When we face personal storms, Jesus says, ‘be not afraid’

The story of a synagogue official’s little girl dying and Jesus raising her back to life has always resonated with me for many reasons.

I empathize with the parents of the young girl, begging to have her healed and deeply grieving her untimely death. I also marvel at how Jesus told people (who had no idea that he would bring her back to life) not to be afraid in the face of death.

When Jesus was summoned to heal the girl, St. Mark writes in his gospel that Jesus started for Jairus’ home, only to have someone from the official’s house report that they were too late. He said not to “trouble the teacher” because the girl had already died. Jesus told the man not to fear but to have faith.

When Jesus entered the home, people were “weeping and wailing loudly.” When Jesus told these hysterical people that the girl was merely sleeping and not dead, they ridiculed him. He asked them to leave, then in the presence of Peter, James, John, and the girls’ parents, he said the famous words: “Talitha koum.” They mean, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”

Following this miracle beyond miracles, Jesus asked people to keep quiet about what had happened. He asked for someone to give the girl something to eat. The extraordinary events of fear, disappointment, death, grief, and new life are contradicted by the command to do something basic and ordinary: having a snack.

The fact that Jesus wanted her fed speaks volumes to me. We know Jairus’ daughter was not made immortal in body through her “resurrection” and one day, her body would die again. Yet in the present, she needs the nourishment and comfort of a meal.

Why did Jesus raise Jairus’ daughter? What scares many of us most is death, so Jesus revealed his Divinity by reversing the death of a beloved young child. He then offered a meal to the one he had saved, just as later he shared a meal before undoing the chains of death altogether.

Shortly after this event, at the Last Supper, Jesus shared the gift of himself under the appearance of earthly food and drink. The Eucharistic meal is the sustenance for our souls to carry us through life’s ebbs and flows until we join him in eternal life. As he said to the people who were fretting over the little girl, so he speaks to us: do not be afraid. When we are stressed, when we are broken, when we experience death, grief, anxiety, and storms of any kind, Jesus is there in prayer and in the Bread of Life.

Dr. Mary Healy offered some unique insights during a 2020 talk entitled, “The Lord Delivers Us From Fear.”

“So, how can we be healed of that fear that is so common in human life, and in a particular way is common today? Well, for one thing, we need to establish ourselves in the Word of God. We need to feed on the Word of God,” she said.

“Actually, people have done a count. You know how many times scripture tells us, ‘Do not fear,’ or, ‘Fear not,’ or, ‘Be not afraid?’ It just so happens to be 365 times. The Lord knew we needed to hear it every day.”

Find Jesus every day. Find him in your storms. Participate in the Mass. Receive the comfort and nourishment which can only be found in the Eucharist. Be not afraid, for though we may face the things we fear most – death, included – we know that in Christ, death is not the end.

As we hear in the Eucharistic Prayer at funerals, “Lord, for your faithful people, life is changed, not ended. We gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven. In him who rose from the dead, our hope of resurrection dawned.”

The story of Jairus’ daughter is inspiring, as we realize the comfort and power of Jesus’ healing, his care, and his recognition of human needs. The reality of Jesus’ ultimate defeat of death can calm any storm we encounter this side of heaven.

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