Matthew 9:24

NOT DEAD, BUT SLEEPING

‘The maid is not dead, but sleepeth.’

Matthew 9:24

We have three great lessons from this history.

I. A lesson against despair.—The first is never to believe that we are utterly dead to God and Christ. It is a lesson against despair. Satan and the world are always trying to make us despair. Satan is always telling us that we are spiritually dead The world is always ready to sneer at any attempt at amendment. How are we to escape from these? Where are we to find that which answers to the quiet room where none were present but Christ and the Apostles and the parents? Surely it is in the House of God that we find what answers to all this. Here, in the quiet house of His own Presence.

II. A lesson of hope for all.—It is a lesson of hope for priests who mourn over the apparent deadness of those for whom they watch and pray as those who must give account: for it teaches them that there may be life even under the very likeness of death, and that when God wills the hand of Christ may be laid upon the soul, and it will rise to new life and vigour. It teaches them where their true strength lies. The pastor’s strength lies not in mere fussy activity of his own, but in the power of Christ. How was it that this sick girl came to be healed? Was it not through her father’s persevering in bringing Christ to heal her? Other people told him it was useless. Other people told him he was troubling the Master to no purpose: that the girl was dead and gone, and that the end had come. But the father persevered, and when Christ came His verdict was a different one.

III. A lesson on the power of prayer.—It had been Christ’s Will and purpose to reward the faith of the father who had sought Him out and trusted Him, and thus, though late enough to try the father’s faith, He was not too late to grant the father’s prayer. And so it shall ever be with the prayer of faith. It is prayer which brings Christ Himself to the rescue of the perishing soul.

Illustration

‘Nature in winter puts on her shroud: the leaves fall, the limbs of the tree become bare, the earth is covered with a mantle of snow. But nature is not dead. By and by, under the warm sun, the snow will melt and the balmy air of spring will make the hedgerows green, and the trees put forth their leaves, and the snowdrops, crocusses, and other flowers will give promise of new life and beauty. The springtime of Nature is a picture of the Resurrection.’