A lonely and sure death is poised in the wings. A father, a man of importance in the community, a man of wisdom and learning and faith in God, in desperation comes to Jesus. His daughter is dying. In other circumstances he would have sent someone else to summon this healer, but in his desperation he must go himself. In turns out he cannot, for the word comes to him on the way home, Your daughter is dead.
Death is everywhere in our lives, as well.
Ann Weems, moved by the death of her son, is jolted to the realization that we are surrounded by death. The whole world is dressed in tears, and I have joined the procession of the bereaved who walk daily in the death places. Death comes to us in many forms, every day, everywhere. Jesus walks through a crowd, a woman comes forward, stretches out a hand to touch the hem of his garment, and there is life. Jesus, Mark says, is forever intruding into our settled, and, yes, even our expected patterns of death.