◄ Mark 5:42 ►
Immediately the girl got up and began to walk around. She was twelve years old, and at once they were utterly astounded.
Study Bible
Immediately the girl got up and began to walk around

This phrase highlights the immediacy and completeness of Jesus' miracle. The word "immediately" underscores the power and authority of Jesus over life and death, as seen in other instances such as the healing of the paralytic (Mark 2:12). The girl's ability to "walk around" signifies not just a return to life but a restoration to full health, contrasting with the gradual healings sometimes seen in other biblical accounts. This miracle takes place in the region of Galilee, a setting for many of Jesus' teachings and miracles, emphasizing His ministry's reach and impact. The act of walking also symbolizes new life and resurrection, prefiguring Jesus' own resurrection and the promise of eternal life for believers.

Luk 8:55 Her spirit returned, and at once she got up.…
Luk 7:15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak!…
Act 9:40 Then Peter sent them all out of the room.…

(she was twelve years old).

The mention of the girl's age is significant. In Jewish culture, twelve is the age of transition from childhood to adulthood, marking the beginning of a girl's eligibility for marriage and her responsibilities under the Law. This detail may also connect to the woman with the issue of blood, who suffered for twelve years (Mark 5:25), suggesting a thematic link between the two stories. Both accounts demonstrate Jesus' compassion and power to restore life and purity, fulfilling the messianic prophecies of healing and restoration found in Isaiah 61:1-3.

Luk 8:42 because his only daughter, who was about twelve, was dying.…
Luk 2:42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up…

And at once they were utterly astounded.

The reaction of those present reflects the awe and wonder that often accompany divine encounters. The phrase "utterly astounded" indicates a profound recognition of Jesus' divine authority and the miraculous nature of the event. This response is consistent with other reactions to Jesus' miracles, such as the calming of the storm (Mark 4:41) and the feeding of the five thousand (Mark 6:51-52). The astonishment of the witnesses serves to authenticate the miracle and reinforce the identity of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, who fulfills the prophecies and expectations of the Old Testament.

Luk 8:56 Her parents were astounded, but Jesus ordered them…
Mrk 6:51 Then He climbed into the boat with them,…
Mrk 7:37 The people were utterly astonished and said,…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jesus
- The central figure in this passage, Jesus is the one who performs the miracle of raising the girl from the dead, demonstrating His divine authority and compassion.

2. The Girl
- The twelve-year-old daughter of Jairus, who was raised from the dead by Jesus. Her age is significant, symbolizing the transition from childhood to maturity.

3. Jairus
- A synagogue leader who sought Jesus' help for his dying daughter, demonstrating faith and desperation.

4. The House of Jairus
- The setting of this miracle, representing a place of mourning that was transformed into a place of joy and astonishment.

5. The Crowd
- Those who were present and witnessed the miracle, their astonishment highlights the power and authority of Jesus.
Teaching Points
Faith in Action
Jairus' approach to Jesus in desperation and faith is a model for how we should bring our needs to Christ, trusting in His power and compassion.

Jesus' Authority Over Death
This miracle underscores Jesus' divine authority, reminding us that He has power over life and death, offering hope in the face of mortality.

The Role of Witnesses
The astonishment of the witnesses serves as a reminder of the importance of sharing our testimonies of God's work in our lives to inspire faith in others.

Transformation from Mourning to Joy
Just as the house of Jairus was transformed, Jesus can turn our deepest sorrows into joy through His intervention.

The Significance of Twelve
The girl's age, twelve, often symbolizes completeness or maturity in the Bible, suggesting a new beginning or a transition into a new phase of life.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Jairus' approach to Jesus demonstrate faith, and how can we apply this in our own lives when facing desperate situations?

2. In what ways does this miracle of raising the girl from the dead reinforce Jesus' authority and identity? How does this impact our understanding of His power in our lives today?

3. Consider the reaction of the crowd. How can we be effective witnesses to the work of Jesus in our lives, and why is this important?

4. Reflect on a time when Jesus transformed a situation of mourning into joy in your life. How can this experience encourage others?

5. What is the significance of the girl's age being mentioned, and how does this detail contribute to the overall message of the passage? How can we relate this to our spiritual growth and maturity?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Luke 8:49-56
and Matthew 9:23-26
also recount the account of Jairus' daughter, providing additional details and perspectives on the event.

John 11:1-44
describes the raising of Lazarus, another instance where Jesus demonstrates His power over death, reinforcing His identity as the resurrection and the life.

Acts 9:36-42
tells of Peter raising Tabitha (Dorcas) from the dead, showing the continuation of Jesus' miraculous power through His apostles.
Sermons
A Proper PrayerR. Glover.Mark 5:21-43
A Revived FlowerJ. Cumming, D. D.Mark 5:21-43
Avowed and Hidden FaithR. Green Mark 5:21-43
Death a SleepEdwin Davies.Mark 5:21-43
Death a SleepB. Keach.Mark 5:21-43
Death of ChildrenWadsworth.Mark 5:21-43
Goeth in Where the Child WasR. Glover.Mark 5:21-43
Jairus' DaughterJ. H. Evans, M. A.Mark 5:21-43
Jairus's Daughter; Or, the Uses of BereavementA.F. Muir Mark 5:21-43
Jarius's Daughter; Or, the Course of a True FaithA.F. Muir Mark 5:21-43
Jesus Stronger than DeathAnon.Mark 5:21-43
Not Dead, But SleepingA. Mursell.Mark 5:21-43
Talitha CumiR. Glover.Mark 5:21-43
The Death of the Young Encourages a Spirit of Dependence on God in the Home Life of This WorldJ. B. Brown, B. A.Mark 5:21-43
The Death of the Young Imparts a Consecrating Influence to the Home LifeJ. B. Brown, B. A.Mark 5:21-43
The Death of the Young Lends a TenderJ. B. Brown, B. A.Mark 5:21-43
The Healing of Jairus' DaughterExpository Discourses., David Thomas, D. D.Mark 5:21-43
The Humane SocietyF. W. Robertson.Mark 5:21-43
The Raising of Jairus' DaughterExpository OutlinesMark 5:21-43
Touching in the ThrongJ.J. Given Mark 5:21-43
Why Death of the Godly is Called SleepG. Petter.Mark 5:21-43
Life VictoriousE. Johnson Mark 5:35-43
People
Jair, Jairus, James, Jesus, John, Luke, Peter
Places
Decapolis, Galilee, Gerasa, Sea of Galilee
Topics
Age, Amazed, Amazement, Astonished, Astonishment, Astounded, Begins, Completely, Damsel, Forthwith, Girl, Got, Immediately, Instantly, Overcome, Rises, Rose, Stood, Straight, Straightway, Twelve, Walk, Walked, Walking, Wonder
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Mark 5:42

     5784   amazement
     5962   surprises

Mark 5:22-42

     2012   Christ, authority
     5194   touch

Mark 5:25-43

     5285   cures

Mark 5:35-43

     4438   eating
     5695   girls

Mark 5:38-42

     9311   resurrection, of Christ

Mark 5:38-43

     5669   children, examples

Mark 5:41-42

     2351   Christ, miracles

Library
September 12 Morning
I have seen his ways, and will heal him.--ISA. 57:18. I am the Lord that healeth thee. O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.--Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.--All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Come now, and let us reason together, …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

The Looks of Jesus
'And He looked round about to see her that had done this thing.'--Mark v. 32. This Gospel of Mark is full of little touches that speak an eye-witness who had the gift of noting and reproducing vividly small details which make a scene live before us. Sometimes it is a word of description: 'There was much grass in the place.' Sometimes it is a note of Christ's demeanour: 'Looking up to heaven, He sighed.' Sometimes it is the very Aramaic words He spoke: 'Ephphatha.' Very often the Evangelist tells …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Lord of Demons
'And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 2. And when He was come out of the ship, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3. Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4. Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 5. And always, night and day, he …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Refused Bequest
'He that had been possessed with the devil prayed Jesus that he might be with Him. 19. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.'--Mark v. 18,19. There are three requests, singularly contrasted with each other, made to Christ in the course of this miracle of healing the Gadarene demoniac. The evil spirits ask to be permitted to go into the swine; the men of the country, caring more for their swine than their …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Talitha Cumi
And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw Him, he fell at His feet, 23. And besought Him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray Thee, come and lay Thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live. 24. And Jesus went with him; and much people followed Him, and thronged Him.... 35. While He yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Power of Feeble Faith
'And a certain woman ... 27. When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched His garment. 28. For she said, If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole.'--Mark v. 25, 27, 28. In all the narratives of this miracle, it is embedded in the story of Jairus's daughter, which it cuts in twain. I suppose that the Evangelists felt, and would have us feel, the impression of calm consciousness of power and of leisurely dignity produced by Christ's having time to pause even on such an …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Touch or Faith?
If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole.... Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.'--Mark v. 28,34. I. The erroneous faith.--In general terms there is here an illustration of how intellectual error may coexist with sincere faith. The precise form of error is clearly that she looked on the physical contact with the material garment as the vehicle of healing--the very same thing which we find ever since running through the whole history of the Church, e.g. the exaltation of externals, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Going Home --A Christmas Sermon
Now, this teaches us a very important fact, namely, this, that true religion does not break in sunder the bonds of family relationship. True religion seldom encroaches upon that sacred, I had almost said divine institution called home; it does not separate men from their families, and make them aliens to their flesh and blood. Superstition has done that; an awful superstition, which calls itself Christianity, has sundered men from their kind; but true religion has never done so. Why, if I might be …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Christ's Curate in Decapolis
"And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, God home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee."--Mark v. 17-19. That is a striking name for a man, "he that had been possessed with the devil." It would stick to him as long as he lived, and it would be …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892

The General Observations are These.
There are in these relations proper circumstances of time and place, and the names and characters of persons. Of the miracle on Jairus's daughter, the time and place are sufficiently specified by St. Mark and St. Luke. It was soon after his crossing the sea of Galilee, after Jesus had cured the men possessed with devils in the country of the Gergesenes, Mark v. 21. And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him, and he was nigh unto the sea. And behold …
Nathaniel Lardner—A Vindication of Three of Our Blessed Saviour's Miracles

R. W. Begins his Fifth Discourse, P. 1, 2. With Saying, that He is Now
to take into examination the three miracles of Jesus's raising the dead, viz. of Jairus's daughter, Matth. ix. Mark. v. Luke viii. of the widow of Naim's son, Luke vii. and of Lazarus, John xi: the literal stories of which, he says, he shall shew to consist of absurdities, improbabilities, and incredibilities, in order to the mystical interpretation of them. I have read over his examination of these miracles, and am still of opinion, that the histories of them are credible. I. I will therefore first …
Nathaniel Lardner—A Vindication of Three of Our Blessed Saviour's Miracles

Conversion, Its Nature and Necessity.
Closely related to the doctrine of the power, or efficacy, of the divine Word--as considered in the last chapter--is the doctrine of conversion. It is the subject of conversion, therefore, that we now purpose to examine. It is an important subject. It deserves a prominent place in treating of the Way of Salvation. It is also an intensely personal subject. Each one who desires to be in the Way of Salvation is personally interested in it. The eternal destiny of every one who reads these pages is closely …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

The Third Continental Journey.
1833-4. PART II.--GREECE On the 21st of the Eleventh Month John and Martha Yeardley left Ancona, and had a safe but suffering voyage of two days to Corfu, the capital of the island of that name. The atmosphere in this place, writes J.Y., soon after they landed, is different from Ancona in every respect. It has to us a feeling of home, and our minds are clothed with peace and, I trust, gratitude to the Father of mercies. What we may find to do is yet a secret to us, but He who has brought us here …
John Yeardley—Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel

The Legion Dispossessed. Mk 5:18,19
 …
John Newton—Olney Hymns

Christian Cemeteries.
Sanctity of tombs guaranteed to all creeds alike.--The Christians' preference for underground cemeteries not due to fear at first.--Origin and cause of the first persecutions.--The attitude of Trajan towards the Christians, and its results.--The persecution of Diocletian.--The history of the early Christians illustrated by their graves.--The tombs of the first century.--The catacombs.--How they were named.--The security they offered against attack.--Their enormous extent.--Their gradual abandonment …
Rodolfo Lanciani—Pagan and Christian Rome

The Service Common to Two and Many Female Martyrs.
At the Vespers, for O Lord, I have cried, the Stichera, Tone 4. Similar to: Thou hast given a sign... The virgin-maidens, united by the law of nature and manifestly sustained by the love unto their Maker, were by faith freed from the ties of the body; the impotent enemy they have valiantly destroyed under their feet, became resplendently adorned with the honours of victors and are rejoicing having found their abode in the intellectual bridal chambers. The all-honoured have endured fire and multiformous …
Anonymous—The General Menaion

The Demoniac of Gadara
"And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. And when he was come out of the boat, straightway there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling in the tombs: and no man could any more bind him, no, not with a chain; because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been rent asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: and no man had strength to tame him. And always, night and day, in the tombs …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

The Men of Gadara
"And they that fed them fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they came to see what it was that had come to pass. And they come to Jesus, and behold him that was possessed with devils sitting, clothed and in his right mind, even him that had the legion: and they were afraid. And they that saw it declared unto them how it befell him that was possessed with devils, and concerning the swine. And they began to beseech Him to depart from their borders. And as He was entering into the …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

With Jairus
"And when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat unto the other side, a great multitude was gathered unto Him: and He was by the sea. And there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and seeing Him, he falleth at His feet, and beseecheth Him much, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death: I pray Thee that Thou come and lay Thy hands on her, that she may be made whole, and live. And He went with him; and a great multitude followed Him, and they thronged Him. And a …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

In the Creation of the World, and all Things in It, the True God Distinguished by Certain Marks from Fictitious Gods.
1. The mere fact of creation should lead us to acknowledge God, but to prevent our falling away to Gentile fictions, God has been pleased to furnish a history of the creation. An impious objection, Why the world was not created sooner? Answer to it. Shrewd saying of an old man. 2. For the same reason, the world was created, not in an instant, but in six days. The order of creation described, showing that Adam was not created until God had, with infinite goodness made ample provision for him. 3. The …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

How I Know God Answers Prayer
How I Know God Answers Prayer The Personal Testimony of One Life-Time By ROSALIND GOFORTH (Mrs. Jonathan Goforth) Missionary in China since 1888 "They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness."--Psalm 145:7. "Go . . . and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee."--Mark 5:19. HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON Copyright, 1921, by Harper & Brothers PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA …
Rosalind Goforth—How I Know God Answers Prayer

Synopsis. --Arbitrary Criticism of the Biblical Narratives of the Raising of the "Dead. " --Facts which it Ignores. --The Subject Related to the Phenomena of Trance
III SYNOPSIS.--Arbitrary criticism of the Biblical narratives of the raising of the "dead."--Facts which it ignores.--The subject related to the phenomena of trance, and records of premature burial.--The resuscitation in Elisha's tomb probably historical.--Jesus' raising of the ruler's daughter plainly a case of this kind.--His raising of the widow's son probably such.--The hypothesis that his raising of Lazarus may also have been such critically examined.--The record allows this supposition.--Further …
James Morris Whiton—Miracles and Supernatural Religion

Jesus Heals Two Gergesene Demoniacs.
(Gergesa, Now Called Khersa.) ^A Matt. VIII. 28-34; IX. 1; ^B Mark V. 1-21; ^C Luke VIII. 26-40. ^b 1 And they came to the other side of the sea [They left in the "even," an elastic expression. If they left in the middle of the afternoon and were driven forward by the storm, they would have reached the far shore several hours before dark], ^c 26 And they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is over against Galilee. ^a 28 And when he was come into the country of the Gadarenes. ^c 27 And …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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