1. Mark 5:40 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why does Jesus take Jairus and his wife in with the three core disciples?

Mark 5:40 (ESV)

40 And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was.

This ties the raising of Jairus’s daughter with the two preceding stories: the demon-possessed man and the bleeding woman. For both of them were excluded from their respective communities. The man was simply too dangerous, while the bleeding woman was ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 15:25–28). Just as Jesus restored the demon-possessed man and enabled him to return to human community, in these two accounts Jesus again restores people and unites them to their loved ones and their communities.1 Significantly, instead of turning this miracle into an opportunity for great acclaim, Jesus makes it about the beautiful reunion of a devastated family.