Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 2 Study # 14
June 1, 2021
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(230)
1901 ASV
39 And when he was entered in, he saith unto them, Why make ye a tumult, and weep? the child is not dead, but sleepeth.
40 And they laughed him to scorn. But he, having put them all forth, taketh the father of the child and her mother and them that were with him, and goeth in where the child was.
41 And taking the child by the hand, he saith unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise.
42 And straightway the damsel rose up, and walked; for she was twelve years old. And they were amazed straightway with a great amazement.
43 And he charged them much that no man should know this: and he commanded that [something] should be given her to eat.
- I. Mark's Record Of Jesus In The House Of The Ruler Of The Synagogue.
- A. He switches to present tense verbs for this record to present it as "on-going".
- 1. "And having entered, He is saying to them...".
- a. We are watching Jesus entering into the house; we are seeing Him looking around at the tumult; and now we are hearing His words.
- b. Why are you throwing such a fit and weeping? The child has not died BUT is sleeping.
- 1) There is an issue here of Jesus' declaration: how does He tell them that the child ("little daughter") "has not died" when they knew that she had?
- a) Jesus' words include the declaration, "The child did not (emphatic) die (Aorist), but (emphatic) is sleeping" (Present).
- b) In all use of words, there are "nuances" that must be taken into consideration.
- i. Luke 8:53 says the people laughed at Jesus "...knowing that she did die" (Aorist). In addition, verse 51 says that Jesus told "the synagogue official" "...believe (Aorist Imperative; "believe" is a demand that Jairus begin to believe something he had not believed to this point) and she shall be made well" (the promise of a new content that had not been given until this very hour).
- ii. John 11:4 records a similar declaration: "...the sickness in not toward death..." and verses 11-14 say that Jesus used "sleep" as a metaphor for "Lazarus died".
- iii. The "final" sense of both "died" and "sleeping" involves the impact of the action.
- i) "Death" has the final impact of complete relational disintegration for those separated from the person who has "died" as well as the physical disintegration of the body. If that complete relational (not physical) disintegration has not actually occurred, the person is said to be "sleeping" rather than "having died" in spite of whether the physical disintegration has occurred or not. This "sense of meaning" is carried over into the "theology of Christ" by Paul in places such as Ephesians 5:14 ("Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead...") and 1 Thessalonians 5:10 ("...whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him") and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15; 1 Corinthians 7:39; 11:30; 15:6, 18, 20, 51; and 2 Peter 3:4 (where a different word for "sleep" is used, but the 'sense' is that "death" is "sleep" for those in the grave).
- ii) "Sleeping" has the final impact of awakening unto the continuation of the relationships that are restored by the awakening.
- iv. Because resurrection is a fact of the future for all men, some are said to be "sleeping" (though the body has disintegrated back into the dust; Daniel 12:2) because their resurrection will be "unto Life" so that the relational breakdown, as well as the physical breakdown, was only for a while.
- b) Jesus often spoke "mysteriously" because He was revealing truths of which men are generally unaware. Their lack of awareness made the words mysterious, but not "untrue".
- 2) Jesus may have been deliberately allowing them to not understand because of their unbelief so that He was, in effect, allowing them to continue in their unbelief afterwards if they wished ("Well, I guess He was really telling us the truth; the girl had not died."). This was the stated reason for teaching by parable in Mark 4:11-12.
- 2. "And they were 'deriding' of Him...".
- a. This verb is only used of this event as it is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The translators of the NASB were consistent in translating this verb as "laughing", but the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains says this verb means "to ridicule by laughing at".
- b. The strong implication is that they were "laughing" because they clearly considered Him "an ignorant nut-job". These were the family and friends of "the official of the synagogue" and they may well have developed their "attitude" because of that "official's" own attitude prior to his "repentance". Perhaps the veil of general respect slips here, and their real attitude is revealed. There is, and always has been, an deep, underlying hatefulness toward Jesus that is kept hidden most of the time. There is no question that His teaching has deeply offended a great number of people because it rests upon the presupposition of seriously depraved people who have no real interest in being confronted with their real attitudes.
- 3. His response to them is, basically, "Get out of here!". The verb used is found in 17 of Mark's texts with most of them recording Jesus "casting out" demons. It has overtones of violence in it (9:47 and 11:15), and is presented as "irresistible".
- a. Jesus was not willing to tolerate the disrespect: He "cast them out".
- b. He also allowed them to be further hardened as He had given them the "out" of telling them that the child had not died. They "knew" she had, but she came out of the room alive and healthy. Thus, they were willing to "admit" that their "knowing" was a mistake. This allowed them to continue on in their hateful unbelief if that was the course they preferred.
- 4. But, for the father and mother and those with Him, "He is taking them" and "He is entering" into the place where the child was.
- 5. Then, having taken her by the hand, "He is saying to her, 'Talitha Koum'" (an emphatic word describing the little girl and an imperative with Hebrew origins). Mark quotes Jesus and then gives His meaning in Greek: "You, girl, I am saying to you, 'Arise'".