Mark 5:38 Study Bible: And they came to the synagogue ruler's house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing.

◄ Mark 5:38 ►

When they arrived at the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw the commotion and the people weeping and wailing loudly.

Study Bible

When they arrived
This phrase marks the culmination of a journey, both physical and spiritual. The Greek word used here, "erchomai," implies not just arrival but a purposeful coming. This journey is significant as it reflects Jesus' intentional mission to bring hope and healing. In our own lives, we are reminded that our spiritual journeys are purposeful, guided by divine intention.

at the house
The "house" in Jewish culture was not just a physical structure but a place of familial and communal significance. It was a center of life and faith. The Greek word "oikos" can also imply a household or family. This setting underscores the personal nature of Jesus' ministry, as He enters into the intimate spaces of our lives to bring transformation.

of the synagogue leader
The synagogue leader, or "archisynagogos" in Greek, was a person of significant religious and social standing. This highlights the reach of Jesus' ministry, extending to all levels of society. It also reflects the breaking of barriers, as Jesus ministers to both the influential and the marginalized, showing that His message is for everyone.

Jesus saw
The act of seeing, "horao" in Greek, implies more than just physical sight. It suggests perception and understanding. Jesus' ability to see beyond the surface reflects His divine insight into human suffering and need. It is a reminder that Jesus sees us fully, understanding our deepest pains and struggles.

the commotion
The Greek word "thorubos" indicates a tumult or uproar, often associated with chaos and disorder. This commotion reflects the human response to death and despair. In the midst of our own life's chaos, Jesus enters as a calming presence, bringing peace and order.

and the people weeping and wailing loudly
The expressions of grief, "klaio" (weeping) and "alalazo" (wailing), were customary in Jewish mourning practices, often involving professional mourners. This public display of sorrow underscores the depth of human grief. Yet, it sets the stage for Jesus' miraculous intervention, reminding us that in our deepest sorrow, Jesus offers hope and resurrection power.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Jesus
Central figure in the New Testament, the Son of God, who performs miracles and teaches about the Kingdom of God.

2. Synagogue Leader (Jairus)
A respected leader in the Jewish community whose daughter is gravely ill, prompting him to seek Jesus' help.

3. The House
The setting for this event, where the synagogue leader's daughter lies dead, and mourners are gathered.

4. Mourners
People present at the house, expressing grief through weeping and wailing, a common cultural practice in Jewish mourning rituals.

5. The Daughter of Jairus
The young girl who is the focus of this miracle, illustrating Jesus' power over death.

Teaching Points

Jesus' Authority Over Death
Jesus demonstrates His divine authority by raising Jairus' daughter, affirming His power over life and death.

Faith in the Midst of Despair
Jairus' faith in seeking Jesus amidst his daughter's critical condition serves as a model for trusting God in desperate situations.

Cultural Context of Mourning
Understanding the cultural practices of mourning in Jewish tradition helps us appreciate the depth of the miracle and the transformation from despair to hope.

The Role of Community in Grief
The presence of mourners highlights the importance of community support during times of loss, a practice that can be mirrored in Christian fellowship today.

Hope Beyond the Present
This passage encourages believers to look beyond present circumstances to the hope and promise of resurrection and eternal life through Christ.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does Jesus' response to the mourners in Mark 5:38 challenge our understanding of His power and authority?

2. In what ways can we demonstrate faith like Jairus when faced with seemingly hopeless situations?

3. How can understanding the cultural context of mourning in Jesus' time enhance our reading of this passage?

4. What role does community play in supporting those who are grieving, and how can we apply this in our church today?

5. How does the hope of resurrection, as demonstrated in this passage, influence our perspective on life and death?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Matthew 9:23-26 and Luke 8:51-56
These parallel accounts provide additional details about the event, emphasizing Jesus' authority and compassion.

John 11:33-44
The raising of Lazarus, another instance where Jesus demonstrates His power over death, showing His divine authority and foreshadowing His own resurrection.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
Offers hope in the face of death, reminding believers of the resurrection and eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Sermons

A Proper Prayer	R. Glover.	Mark 5:21-43
A Revived Flower	J. Cumming, D. D.	Mark 5:21-43
Avowed and Hidden Faith	R. Green	Mark 5:21-43
Death a Sleep	Edwin Davies.	Mark 5:21-43
Death a Sleep	B. Keach.	Mark 5:21-43
Death of Children	Wadsworth.	Mark 5:21-43
Goeth in Where the Child Was	R. Glover.	Mark 5:21-43
Jairus' Daughter	J. H. Evans, M. A.	Mark 5:21-43
Jairus's Daughter; Or, the Uses of Bereavement	A.F. Muir	Mark 5:21-43
Jarius's Daughter; Or, the Course of a True Faith	A.F. Muir	Mark 5:21-43
Jesus Stronger than Death	Anon.	Mark 5:21-43
Not Dead, But Sleeping	A. Mursell.	Mark 5:21-43
Talitha Cumi	R. Glover.	Mark 5:21-43
The Death of the Young Encourages a Spirit of Dependence on God in the Home Life of This World	J. B. Brown, B. A.	Mark 5:21-43
The Death of the Young Imparts a Consecrating Influence to the Home Life	J. B. Brown, B. A.	Mark 5:21-43
The Death of the Young Lends a Tender	J. B. Brown, B. A.	Mark 5:21-43
The Healing of Jairus' Daughter	Expository Discourses., David Thomas, D. D.	Mark 5:21-43
The Humane Society	F. W. Robertson.	Mark 5:21-43
The Raising of Jairus' Daughter	Expository Outlines	Mark 5:21-43
Touching in the Throng	J.J. Given	Mark 5:21-43
Why Death of the Godly is Called Sleep	G. Petter.	Mark 5:21-43
Life Victorious	E. Johnson	Mark 5:35-43

People

Jair, Jairus, James, Jesus, John, Luke, Peter

Places

Decapolis, Galilee, Gerasa, Sea of Galilee

Topics

Aloud, Beholdeth, Chief, Commotion, Crying, Gazes, Greatly, Loudly, Official, Ruler, Ruler's, Running, Scene, Sees, Synagogue, Tumult, Uproar, Wailed, Wailing, Warden's, Weeping, Wept

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Mark 5:38

     5198   weeping
     5509   rulers
     5899   lament

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

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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