The Readings from Mass today include a selection from the second Book of Samuel, and a portion of the Gospel of St Mark. "Talitha koum" appears in the Gospel, but I want to comment first on the reading from 2 Samuel.
Yesterday's first reading relates:
An informant came to David with the report,
"The children of Israel have transferred their loyalty to Absalom."
Today we read of the death of Absalom.
Today's first reading recounts the death of David's son Absalom, and David's response on learning of the death of his son, who was in rebellion against him.
The death of Absalom:
Someone saw this and reported to Joab that he had seen Absalom hanging from a terebinth. And taking three pikes in hand, he thrust for the heart of Absalom, still hanging from the tree alive.
When David is informed of the death of his son, we read:
The king was shaken, and went up to the room over the city gate to weep. He said as he wept, "My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!"
We can see in this scene a reflection of our relationship with God, Our Father. When we sin we are in rebellion against God, and that was the case from the time of Adam.
If we suffer what the book of Revelation refers to as the second death, the eternal death of hell, as a result of our rebellion against God our Father, He weeps.
Just as Jesus wept at the death of his friend Lazarus, so Our Father weeps when we suffer the second death; when we go to hell.
He says:
If only I had died instead of you.
That is exactly what Jesus does. He dies on the cross so that we who deserve the second death can be freed, can be reconciled to Our Father, can enter and remain at the wedding feast of the lamb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Gospel reading Jesus goes with Jairus, because his daughter, a girl of 12, is gravely ill.
We read:
While he (Jesus) was still speaking, people from the synagogue official's house arrived and said, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?"
Jesus goes to the girl's death bed and:
He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum,"
He says "Little girl, I say to you, arise!"
The Gospel continues:
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.
At that they were utterly astounded.
We see here the scripture fulfilled which says "he speaks and worlds are created." A girl who was dead has been brought back to life. A new world was created where the dead come back to life. This, of course, is made manifest completely in the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
