While he was saying these things to them, an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, “My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples. 20 A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.” 22 Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, “Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.” And from that hour the woman was cured. 23 When Jesus arrived at the official’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion, 24 he said, “Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they ridiculed him. 25 When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose. 26 And news of this spread throughout all that land.
Matthew’s condensed version was different from Mark and Luke’s version and has the girl as already dead before the synagogue official came to Jesus. In Matthew’s version, the daughter of Jairus, a prominent official of the Capharnaum synagogue, had died and the sorrowful official humbled himself by kneeling before Jesus and asking him to lay hands on her so that she may live. Jairus had the sure and certain faith that Jesus could restore her life.
As Jesus and his disciples were following the official to his house a woman suffering from a hemorrhage, who also had much faith in Jesus and firmly believed that if she touched his tassel, the very edge of his outer garment (Deut. 22:12), she would be healed. Jesus praised the woman for her faith and healed her. A woman with permanent menstrual bleeding (hemorrhage; Lk. 8:43) would be permanently unclean by Mosaic Law and would be an outcast from the community (Lev. 15:25-27). If she touched Jesus he would become unclean. When she timidly touched Jesus, she immediately became clean and could rejoin the community.
When Jesus reached the official’s house, he told the mourners that the girl was not dead but sleeping and they derided him. Jesus used a similar phrase about Lazarus (Jn. 11:11). He told the crowd to leave the house, took the girl by the hand and her life returned to her. Jesus did not use the word ‘dead’ because neither the girl nor Lazarus was dead in the way the word implies. It was not a resurrection because the girl was returned to the same life she had before she died.
Almighty God, you are the creator of all life and the eternal light which illumines the hearts of your people. Teach us to love you with our whole heart so that we may rejoice in your glory as we see the light of your countenance. This we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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