Jesus Raises Jairus' Daughter

Jairus, a synagogue ruler, begs Jesus to heal his dying daughter. While en route, news comes that she has died. Jesus says 'She is not dead but sleeping,' takes her hand, and she rises alive.

One of three recorded resurrections by Jesus (along with the widow's son and Lazarus), demonstrating his power over death before his own resurrection.

Key Verses

Background

Jairus occupied a position of social and religious authority as the ruler of the Capernaum synagogue — the very institution whose leaders had been scrutinizing and increasingly opposing Jesus. His decision to approach Jesus publicly, fall at his feet, and plead desperately for his dying daughter (Mark 5:21–23) was itself an act of remarkable humility and faith that would have marked him before his peers. The story is interwoven with the healing of the woman with the issue of blood — a deliberate literary and theological pairing in all three Synoptic accounts — as the twelve-year duration of both the girl's age and the woman's affliction creates a resonant symmetry.

The Event

As Jesus accompanied Jairus through the pressing crowd, the delay caused by the woman who touched his garment cost precious time. Before they reached the house, messengers arrived with devastating news: the girl had died, and there was no further need to trouble the teacher (Mark 5:35). Jesus' response was immediate and quiet: "Don't be afraid. Just believe" (Mark 5:36). Dismissing the professional mourners who laughed at his claim that the child was only sleeping, he admitted only Peter, James, John, and the parents into the room. Taking the girl's hand — an act of ritual uncleanness under purity law — he spoke the Aramaic words preserved with rare specificity in Mark's account: "Talitha koum" — "Little girl, I'm telling you, get up" (Mark 5:41). She stood up immediately and walked. Jesus' instruction to give her something to eat is a tender, humanizing detail that confirms her full restoration to life, and his command to silence preserves the intimacy of the moment from becoming spectacle.

Theological Significance

The raising of Jairus' daughter is one of three recorded resurrections performed by Jesus before his own — alongside the widow's son at Nain and Lazarus — forming a mounting testimony to his authority over death itself. Theologically, the juxtaposition with the healing of the hemorrhaging woman is significant: Jesus overcomes both chronic suffering and acute death, both marginalization and bereavement. His touch of the dead girl — which would have rendered any other Jew ceremonially unclean — instead conveys life rather than absorbing death. This reversal foreshadows the resurrection, where death itself is swallowed up in life. The story also illuminates the nature of faith: Jairus clings to trust despite the worst possible report, exemplifying what it means to walk in the light of Jesus' word against every contradicting circumstance.