What does Matthew 9:25 mean?
Jesus has come to the home of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue. Jairus asked Jesus to come and make his sick 12–year-old daughter well (Matthew 9:18–19; Mark 5:21–24). By the time Jesus and the disciples arrived, the girl was reportedly dead, and a group of professional mourners was already playing flutes and wailing. Jesus told them to go away because the girl was only sleeping (Matthew 9:23–24).The crowd of mourners was ushered out of the house. We know from Luke that only five people remained inside with Him: Peter, James, John, and the girl's parents (Luke 8:51). Now Jesus goes to the girl and takes her by the hand. Mark reports that He spoke to her, saying "Talitha cumi," meaning "little girl, I say to you arise" (Mark 5:41). The girl did exactly that.
By touching a dead body, Jesus would have become ceremonially unclean under the law for seven days (Numbers 19:11–21). But since the girl immediately returned to life, He was not guilty of touching a corpse. Jesus repeatedly uses His power to restore cleanness to those who were unclean under the law.
