe pleaded earnestly with him, \u2018My little daughter is dying.  Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live\u2019\u201d (Mark 5:23).  Please come.  Please<\/em>. 

Jesus comes.  There is hope.

But then something goes wrong.  Jesus stops to engage a woman who is also seeking healing.  Her condition is serious.  But it\u2019s definitely not urgent. 

As Tim Keller points out in his book King\u2019s Cross<\/em>, this is what we would call malpractice.  If you\u2019re an ER physician, you save the patient who is at death\u2019s door, not the one who\u2019s been suffering for years but can definitely hang in there for another 24 hours. 

Suddenly Jairus\u2019 worst fears come true.  \u201cWhile Jesus was still speaking [how can he still be speaking<\/em> to this woman?], some people came from the house of Jairus.  \u2018Your daughter is dead,\u2019 they said. \u2018Why bother the teacher anymore?\u2019\u201d (Mark 5:35)

\u201cOverhearing what they said, Jesus told him, \u2018Don\u2019t be afraid.  Just believe.\u2019\u201d  Jesus is the calm at the center of the storm.  \u201cTrust me, Jairus.\u201d 

Upon arriving at the house, they experience pandemonium \u2013 the weeping that flows from fresh grief.  Jesus says, \u201cWhy all this common and wailing?  The child is not dead but asleep.\u201d

This has to register as the most insensitive comment imaginable.  Those gathered are perfectly capable of distinguishing between slumber and death.  And Jesus hasn\u2019t even been present.  How can he claim to know this girl\u2019s condition?  They dismiss him with derisive laughter. 

Mark tells us what happens next: \u201cAfter he put them all out, he took the child\u2019s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was.  He took her by the hand and said to her, \u2018Talitha koum<\/em>\u2019 (which means, \u2018Little girl, I say to you, get up\u2019).  Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was 12 years old).  At this they were completely astonished\u201d (Mark 5:40-42).

Keller writes, \u201cOf course they were astonished.  Jairus came to Jesus for a fever cure, not for a resurrection.  When you go to Jesus for help, you get from him far more than you had in mind.\u201d

The vivid details recorded here suggest that we are hearing from eyewitnesses.  Talitha koum<\/em> is one of about a dozen Aramaic turns of phrase in the gospels.  Bible scholars have long assumed that Aramaic (which has many similarities to Hebrew) was the everyday language of first century Jews. 

Talitha<\/em> was a term of endearment.  It meant something like \u201csweetie\u201d or \u201choney.\u201d  Koum<\/em> wasn\u2019t a theocratic command \u2013 \u201crise up\u201d or \u201cbe resurrected.\u201d  It was an everyday expression, the kind of thing that a mom or dad might say to a child at first light of dawn.

\u201cHoney, it\u2019s time to get up.\u201d <\/em>

The gospels report only three occasions in which Jesus raises someone from the dead.  Lazarus is the most famous.  He also raises the son of a widow in the village of Nain.  And then there\u2019s the daughter of Jairus.  Why does this young girl\u2019s resurrection, which is reported in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, get so much attention? 

Perhaps it\u2019s because it displays the tenderness of Jesus.  And the calm patience of Jesus (\u201cJust trust me, Jairus\u201d).  And Jesus\u2019 complete dominion over death.  Keller imagines him saying, \u201cIf I have you by the hand, death itself is nothing but sleep.\u201d

And maybe, just maybe, this story is a preview of what awaits us all in the next world. 

Perhaps one day we, too, will feel the grip of a strong hand and hear the words, \u201cDear one, it\u2019s time to wake up.\u201d 
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If you\u2019re a parent, and your child is seriously ill, nothing else matters. You would move heaven and earth to find the right doctor.  You would pay any price for the right medicine.  If you could, you would gladly take her place.  In the case of a synagogue leader named Jairus, it meant tracking down the controversial teacher from Galilee… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[450,449,11],"class_list":["post-1699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-death","tag-healing","tag-miracles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1701,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions\/1701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}