died, but is asleep. And they be gan laughing at him, knowing that she had died." Here is another attitude. Besides Don't trouble the teacher anymore, she is dead, we have this deroga tory attitude about the viewpoint Jesus takes here. Jesus, while here on earth, raised very few people back to life. Lazarus was an only brother, the son of the widow of Nain was the only son. Here, we have Jairus' only daughter. Jesus seems to be very restrictive in ex ercising resurrection power. Now here are those that begin laughing and scoffing at Jesus. "She's not sleeping. She's dead." There are always those who are going to mock God's viewpoint. In Jesus' mind, this little girl was very much alive in the spirit world. He is go ing to call her back and He knows this. From His viewpoint, she was not dead. There was no reason to lament and weep. The Son of God is here. Things are going to hap pen. Jesus does not argue with them and say, Now listen, you scof fers, if you knew about immortal ity, who I am and what I can do, you wouldn't be scoffing that way. What did he do? He just elimin ated them. He put them out. They were excluded. And those who scorned God's viewpoint, those who have no appreciation for God's reaction in this situation, were just set aside—moved out. JESUS WAS SENSITIVE TO THOSE LACKING FAITH AND THEY WERE ISOLATED FROM HIS PRESENCE. The disciples, father and mother, come together and Jesus approach es the corpse and His sensitivity is beautiful. He takes that cold hand in His, and He uses a beautiful term, "little lamb," "little child." A
very tender term. Jesus took the child's hand, talked to her and she heard Him! He said, "Arise," and lifted her up. Faith was rewarded. The resur rection power was exercised. And Jesus, showing beautiful sensitivity, says, "Give her something to eat." Perhaps she had been sick a long time and Jesus wanted her to be cared for. Notice what Jesus has done in this passage we have before us. Jesus, in this last instance, was sen sitive to those lacking any faith, and they were just isolated from His presence. This is a strong warn ing to those who mock Jesus or laugh at things which are spiritual. He may put you in a situation where your faith and confidence in God must be proved again in a more difficult situation, and God has placed you in this situation to prove His power. During this very day, this very week, God may bring you into those situations where you need to prove His power in a new dimension. Jesus was sensitive to all these people, and He led them as far as they would go. Notice the beauty Jesus has in dealing with people. We are not this sensitive to each other, but I think we could try to cultivate this kind of sensitivity. Where are we today? Are we des perate for God's help? Can we persevere through obstacles? Are we weak? Can we determine that Christ will help us and He can do all things through us? Do you feel ostracized? Remember the words Jesus spoke: "Daughter, your faith has saved you—go in peace." Are you without hope? Perhaps you just need to hear Jesus say, Now do not be fearful, do not be afraid. Just believe and trust me.
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