Peter Raises Tabitha From the Dead

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One of the extraordinary miracles that Jesus had performed during his earthly ministry was raising people from the dead. The gospel writers wrote their accounts where Jesus raised people from the dead.

The first was the widow's son in the town of Nain's (Luke 7:11-17). Jesus  went to the town of Nain followed by his disciples and a big crowd tagged along. As he approached the town, a dead person was being carried out. A widow's only son. 

Jesus took pity on the widow and asked her not to cry. He went to the coffin and commanded the young man to stand up. The young man stood up and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Everyone who witnessed it, including his disciple Peter, was surely awestruck.

The second was Jairus' daughter (Luke 8: 40-56). After coming from Gerasenes where Jesus healed a demon-possessed man, Jesus crossed the lake back to Capernaum. Upon reaching Capernaum, a synagogue leader named Jairus approached Jesus and asked him if he can heal his child who was at the point of death. 

Jesus was delayed in going to Jairus' house because he healed a woman with bleeding problem. Then someone from the house of Jairus told them the girl had died. Jesus assured them that the girl was only sleeping. He went to the house and told the girl to rise. The girl spirit returned and she rose up.

The third was the raising of Lazarus of Bethany (John 11: 41-44). Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha who were also Jesus' friend. 

When Jesus heard that Lazarus had died he made the journey to Bethany. Upon reaching the burial site, Jesus commanded that the stone covering the tomb to be rolled away. Jesus then asked Lazarus to rise and indeed Lazarus stood up. 

When Jesus resurrected and went back to heaven, the extraordinary miracle of raising people from the dead continued. His disciple Peter also performed the miracle of raising a person from the dead (Acts 9: 32-42).

It happened when Peter travelled about the country and went to visit believers in Lydda. While he was there, a believer and disciple living in Joppa named Tabitha had died. When disciples learned Peter was nearby, they sent men and urged him to come. When Peter was in the room were Dorcas lay dead, he knelt and prayed and asked her to rise. Dorcas stood upon Peter's command. Obviously, Peter had help from the Holy Spirit to perform that miracle. 

The extraordinary miracle of raising people from the dead continued throughout history. Online sources tells of 400 stories of saints who performed those miracles. It is not surprising because in Matthew 10: 8, Jesus commanded his twelve disciples, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons." The saints faithfully carried out Jesus' command.

We are aware that our life is not permanent. Death is a touchy subject which we oftentimes choose to ignore. Eventually, everyone faces death. Surely, the people who were all raised from the dead had eventually departed.  I ask myself, "Why such miracles?"

Perhaps, those miracles were meant to get our attention. Jesus was primarily concerned with our spiritual death. Our souls die when we chose to live in sin or when we focus on idols that this world offers. 

Jesus offers to raise us from our spiritual death and be reconciled with him. All we need is to ask for his help, repent and sin no more. Thereafter, enjoy the state of grace given our finite time.

The said miracles also show that Jesus, because he is God, controlls death. He performed those miracles and he also claimed divinity. It's an offer of proof that he is the real deal. The comforting thought about those extraordinary miracles is that Jesus had conquered death even his own.

The life-threatening aspect of the Covid-19 virus forces us to ponder our mortality. Besides the virus, there are other factors that limits our mortality. Perhaps, now is the opportune time to seriously consider Jesus' offer of repentance and renewal given our finite time.

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