After all, according to His eye-witness biographers, Jesus did raise several people from death: His friend Lazarus, the widow’s son, and Jairus’ daughter. So why didn’t He do that much more frequently? Wouldn’t it have been a staggering witness of His identity and power to unbelievers if He had regularly robbed the grave and restored life to those who had ceased to live?
Couldn’t God still do that today? What a witness it would be if God regularly brought people back from death in answer to the prayers of Christians! Surely that would get peoples’ attention!
It’s important for me to remember that sometimes God’s ways are “above my pay grade.” His ways are often mysterious and inscrutable to me. But then, He is God and I am certainly not! His ways are higher than mine (Isaiah 55:9).
It is clear that God’s plan in this age is not to eliminate the effects of the curse and the consequences of sin. He is allowing them to play out. He doesn’t exempt Christians from the effects of living in a broken world or the ugly consequences of sin (one’s own or others’). The alternative is hard to play out in my mind. Would it require a mini miracle every time one His followers inhaled around a coughing flu victim so that they didn’t catch the 5-day plague? Would God have to blind the State Trooper when I speed by driving 90 mph so that I would not reap the just consequences of my bad choice? Would He have to miraculously cause every criminal’s gun to freeze so they couldn’t shoot an innocent victim? It’s endless. The implications are mind-boggling. And if He did that for His followers, who wouldn’t “walk the aisle” to get in on it? Would those “conversions” be genuine or just be like the people who followed Jesus hoping for another miraculous feeding, NOT because they were turning from their selfishness to follow His way of love and self-sacrifice?
Here’s an interesting take on the subject from an internet blog (The Daily Article by Jim Denison, 10/11/2018) on the question, “Why did Jesus raise so few?”:
“Max Lucado makes this surprising observation: “Jesus healed hundreds, fed thousands, but so far as we know He only raised three: the daughter of Jairus, the boy near Nain, and Lazarus. Why so few?”
Lucado offers these possibilities: “Could it be because He knew He’d be doing them no favors? Could it be because He couldn’t get any volunteers? Could it be that once someone is there, the last place they want to return to is here?”
Then he quotes Isaiah 57: “The good men perish; the godly die before their time and no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to realize that God is taking them away from the evil days ahead. For the godly who die will rest in peace” (vv. 1-2, TLB).”
Good thoughts. Why would a believer who was finally home (“to be with Christ is better by far,” Philippians 1:23) want to return to this broken world?
Sometimes I long deeply for Jesus’ return and the new creation He will ultimately bring about (Revelation 21, 22) where all sin and its horrific consequences are banished forever. It’s a comfort while living in this beautiful/broken world cursed by sin and constantly corrupted by our selfish choices. He has promised to be with us and to help us. He has promised that all things will ultimately work together for the good of shaping us to be more like Jesus. God help us to do our part to live out the values of His kingdom now so people may catch little glimpses of the world to come.
