Mark 5:35-43, Jesus Heals a Woman and Jairus's Daughter Part 2

[Meanwhile, back to our other story that we may well have forgotten!] 35 While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” [Unlike the woman, Jairus had boldly demanded an audience. Had the healing of one woman, who delayed Jesus from attending to the girl, led to a death? While these people might have thought Jesus could heal the child, they believe he cannot change death.] 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” [Jesus was never distracted by the distraction. He now commands Jairus to return to his initial faith. We are to believe, not fear. This is a divine demand that springs from the relation between God and humanity that Adam and Eve broke in the Garden. We are called to trusting, dependent love and obedience, which is the very definition of faith, not merely intellectual ascent in something like the Nicene Creed.] 37 And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. [The big three come to the fore for the first time. Why this group? Did they have more faith? Did they respond more boldly than the others? We do not know. However, we do know that Mark will show their personal failings more than those of the other disciples.] 38 They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. [They could have been professional mourners hired by the family, which was common at the time. Jairus, an important man, likely had many friends who would have been at his home as well.] 39 And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” [By earthly standards she is dead; but Jesus will show us new standards that will point to his future resurrection.] 40 And they laughed at him. [What happened to the mourning? How sincere were these people that their disposition changed so quickly?] But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. [Jesus exports the unfaithful while drawing the faithful in even closer to his greatest miraculous healing yet: bringing the dead back to life.] 41 Taking her by the hand [technically she is unclean because she is dead, which never stops Jesus] he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” [in her Aramaic tongue] which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” [Only Mark records the words of Jesus, giving more evidence that Peter is the eyewitness to this event, having shared them with Mark, who writing in Greek, translates the Aramaic for his readers. Likely, Jesus and his disciples were bi- or tri-lingual speaking Galilean Aramaic, some Hebrew, and possibly Greek.] 42 And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. [Marks does love using “immediately” to move his account along.] 43 And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. [Why do you suppose Jesus tells the parents to stay quiet and for them to feed their daughter as though this was normal? The central event and miracle of the Bible is the resurrection of Jesus. Resurrection is a gift to all who believe in him. It will become our “new normal.” This miracle foreshadows his own power over death. There are two other miracles of Jesus bringing people back from death not recorded in Mark. They involve the son of the widow of Nain in Luke 7 and Lazarus of Bethany in John 11.]