Matthew 9:18-26 | Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov | The Little Girl is not Dead

Matthew 9:18-26 The Little Girl is not Dead

Raising of Jairus' Daughter, Painted by Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (1844-1927), Painted in 1871, Oil on canvas, © The Museum of the Academy of Arts, St. Petersburg, Russia While Jesus was speaking, up came one of the officials, who bowed low in front of him and said, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.’ Jesus rose and, with his disciples, followed him. Then from behind him came a woman, who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years, and she touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I can only touch his cloak I shall be well again.’ Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her, ‘Courage, my daughter, your faith has restored you to health.’ And from that moment the woman was well again. When Jesus reached the official’s house and saw the flute-players, with the crowd making a commotion he said, ‘Get out of here; the little girl is not dead, she is asleep.’ And they laughed at him. But when the people had been turned out he went inside and took the little girl by the hand; and she stood up. And the news spread all round the countryside. READ MORE Reflection on the Painting Our Gospel reading tells us about two miracles. First Jesus heals the woman with the haemorrhage, followed by bringing the daughter of Jairus back to life. It is of this last miracle that I am sharing a painting by Russian artist, Polenov. What is rare and beautiful in this painting is that the physical contact between Jesus and Jairus’s daughter is shown. In most other artworks depicting this miracle, Jesus is simply shown making a gesture over the bed, but not in our painting: he holds the girl’s hand and raises her from the dead. In a way both miracles are about physical touch. This woman with the haemorrhage knew how important her physical touch could be. When she heard Jesus was in town, she simply wanted to touch his clothes to be healed. Jesus also used his touch to raise the girl from the dead. A lot of His miracles involve His physical touch. Think for example of the blind man being healed when Jesus touches his eyes. So much can be communicated when we reach out and touch someone on the arm or when we take time to comfort a hurting individual. Jesus uses all his senses, not only words, to communicate… and connect with us. by Patrick van der Vorst