He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
This verse comes from a story in which a man named Jairus — a leader of a Jewish synagogue, the local place of worship and community gathering — comes to Jesus desperately begging him to heal his dying daughter. By the time Jesus arrives at the house, the girl has already died, and professional mourners have gathered, weeping and playing funeral music as was the cultural custom of the time. Jesus enters, tells the crowd the girl is not dead but only sleeping, and they laugh at him openly. What follows in the next verses is that Jesus raises the girl back to life. The Gospel writer preserved the detail of the crowd's laughter deliberately — it reveals something honest about how unexpected grace is often received by those who believe they already understand what they're looking at.
Jesus, you walked into a room full of laughter and still raised the dead. When my faith feels foolish and the voices of doubt are loud, remind me that you don't need anyone's approval to move. Help me clear the noise and trust you in the quiet. Amen.
They laughed at him. Not politely skeptical — laughed. The Greek word implies open ridicule, the kind of laughter that shuts a conversation down. And to be fair to the crowd: they were professionals at grief. They had seen death before. They knew exactly what it looked like. Jesus walked in and said something that sounded absurd. What's striking is that he didn't argue. He didn't perform a miracle to make a point to the mockers. He simply asked them to leave the room. There are moments when faith will look foolish to the people around you — when what you believe, or hope for, or refuse to stop praying about will earn a version of that laughter. Maybe it already has. But Jesus didn't need the crowd's agreement to do what he came to do. He needed space. Sometimes, the most important thing you can do is clear the room — stop letting every skeptical voice crowd out the quiet possibility that God is not finished yet. What noise do you need to ask to leave?
Why do you think the Gospel writer included the detail that the mourners laughed at Jesus — what does that moment add to the story that a simple summary of events would leave out?
Have you ever held onto a hope that the people around you dismissed as naive or foolish? What was that experience like, and how did it unfold over time?
Jesus asked the laughing crowd to leave before he acted. What does that suggest about the relationship between faith and the voices we allow around us in our hardest moments?
The mourners had real grief — they weren't villains, just people who believed what they could see. How do you stay genuinely compassionate toward people who doubt or mock what you believe, rather than becoming defensive or bitter toward them?
Is there a situation in your life right now where you've let others' skepticism quietly extinguish your own hope? What would it look like to clear that noise and sit in honest expectation before God?
These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
John 11:11
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
Matthew 11:5
While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
Matthew 9:18
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isaiah 53:3
When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby .
John 11:4
He said, "Go away; for the girl is not dead, but is sleeping." And they laughed and jeered at Him.
AMP
he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him.
ESV
He said, 'Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.' And they [began] laughing at Him.
NASB
he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.
NIV
He said to them, “Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him.
NKJV
“Get out!” he told them. “The girl isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” But the crowd laughed at him.
NLT
Jesus was abrupt: "Clear out! This girl isn't dead. She's sleeping." They told him he didn't know what he was talking about.
MSG