THE girl you see here is 12 years old. Jesus is holding her hand, and her mother and father are standing close by. Do you know why they look so happy? Let’s find out.

The girl’s father is an important man named Jaʹi·rus. One day his daughter becomes sick, and she is put to bed. But she does not get any better. She only gets sicker and sicker. Jaʹi·rus and his wife are very worried, because it looks like their little girl is going to die. She is their only daughter. So Jaʹi·rus goes to look for Jesus. He has heard about the miracles Jesus is doing.

When Jaʹi·rus finds Jesus, there is a big crowd around him. But Jaʹi·rus gets through the crowd and falls at Jesus’ feet. ‘My daughter is very, very sick,’ he says. ‘Please, come and make her well,’ he begs. Jesus says that he will come.

As they walk along, the crowd keeps pushing to get closer. Suddenly Jesus stops. ‘Who touched me?’ he asks. Jesus felt power go out from him, so he knows that someone touched him. But who? It is a woman who has been very sick for 12 years. She had come up and touched Jesus’ clothes, and was healed!

This makes Jaʹi·rus feel better, because he can see how easy it is for Jesus to heal someone. But then a messenger comes. ‘Don’t bother Jesus anymore,’ he tells Jaʹi·rus. ‘Your daughter has died.’ Jesus overhears this and says to Jaʹi·rus: ‘Don’t worry, she will be all right.’

When they finally get to Jaʹi·rus’ house, the people are crying with great grief. But Jesus says: ‘Don’t cry. The child did not die. She is only sleeping.’ But they laugh and make fun of Jesus, because they know she is dead.

Jesus then takes the girl’s father and mother and three of his apostles into the room where the child is lying. He takes her by the hand and says: ‘Get up!’ And she comes to life, just as you see here. And she gets up and walks about! That is why her mother and father are so very, very happy.

This is not the first person Jesus raised from the dead. The first one the Bible tells about is the son of a widow who lives in the city of Naʹin. Later, Jesus also raises Lazʹa·rus, the brother of Mary and Martha, from the dead. When Jesus rules as God’s king, he will bring many, many dead people back to life. Can’t we be glad about that?