Let us first read the story of this next great miracle and then do the exegesis, the deeper meaning of the verses.
A critical academic approach to biblical scripture is an example of exegesis. Critical explanation or analysis, especially of a text. An exposition or explanation of a text, especially a religious one.
Mark 5:35 While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”
Mark 5:36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”
Mark 5:37 And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.
Mark 5:38 Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly.
Mark 5:40 And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying.
Mark 5:41 Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”
Mark 5:42 Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement.
Mark 5:43 But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.
Let’s start very carefully to look at the meaning of these verses:
Mark 5:35 While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”
My dear friend did you ever get a message of the death of a loved one? This is such a shock to our system. Can you see the despair on the father’s face?
Mark implies that the sad news was broken quietly to Jairus in the presence of the throng (see on Mark 5:24).
Important textual evidence may be cited for the reading “overheard.” The word spoken quietly to Jairus “caught the ear of Jesus” (DA 343 342, 343).
While they were still on the way, a messenger pressed through the crowd, bearing to Jairus the news that his daughter was dead, and it was useless to trouble the Master further. The word caught the ear of Jesus. “Fear not,” He said; “believe only, and she shall be made whole.”
Jairus pressed closer to the Saviour, and together they hurried to the ruler’s home. Already the hired mourners and flute players were there, filling the air with their clamour. The presence of the crowd, and the tumult jarred upon the spirit of Jesus.
Be not afraid.
Where there is fear there is little faith. Faith drives out fear. Jairus had been sufficiently strong in faith so that he found no difficulty in believing that Jesus could heal his daughter
Now he was called upon to exercise even greater faith—faith that the clutch of death itself could be broken. When fear haunts our souls and taunts our feeble faith, let us do as Jesus bade Jairus—“only believe,” for “all things are possible to him that believes”.
Mark 5:37 And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.
Let us join Jesus and His three disciples as well as the devastated parents as they enter the room where a lifeless body of a 12-year-old girl was seen.
The bedlam, the uproar, the pandamonium of the mourners and the coarse disbelieve and doubt of the unbelieving crowd that had gathered in the home was unbearable. It made the presence of the mourners and unbelievers completely inappropriate to the solemn majesty of divine power about to be manifested by the One who had “life in himself”.
Peter, and James, and John. The use of the definite article in the Greek shows that the three disciples are here treated as one unit.
This is the first instance where these three were selected from among the Twelve to share with Jesus certain of the more intimate experiences of His life on earth. In this instance the room was too small to accommodate all the Twelve.
Matthew adds something that Mark does not mention. Let’s read it:
Matthew 9:23 When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing,
Matthew 9:24 He said to them, “Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him.
Even today in the Oriental funerals you hear the sound out their doleful tunes. Their mournful melodies were, then as now, considered essential.
The famous Rabbi Judah pointed out the duty of an Israelite in these words: “Even the poorest man in Israel [for his wife’s funeral] must provide no less than two flutes and one lamenting woman” (Mishnah Kethuboth 4. 4, Soncino ed. of the Talmud, p. 266).
Mark 5:38 Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly.
Wailed. This refers to the monotonous wail of the hired mourners, who would be numerous if the family were wealthy, as it was true in this case.
39. Commotion. Gr. thorubeō, “to make a noise,” “to disturb,” “to throw into confusion,” or “to wail tumultuously, at the same time.”
In Acts 17:5 thorubeō is translated “set … in an uproar.” Lets read it:
Acts 17:5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
Mark 5:39 When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.”
How do like this description of death? No more appropriate comparison could be found for death than that of sleep, which so often means release from weariness, toil, disappointment, and pain.
As the eyes of a weary child are closed in sleep for the night, so the eyes of those who love God and who look forward with confidence to the day when His voice shall awaken them to life immortal are closed in the peaceful and undisturbed sleep of death.
1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—
1 Corinthians 15:52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
15:54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.”
15:55 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING? O HADES, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY?”
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
4:17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
The comforting metaphor by which “sleep” stands for “death” seems to have been Christ’s favourite way of referring to this experience.
John 11:11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”
John 11:12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.”
John 11:13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
John 11:14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.
John 11:15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”
Death is a sleep, but it is a deep sleep from which only the great Life-giver can awaken one, for He alone has the keys to the tomb.
Revelation 1:18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Mark 5:40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was
Laughed … to scorn. Gr. katagelaō, “to deride.” It was more than simple laughter. It is little wonder that Jesus drove them from the room before awakening the little girl from the sleep of death.
Mark 5:41 Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”
These words are Aramaic, the very words Jesus spoke upon this occasion. Their use here testifies to the fact that Jesus spoke in Aramaic.
Compare other Aramaic expressions Jesus used, such as “Ephphatha” (ch. 7:34) and “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” (ch. 15:34).
Will that precious little angel of Jairus and his wife hear the voice of Jesus that breaks the bonds of death?
The lips unclosed with a smile. The eyes opened widely as if from sleep, and the maiden gazed with wonder on the group beside her.
She arose, and her parents clasped her in their arms, and wept for joy.
This is the only case of raising from the dead recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels. The raising of the young man of the city of Nain is recorded only in Luke, and that of Lazarus, only in John. In all three instances restoration was immediate and complete.
Overcome with a great amazement. This reflects a Hebrew (and Aramaic) method of expression used to intensify the thought of the verb.
Mark 5:43 But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.
The charge was in harmony with Christ’s repeated attempts, at this stage of His ministry, to avoid undue publicity.
Given her to eat. A tender evidence of the thoughtful care manifested by Jesus. This command implies, also, that the girl had been suffering from a disease that drained her physical strength. Possibly she had not been able to eat for some days.
NEXT TIME
Jesus trained the disciples and send them on their first evangelistic campaign.