When God’s Son Jesus was on earth, he showed that Jehovah cares for little children. Jesus would take time to talk to children about God. He even used God’s power to bring young ones back from the dead! Would you like to hear how Jesus did this for one family?⁠—

There was a man named Jairus. He and his wife and their twelve-year-old daughter lived a short distance from the Sea of Galilee. The father and mother loved their daughter very much. She was their only child.

So you can imagine how sad they were when their little girl became very sick. They did everything they could to make her better, but she only got worse. Jairus could see that his daughter was going to die. And there was nothing that he or the doctors could do to help her.

But maybe Jesus could help. Jairus had heard about this wonderful man and how he could heal people. So Jairus went to look for him. He found Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee teaching many people.

Jairus made his way through the crowd and fell at Jesus’ feet. He said to him: ‘My little daughter is very sick. Will you please come and help her? I beg you to come.’

Right away Jesus went with Jairus. The crowd that had come to see the Great Teacher also followed along. But after they had gone a distance, some men came from the house of Jairus, and told him: “Your daughter died! Why bother the teacher any longer?”

Jesus overheard the men say this. He knew how sad Jairus was to lose his only child. So he told him: ‘Do not fear. Just have faith in God. Your daughter will be all right.’

So they kept on going until they came to Jairus’ house. Here friends of the family were crying. They were sad because their little friend had died. But Jesus told them: ‘Stop weeping. The young child has not died, but she is sleeping.’

When Jesus said this, the people began to laugh at him. For they knew that the girl had died. But Jesus said that the girl was only sleeping in order to teach those people a lesson. He wanted them to know that by means of God’s power he could bring a dead person back to life just as easily as we could wake up a person from sleep.

Jesus now had everyone leave the room except three of his apostles and the child’s father and mother. Then he went in where the young child was. He took her by the hand, and said: ‘Young girl, get up!’ And right away she got up and began walking! The father and mother were just filled with joy.​—Mark 5:21-24, 35-43; Luke 8:40-42, 49-56.

Have you ever had a friend who died?⁠— Would you like it if that person could come back to life so that you could enjoy his company again?⁠— Do you think this can happen?⁠—

Since Jesus could bring that young girl back to life, he can do the same for others, can’t he?⁠— But will he really do it?⁠— Yes, because Jesus himself said: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.” And that time is coming soon, under the rule of God’s kingdom.​—John 5:28, 29.

Just think how wonderful it will be to welcome people back to life! Some of them will be persons that we knew. And we will know who they are when they come back from the dead, just as Jairus knew his daughter when Jesus raised her.

At this time Jesus was staying in a town near the Sea of Galilee. A crowd of people came to see him there. So many people came that there was no more room for others to enter the house. No one else could even get near the door.

But more people kept coming. One group of people brought a man who was very sick. He was paralyzed. It took four men to carry him on a little bed or cot, because he could not walk.

Do you know why they wanted to bring this sick man to Jesus?⁠— They believed that Jesus could heal him from that sickness.

But, with all those people in the house, how could they get the paralyzed man to Jesus?⁠— The men found a way. They climbed up onto the roof. It was a flat roof. And they made a big hole in it. Then they lowered the sick man on his cot right through that hole and into the room below. What faith they had!

All the people in the house were surprised when they saw what was happening. The paralyzed man on his cot was lowered right down into the room. Was Jesus angry because of what the men had done?⁠— Not at all! He was glad to see their faith. He said to the paralyzed man: “Your sins are forgiven.”

Some of the people did not think it was right for Jesus to say that. They did not think that he could forgive sins. So, to show that he really could, Jesus said to the man: “Get up, pick up your cot, and go to your home.”

When Jesus said that, the man was healed! He was not paralyzed anymore. Now he did not need other people to carry him about. He was able to get up all by himself and walk and carry his cot too.

The people who saw this were amazed. Never in all their lives had they seen anything as wonderful as that.​—Mark 2:1-12.

What do we learn from this miracle?⁠— We learn that Jesus had the power to forgive sins and to make sick persons well. But we also learn something else. We learn that people get sick because of sin.