Mark 5:35–42: Was Jairus’s daughter truly dead, or could she have been in a coma, making her “resurrection” more of a misdiagnosis?

Context of the Passage (Mark 5:35–42)

Mark 5:35–42 describes a moment when messengers come to Jairus—an official of the synagogue—informing him that his daughter has died, and that he need not trouble Jesus any further. Jesus, however, tells Jairus, “Do not be afraid; just believe,” and proceeds to the house. Upon arrival, He observes people wailing with grief. In verse 39, Jesus states, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep.” Then, in verse 41, He takes the girl’s hand and says, “Talitha koumi!”—meaning, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” Immediately, she rises and walks around, astonishing those present.

Jewish Funeral Practices and Mourning Customs

Jewish families in the first century customarily employed professional mourners, musicians, and others to lament loudly when a death occurred. Mark 5:38 indicates that those around Jairus’s house “were weeping and wailing loudly.” This lamentation would not typically begin unless the household was certain that the individual had died.

In addition, the presence of weeping and wailing would have been accompanied by a swift preparation of the body for burial if the family believed there was no doubt regarding death. Had there been any significant question—such as a feared coma or a mere loss of consciousness—these elaborate mourning proceedings would likely have been delayed or placed on hold to monitor the child’s condition.

Analysis of Jesus’s Statement: “Not Dead, but Asleep”

In Mark 5:39, Jesus says, “The child is not dead, but asleep.” On the surface, this might suggest a coma. However, it was a common biblical metaphor to refer to death as “sleep” (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13, John 11:11–14). The phrase can signal the temporary nature of death in God’s power—He can awaken the deceased just as easily as if they were sleeping. The language does not thereby negate real, physical death; rather, it draws attention to Jesus’s authority to reverse death.

Moreover, the reaction of those present (Mark 5:40: “they laughed at Him”) demonstrates they had no doubts about the girl’s actual death, since her condition had already been examined prior to their official mourning. This scornful response indicates that the onlookers did not mistake the child’s state for anything other than real death.

Luke’s Account: “Her Spirit Returned”

Luke’s Gospel (Luke 8:49–56) parallels this event and adds the detail in 8:55 that “Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up.” These words clearly reflect that the girl had ceased living. In a coma, one’s spirit would remain with the body. This specific language—“Her spirit returned”—strongly supports the conclusion that she had truly passed away and that this was indeed a restoration to life, not merely to consciousness.

Medical and Historical Considerations Against a Coma Theory

Ancient individuals recognized death through extended lack of breathing, the cooling of the body, color changes, and the absence of awareness—details known and documented. While diagnostic capabilities were nowhere near the sophistication of modern medicine, first-century communities were not so unfamiliar with death as to be regularly deceived by a partly conscious patient.

Additionally, if the girl had merely been in a coma, the quick and complete recovery immediately to walking around (Mark 5:42) would be extraordinarily rare. In medical cases of coma, patients often experience prolonged weakness, gradual regain of consciousness, and a convalescence phase. The account emphasizes the suddenness and completeness of her restoration—which is consistent with miraculous healing from death rather than incidental awakening from a coma.

Consistency with Other Biblical Accounts of Resurrection

Scripture includes several resurrection accounts (1 Kings 17:17–24; Luke 7:11–17; John 11:1–44; Acts 9:36–41), and each shares a sudden, divine intervention that reverses what is identified as genuine death. These parallels bolster the claim in Mark 5:35–42 that a supernatural event occurred rather than the correction of a simple misdiagnosis.

The Authority and Reliability of the Text

Multiple surviving early Greek manuscripts agree on the wording of Mark 5:35–42, with no variant suggesting the child was in a coma. Textual analysts note the overall unity of the passage across different textual witnesses (including such manuscripts as Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus). The account is also found, with similar detail, in Matthew 9:18–26 and Luke 8:40–56, forming a triply attested narrative in the Synoptic Gospels.

Archaeological and historical scholarship confirms that Mark’s Gospel reflects first-century cultural practices accurately. Funeral customs, mourning rituals, and synagogue leadership structures align with known data from sources such as Josephus. These details collectively support the historical nature of the event.

Conclusion

Putting together the evidence—from the immediate context, Jewish funeral customs, parallel Gospel accounts, language describing her as “dead” rather than “unconscious,” and medical plausibility—it is consistent and clear that Jairus’s daughter was indeed physically dead prior to Jesus’s intervention. Her instantaneous restoration, as recorded in Mark 5:35–42, underscores both the reality of the girl’s death and the miraculous power that brought her back to life.

In every way, the accounts affirm a genuine act of divine power rather than a mere misdiagnosis.