Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord!

In today’s first Gospel reading we heard how our Lord Jesus Christ returned to health the woman with an issue of blood, as well as how He raised to life the recently deceased daughter of Jairus. Today’s reading is so rich in meaning that we could discuss different aspects of it for a very long time, but today let’s focus on our Saviour’s exclamation to the parents of the dead girl: “Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.” For the unfortunate parents who had just lost their only child, these words could not but deepen their pain, for it was clear that the girl had died, and now this Man, on whom so much hope had been placed, was not even able to tell the difference between the dead and the living.

Despite the apparent callousness of Jesus Christ, this type of expression was characteristic for Him, for not once, but twice in the Gospel He called death ‘sleep.’ Remember that when Jesus was preparing setting out to resurrect Lazarus, He said to His apostles: “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep” (John 11: 11). The reaction of both the parents from today’s Gospel reading, as well that of the apostles in regard to Lazarus, shows that those around Christ did not understand Him and thought He was speaking of regular rest.

Of course, Christ never said anything by chance, and therefore the question arises as to why He expressed Himself in such a way, why He was so imprecise with His words, why at the most difficult moment in a family’s life He would wound with His words the sorrowing parents? The answer is quite simple. With His words, The Saviour emphasized a theological truth – that man is created to live eternally and that his death is not an ending to life, but a temporary pause before its resumption. In such a way, we see that the words of Jesus Christ, although at first glance seem to have been poorly chosen, in fact express a spiritual reality.

Jairus and his wife, at a moment of extreme sadness, naturally did not understand Christ and ironically laughed Him to scorn. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the true lover of mankind and the wellspring of life, as if not noticing the insult directed at Him, through the resurrection of the girl, turned this mean and sorrowful laughter into the most real joy.

Today’s Gospel miracle should bring joy not only to the parents of the little girl, but to each faithful follower of Christ, for through this miracle, the Lord assures us that His words about death being but a temporary sleep are most truthful. Often, before going to sleep, we think about the upcoming events of the next day. We ruminate on the chores we will have to do, wait with impatience for pleasant meetings, worry about anything unpleasant on the horizon, etc. Let each of us also remember about that other sleep and about what will follow it. Let us try to live righteously so that nothing awful befalls us and so that we may meet our Lord and Saviour and rejoice eternally with Him and all the saints.

priest Alexis