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Matthew 9:18–25: “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” . . . (25) He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.

Context: After offering his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus performed miracles: cleansing a leper, healing a paralytic, calming a storm, healing a demon-possessed man, and then another paralytic. In the midst of a discussion of fasting with John the Baptist’s disciples, he is approached by a “ruler.”

Meditation: Do you ever wonder why Jesus didn’t bring more people back from death? Each Gospel writer knew of other instances where Jesus brought the dead back to life (see Mark 5:22–43; Luke 7:12–15; John 11:41–44). Yet each evangelist only reported one such incident.

Do you find it frustrating that despite having such power, Jesus spent it on other things—like walking on water, turning water into wine for a party, and feeding people who perhaps should have brought their own lunch with them when going to hear him preach?

Or is it possible that Jesus didn’t see our human propensity to mortality as our most pressing problem? The fact that Jesus spent most of his time telling parables describing the kingdom of heaven, and the fact that most of his miraculous cures were for people who were alive would seem to reinforce that tentative—and seemingly hard-hearted—conclusion.

Could it be that while paralysis or leprosy or blindness is not “normal” across the whole of humankind, our dying is? Perhaps our physical dying simply is not among the problems Jesus came to address. Instead, we may come to understand that it is Jesus’ dying that reframes our common experience of death.

Prayer: Help me to know that you are quick to respond to our concerns and that you will be ready to help each of us with dying. Amen.

Today: Can I remember praying for the miracle of continuing life for a dying friend? How did I deal with the “answer” if no miracle came?