Jesus heals the woman and raises Jairus’s daughter

5:21 When Jesus had crossed again in a boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he was by the sea. 5:22 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came up, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 5:23 He asked him urgently, "My little daughter is near death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be healed and live." 5:24 Jesus went with him, and a large crowd followed and pressed around him. 5:25 Now a woman was there who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years. 5:26 She had endured a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. 5:27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 5:28 for she kept saying, "If only I touch his clothes, I will be healed." 5:29 At once the bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 5:30 Jesus knew at once that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" 5:31 His disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing against you and you say, 'Who touched me?'" 5:32 But he looked around to see who had done it. 5:33 Then the woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 5:34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease." 5:35 While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler's house saying, "Your daughter has died. Why trouble the teacher any longer?" 5:36 But Jesus, paying no attention to what was said, told the synagogue ruler, "Do not be afraid; just believe." 5:37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 5:38 They came to the house of the synagogue ruler where he saw noisy confusion and people weeping and wailing loudly. 5:39 When he entered he said to them, "Why are you distressed and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep." 5:40 And they began making fun of him. But he put them all outside and he took the child's father and mother and his own companions and went into the room where the child was. 5:41 Then, gently taking the child by the hand, he said to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up." 5:42 The girl got up at once and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). They were completely astonished at this. 5:43 He strictly ordered that no one should know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

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Jesus shows his authority over long sickness, uncleanness, and death. He calls people to trust him when human help has failed and hope seems gone.

Mark joins two stories together. Jairus, a synagogue ruler, asks Jesus to heal his dying daughter. On the way, a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years touches Jesus in faith and is healed. Then news comes that Jairus’s daughter has died. Jesus tells Jairus, “Do not be afraid; just believe.”

These two stories belong together. Jairus is named and respected. The woman is unnamed and was likely made unclean by her condition. Yet both come to Jesus in humble need. Mark shows that neither honor nor shame keeps a person from Jesus.

The woman had suffered for a long time. She had spent all she had and only grew worse. When she touches Jesus, the bleeding stops at once. Jesus knows power has gone out from him, but he does not let the event remain hidden. He calls her into the open. She comes with fear and tells him the whole truth. Jesus then speaks kindly to her, calls her “Daughter,” and sends her away in peace. Her healing is more than a private cure. She is also restored in dignity and peace.

When the report comes that the child has died, the situation seems beyond hope. Jesus does not accept fear’s verdict. He tells Jairus to believe. At the house, mourners laugh when Jesus says the child is not dead but asleep. In context, Jesus is not denying her death. He is speaking from his authority over death. Death is not final before him.

Jesus takes the girl by the hand and says, “Little girl, I say to you, get up.” She rises at once and begins to walk. Jesus then tells them to give her something to eat. This shows the girl was truly restored to life and ordinary health.

These stories show that Jesus is not made unclean by sickness or death. Instead, healing and life come from him. They also show that faith is not a magic force. Faith is trust in Jesus when human help has failed. The woman’s touch was not a healing technique. The power belonged to Jesus.

For that reason, this passage should not be misused. Do not turn the woman’s touch into a formula. Do not use “sleep” to argue that the girl was not really dead. Do not turn Jesus’s words about faith into a rule that blames sufferers for every unhealed condition.

Jesus’s power is joined to tenderness. He calls the woman “Daughter,” takes the girl by the hand, and tells the family to feed her. His authority brings not only healing, but also peace, life, and care.

• Mark intentionally joins these two miracles so each helps interpret the other.
• Jesus receives both the socially honored and the socially shamed.
• The woman’s touch is not a technique but an expression of trust in Jesus.
• Jesus restores more than bodily function; he gives peace and personal reassurance.
• “Do not be afraid; just believe” is Jesus’s answer when death seems to end hope.
• The girl’s death is real, yet Jesus speaks of it as sleep from the standpoint of his life-giving authority.
• Jesus is not defiled by impurity or death; cleansing and life flow from him.
• Jesus’s authority is joined with tenderness and practical care.

• Do not treat the woman’s touch as a repeatable healing method tied to garments, objects, or formulas.
• Do not read “sleep” as if the girl were only naturally unconscious; in context it is Jesus’s metaphorical way of speaking about real death before he raises her.
• Do not turn “your faith has made you well” into a universal rule that blames sufferers for every unmet hope of healing.
• Do not force a symbolic code onto the repeated number twelve beyond the literary link Mark clearly provides.

In this passage Jesus shows the kind of King God promised: one whose holiness does not shrink back from uncleanness, and whose authority reaches even death. Mark presents him as bringing cleansing, life, peace, and hope where human strength has failed.

Bring your need to Jesus whether it is public like Jairus’s or hidden and shame-filled like the woman’s. Do not assume that long suffering, delay, or worsening circumstances prove that Jesus has failed or is absent. When fear rises, hear Jesus’s call to trust him rather than give way to despair. Care for sufferers with truth, dignity, and practical love, following Jesus’s pattern.

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