Merry Christmas!

 Good morning. Jesus arrives at the synagogue official’s house. Remember that in Matthew the little girl was already dead, but in another gospel she was at the point of death. In that version while on the way to the house, someone came and told the official that his daughter was dead. Imagine that it is your daughter. You have but one hope – and that is Jesus coming and healing your daughter. He is delayed by the healing of the woman. Because of that your daughter is dead. Not only would you be heartbroken because of the death of your daughter, you would probably be angry that Jesus stopped and healed the woman. Two words that can cause someone a lot of anguish – if only. “If only that woman had come at a different time”. “If only Jesus had said wait a little bit until I heal his daughter”. If I only – . That's what Martha and Mary said to Jesus when He came to Lazarus's house. We say that too often. If only we had not done this, or if only God had intervened in time. It's hard to not dwell on what might have been. So they get to the house, and there are a lot of people loudly mourning. Back then sometimes they would hire people to come in to help mourn the dead. Jesus tells them to go away for the girl has not died, but is asleep. They of course laugh at Jesus. After He gets rid of them, He goes into the house; takes the girl by the hand; and she arises. Instead of a healing, the man gets a miracle. In another gospel it says that the girl was 12 years old - the same length of time that the woman had her affliction. As you might guess, the news about this spreads throughout the land. Father thank You that You are always there for us. You help us to not dwell on the “If only”. Help us to trust that You will make everything turn out for the best.