Marcos 5:39

And when he was entered in, he saith unto them, Why make ye a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleepeth.

Not dead but sleepeth ... The Lord certainly did not mean these words as a denial that the daughter's death had actually occurred; but it was his customary language regarding death (see John 11:11). In context, it also meant that he intended to raise her to life again. The attitude of the professional mourners shows conclusively that the maiden's death had indeed occurred and had been confirmed. McMillan is correct in seeing in this ambiguous reference to the child's being "asleep," "a specific purpose of creating uncertainty in the minds of those who were not directly associated with the resurrection."[19] It was the raising of Lazarus, at a later date, that precipitated the crucifixion; and too great a confirmation and publication of this miracle could possibly have interfered with the divine schedule of the Lord's death. It was not the time to confront the religious hierarchy with a miracle they could not deny; nor was this the place. It would occur in Jerusalem, not in Capernaum, and at the time of the fourth Passover, not upon this occasion in the home of Jairus. In line with this was the instruction recorded in Mark 5:43.