Photo by Ali Karimiboroujeni on Unsplash

Get Up Little Child And Live

by Eric Elkin

“My daughter is about to die. Please, come and place your hands on her so that she can be healed and live.”

— Mark 5:23

My father-in-law and I often spoke about death. I cannot remember when we first started talking about it, but I know it pre-dates my ordination. The topic seemed to come up whenever we had a quiet moment together. He would open the conversation by telling me when his time to die comes, he hoped he would not be afraid to go. I would agree, and we would talk about living in the promises of God.

"Living in the promises of God" sounds so deep and theological. Our conversations were not that deep nor theologically complex. The point we agreed upon was if God promises life after death, and we worship God, then we should live as though there is life after death. If you live this way, you should not be afraid to die.

My father-in-law had several siblings who I would call "spiritually confident." (He and his children might call it something else.) These siblings all knew who was saved and who was not saved. They also had no problem sharing that information with you, regardless if you requested the knowledge. Despite their confidence, my father-in-law told me, many of them were afraid to die.

Now that my father-in-law is in his 90s, I want to ask him if he still feels the same way. But I can't bring myself to do it. Something about it seems so inappropriate. I love him and do not want to hurt him. Truth is, I cannot listen to his current thoughts about death without the influence of those earlier conversations. I do not think he is afraid to die. Is that so wrong?

“If we really believe what we say we believe- if we really think that home is elsewhere and that this life is a “wandering to find home”, why should we not look forward to the arrival.”

— C.S. Lewis

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a cloak of power we could touch to be healed? Or, a healer who made house calls? A person who only needed to say, "Talitha koum," to bring a dead child back to life. Perhaps, if more people had access to this kind of care, more people would believe.

Death is the most difficult pain for us to endure. It exposes our vulnerability. Death robs us of loved ones whom we don't want to lose. The theft is permanent. It leaves a deep scar within the soul that never seems to disappear. Still, I do not want to be afraid to die. Living in constant fear seems a far worse fate than death.

Here's the hard truth about the healing story I read this morning. Every person healed by Jesus, every person raised from the dead, eventually died. Protecting an earthly existence is not the promise of God. Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly.

The real story of healing is found in the promise of God. A promise revealed in the life and death of Jesus. Even though we die, we live. This is more than a theological view of a particular religion. It is the truth of the universe. You should watch Fantastic Fungi on Netflix if you don't believe me. It's amazing how the universe is built upon the foundation of death being a passage to new life.

The purpose of these healing stories is simple, do not be afraid to live. Trust in the power of God to bring new life out of death. Consider today the words "Talitha koum," are spoken to you. Get up, little one and live, and live abundantly, for God is always doing something new in and through you. The people we lost, we will see again. And we will want to be sure there are many good things to discuss.

Click to read Mark 5:21-43

Reflection Questions:

C.S. Lewis said, “there are only three things we can do about death: desire it, fear it or ignore it. How would you describe your approach?
How can we live in a way that does not fear death?
What things hold you in the grip of fear?
Where do we find freedom from our fears?

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