According to the Gospel of Luke, on at least two occasions Christ Jesus tenderly said to those who were grieving, “Weep not.” First, to a mother who had lost her only son, then later to a ruler of a synagogue and his family and friends who were crying because his young daughter had just passed on (see chaps. 7 and 8).
Jesus could speak with such gentle authority because, to his spiritual sense, the young man and the girl were not dead but living. This was the reality, the truth of being unseen by the human senses, for God forever preserves the life of each one of His children.
Jesus affirms, “He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him” (Luke 20:38). Jesus was aware that a child of God lives in God, is inseparable from God, who is eternal Life. To both the young man and the little girl, he commanded: “Arise.” In other words, awake from the dream of life in matter to the understanding of life in Spirit—the only Life. Obeying Jesus’ instruction, they were immediately made whole and arose to a new experience. Tears of parents and friends were replaced with joy and gratitude, and God was glorified.
