A short time after, some of those who had formed the crowd at Magdala
were gathered together in the house of the Rabbi Jairus. They were
watching the dead. For in the centre of the room, on a table, lay the
body of the Rabbi's daughter shrouded in white linen. Her father was
so cast down with grief that his friends knew not how to console him.
Then someone suggested calling in Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had just
seen resting with His followers under the cedars of Hirah. They
narrated the miracles that He had lately worked. On the road leading
to Capernaum a man was lying side by side with his little son, into
whom had entered the spirit of epilepsy. The child had fallen down and
foamed at the mouth, and his teeth and hands were so locked together
that his father, in his despair, all but strangled him. He had already
taken the child to the disciples of Jesus, but they had not been able
to help him. Then he sought the Master and exclaimed angrily: "If you
can do anything, help him!" "Take heed that we do not all suffer
because of him," the prophet said, and then made the child whole. And
they told yet more. On the other side of the lake He had made a
deaf-mute to speak, and at Bethsaida had made a blind man to see. But,
above all, every one knew how at Nain He had brought back a young man
to life who had already been carried out of the house in his coffin! A
wine-presser was there who told something about an old woman who had
vehemently prayed the prophet to cure her sickness. Thereupon Jesus
said: "You are old and yet you wish to live! What makes this earth so
pleasing to you?" and she replied: "Nothing is pleasing to me on this
earth. But I do not want to die until the Saviour comes, who will open
the gates of Heaven for me." And He: "Since your faith is so strong,
woman, you shall live to see the Saviour." Thereupon she rose up and
went her way. These were the things He did, but He did not like them
to be talked about.
Such was the talk among the people gathered round the little girl's
corpse. Among the company was an old man who was of those who liked to
display their wisdom on every possible occasion. He declared that
faith and love, nothing else, produced such miracles. No
miracle-worker could help an unbeliever; but a man whom the people
loved could easily work miracles. "They forget all his failures, and
remember and magnify all his successes. That's all there is in it."
A man answered him: "It is important that he should be loved, but the
love is compelled by some mysterious power. No one can make himself
beloved of his own accord, it must be given him."
They determined, thanks to all this talk--a mingling of truth and
error--to invite the prophet to the house.
When Jesus entered it, He saw the mourning assembly, and the Rabbi, who
pulled at his gown until he tore it. He saw the child lying on the
table ready for burial, and asked: "Why have you summoned Me? Where is
the dead girl?"
The Rabbi undid the shroud so that the girl lay exposed to view. Jesus
looked at her, took hold of her hand, felt it, and laid it gently down
again. "The child is not dead," He said, "she only sleepeth."
Some began to laugh. They knew the difference between death and life!
He stepped up to them, and said: "Why did you summon Me if you do not
believe in Me? If you have assembled here to watch the dead, there's
nothing for you to do."
They crept away in annoyance. He turned to the father and mother: "Be
comforted. Prepare some food for your daughter." Then He took hold of
the child's cold hand, and whispered: "Little girl! Little girl! wake
up, it is morning."
The mother uttered a cry of joy, for the child opened her eyes. He
stood by, and they seemed to hear Him say: "Arise, my child. You are
too young to have gained heaven yet. The Father must be long sought so
that He may be the more beloved. Go your way and seek Him."
When the girl, who was twelve years old, stood on her feet, and walked
across the floor, the parents almost fell on Jesus in order to express
their thanks. He put them aside. "I understand your gratitude. You
will do what I do not wish. You will go to the street corners and
exclaim: 'He raised our child from the dead'; and the people will come
and ask Me to heal their bodies, while I am come to heal their souls.
And they will desire Me to raise the dead, while I am here to lead
their spirits to eternal life."
"Lord, how are we to understand you?"
"When in good time you shall have learned how little the mortal body
and earthly life signify, then you will understand. If, as you say, I
have raised your child from the dead, what thanks do you owe Me? Do
you recognise what he who calls back a creature from happiness to
misery does?
"You said yourself, Master, that the child was too young to gain heaven
yet."
"She has not gained it; she possessed it in her innocent heart. She
will become a maiden, and a wife, and an old woman. She will lose
heaven and seek it in agony. It will be well for her if then she comes
to the Saviour and begs: 'My soul is dead within me, Lord; wake it to
eternal life.' But if she comes not--then it would be better that she
had not waked to-day."
The mother said in all humility: "Whatsoever Thou doest, Master, that
is surely right."
He went to the table where the child was comfortably eating her food,
laid His hand on her head, and said: "You have come to earth from
heaven, now give up earth for heaven; what is earned is greater that
what is given."
So the wife of Rabbi Jairus heard as Jesus went out of the door.
They remained His adherents until near the days of the persecution.