The Story Is Not Over Yet — Hope

Title: The Story Is Not Over Yet — Hope
Text: Luke 8:49–56

When I was a child, I cried a lot. My uncles didn’t try to comfort me. Instead, they made me laugh to stop me from crying. So I often laughed while still crying. Then they would tease me and say, “If you laugh while crying, you’ll grow hair on your bottom!”

It was funny, but it meant that laughing after crying looked strange or unnatural. It was like having mixed emotions at the same time.

In today’s Bible story, something similar happened. People were crying and then suddenly laughed—but it was not happy laughter. When Jesus said a dead girl was only sleeping, the people who were crying began to laugh at Him.

Who were these people? Maybe neighbors. Maybe people hired to cry at funerals. Back then, some families paid women to cry loudly to show sorrow. But these people were not truly sad. They didn’t really know the girl.

They saw death and thought the story was over.

While Jesus was still talking with the woman who was healed, someone came and said to the girl’s father, “Your daughter is dead. Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”
That moment must have felt like everything was lost. “If only Jesus had come sooner…”
But Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid. Just believe.” He still had hope.

Jesus did not go to the house to say goodbye. He went to bring the girl back to life.

This story connects with the woman who had been sick. Both stories are about daughters. And both show something important: the word “yet.”
The people thought the story had ended. But Jesus said, “Not yet.”

We think death is the end. But Jesus says it is like sleep. From God’s view, death is not final. There is resurrection — new life after death.

Maybe the girl’s parents didn’t believe Jesus could raise her. That’s understandable. But what happened next is important. They saw a miracle. They saw hope.

Some people laughed at Jesus. Others kept hoping. That is the difference. It’s not about how strong your faith is. It’s about whether you keep hoping when things seem impossible.

In other stories, Jesus raised the dead in public. But this time, He only allowed a few people to see. Why?
Maybe because the others had no hope. They believed only what they could see. Jesus showed the miracle only to those who believed—or who at least didn’t laugh at Him.

What should believers do when they face death or something that feels like the end?
Yes, we need faith. But we also need hope — a strong, burning hope. The kind of hope that keeps praying, keeps asking, keeps knocking.

Faith is not just for now. True faith reaches past death. It believes the story is not over yet.

If we say, “It’s too late! Nothing can be done now,” we may be giving up too soon.
But Jesus says: “Not yet.”

When we reach the end of our strength, that’s when God begins to work.
Doctors cannot help after death. But Jesus can.

This life will end someday. But death will not last forever. We will rise again.
When faith ends, hope takes over.

Let’s remember: For believers, death is just like closing our eyes and opening them again.
May you and I find true hope and true peace in Jesus.