Today is the funeral of a beloved member of Boulevard Presbyterian. And as in many other funerals, we will remember her, give thanks for her life, recall funny stories, and proclaim the hope of resurrection. And rather appropriately, today's gospel reading features Jesus raising to life a young girl who has died.Now the theological purists out there may want to point out that this event is quite distinct from resurrection. It is instead a resuscitation of some sort. And that is true. But regardless, I still find the story most appropriate for this day. First, the story insists that Jesus/God cares about our human relationships. Jesus here restores a family to wholeness, brings a lost daughter back into her family, to love and to be loved. And second, death proves to be no barrier for God's desire to restore and make whole.
And so while resurrection may be something quite distinct from what happens in this story, resurrection is cut from the same cloth. God cares not just for our "souls" but for our lives, our very human lives with their relationships and the capacity to love and be loved. And whatever resurrection looks like, it will be more than some wispy immortality of our souls. It will be nothing less than the redeeming and making new of our very humanity. Thanks be to God!
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