Lent 2026 Day 20: Thu 12 Mar
Mark 5:37-42
37 And He did not allow anyone to accompany Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 38 When they arrived at the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw the commotion and the people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep.” 40 And they laughed at Him. After He had put them all outside, He took the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and went in to see the child. 41 Taking her by the hand, Jesus said, “Talitha koum!” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” 42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk around. She was twelve years old, and at once they were utterly astounded.
Jesus takes only a small select group with him beyond this point. The other disciples are sent away. It’s clear that a crowd in the house would make things difficult but it was more likely that the other disciples were not yet ready for what was about to happen. They’d heard the bad news – the girl was dead. It takes courage to continue to trust that Jesus could raise her. The doubters among the disciples might have wondered what the point was in going with Jesus to affirm what they already knew. Jesus makes the decision for them. Only Peter, James and John were coming.
The professional mourners and wailers had already arrived. I don’t think that they were hovering like vultures while the girl was alive but were summoned by the household. They wouldn’t have arrived immediately. This suggests that some time had already passed since the girl was pronounced dead. Depending on distance the journey to meet Jairus and the walk back could take time, too. Jesus knows jolly well what the commotion and weeping are about, but he asks the question and then tells them why there’s no need for any of it. The reaction is predictable. I wonder how Peter, James and John were feeling by now. Were they standing alongside Jesus in faith or tucking themselves behind him so as not to be noticed?
Jesus said that the little girl was not dead, but asleep. Did he want everyone to believe that the girl was asleep, as he’d told them, or was this a PR statement intended to calm things down? Could it possibly be that the child had died, and this statement of Jesus was not some crowd-calmer, but the actual truth, because Jesus in faith had made it so? That is the miracle! Waking the child up would be straightforward by comparison.
Out went the wailers. Out went the mourners. Jesus was having none of this. There were six people in that room, and that might have been a squash. Jesus is on a mission, and it is now time for the miracle to be revealed. He takes the girl’s hand. Remember what happened when the woman had no more than touched Jesus’ garment. Hollywood would have to show a heavenly gleam arise in Jesus’ arm that would extend out to cover the girl’s hand. Music would play, and firework effects would surround it. It didn’t happen like that. He took her hand, he told her to get up, and she got up, and like a young person she bounced around the room.
The words Jesus spoke are not some magic spell. They are simply the everyday language of Jesus, who spoke Aramaic, and the Gospel-writer decided to record them verbatim.
I wonder if she realised what had been going on around her. I’m sure her parents would soon tell her if not, once she’d had a snack or two.
Was the girl merely asleep? Could she have been raised from death into sleep when Jesus had earlier pronounced her to be sleeping? So, when did the miracle actually happen?
Father God, I trust in your promises expressed through Jesus, that I need not fear, that I have forgiveness and that I shall pass into everlasting life. Thank you, Father. Amen.
Paul