35 While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”
36 But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”
37 Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James, and John (the brother of James). 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. 39 He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”
40 The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. 41 Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” 42 And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed. 43 Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened, and then he told them to give her something to eat.
Read Mark 5:35-43 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
In the event surrounding the death of Jairus’ daughter, Jesus makes a startling and counter-cultural statement. This statement even stands counter to what many people believe today.
When Jesus arrives at Jairus’ home, the girl had already died, and it may have been minutes, or perhaps even an hour since her last breath. The people in the first century may not have had the benefits of modern medicine, but they did understand death, and they knew what to look for to identify when someone had died.
But the first thing Jesus says when He arrived is startling, and perhaps even a little offensive. After entering Jairus’ home, Jesus sees what is happening and He asks, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” (v. 39)
The people in that era believed in the resurrection at the end of time, but they did not believe resurrection was possible in their lifetime. They saw the girl’s death as awful and tragic. Some may have even believed that this girl truly had no future hope. These people had rejected the idea of the resurrection.
But Jesus steps into this scene and He makes the startling statement: “The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” (v. 39)
This statement even flies in the face of what many people believe today. The pendulum has swung from not believing in any form of resurrection (something that many people believe today) to believing that death is simply the continuation of life in a different form – whether that form is given through reincarnation or whether that is simply a new ‘spiritual’ form in heaven. Many people today believe one of these three ideas: death is an immediate and final end to life, death is a transition into another life form (reincarnation), or death simply means being immediately translated into heaven.
But Jesus defines it differently. What the people are calling death, Jesus says is not death – only sleep.
What if the sleep we experience each night is a metaphor God placed into humanity for what death is like? In this passage, Jesus describes what we believe to be death as a sleep.
This means we now have a fourth option for understanding death: it is a spiritual sleep. In this viewpoint, all those who have died are simply waiting for God’s voice to wake them up. When God speaks life, a massive resurrection would take place.
Part of me believes that Jesus gives us this fourth option as a way of giving us hope. All other viewpoints on death can be made to appear cruel and unjust. Even immediately going to heaven, while it sounds good, ultimately concludes with either those in heaven ignoring what is happening on earth, or them being glued onto watching all the evil taking place with no way of stopping it.
Death as a sleep is the most loving picture God could give us because it is filled with hope. When his daughter had died, Jesus tells Jairus in verse 36, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.” When we experience death, Jesus says the same thing to us: “Don’t be afraid. Place your faith, your hope, and your trust in Me, and I’ll keep you safe for eternity.”
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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