Mark 5:35-43 – A call to radical belief

As Jesus was still speaking, people from Jairus’ home came with the news to him not to bother the teacher any more. “Your daughter has died,” they said to him. Just imagine the shock, and instantly the slowly growing flame of faith must have been smothered. But before the news could devastate what little faith that was left in Jairus, the Lord encouragingly said to him, “Don’t’ be afraid, just believe.”  

What’s happening here? The ruler from the synagogue came believing that Jesus could heal his daughter. His hope was enhanced when he saw how Jesus caringly healed the lady with hemorrhage for 12 years. But here was a different level of faith required. Here was the Lord asking him to trust Him not just for a healing but a resurrection. This is a call to an extremely drastic belief. For this ruler from the synagogue, the call to trust Christ for healing of the life threatening condition of her daughter took great faith. But to believe Him to cause life to flow into her cold, clammy and lifeless body and command life to return, was quite another level.

Mark did not tell us how Jairus responded, but we can anticipate that he would have picked up pace and hurried home. The Lord had already set the expectation. The stage for a great miracle was set in motion, and what’s left was to call life back to the darling girl of Jairus. 

On reaching his home, there was already a great commotion. There were wailing and crying, professional mourners were already in action making the whole scene a sheer misery. When the Lord saw the hullabaloo created, in a rebuke, He asked them “Why make a commotion and weep?” Following up with a remark, He exclaimed, “This child has not died but is asleep!” This triggered a mocking laugh from the professional mourners.

The Lord was about to show that He is the Lord whom even death had to bow to. He ordered everyone out. Then He took Jairus, his wife and his companions, most likely to be Peter, James and John, into the room where the girl was lying - still and lifeless. Taking the lifeless hand of that girl, Jesus said gently to her in Aramaic, “Talitha kum.”  Translated these two words mean “Little girl (or lamb), I say to you, get up!”  

Try and put a little imagination to the scene. As the words of the Lord fell over the lifeless body and reached the ear, her eyes began to slowly but surely open wide. The first thing that she beheld was the Lord’s face, then the faces of her parents, then the faces of the three disciples.  Just imagine the rapturous joy and tears all rolling out of each face. This must be the feeling that each of us will experience when Christ comes again. It’s a foretaste of what would happen on the day when the trumpet call of God shall sound. Hallelujah!  

Meanwhile what does this account tell us about our Lord? He has the power! Through the stilling of the sea, the deliverance of the demoniac of Gerasene, the healing of the despised lady with a 12-year bleeding, and now the raising of a dead lifeless girl, He is calling us to have faith in Him no matter what we are encountering. So whatever station of life we may be in, let’s reach out to Him. Regardless of what we are experiencing, just reach out and touch Him. He understands and He cares. And He is able!