While
he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?”
Mark 5:35
Mark 5 [34.] He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease.”
Mark 5 [35.] While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?”
Mark 5 [36.] But Jesus, when he heard the message spoken, immediately said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.” He allowed no one to follow him, except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. He came to the synagogue ruler’s house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing. When he had entered in, he said to them, “Why do you make an uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but is asleep.”
Meaning:
Mark 5:35 is the moment every parent dreads. Jesus was still speaking words of peace to the healed woman (Mark 5:34) when messengers arrived from Jairus’ house: “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?” The delay on the road seemed to have cost Jairus everything. The verse captures the crushing weight of bad news, and it sets the stage for Jesus to show that his power reaches even beyond death.
- “While He Was Still Speaking”
The timing is painful. Jairus had begged Jesus to come quickly because his little daughter was “at the point of death” (Mark 5:23). Then Jesus stopped to find the woman who had touched him. While one daughter was being blessed, another, it seemed, was being lost. Jairus must have wondered whether the delay had been fatal.
Scripture records similar moments. When Jesus arrived after Lazarus had died, Mary “fell down at his feet, saying to him, ‘Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died’” (John 11:32). In both stories, what looked like a fatal delay became the occasion for a greater display of God’s glory.
- “Your Daughter Is Dead”
The messengers spoke plainly. In the hot climate of Galilee, burial usually took place on the day of death, and mourning began immediately. Relatives, neighbours and often hired mourners would gather with loud weeping and wailing, as the following verses show (Mark 5:38). For the household, the matter was closed. There was nothing left to do but grieve and prepare for the funeral.
- “Why Bother the Teacher Any More?”
The messengers respected Jesus as a “Teacher” and perhaps as a healer, but they assumed his help ended where life ended. Their question was kind in intention: there was no reason, they thought, to trouble him further. But it reveals a small view of who Jesus is. They saw a rabbi with healing gifts; they did not yet see the One who would declare, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).
God’s ways often run beyond our expectations: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh (Isaiah 55:8). What the messengers thought was the end of the story was only the beginning of the greatest miracle of the chapter.
The Significance of Mark 5:35
- When It Seems Too Late
Many believers know what it is to pray and then receive news that seems final. This verse does not deny the pain of such moments. But it reminds us that Jesus is never too late and that he is not limited by what we consider closed. “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God” (Romans 8:28), even when we cannot yet see how.
- Grieving with Hope
Grief is real, and the Bible honours it. We are told to “Weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), and God is “near to those who have a broken heart” (Psalm 34:18). For believers grief is mixed with hope, because “Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).
Cross-References:
John 11:32: "Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”" Another family felt that Jesus had come too late.
Psalm 34:18: "Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit." God draws near in moments of devastating news.
Romans 8:28: "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose." Even painful delays are within God’s good purposes.
Psalm 30:5: "For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning." Jairus’ night of grief would soon give way to joy.
Conclusion: Mark 5:35 records the moment when hope seemed to die. The messengers believed there was no reason to trouble Jesus further. Yet the story was not over, because the One walking with Jairus is Lord over death itself. When our own news seems final, this verse invites us to keep listening for Jesus’ next word.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible