She's not dead, she's just sleeping. (Luke 8: 40-53)

Reading Luke 8: 40 – 53:

40Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. 41Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house 42because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.

(…) 

49While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher any more.” 50Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” 51When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. 52Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.” 53They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” 55Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Reading the Writer's eyes: 

I once heard this phrase in a song of Jonathan Helser ("earth like heaven'): ♫ She’s not dead, she’s just sleeping, she is waking up. ♫

I received a revelation about the story of the daughter of Jairus.
This is (also) speaking of the Bride! How often does it look like the Bride has died? We are mourning over our church, we are crying over her, we are complaining about the fact that she has lost all the life and strength she once had. With our natural eyes the only thing we can see is a dying Church and all we can do about it is mourn over it.

But then a leader is standing up, a religious leader. He sees his only daughter is dying. The leader sees the only real thing, the real Bride in the midst of all the religious traditions, is dying. He realizes that nothing can help his daughter but Jesus Himself. So he falls at the feet of Jesus, he surrenders himself to Him. The leader humbles himself before the multitude. Although he is a religious leader, he is wise enough to go to Jesus. He pleads for his daughter. He prays for the Bride on his knees before the feet of Jesus, because he knows He is the only one who can save her. Jesus is moved by his pleads, He comes with Jairus.

 Jairus means “God enlightens”. The only reason why the spiritual leaders can  realize Jesus is the only one who can give the church her life back, is because God enlightens their heart. God wants to shine with His understanding in their hearts, so they will go to Jesus. 

We are  meant to be a Jairus,  we are meant to plead for the bride and to personally see how Jesus resurrects the church.

While Jesus is coming to his church, there’s coming someone from the very house of Jairus to stop them. He says: “The church is already dead. You can ask the Master as many times as you want, but it won’t have any effect. Just don’t bother the Teacher anymore.” The fact that the accuser comes from his own house and just pretends to have the Teacher’s good in mind, makes this a very plausible argument. But Jesus’ plans aren’t changed by the words of the accuser. He encourages the man who walks beside Him: “Don’t be afraid, just believe. She will be healed.” 

It’s crucial that Jairus has faith, because only when he believes Jesus still can save his daughter, Jesus is welcomed into his home. Notice that Jesus says “She will be healed”, instead of “She will be resurrected.” Jesus sees His church not as dead and without life, but as wounded in her identity and in a lack of strength. He knows that she isn’t who she’s supposed to be, but Jesus also knows that her story isn’t over and her story will have a happy-ending.

When Jesus enter the house of Jairus, there are only a few people who can come with Him. Only His closest friends and the  ones who took care of the daughter for all her life can come with Jesus.

 I don’t care about anything else in this world, as long as I can be one of the few ones who lives close enough to Jesus to see with my own eyes how His Bride is resurrected by His power.

 I don’t want to be one of the many ones who were crying and mourning outside the house. Perhaps it looks like they care about the church, but their grief isn’t real. They are being paid for mourning over the daughter, they are just pretending they care about the church so they will receive what they want (acceptance, power, money, love, admiration). I don’t want to be mourning outside the house with fake feelings, I want to live so close to Jesus that I can actually come with Him inside the house to see His resurrecting power. I want to be one of the few who are willing to give their lives in order to give the Bride her life back.

And then Jesus says something beautifully powerful. He tells the people to stop mourning over the daughter of Jairus. He says: “She’s not dead. She’s just sleeping.” What a statement! What if all the people who are complaining over the lack of life in the church would hear Jesus saying today: “Stop mourning over the church. She’s not dead. She’s just sleeping.” What a different perspective! The church still can live, but she needs to be waken up! And that’s exactly what Jesus is about to do, but He first wants all the mourning to stop, so faith can grow in the hearts of people. But the people are laughing at Him, they don’t believe Him. The world doesn’t believe the church is still alive today, nor that Jesus can wake her up.

But Jesus goes to His bride, He takes her by the hand and He commands her: “My child, wake up!” I believe this is the time when Jesus takes the church by her hand to lead her and tells her who she is,  His child, and by proclaiming her identity, she will be able to fulfill His command, to wake up. It’s like a fairy tale, the Prince of Peace wakes His bride with the kisses of His word  (song of songs: 1:2).

The Bride wakes up, she isn’t sleeping anymore. The Spirit returns and fills the Bride again, she regains her strength by His Spirit. The Bride stands up, and takes her place as a mighty princess-warrior, fighting for love.  Jesus gives the command to feed her. Once the Bride is resurrected, she needs to be fed by His word, because she’s still weak. When she will eat the Living Bread of His Word and she’s filled with the Spirit, she will be great testimony. Everywhere she goes, people will tell about Jesus and His resurrecting power. Not only the things she does, but who she is will make a major impact on many lives.