‘She is only sleeping !”[ mark 5 : 39]. What is so magic in those three words ? Read through to realise depth of these golden words ?. There are times when we do not know how .......
to console our close relatives or friends even though we want to console them. These are times when human intervention cannot guarantee any relief. These are occasions, when he or she becomes totally helpless and no experts or pastor can give any ray of hope. In such occasions you need to know how to communicate. The best way to communicate with depressed or dejected is demonstrated by Jesus. See this excellent example.
Before I explain the passage, I would like to tell you about an incident that took place in our church. The only daughter of a member passed away and I was attending the funeral service. The pastor who conducted the funeral service narrated an incident happened in his life. He was an young pastor attached with a senior pastor when, the only son of a parent in their parish died. The young pastor was sent for consoling the parents. He was there for the whole day praying, singing and preaching, but could not make any visible impact on the situation. He could not console the parents.He came back and after some time accompanied the senior pastor to the same house. The senior pastor after reaching there sat with the father of the child and held his hand for some time without uttering a single word. The father of the child stopped crying and after a prayer they returned.
The young pastor was very curious to know how this has happened ?. He said to himself “I prayed and sang songs and preached for longer time, but nothing happened. But when senior pastor held his hand, he stopped crying ? How this happened ?. Finally he dared to ask the senior pastor for the secret. The senior pastor said “ when I held his hand I was communicating with him that I withstood the same situation in my life and GOD had given me the courage to face it and that courage was communicated”. My touch was enough to communicate, what I had to speak to him about GOD’s Message and plans which we cannot comprehend with our intelligence.
Now read those words spoken by Jesus “ She is sleeping ....”. Jesus spoke these words to people around him including the child’s parents and relatives when they understood that she is no more. Imagine the sorrow and mental plight of a parents when a child dies in their arms. It is inconsolable. These words would have brought immediate silence and sudden change in the mental frame. It would have relieved their sorrow immediately.
Imagine now, if Jesus had said,” Who my GOD, I am very sorry to hear that, or wait let me see etc..” Had he spoken that, it would not have brought any changes to their frame of mind immediately. It would not have given any hope. I doubt whether any other better words are available in place of these words. As a management student I always wonder at those words spoken by Jesus on that occasion ‘Don’t be afraid She is sleeping ...’.
I remember an incident in my life. when my wife was carrying 5 months our second child she was down with chicken pox. We consulted our family doctor at that time in Blore and the doctor said ‘Anything could happen to the child, because the virus is very tiny and it can penetrate to embryo.’ We cannot do anything now. These words are just opposite to what Jesus spoke to the parents.
Jesus spoke those words even though he knew the child was dead. Communication is not showing your knowledge or speaking with spectacular vocabulary or showing your fluency in language. It is possible through silence or through few words or gestures provided your heart throbs and sobs with listener. I only pray to GoD to give me those golden words in my mouth when I need to communicate.