ARISE!

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26132, 20 April 1946, Page 5

ARISE!

Written for the Otago Daily Times By the Rev. Gardiner Miller

One of the most beloved stories in the New Testament is that of Jesus raising the daughter of Jairus. We don’t know the little girl’s name, indeed, beyond being told her age, we knew nothing further about her at all. It is also a very dramatic story. Could anything be more dramatic than calling someone back from the land of shadows, more dramatic than- the change from cold death to warmer life? There is something in the story that has gripped the imagination of the world, even more so than the only other two stories of the raising of people from the dead, that of the son of the Widow of Nain, and Lazarus. I expect that is so largely because the central figure is a little child. To read the story in the fifth chapter of Mark is to read the earliest account of what resurrection means, that is in existence. But, to me, there is one incident in the story that fires my imagination and nerves my endeavours after the life of victory. It is where Jesus speaks to the little girl’s father. I can imagine how he felt when he was told that his little girl, his darling, was dead. His spirit would be crushed and he would be saying to himself “ I wish I could have seen Jesus of Nazareth sooner. I wish I could have seen Him sooner; this wouldn’t have happened.” And then, into his gloom and despair, came the words of Jesus, like a gleam of sunshine. “Be not afraid, only believe.” (Don’t be frightened, keep on believing.) At once his confidence was restored; more than that, his expectation was raised and he would walk along the road' with Jesus to his house with hope in eyes and heart, and maybe he managed to whisper to his broken-hearted wife not to despair for Jesus had come. I must confess that the words Jesus spoke to Jairus I have claimed for my own a thousand times. ‘ Don’t be frightened; keep on believing”;, they are a tonic and a charge and a drive to me when I am up against a tough situation. But to return to the story. The words that Jesus said to this little girl are original to Jesus. They form one of the four original utterances which appear in every edition of the New Testament.

You will best catch their tender meaning and accent if you will translate them into your own speech. I always read them as, “Wee lassie (or wee lambie), rise up.” As I have written to you before on these sayings that they have a special significance. relating to the redemptive work of the Saviour, so in this particular saying. “Talitka cumi,” there is more than the kindly words of the understanding Jesus to a little girl who might feel frightened when coming out of the shadows. (Notice how He took her hand to chase away her fears!) Here, I believe, we have the first intimation of His. and our. resurrection. When He said, “Arise ” to the little girl, it was also the resurrection Summons. Never let it be forgotten that the life of Jesus did not end on a cross; His life has never ended. The most fitting symbol of , our faith is not a Cross with a blood-stained figure hanging thereon; it is an empty cross that is most significant, and that empty cross is but a finger-post to the empty tomb. Christianity is the only religion in the world that has an Easter. Let the wonder of that, and the staggering truth of it, so fill your hearts this Easter-tide that you will be constrained to cry out “ Hallelujah! ” That Christ brought back the daughter of Jairus, from the dead is the surest proof, if one needed proof, that death has no control over Christ. I am convinced that the control by death over any man, woman or child is broken and destroyed for ever the moment we become His. I like to think of that voice of His sounding like the blast of a trumpet through the walls of death, calling for the release of the little girl. He summoned her back to every-day life, to home and parents and schoolmates. He put death on the spot and made it clear that the last word is with life.

I hope you have noticed when reading your New Testament how assured Jesus is when confronted with death. There were three occasions when He issued the summons, and on each occasion He was master of the situation. No hesitancy, but a decided firmness. And when He Himself went down into the halls of death He did so as a conqueror. He was no Divine prisoner, He Was a Divine liberator. “Arise,” He said to the little girl long ago and the shadows lifted and death loosened its fingers and then she opened her . eyes and saw the friendliest eyes she had ever known, the eyes of the Lover of little children. Have you noticed, too, that not one of the three persons He summoned • out of the halls of death seemed in the slightest degree upset when they came back. There was no sudden change, no jerk; it was just like walking out of a shadow into the sunshine. It was just as if they were meeting their Sle again after a little absence, out any fuss or excitement, just a happy, natural reunion. I believe these three “risings” were meant to show that His own rising would be as natural as theirs. By that I mean the coming back of Jesus after His resurrection shows the naturalness 1 of what I like to call the

Continuing Life.

When we speak about being filled with the Spirit we surely mean the Spirit of Jesus. When Paul says “ Christ lives in me ” (blessed words!) he actually means what He says? And so will every man and woman say who has known the wonder of the indwelling of Christ. It is this continuing life of Christ in His disciples and in His Church that makes Easter the joyful season that it is. Good Friday recalls us to the sacrifice He made on the Cross for our sins, the love that won't let go of us. Easter Sunday recalls us to the glorious truth that He came back to live in the hearts of the redeemed. “ The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me ” (Gal. ii, 20) and who “liveth in me” (Gal.'ii, 19), cries Paul, is perhaps the best summing up of what Christ has done for us and what He is to ifs. that we have in the New Testament. If you will let it possess you there wili come into your life not only a glow, but a purpose. Ypu will before long realise that Jesus is continuing His life in you and that .the extent of His power and blessing in the world is conditioned by the extent of your surrender to Him. Easter is a glorious reminder that Jesus rose again. Every Sunday should indeed remind us of His resurrection. But it should also remind us that this risen Christ seeks human hearts through which He might seek the erring and the lost. Has He the occupancy of yours?