Luke 8:53–55: “And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead. But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, ‘Little girl, arise.’ Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat.”

February 19th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

We find here another tender, affectionate moment as Jesus touched the dead body of a little girl, someone’s daughter. The Old Testament says that anyone who touched a dead body was considered unclean for 7 days and had to go through a time of cleansing (Num. 19:11, Lev. 21:1); but as we have observed before, touching a dead body did not defile Jesus. Instead of needing to be cleansed, His compassionate touch gave cleansing and life. This was something Jesus was clearly teaching His disciples as He raised another dead person in their presence. He was revealing to them that He is the Giver of life, and that the grave has no power over His touch. They would understand this in an even deeper way later, when, like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, Jesus rose on the third day, displaying once and for all His complete power over death.

Because the people were mocking Jesus, they were put out of the room and missed a miracle of gigantic proportions. They got to see the results, the little girl alive, but they missed the opportunity to witness the Savior actually doing the miracle. We must be careful to guard our cynical minds and hearts every day from becoming hard to the things of God. So much of the world is filled with death and destruction that there is a constant temptation to become hard and calloused. We begin to think that things will never change. We become discouraged by the evil and sin that seems to be sweeping across the whole world. When we stop believing that God is still working, we stop seeing the results. In a spiritual sense, Jesus is still touching dead people today. And He will return soon to touch all those in grace and take them to everlasting life. But until He comes, we are to trust Him, believe that He is working, and look to be part of that work.

“LORD, we desire today to be people of faith and belief, not cynical and unbelieving. We don’t want to miss seeing You move in our lives.”