"And she got up"

Imagine this:

You have a friend whose grandfather is very sick. Everyone in your community knows about your friend’s sick grandfather, and everyone knows it’s only a matter of time before he dies. Your friend devotes all of his spare time to taking care of his grandfather and easing his pain. You also do your best to support your friend and give him whatever he needs.

One day, your cell phone rings. You check the number and see it’s your friend. As you answer the phone and your friend begins to speak, you can immediately tell that he’s been crying. And then he says it: “He died today.” You offer words of consolation and you rush over to your friend’s house. Along the way, you call friends and let them know that your friend’s grandfather has finally passed.

You get to your friend’s house and by this time, several other people have made their way there. The house is crowded with people…some talking, some crying, some just there for support. You make your way to the back bedroom where you find your friend and his grandfather, lying dead in the bed. People are holding your friend and comforting him as he cries. You start to get emotional as well; you hug your friend and let your own tears flow, whispering “I’m sorry,” over and over again.

Without many people noticing, a neighbor enters the house and makes his way to the bedroom where you, your friend and your friend’s grandfather are. He takes a look around then says something very unusual: “Go away…the man is not dead, but asleep.” Some people chuckle uncomfortably at this man’s statement. Most people look at him with a look of utter shock on their faces. A few actually raise their voices at this man for being so insensitive. However, the man is insistent, and he actually starts telling people to get out of the room; he wants everyone out except your friend. Everyone can’t believe what’s going on, but not wanting to add to the rediculousness of the scene, the crowd obeys. You manage to convince the man to let you stay, and he obliges. So now it is only you, your friend, your friend’s grandfather’s body and this man left in the room. Once the last person has left, he closes the door.

What happenes next leaves you utterly dumbfounded. The man walks over to your friend’s grandfather, picks up his lifeless hand, and tells him to get up! Before you have a chance to be disgusted at this man’s total lack of respect, your friend’s grandfather opens his eyes and sits up! He gets up, opens the door, and greets all the people who were waiting outside the door. Some scream…some faint…all can’t believe it.



What would you tell people if you were one of the ones to see this dead man raised to life? Do you think anyone would believe you? What would you think about the neighbor who raised him? Believe it or not, this is a true story…only it wasn’t a grandfather that died, it was a little girl. And this didn’t happen recently…it happened over 2000 years ago. And the neighbor was a man named Jesus. The story comes from the book of Matthew, chapter 9, verses 18-26. Look it up…read it. It’s true!

There are many “faith healers” out there today who claim to have healed people from diseases and helped crippled people to walk again. Some even claim to have communicated with people who are dead. But if you took any of them, brought them to a funeral home, pointed them toward a man or woman lying in a casket and asked them, “so what are you gonna do about this situation?”, all of them would probably squirm and tell you there isn’t much they CAN do. However, death was not a problem for Jesus. He is the only person who walked this earth to actually raise someone from the dead. People who don’t believe that Jesus is the son of God will often say he was a great man, a good teacher, one of many “holy men” who taught us how to live, etc. But none of these people ever talk about the miraculous things Jesus did. They either ignore them all together or they say they didn’t happen. But Jesus told people to believe in the evidence of the miracles he performed. If he never performed miracles, that means he’s a liar. If he’s a liar, there goes that whole “good moral teacher” thing.

Yes, Jesus was a “good moral teacher.” Yes, Jesus was a “great man.” Yes, Jesus was a prophet. But there’s one big thing that sets him apart from all the other moral teachers and great men who ever lived: the story of Jesus and the dead girl ends with these words:

“…and she got up.”