Mark 5:35 - Meaning and Application

Sin and disobedience brought disease and death into the world through the first Adam. But by the grace of the second Adam, Christ, both are overcome. Christ has already healed a disease no one could cure, and now he goes on to triumph over death. At the start of the chapter, he had already triumphed over a fierce demon.

The sad news now reaches Jairus: his daughter has died, so, if Christ were like other doctors, he has come too late. As long as there is life, there is hope, and there is still room to use means. But when life is gone, it seems beyond recall. So the messenger says, “Why trouble the Master any further?” (Mark 5:35). In ordinary cases, the right response is to say, “The matter is settled, the will of God is done, and I submit. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, because I thought, Who knows whether God may yet be gracious to me, and the child live? But now that it is dead, why should I weep? I will go to it, but it will not return to me.” At such a time, words like that should quiet our hearts, so our souls may rest like a weaned child with its mother. But this case was unusual. The child’s death does not end the story, as it normally would.

Christ then encourages the grieving father to keep hoping that his request for his child will not be wasted. Christ had stopped along the way to heal someone else, but Jairus would not lose by that delay, and Christ would not be hindered by helping another. “Do not be afraid, only believe.” We can imagine Jairus hesitating, wondering whether he should still ask Christ to come. Yet when death enters a home, do we not need God’s grace, his comfort, and the prayers of ministers and Christian friends just as much as when sickness is there? Christ quickly settles the matter: do not fear that his coming will be useless, only trust that he will turn it to good account.

We should not despair over our dead loved ones, nor grieve like people who have no hope. Rachel once refused to be comforted for her children, thinking they were gone forever, but God said to her, “Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is hope for your future” (Jeremiah 31:16-17). So do not fear, and do not faint. Faith is the only remedy for troubling grief and fear at such a time. Let faith silence them: only believe. Keep trusting Christ and depending on him, and he will do what is best. Believe in the resurrection, and then do not be afraid.

Christ then went with a small group to the house where the dead child lay. The crowd had helped the poor woman he had just healed, and now he sent the crowd away. He allowed no one to follow with him except his three close disciples, Peter, James, and John. That was enough witnesses for the miracle, but not so many that it would look like showiness.

He then raised the child from the dead. The details here are much the same as in Matthew, but several things stand out. First, the child was dearly loved, because the family and neighbors wept and wailed greatly. It is deeply painful when something that blossomed like a flower is cut down so soon, before it has fully grown. Second, it was clear beyond doubt that the child was truly dead. When they laughed at Christ for saying, “She is not dead, but sleeping,” their scorn, though sinful, also proved the point. Third, Christ sent out those who were noisy in their grief and too ignorant about God to understand his words, or too mocking to respect them. Fourth, he kept the parents with him as witnesses, because he had their faith in view and meant the miracle for their comfort. They were the true mourners, because they were silent before him.

Fifth, Christ raised the child by a word of power, recorded here in the original Syriac, the language Christ spoke, to make the fact even more certain: “Talitha, cumi,” meaning, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” Dr. Lightfoot notes that Jews sometimes said to a sick person, “Rise from your disease,” meaning, “We hope you may get better.” But Christ said to one who was dead, “Arise from the dead,” meaning, “I command you to rise.” More than that, the dead have no power in themselves to rise, so power must go with the command to make it effective. “Give what you command, and command what you will.” Christ works while he commands, and he works through his command, so he may command whatever he pleases, even the dead to rise. This is like the gospel call to people who are spiritually dead in sin. They cannot rise by their own strength any more than this child could. Yet the command, “Awake, and rise from the dead,” is not empty when it is followed by, “Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5:14). It is by Christ’s word that spiritual life is given: “I said to you, Live” (Ezekiel 16:6).

Sixth, as soon as life returned, the girl got up and walked (Mark 5:42). Spiritual life shows itself when we get up from laziness and carelessness and walk in a godly life, going about in Christ’s name and strength. Even those who are twelve years old should begin to walk like people whom Christ has raised to life, instead of living in the empty vanity of the natural mind.

Seventh, everyone who saw it, and everyone who heard of it, was amazed at the miracle and at the One who did it. They were overwhelmed with great wonder. They could not deny that something extraordinary and great had happened, yet they did not know what to make of it or what to conclude from it. Their amazement should have grown into living faith, but instead it stayed as stunned silence.

Eighth, Christ tried to keep it quiet. He strictly told them that no one should know about it. It was already known to a few enough witnesses, but he did not want it spread further yet. His own resurrection was to be the great proof of his power over death, so these smaller signs had to wait until that greater proof was given. One part of the evidence was to remain private until the other part, on which the main weight rested, was ready.

Ninth, Christ made sure the child was given something to eat. This showed that she was raised not only to life, but to full health, since she had an appetite for food. Even newborn believers in Christ’s house desire the pure milk of the word (1 Peter 2:1-2).

It is worth noticing that Christ acted here as he did at the beginning of creation. When he first made man, he also provided food for him right away, food from the earth from which man was made (Genesis 1:29). In the same way, now that he had given new life, he saw to it that something was given to eat.

If he gives life, he can be trusted to give what that life needs. Life is more than food, as Jesus later said (Matthew 6:25). Where Christ gives spiritual life, he will also provide the food that supports and grows that life until eternal life. He will never leave unfinished the work he has done with his own hands.