People have always asked the obvious and ultimately unanswerable question: why? Wisdom is a reflection on the Genesis story through the lens of Greek philosophy. The author affirms the goodness of creation and the wholesome nature of all creation against philosophies that viewed matter as a very negative prison and the source of suffering. God’s creation is good — evil and suffering are human creations. He insisted on something very strange: death does not come from God and was never part of God’s plan. That is difficult to understand from the biological point of view for all living things lose vital force and finally die. Again, this is a reflection on the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2 in which death is seen as the consequence of human disobedience.

The image of God’s eternity stamped on humans was a likely reference to the immortal soul — something that was not part of early Israelite theology. The theology of Israel developed over time and underwent many mutations in the same manner as Christian theology. Many of the Greek-inspired Jewish scholars interpreted the creation of Genesis as having occurred first of all in the mind of God — the spiritual creation — and then having been realized on the material level.

What do we take away from the passage? As both testaments insist, God is the God of the living, not the dead. The death that we fear so much and flee from is a rather thin veil that separates our own earthly experience from the eternal realm of the spirit. The created world and eternal life with God form one long continuum. It was created in goodness and beauty and we are invited to experience it as such.

Paul was a consummate fundraiser. In his efforts to raise money to send to the church in Jerusalem he pulled out all the stops, working his audience with appeals to the life of Christ, possibly a little guilt at their present abundance, and an exhortation to make a huge leap in their own spiritual journey through generosity. His main principle is one that we could take to heart in our own economic situation: no one should have too much or too little — abundance is a gift of God that needs to be shared.

Death came calling for Jairus’ little daughter but it was not to be. When Jesus received the frantic pleas of the synagogue leader He set off on His mission. We can imagine the anxiety and fear of the parents as they pleaded with Jesus, for their daughter was “at the point of death.” During the journey there was a brief interlude during which the woman with the flow of blood was healed. She was not healed by any magical quality of Jesus’ robe but by her faith and persistence, enabling the divine healing energy to flow into her from Jesus and restore her to health.

The arrival of Jesus and His followers at Jairus’ home was accompanied by the grim news that they were too late: the girl was dead. The reaction of Jesus must have sounded strange indeed: do not fear, only believe. They must have exchanged puzzled glances. In response to their weeping and wailing, He asked why they are so upset — after all, the child was not dead, but sleeping. This was too much and they began to laugh at Him. By grasping the girl by the hand and commanding her to get up Jesus did more than restore her to life. He revealed that in God there is only the divine energy that wears many labels: life, light and love. God has no interest in death or suffering. An encounter with God is a life-altering, transforming event, and our greatest obstacles to experiencing this God are fear and lack of faith.