Jairus was a powerful man, “…and he was a ruler of the synagogue…” (Luke 8:41). Jairus and his wife had only one child, a girl of twelve, who had fallen ill and lay dying. Word had come to him that Jesus had the power to heal, so he sought out Jesus' help. A throng had gathered around Jesus on the way to the house of Jairus. Before Jesus had entered the house with his host, a servant came to tell Jairus that his daughter had died; it seemed that Jesus had arrived too late.

No one in the room believed Jesus. When they laughed and scorned him, he made them all leave. Alone with the girl, he took her by the hand and said, “Talitha koum, ” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up.” The King James Bible gives Jesus' statement and the interpretation of his spoken words: “Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise” (Mark 5:41).

The Gospel of Luke reveals, “And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway…” (Luke 8:55). Jesus told those gathered to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished. Perhaps, filled with gratitude, they kissed Jesus' feet or thanked him and offered to pay him or do something noble for him; the biblical account in Luke doesn't say. It only says that Jesus told them that they should tell no one about what he'd done. Word about Jesus' miraculous healing of others had spread, and the crowds had begun to follow him wherever he went, and he had begun to seek out isolated places where he could pray and be alone.