Jairus, a synagogue leader, falls at Jesus' feet and pleads for the life of his dying daughter. Jesus goes with him. When news of her death arrives along the way, he urges the father to keep believing. In the house, he takes the twelve-year-old girl by the hand and calls her to life: Talitha kum. Immediately she gets up and walks about. Her parents and Peter, James, and John are present. Christ, who commands death, then sees to it that the child is given food. Mark, Matthew, and Luke attest to this miracle; their accounts and the interpretation of the Church Fathers reveal its course and meaning.
Jesus raises Jairus's dead daughter through his word and the touch of her hand. The twelve-year-old girl immediately gets up and walks about; her parents and three Apostles witness her return to life.
Jairus Pleads for His Daughter's Life
After Jesus returns across the lake, a large crowd gathers around him. Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders, approaches, falls at his feet, and pleads for his little daughter, who is dying. Jesus goes with him; people crowd around them. On the way, a woman who has been ill for twelve years touches Jesus' garment and is healed. While Jesus is still speaking to her, people arrive from Jairus's house: the child has died; the father need no longer trouble the Master. Jesus hears the news and turns to Jairus. Human hope seems extinguished, yet the Lord continues to require trust: he is not to fear, but to believe.[1]
Talitha Kum: The Girl Gets Up
Jesus allows Peter, James, and John to accompany him. At the house, they encounter weeping and loud mourning. When he says the child is asleep, those present laugh at him. He sends them out and goes with the parents and the three disciples to where the girl lies. Then he takes her hand and speaks the Aramaic words preserved by Mark, Talitha kum: Little girl, I say to you, arise. Immediately the twelve-year-old gets up and walks about. Luke explicitly attests to the return of her spirit. Those present are overcome with amazement. Jesus commands them not to tell what has happened and orders that the child be given food. The daughter is alive again; she moves and needs nourishment.[1][2]
The Parents and Three Named Apostles
Mark and Luke name a specific circle around the child: father, mother, Peter, James, and John. The parents know their daughter's illness and death; the disciples directly witness Jesus' action. The others present have already begun mourning and consider Jesus' statement about sleep so impossible that they laugh. The contrast between certainty of death and the child subsequently walking about belongs to the testimony itself. Mark also preserves the Aramaic words with their explanation and the practical instruction about food. These details reveal the raising as a concrete encounter. This testimony reaches us through the canonical Gospels, whose shared proclamation the Church preserves.[1][2][3]
Death Before the Lord of Life
Luke explicitly says that those present know the child has died. Jesus' words about sleep therefore describe his authority over death: what the family cannot reverse is for him like a sleep from which he awakens her. Augustine explains precisely this connection. John Chrysostom connects it with the comfort that Christ's dominion over death brings. Both Church Fathers interpret a real bodily raising. Through Christ's word, the girl returns to her parents; at the same time, she reveals why death is not the final reality for the believer. In this interpretation, the figurative language of sleep and the actual miracle belong together.[2][5][6]
The Raising and the Hope of Eternal Life
Jairus's daughter receives her earthly life back. Chrysostom distinguishes this raising from Christ's definitive Resurrection: the girl remains a mortal human being; the risen Lord lives in imperishable glory. Precisely this difference reveals the miracle's promise. The power that now returns a daughter to her parents will finally overcome death. Thomas Aquinas understands bodily healings as works of the comprehensive salvation Christ brings to the whole person. His care for the individual child carries its own weight: Jesus acts upon this girl, takes her hand, and thinks of her food. His power and love are visible in the same event.[6][7]
Witnesses & Investigators
Jairus and the Girl's Mother
Parents and direct witnesses
Jairus asks for help; father and mother stand beside Jesus as their dead daughter gets up. Their knowledge of the child connects illness, death, and raising.[1][2]
Peter, James, and John
Three named Apostles
Peter, James, and John accompany Jesus into the room and, with the parents, witness his words and the child's return to life.[1][2]
Mark, Matthew, and Luke
Evangelists and bearers of apostolic testimony
They attest to the same core of the miracle in detailed or condensed form. The versions complement one another in the details named.[1][2][3]
The unfolding story
- Jairus Pleads
The synagogue leader pleads with Jesus for his dying daughter; Jesus goes with him.[1]
- An Interruption on the Way
The healing of the woman with a hemorrhage is woven into the journey to the house.[1]
- News of Death
Jesus responds to the news with the call not to fear but to believe.[1]
- Raising in the House
The parents and three disciples are with the child; she gets up and is to be given food.[1]
- Parallel Tradition
Matthew tells the story concisely; Luke follows the sequence with a later report of death.[2][3]
Ecclesiastical assessment
The Church receives this miracle in the authoritative testimony of Holy Scripture. The Gospels preserve Jesus' deeds and words; the Church Fathers unfold their significance for the Church's faith and life.
Why Matthew Gives a Shorter Account
Matthew has the father say in his very first plea that his daughter has died. Mark and Luke distinguish the initial danger of death from the later news. The name Jairus, the three chosen disciples, the age, and the Aramaic words are also absent from Matthew's brief version. Augustine explicitly addresses these differences in De consensu evangelistarum. He explains that Matthew summarizes the meaning of the request and the outcome, while the other Evangelists unfold the individual steps. The same event can thus be truthfully recounted at different lengths. This explanation takes the actual wording seriously. The three Gospels are interconnected apostolic testimonies; their agreement requires neither identical transcripts of conversations nor a chronology supplemented afterwards.[1][2][3][4]
Objections & Answers
Could the Girl Have Been Merely Unconscious?
The Gospels themselves give a clear answer: this is a raising from the dead. Mark names the news of death and the mourning; Luke says those present knew the child had died and attests to the return of her spirit. These details explain Jesus' words about sleep, rather than being set against them. Augustine understands the words as an expression of his power to awaken the dead. Unconsciousness, by contrast, remains a retrospective conjecture with no finding of its own. A present-day clinical reconstruction lacks information about checking a pulse, the cause of death, and the length of time without signs of life; the daughter's name and later life are also unreported. These limits permit no modern diagnosis in either direction. They do not, however, invalidate the Gospel testimony: the certainty of Christian confession here rests on testimony to Christ and his authority, not on a claimed intensive-care examination.[1][2][5]
Does Matthew's Report of Death Refute the Other Accounts?
No. Augustine shows a reasonable compatibility: Matthew summarizes the father's request in light of the outcome that occurred; Mark and Luke recount the chronology in greater detail. It is linguistically understandable that a brief account already expresses a later event within the summarized plea. Christian interpretation therefore need neither remove the additional report of death nor rewrite Matthew's text. The more precise sequence of conversation cannot be derived from the short version alone; the shared core, however, is clear: the girl is dead, Jesus takes her hand, and she lives. Nor does the miracle give grounds to accuse parents of deceased children of insufficient faith. It attests to Christ's power and love; its ultimate promise is the Resurrection, not a general assurance that every earthly death will immediately be undone.[1][2][3][4][6]
Meaning for faith
Christ truly calls Jairus's daughter back to life. His effective word and his concern for the child's food belong together: the Lord over death meets the individual person with fatherly care. Attested by three Gospels, the miracle strengthens trust in him and points ahead to the final Resurrection, in which death loses its power.[1][2][3][6]
How the Miracles of Jesus Are Examined
Apostolic testimony, historical transmission, and the deeds of Christ.
Methods of examination and ecclesiastical procedure →Sources & Evidence
Information on accessibility and scope helps you assess the evidence for yourself.
- [1] Gospel According to Mark
Principal account; Aramaic words, witnesses, age, and instruction concerning food. Independent German presentation, not adopted from a modern German translation.
Open source · vatican.va ↗ - [2] Gospel According to Luke
Parallel account with the only daughter and the return of her spirit.
Open source · vatican.va ↗ - [3] Gospel According to Matthew
Condensed version with a statement of death at the beginning.
Open source · vatican.va ↗ - [4] De consensu evangelistarum, Book II, Chapter 28
Ancient interpretation of the differences, not an additional source for the event. Historical English translation consulted.
Open source · newadvent.org ↗ - [5] Sermo 98, listed in New Advent as Sermon 48 on the New Testament
Explains the metaphor of sleep and bodily/spiritual raising.
Open source · newadvent.org ↗ - [6] Homily 31 on the Gospel of Matthew
Classical interpretation of the child, the woman, and the distinction from the final Resurrection. Individual historical conjectures of the preacher are not adopted as additional facts.
Open source · newadvent.org ↗ - [7] Summa theologiae III, quaestio 44
Theology of Christ's healings; not a medical case investigation.
Open source · newadvent.org ↗