A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Matthew. As our lord was speaking, a leader of the synagogue came up to him, did him reverence, and said, my daughter has just died. Please come and lay your hand on her, and she will come back to life. Now that's quite a statement. Jesus stood up and followed him, and his disciples did the same.
As they were going, a woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind Jesus and touched the tassel of his cloak. If only I can touch his cloak, the woman said, I shall get well. Jesus turned around and saw the woman and said, courage, daughter. Your faith has restored you to health. At that very moment, the woman was cured.
When Jesus arrived at the synagogue leader's house and saw the musicians and the crowd that was making a din, Jesus said to them, leave, all of you. The little girl is not dead. She's asleep. At this, they began to ridicule Jesus. Anyway, when the crowd had been put out, Jesus entered and took the little girl by the hand, and she got up.
News of this circulated throughout the district, and this is the gospel of the lord. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. There's a little sentence in reading this morning that needs our fullest attention, and that is this: The ground on which you stand is holy ground. Now notice, it doesn't say the ground that you stood