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."