Some have suggested that this was a statement of fact, meaning that the girl was not really dead but only comatose or severely ill. But we are better off reading it as a statement of intent, meaning that death is like sleep to Jesus. And Jesus goes on to effortlessly wake this girl up from it (Mark 5:42). It is highly unlikely that a culture that was so familiar with death would make such a remarkable misdiagnosis. Furthermore, anyone who will not believe that Jesus raised this girl from the dead will eventually run into Jesus’ own resurrection (Mark 16:6). The professional mourners represent the hard-core realists of every age who decide when empirical realities have foreclosed on divine possibilities.
1 Thus they laugh at Jesus (Mark 5:40). Again we might see a contrast here, similar to the one between Jesus and those who came from Jairus’s home (Mark 5:35). Will the local synagogue leader believe, as Jesus exhorted him to (Mark 5:36)? By referring to the girl’s death using an uncommon Greek word for sleep
(Matthew 27:52; John 11:11; Acts 7:60; Acts 13:36; 1 Corinthians 7:39), Jesus is simultaneously confirming that the girl is dead but that this will only be temporary.2 Her death is not final. The great enemy, the worst expression of any illness, is no match for Jesus. For him it is a mere slumber. Once Jesus has raised her from the dead, all those who witness it are utterly amazed (Mark 5:42), as faith turns to worship.
39 And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.”