Introduction
‘They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name, don’t torture me!’ For Jesus, had said to him, ‘Come out of this man, you impure spirit!’ Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘My name is Legion,’ he replied, “for we are many.’ And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, ‘Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.’ He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, ‘Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’ So, the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. Mark 5:1-20
Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man
Jesus and His disciples went to the eastern shore of Galilee, a place called Gerasenes, Mark 5:1 / Luke 8:26 / Matthew 8:28. This must have been a Gentile area as there were many pigs around and we know that the Jews saw pigs as unclean animals, Leviticus 11:7 / Deuteronomy 14:8. It’s here Jesus meets two men who are demon-possessed who lived in tombs, Mark 5:3 / Luke 8:27 / Matthew 8:28.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Mark and Luke mention only one of these people, Mark 5:2 / Luke 8:27, the principal one. Note that neither Mark nor Luke states that there was ‘only one’ of these men. The fact of demon possession is plain here. These were possessed not merely with one, but with many, demons.’
Gill, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Mark and Luke mention only one demoniac, probably the fiercer of the two.’
There are many views today concerning demonic possession, some argue that it still exists whilst others don’t. It’s generally supposed that no such thing as demon possession exists on earth today. If that supposition is correct, it would simply mean that the power of Jesus Christ in destroying the works of the devil, which was His purpose in coming into this world, 1 John 3:8, was effective and that Satan’s demonic followers are not able to work the havoc upon the human personality in this age, as formerly.
The multiplication of such disorders in the times of Christ should in such a view, have been expected as the demons recognised the holy Saviour and His purpose of destroying them. Mark stressed the unnatural strength of this caveman, using two entire verses to stress it, Mark 5:3-4, but Matthew supplied the significant fact that his wildness had closed the area to human traffic, Matthew 8:28, and Luke, the equally significant fact that he was naked, Luke 8:27.
Luke also adds that the man was seized by the demons many times despite being chained and guarded, Luke 8:29. Such a person had no doubt cast a terror over the entire village, Zechariah 13:1-2. Night and day, he would cut himself, which shows us how much self-harm this demon was causing him, Mark 5:5. The demon-possessed appear always to have been able to recognise Christ. The man’s worshipping of Jesus is a reference to his falling down before Him, Mark 5:6 / Luke 8:28.
In view of the man’s behaviour, after he was healed, it must also have included on the man’s part, if not the demon’s, an adoration of the Lord spiritually. The effect of his possession was that of splitting the personality, making it impossible in each instance to distinguish between what was done by the demon and what was done by the man.
The demon-possessed men recognised Christ as the Son of God and so, they ask, ‘what do you want with us, Son of God?’ Mark 5:7 / Luke 8:28 / Matthew 8:29. He asks Jesus a question but in doing so, he revealed He knew Jesus and His power and authority.
This name of God, ‘Most High’, Mark 5:7 / Luke 8:28, is very ancient, appearing in connection with Melchizedek, Genesis 14:18, Balaam, Numbers 24:16, and in the Song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:8. The Hebrews didn’t invent or evolve monotheism, that being the original view of the Father, even prior to Abraham.
Jesus commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man, Mark 5:8 / Luke 8:29. Notice the words, ‘us’ and ‘they, Matthew 8:29, which implies there is more than one demon addressing Jesus. Notice the word ‘my’, Mark 5:9, is singular and ‘we’, is plural, Matthew 8:29. This is a further indication of the separation that the demon had inflicted upon the man. This is seen when Jesus asks their name and they reply, ‘legion’, for there were many demons who went into the man, Mark 5:9 / Luke 8:30.
Christ asked, ‘the man’ his name, Mark 5:9 / Luke 8:30, not because the Lord didn’t know it, but because He sought to bring the man back to a sense of his own identity, and the identity the demon had taken as shown in the reply.
A legion was four or five thousand men and, although no truth may be certain in such a reply from such a source. It’s at least in harmony with the idea of multiple possessions in some cases, Mary Magdalene being another example, Mark 16:9.
Notice again in Mark 5:10, the confusion with the words, ‘he’ and ‘them’. It’s as if he cannot make up his mind where he is one or a Legion! It has been suggested that the speaker was the leading demon speaking for all the rest, but the view is precarious. Of course, we don’t have the exact words of the petition, only Mark’s account which gives it indefinitely.
Notice also that these demons appear to know their destiny, ‘have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?’ Matthew 8:29 / Matthew 25:41 / Acts 16:16-17 / James 2:19 / 2 Peter 2:4 / Jude 6. They knew that Jesus had absolute power over them, and they are well aware that their destiny is destruction, Matthew 25:41.
The demons were fearful of having to depart the dwelling they had seized in the poor man and they pleaded not to be sent away. They begged Jesus repeatedly to send them away but not into the Abyss, which is described as a bottomless pit, Mark 5:10 / Luke 8:31, that is, the grave, although some understand this as a dwelling of place for demons until Judgment Day, Revelation 9:1-2 / Revelation 11:7 / Revelation 17:8 / Revelation 20:1 / Revelation 20:3.
Notice again, ‘he’ begged the Lord in Mark 5:10 / Luke 8:32 / Matthew 8:31, but it’s ‘they’ who do the pleading, Mark 5:12 / Luke 8:31, making it sure that the demons were the ones pleading. The request of the demon appeared to have been predicated upon God’s prior promise that the demonic world would be vanquished at some time certain in the future, hence, his invoking God’s name in the request, Mark 5:7 / Luke 8:28 / Zechariah 13:1-2.
A glimpse of God’s ultimate plan of destroying evil surfaces here in the demonic knowledge that such destruction is in store for them and that an appointed time, Matthew 8:29, for it has already been determined, Acts 17:31 / Zechariah 13:1-2. There was a large herd of pigs were feeding, Luke 8:32 / Matthew 8:30. Around two thousand pigs were feeding on the side of the mountain according to Mark 5:11-13.
And so, after requesting permission to embody the pigs, Mark 5:12 / Luke 8:32 / Matthew 8:31, Jesus sends them into the herd of pigs, Mark 5:13 / Luke 8:33 / Matthew 8:32.
Of all the lower creation, only the serpent, Genesis 3:1, and swine are revealed in Scripture as possessed of an evil spirit. The serpent is a symbol of intellectual cunning and the pigs of gross uncleanness, suggesting that in both categories there is a great temptation to the human family.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This shows that the emissaries of Satan are restricted and may not enter even a herd of swine without the Lord’s permission. Other restrictions of Satan are given in 1 Corinthians 10:13, and Matthew 13:25.’
The pigs then rushed into the sea and drowned, Mark 5:13 / Luke 8:33 / Matthew 8:32 / Job 1:12-22. Notice that Christ didn’t destroy the pigs, the demons did. Christ’s permission of such a thing is no more than God’s permission of all-natural disorders like earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, droughts, tornadoes, etc., which kill millions of people, not pigs alone, and yet all thoughtful persons find no difficulty reconciling this with God’s love and justice.
The pigs roamed the countryside as the result of a great multitude of people who gathered around the Lord, His disciples, and the man from whom the legion of demons was cast out. Notice the contrast in the man, he was naked, bleeding, furtive, dwelling in tombs, constantly crying out, etc, but notice the change, he is now clothed and in his right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus! Mark 5:15. This shows what Christ does, He really can transform lives.
Despite Jesus healing the man and finding him sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind. Despite these two men’s lives being transformed, the crowd appear to be scared, Mark 5:14-15 / Luke 8:34-35 / Matthew 8:33.
Why were they scared? Possibly because they did not want Jesus’ kind of power in their midst. Possibly because they thought Jesus was going to wipe out every pig in the region which would mean a loss of property and revenue.
At first, it may seem incredible that the people of the town did not want Jesus to stay, Mark 5:17 / Luke 8:37 / Matthew 8:34. But think about what they had just lost, they just lost two thousand pigs. Some people owned them, some people were planning to make money slaughtering, processing, and selling them. He had hurt the town’s economy.
They evidently loved material possessions more than they loved Jesus, and because of that, they missed out on the supreme privilege. They asked Him to leave, Mark 5:16-17 / Luke 8:37 / Matthew 8:34. Whatever the reason, it’s clear they were so blinded by their physical loss, that they ask Jesus to leave the area. Jesus listened to them, left and would never set foot in the area again.
How sad to see Jesus being rejected once again, despite doing a wonderful thing, not only for the men who were possessed but for those who lived in the area.
One can appreciate the feelings of the man whose life had been so distraught by the powers of darkness, and whose feelings of love and gratitude toward Jesus caused him to desire constant fellowship with the Lord, Mark 5:18 / Luke 8:38. Those who have tasted the blessing of the Lord desire to be ever in His company and partakers of His companionship.
Luke and Mark record that one of the men who was possessed was commanded by Jesus to tell others what God had done for him, which he proceeded to do, Mark 5:18-20 / Luke 8:38-39. On some occasions, Jesus prohibited the beneficiaries of His miracles to speak of them, Mark 1:40-45, but here, it was commanded, why? Simply because this was a Gentile area, He was on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus didn’t want to be crowded by spectators in the Capernaum area, west of the Sea, but in this wicked town, He was in no danger of becoming too popular.
The people in this place needed someone to report the miracle. It’s of the greatest significance that Jesus here referred to Himself as ‘the Lord’ who had done for the man ‘great things’ and ‘had mercy upon’ him, Mark 5:19. Attempts to get rid of Jesus in all ages have generally been as futile and ineffective as were those of the village of the Gerasenes.
The word, ‘Decapolis’, Mark 5:20, means ‘the ten cities’ which lay in the area, nine of them east of lake Galilee. It must have been a very effective witness indeed which was provided by that previous terror of the tombs who went up and down the area extolling the power and mercy of Jesus, whom he also, no doubt, identified as ‘Lord’. No wonder it is said that ‘all the people were amazed,’ Mark 5:20. Do we ever invite the Lord to leave our lives because we love material things more than we love Him? Luke 8:36-37.
Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman
‘When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, ‘My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.’ So, Jesus went with him.’ Mark 5:21-24
Jesus and His disciples went on to the western shore of Galilee, Mark 5:21, and the view would have been amazing, and the pulpit was the boat, which wasn’t far from the city of Capernaum. As we’ve already looked at, Capernaum was Jesus’ hometown. In Matthew 9:1, Jesus calls Capernaum His own city. Matthew 4:13, tells us that He had left Nazareth, and was now dwelling at Capernaum, thus fulfilling the prophecy with regard to Zebulun and Naphthalin, Luke 4:16-31. Christ ennobled Bethlehem by His birth, Nazareth by His education, Jerusalem by His death, and Capernaum by making it His home town. It’s here that crowds were expecting Jesus, Luke 8:40.
Jairus was a ruler of the Jewish synagogue in Capernaum, a prominent and respected leader of the people, Mark 5:22 / Luke 8:41 / Matthew 9:19. His willingness to fall upon his knees before the Son of God emphasises the heartbreak which was crushing his soul, Mark 5:22 / Luke 8:41 / Matthew 9:18.
Think about his situation for a moment, here is a man who sits in the synagogue and hears all the plans and plots to kill this same Jesus, but he comes to Jesus because he obviously believes in who Jesus claims to be and can do. There can be no doubt that many of his peers despised him for humbling himself before the Lord, but what a blessing he is going to receive.
Matthew uses the phrase, ‘my daughter’, Matthew 9:18, and Luke uses the phrase, ‘my only daughter’, Luke 8:42, whilst Mark uses the phrase, ‘my little daughter’, Mark 5:23. This tells us that this was not only his only daughter but his only child. Notice Mark and Luke says she is ‘dying’, Mark 5:23 / Luke 8:42. Matthew quoted Jairus as saying, ‘she is even now dead.’ Matthew 9:18.
A Useful Timeline
When the father left the child, she was at her latest gasp, and he didn’t know whether to regard her now as dead or alive and, because he didn’t receive any certain knowledge of her death, he was perplexed whether to speak of her as departed or not, expressing himself one moment in one language, and at the next in another. Jesus agrees to go with him, but it seems a large crowd had got in Jesus’ way, Mark 5:24 / Luke 8:42.
Jesus Heals A Woman With Bleeding Issues
‘A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ ‘You see the people crowding against you,’ his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.’ Mark 5:25-34
On the way to Jairus’ home, Jesus heals a woman with bleeding issues, Mark 5:25-34 / Luke 8:43-48 / Matthew 9:20-22. Mark and Luke’s account gives us a lot more detail concerning this woman. As Jesus was journeying to Jairus’ house, a desperate woman in the multitude touched the Lord, Mark 5:27 / Luke 8:43-44 / Matthew 9:20. She had been bleeding for twelve years, Mark 5:25 / Luke 8:43 / Matthew 9:20 / Leviticus 15:25, had gone to many doctors, and spent all of her money, Mark 5:26, but had only worsened.
She’s a nobody at this moment in time but when she heard that Jesus was back in Capernaum, this appeared to her, to be her only hope of a cure and she is determined to reach him. Mark 5:27-28, in the Greek says, ‘if she could get to ‘The Jesus’. As Jesus was a common name, she knew ‘the Jesus’ she was seeking, the Jesus who had the power to cure her.
Of course, the problem she faced was immense! Weak and frail and fragile as she was, what chance of reaching Him did she stand, when faced with such a crowd of pushing, jostling, excited, noisy healthy people, milling around Jesus? Mark 5:21 / Mark 5:24 / Mark 5:27 / Luke 8:42. But she persisted and somehow managed to reach Jesus and she touched Him, and immediately she was healed, Mark 9:29 / Luke 8:44 / Matthew 9:22. She not only knew it, but she felt it and so did Jesus, Mark 5:30 / Luke 8:46.
I don’t think that she expected to be able to have a conversation or a consultation with the great Teacher. Sure enough, when she touched Jesus’ coat, she could sense that the flow of blood immediately dried up and she was well, Mark 5:29 / Luke 8:44 / Matthew 9:22.
Like all male Jews, the outer garment of Jesus, something like a shawl, it had tassels of Blue on its corners. They were there to serve to remind the wearer to keep the Law, and they were regarded as holy. Not surprisingly, this poor woman thought that, with such a holy person as the Teacher, they would be especially holy, if only she could manage to reach Him.
She would then have quietly gone away, but Jesus stopped and said, ‘who touched me?’ Mark 5:30 / Luke 8:45. Not surprisingly His disciples were astonished! ‘Master, you see the people crowding against you, his disciples answered, ‘and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ Mark 5:31 / Luke 8:45.
I believe that Jesus already knew who touched Him, and He was giving this poor woman the opportunity of coming forward and declaring herself! In any case, Jesus knew the difference between the touch of the jostling crowd and the touch of faith, and He said, ‘somebody touched me,’ Luke 8:46.
The woman came forward and told Him everything, Mark 5:33 / Luke 8:47. No doubt she was apprehensive as she had broken the law by deliberately touching Jesus and furthermore, in Jewish society of that time, you didn’t touch such people as Priests or any religious leader! They were looked upon as holy men, and they liked it that way!
She probably expected a rebuke from Jesus, but there was no rebuke, there was the compassion about which Jesus knew that the heart of that woman was beating fast. She was afraid of the consequences and she may even have feared that Jairus, the ruler, would speak sharply to her for having touched the Teacher.
Mark and Luke record that Jesus insisted on being told who touched Him, Mark 5:30 / Luke 8:46. The woman subsequently came forward in fear and trembling, Mark 5:33 / Luke 8:47. But Jesus looked at her and gently spoke some of the tender words of His ministry record, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering!’ Mark 5:44 / Luke 8:48 / Mark 12:34 / Matthew 9:22 / Luke 7:50 / Luke 17:19 / Luke 18:42.
Do you see what has happened? The ‘nobody’ has become a ‘somebody’! She’s gone from being a nobody, ‘who’ to a ‘someone’, to a ‘daughter’.
Notice again what Jesus called her, ‘daughter’! Mark 5:34 / Luke 8:48 / Matthew 9:22. She came to Jesus a ‘nobody’, for whom nobody cared. She heard Jesus refer to her as a ‘somebody’, but her status has now changed and now she hears Jesus call her ‘daughter’, she is everybody.
1. Physically she has suffered from a debilitating haemorrhage for twelve years, as long as the daughter of Jairus has been alive, Mark 5:42, and all the doctors have been unable to help her, Mark 5:26, she was physically exhausted.
No doubt the doctors tried all they knew, which by our standards wasn’t very much, but they had done their best. They had probably recommended such medication as ‘locust eggs’, ‘powdered eggs of grasshoppers’ or ‘the fingernail of a man who had been hanged’. All of which were expensive medicines in those days! Indeed, she had spent all the money she possessed, and Mark doesn’t speak very flatteringly of the doctors when he says, ‘instead of getting better she grew worse’, Mark 5:24-34.
2. That wasn’t the only effect of her illness. According to Jewish Law, this illness rendered her unclean so that she was banned from entering the temple or the synagogue, Leviticus 15:25.
She was cut off from her religion and the support it should have given her.
3. And it didn’t stop there, there would have been a domestic consequence, maybe she was now divorced, Deuteronomy 24:1.
At some point in those twelve years, she would have lost her husband and according to Jewish Law, her husband had the right to divorce her and considering the fact that if he had continued to live with her, he would also have contracted uncleanness and the consequences of it, I have no doubt this is what had happened.
4. Think about the social consequences.
She had lost all her friends and relatives, because they also wouldn’t dare to associate with her lest they became unclean. According to Leviticus 15, anything with which the woman came into contact with was unclean, and anyone who had contact with her also became unclean. Indeed, they wouldn’t sit on a chair that she had sat on. Think about this woman for a moment, she’s a widow, a woman with an incurable disease.
1. She was unclean.
2. This would give her husband the right to divorce her.
3. She was penniless. Spent all she had on doctors looking for a cure.
Locust eggs were given, powdered eggs of grasshoppers and the nail of a dead thief was another remedy but these all cost lots of money.
4. Ex-communicated from her religion.
5. Ex-communicated from society.
Put all this together and you see the terrible consequences of her sickness, we can understand how desperate she was. There was no one to help her, it seemed no one cared, nobody wanted to know her, she was a ‘nobody’.
This is the change that occurs when we come into faith in Jesus. This poor woman had been cut off from the Jewish faith, but she was received into the faith of heaven. She was rejected by her family but was received into the family of the Son of God. She was excluded from the fellowship of human society but was received into the fellowship of those who believe. She was reconciled back into society and her religion.
And Jesus still changes people and many of those who have done the most good in the world started out as ‘nobodies’ but they learned through the Gospel of Christ that they really are a ‘somebody’ for whom God declares, that they realised that in the eyes of God they are ‘everybody’, the most important people on earth.
‘While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. ‘Your daughter is dead,’ they said. ‘Why bother the teacher anymore?’ Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, ‘Don’t be afraid; just believe.’ He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, ‘Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.’ But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha koum!’ (which means ‘Little girl, I say to you, get up!’). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.’ Mark 5:35-43
It’s possible that some of Jairus’ fellow rulers of the synagogue had been embarrassed by one of themselves appealing to the humble Prophet of the poor and there seems to be a kind of calloused argument here to the effect that, ‘Look, she’s already dead, and we all know that this Teacher cannot raise the dead, why bother with him any further?’ Mark 5:35 / Luke 8:49.
Whether or not this was exactly what they had in mind, it was certainly the attitude of their class. It’s as though they had said, ‘we are already proceeding with the funeral,’ Luke 8:52 / Matthew 9:23, which from Mark 5:38, it is plain to see that is what they were actually doing!
When Jesus said, ‘don’t be afraid’, Mark 5:36 / Luke 8:50, He means, don’t fear for your daughter’s life, don’t fear the scorn of your peers, don’t fear that our purpose has been upset by this delay in healing the woman. Jairus was instructed to retain his faith. When Jesus arrived at the house, He allowed only Peter, James and John to follow Him into Jairus’ house, Mark 5:37 / Luke 8:51. This marked a new milestone in Jesus’ ministry as already the abilities of these three had earned them a closer relationship with the Lord.
That relationship, however, wasn’t predicated merely upon ability, but upon the role, each of these would have in the future spread of Christianity. James would set the grand example by being the first of the apostles to die for the faith, Acts 12:1-2. Peter would preach the first sermon, Acts 2:4-39. John would be the last witness and write the fourth Gospel.
Other instances in which these three were singled out for greater intimacy with Jesus were in the transfiguration, Luke 9:28-36 / Matthew 17:1-13 / Mark 9:2-12, and the Garden of Gethsemane, Luke 22:39-46 / Matthew 26:36-46 / Mark 14:32-42. The probable task assigned to the other apostles was that of controlling and dispersing the multitude, Matthew 9:25.
We are surprised to find so quickly the presence of the ‘hired mourners,’ Mark 5:38 / Luke 8:52, who were raising such a tumult in the house of Jairus, which might be explained by supposing some further delay necessitated by the dispersal of the multitude, during which Jairus had returned home and initiated this phase of the funeral himself, but this is denied by the fact that Jairus evidently remained with Jesus.
This leaves open the possibility that advance preparations had been made to become effective on the daughter’s death, or the additional possibility suggested under Mark 5:35, namely, that Jairus’ peers were proceeding with the customary funeral activities, the latter being the view accepted here, Matthew 9:23-26.
When Jesus says, ‘the child is not dead but asleep’, Mark 5:39 / Luke 8:52 / Matthew 9:24, He certainly didn’t mean these words as a denial that the daughter’s death had actually occurred, but it was His customary language regarding death, John 11:11. In context, it also meant that He intended to raise her to life again. The attitude of the ‘professional mourners’ and the pipe players, Matthew 9:23 / Jeremiah 9:17 / Jeremiah 16:6 / Ezekiel 24:17 / Amos 5:16, shows conclusively that the girl’s death had indeed occurred and had been proven.
The scorners were put out by Jesus, the spiritual implications of this being profound and perpetual. Their conduct here denies any other status to them except that of hired performers at a funeral. Scornful laughter is never the behaviour of broken-hearted friends and relatives, Mark 5:40 / Luke 8:53 / Matthew 9:24 / John 11:13 / Acts 20:10. Jesus’ questioning of the noise they were raising also supports the same conclusion.
Mark recorded the actual syllables that Jesus used in this calling of the little girl back to life, Mark 5:41. The words are Aramaic, supposed to have been the language Jesus used and from Peter who was present in that inner room, Mark remembered the very words that Christ used. The words, ‘little girl’, Mark 5:41 / Luke 8:54, can also be translated as ‘little lamb’, which again shows the tenderness of Jesus’ voice to the young girl.
Jesus actually takes the young girl’s hand and tells her to get up, Mark 5:41 / Luke 8:54 / Matthew 9:25. Both Mark and Luke record that Jesus didn’t want this miracle to be made known, Mark 5:43 / Luke 8:56. The reason for this was simply because He didn’t want the crowds to get excited, Matthew 4:24 / Matthew 14:1 / Mark 1:28 / Mark 1:45 / Luke 5:15 / Luke 7:17. Nevertheless, news about the event spread throughout that region, Matthew 9:26.
It is a strange coincidence that the age of this child, Mark 5:42, corresponded exactly with the twelve years of suffering endured by the woman, Mark 5:25 / Luke 8:43 / Matthew 9:20, suggesting some connection here that is not apparent to us. All commentators are intrigued by it, but none has a solution.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This miracle of raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead is the first resurrection recorded in the New Testament. There were three such wonders, forming a sequence.
1. Jairus’ daughter had been dead only a very short time.
2. The son of the widow of Nain had been dead longer and was being carried to the tomb.
3. Lazarus had been dead and buried for four days, Luke 7:12 / John 11. Christ considered raising the dead a part of his ministry, Luke 7:22 / Matthew 11:5, and he delegated the power to the apostles, Matthew 10:8. Peter raised Dorcas from the dead, acting under this commission, Acts 9:40.
Notice the theme that runs through the stories in Mark’s Gospel.
Jesus can do what is humanly impossible.
1. The storm.
The disciples were desperate, but Jesus calmed it with a mere word, Mark 4:35-41.
2. The demoniac.
Though many had tried, no one had been able to bind or subdue him. Jesus expelled the demons with a word and the man returned to normal, Mark 5:1-20.
3. The woman.
No physician had been able to heal her though she had spent all her money in the effort. With one touch, she was completely cured, Mark 5:25-34.
4. The daughter of Jairus.
When one dies, all attempts to cure the sickness end, because everyone knows you can’t raise the dead. Jesus did, Mark 5:32-43. Four times in this part of Mark, Jesus entered situations that were humanly impossible and emerged victoriously.