When Jairus was told his daughter had died, Jesus said, “Do not fear, only believe” (Mark 5:36). Mark places this statement immediately before Jesus goes on to raise the girl (Mark 5:40–42).
In Mark 5:35–43, messengers report that the synagogue ruler’s daughter has died and imply there is no point troubling Jesus further. Jesus immediately counters fear with a call to trust, limits the group who accompanies him, and enters a house filled with loud mourning. This scene completes the second half of a “sandwich” narrative: Jairus’s request for his daughter is interrupted by the healing of a woman with a long illness (earlier in Mark 5), and then the story returns to Jairus’s home.
Mark presents a moment where bad news (“your daughter is dead”) is treated as decisive by the household, but not by Jesus (Mark 5:35–36). The story stresses Jesus’ immediate counter-word to fear: “Don’t be afraid, only believe” (verse 36). That line functions in the narrative as a direct alternative to accepting the messengers’ conclusion.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Mark 5:36, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
36But Jesus, not heeding the word spoken, immediately said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Don`t be afraid, only believe."