What Does "Talitha Koum" Mean and Why Does Jesus Say It?
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The Gospels make a point to show how Jesus miraculously healed people. Along with preaching the Kingdom of God, he revealed the coming reality through engaging the poor and the sick, bringing relief and hope through material generosity, and bringing the lame and diseased to full health.
The Old Testament prophesied how the Messiah would come and establish such a kingdom, one of abundance and health and peace that would last forever. Other passages in the prophets detailed how God would restore Jerusalem as a place of justice and wealth for God’s nation, a literal heaven on earth.
Therefore, as the Messiah, Jesus revealed the Father’s love and announced this new kingdom by healing people. In one account, he spoke to a dead girl, saying, “Talitha koum,” and she was raised from the dead.
Where Does Jesus Say “Talitha Koum”?
In Mark 5:41, Jesus says “Talitha koum” to a young girl who had died. It’s one of the only times in the Gospels Jesus speaks in Aramaic.
The same story from Mark 5:41 appears in Matthew 9:18-26 and Luke 8:40-56. As Jesus moved from town to town, he preached and performed miracles. Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee, and a large crowd gathers around him. Among those people, Jairus approaches him. Jairus was a synagogue leader, but unlike many of the Jewish religious leaders, Jairus falls at Jesus’ feet in humility. The synagogue leader begs for Jesus to heal his 12-year-old daughter, who is dying. Jesus agrees to go with him.
But before they arrive, another miracle happens. With the crowds around them, a woman who had suffered from bleeding for over 12 years touches the hem of Jesus’ robe and is healed instantly. Jesus pauses and seeks out the woman. The bleeding had made her unclean to the Jews, and so she was ashamed. Jesus affirms her and her faith, an amazing moment that shows his compassion and power.
However, this event delays Jesus, and in the meantime, messengers come and tell them Jairus’ daughter died. Jairus and others would have been tempted to be hopeless and despair. But Jesus tells Jairus, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” (Mark 5:36) Jesus goes to Jairus’ house. When they get there, mourners weep loudly. In Jewish culture, professional mourners would come to a house and wail and play music for grief. Jesus shocks them with, “The child is not dead but sleeping.” They mock him for this statement.
Christ sends everyone out of the house and approaches the dead girl with only five people—the girl’s parents and Jesus’ three close disciples: Peter, James, and John. He takes the daughter by the hand and says to her, “Talitha koum,” which is Aramaic for, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” Talitha is an affectionate, loving term for “little girl,” often used by parents. Koum is the feminine form of the verb “arise.”
The girl immediately gets up and walks around. The disciples are amazed. The parents go from grief to joy. Jesus commands them to give the girl something to eat and to keep the event quiet, implying they should tell others she had only been asleep.
What is the Cultural Importance of Jesus Speaking in Aramaic?
Aramaic is an ancient Semitic language dating back to ten centuries before Jesus. It came from the Arameans, a people group living in modern day Syria. The language gained popularity and spread further when the Neo-Assyrian and later Babylonian (626-539 BC) Empires adopted it as their common governmental language. Since these empires conquered and controlled large areas, Aramaic became the common language in the Middle East. The Persian Empire (539-330 BC) later conquered Babylon and continued to use Aramaic for their administration.
By the time of Alexander the Great, who conquered the Persians, Greek spread throughout the Mediterranean, mostly through the educated and powerful. But Aramaic continued to be spoken by Jews and others in the region as the everyday language, even in some religious settings, even during the Roman occupation. Jewish scholars, like the Pharisees, used Aramaic when teaching. Parts of the Old Testament like Daniel and Ezra (written under the time of Babylon) were originally written in Aramaic instead of Hebrew. Much of the Hebrew scriptures had been translated into Aramaic, for Jews who had been spread throughout the Middle East, much like the Septuagint translated the Old Testament into Greek.
Using the language of the common day, Jesus preached and addressed the crowds in Aramaic. “Talitha koum” wasn’t a common saying or phrase, not existing in historical writings outside the Gospels. Jesus used the familiar Aramaic and the meaning to show his warmth and compassion, a language the girl probably spoke every day.
How Does This Healing Connect with Other Accounts of Jesus' Healing?
Throughout his ministry, Jesus would connect his healings with faith. Jairus begins with humbly approaching Jesus and falling at his feet. When people tell Jairus his daughter is dead, Jesus calls him to belief and faith. “Do not be afraid. Only believe.” Jairus had just seen Jesus affirm a woman for her faith to heal her, an immediate example of how faith leads to healing. In Matthew 9:27-30, two blind men follow Jesus, crying out for him to heal them so they can see. He asks them, “Do you believe I can do this?” When they confess their belief, he heals them.
Jesus’ healings show his authority as God over sickness and death. Dead people do not come back to life in this fallen world, and yet Jesus raises the dead in other places, too. In the town of Nain, Jesus comes upon a funeral procession. A widow had lost her only son, who she loved but also a source of support in their culture. He touches the coffin and raises the boy to life (Luke 7:11-17). In John 11, Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the tomb, four days after his death. In all three cases, Jesus demonstrates he is the giver of life, the Creator in the flesh, and he has power to reverse death. What is impossible for people is possible with God. These miracles point to his own future resurrection.
Every time he raised someone from the dead, he spoke to them before raising them. He talks to the widow’s son and calls to Lazarus to “come forth.” He literally commands dead people to live again. For the natural eye, this appears crazy. Dead people can’t respond. But the power wasn’t in the dead person but in his words. Jesus also commanded healing over others like the centurion’s sick servant (Matthew 8:5-13) and the paralytic (Mark 2:1-12). The same Word who said, “Let there be light,” and then light existed, is the same one who can command life to happen in the dead. God’s word alone has power.
Like the girl who died, he would often touch those he healed. Touching communicates care, gentleness, and a loving relationship. Jesus touched a man with leprosy, an unclean and deadly disease, healing him instantly (Mark 1:40-42). For the blind man at Bethsaida, Jesus spits on his eyes and puts his hand on him for the man to see again. Jesus willingly touched people, got close to them—especially the sick, the unclean, and the dead—to show his love and compassion. He is Immanuel, God with us.
What Can We Learn from Jesus Saying “Talitha Koum”?
While just a simple phrase, Christians today can learn several important lessons from the account.
First, speaking God’s word has power over all things, even death. Jesus speaking over the dead to get them to rise reflects Ezekiel 37, where God tells Ezekiel to speak to dry bones in a valley of death. “Prophesy to these dry bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! … I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.” Dry bones are as hopeless as you can get. Lazarus had been dead four days, and Jairus’ daughter a couple hours. Dry bones were dead for years. Yet, God’s word brought the bones fully back to life.
As his disciples, we should learn to speak God’s Word over others. We were once spiritually dead, and God raised us through his call. We encounter others who are spiritually without life, through sin, fear, and hopelessness. We can’t save them, and they can’t save themselves. But when we pray and declare over them God’s promises and love, we speak the Holy Spirit to revive dead hearts.
Jesus didn’t only heal from a distance, although he could have in the street when Jairus first greets him. Jesus goes to the house personally. He takes the girl by the hand and speaks a tender phrase over her, like a father to a daughter. Talitha was like saying “sweetheart” in Aramaic. His miracles were acts of love and compassion.
This event challenges us to reach out to others out of love, not just to win arguments. People feel overlooked, forgotten, and broken. Jesus teaches us how true ministry begins with love and relationship, and then the power follows. Instead of just speaking truth at people, we understand their hearts and show we care through word and deed.
Jesus spoke to the little girl in the language she and the Jews used every day. Hebrew may have been more formal and elite, or it seemed more spiritual and religious. Jesus came for everyone but especially for the common people. He chose Aramaic to make God’s message and power available to even the “least of these.”
This is still the call of Jesus' followers. We must communicate the heavenly truths in a way people can understand—their language and culture. Religious language creates a barrier, especially religious terms, an unnecessary separation between “us” and “them.” Jesus didn’t do this. He reveals how effective ministry meets people where they are, even in their homes. Through connecting with people in every day life, bringing the Gospel into daily conversations, we invite them into life with Christ, a loving and powerful interaction.
By saying “Talitha koum” to a little girl, he not only raised her from the dead but showed us how to bring life, love, and truth to a hopeless, dead world.
Peace.
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