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Six Scenes
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1 Near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, between the Phoenician seaports of Tyre and Sidon, lay the walled town of Zarephath. The times were hard, no rain, the food was short. Outside the gates, a widow was gathering sticks, when a rugged looking man approached from the south. In that direction lay Samaria, capital city of Israel's northern kingdom. Among the Israelites there were still a number who still trusted in the living Lord their God, as did this woman who lived among the Sidonians. The stranger spoke with her, and she fetched him a drink of the scarce water. She shared with him her last flour and olive oil which she had been saving to share as a last meal with her son, before food ran out entirely. The stranger, who was a man of God, came to live at her home in a room set upon the flat roof of the house, and he stayed for a long time. They did not run out of food. 2 A rich farmer with his younger wife lived in a fertile spot just south of the hills of Galilee. Often they were visited by a holy man with his servant. The wife thought it would be a good plan to offer the holy man proper hospitality, and build him a guest room on their roof with bed, table, chair and lamp. Her husband agreed. They went to a lot of trouble for the holy man, and he was grateful. He asked his servant what he could do for her in return. Put a word in on her behalf with King Joram in Samaria? She did not want that, she was happy where she was. "She has no son, and her husband is an old man." Next year they did have a son, who grew strong and helped his father among the servants in the fields. The holy man was still a frequent visitor from his home 25 miles away, and continued to use the special room which they had provided. 3 He was the ruler of the synagogue near the lake. Each morning the sun rose over the far hills and glinted across the waters. He was a busy man, choosing those who were to lead the prayers, read the scriptures, preach - and of course he conducted the worship himself. The town was a busy place, the Roman centurion had his men there, a tax collector was in residence. The lake was alive with fishing boats. Just now there was a lot of excitement about the new teacher who had made his home in the town. But the ruler's chief joy was his family and his twelve year old daughter. 4 Nain lay in the south part of the district of Galilee, the other side of the mountain from Shunem. You needed all your strength to make a living there, but there was a good community spirit. Nain lay near the great bowl-shape of Mount Tabor, a small town without stone walls. Where the road from Nazareth ran through a hollow there were tombs hewn out of the rock, and this path led up into the town. Among the people a woman was living who had lost her husband. As a widow she was very glad she had a son who would become the man of the household. 5 The ancient city of Joppa had its full number of needy people. An important walled city, which had been there for hundreds of years, it had the only natural harbour on that coast for many, many miles. For that reason it was important whether Egyptians or Romans or Jews were in control. Just twelve hours by horse from Jerusalem, it was the port for that city. Through Joppa the timber had come to build King Solomon's temple. From Joppa Jonah set out on his unexpected adventure. The men of the town were seafarers, gaining a reputation for piracy. The many widows needed help, and this was being given by believers in Christ. A lady called Tabitha was leader among them, giving all her time for the work to provide clothing for the needy. The little group of workers could not do without her. 6 It was a great occasion when Paul the Apostle made his visit to Troas (the Troy of the wooden horse story). Years previously Paul and Silas, Luke and Timothy had passed through, but did not stay because Paul was called to move on to Macedonia. Now, ten years later, Paul was here again, bringing Luke with him by sea from Philippi, and joining up with the rest of the party, Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Tychicus, Trophimus and Timothy. Paul had travelled separately because of threats by nationalist Jews to kill him. He could only stay a week, being anxious to get to Jerusalem. The day before he left all the fellowship gathered in an upstairs room for the meal. Paul spoke to them at length - he had a lot to say, he might never meet the believers at Troas again. He went on and on, all the oil lamps were burning, the room was stuffy, so that one young man found a place sitting in the open window. Each of these six scenes, two set about 800BC, two in Jesus' time and two just after, have this in common that they were the place of a death. The widow of Zarephath lost her son, so did the rich lady of Shunem. Jairus lost his daughter, as did the widow at Nain lose her son. Tabitha died and her friends sent post haste for Peter, the young man Eutychus at Troas fell three floors from his window and was taken up for dead. And all six were brought to life again. Elijah, Elisha, Jesus, Peter and Paul were those who brought it about. It is a good exercise to follow the story of each death and revival in the scripture. Take time to read each story. Notice how each death came about. Note the grief of the survivors, and the compassion of each man of faith. Notice how faith was tested. See how their faith in God was vindicated.
Four of these miracles were in response to appeals for help, if not necessarily the sort of help that people were expecting? In two cases, the widow of Nain and Eutychus, Jesus and Paul acted spontaneously, one out of compassion, the other in response to an emergency. Action was rapid in every case, always on the same day as the death - the custom in those places was for a very quick burial. The method employed varied. Elijah, Elisha and Paul stretched themselves out upon the dead person. Jesus simply told the dead person to get up, touching the bier in one case and a hand in the other. Peter prayed and then spoke, and helped Tabitha to get up when life returned. There is in scripture a seventh scene which we might have looked at, a village close to Jerusalem, Bethany. This is where they sent for Jesus to come and heal the illness of Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha his loving friends. There are some differences here from the pattern of the other six cases, though the outcome was the same. 1. Jesus did not respond at once to the call for help, but waited two days until it was certain he would have to deal not with an illness but a death. We are not told why he waited. But he did go to help, though it meant personal danger and stirring up the opposition which he knew would soon bring about his own death. 2. He did not go straight to the dead body of his friend, but first spent time with the survivors, Mary and Martha. It was their need which was the most urgent, to build up their faith. 3. The body had been dead four days and was already buried. There had been time in that hot climate for the process of decay to begin. 4. Jesus did not touch the body at all, but from a little distance gave the command, 'Lazarus, come out!' 5. Jesus in his prayer made it explicit that it was his
Father's power, which was at work to raise Lazarus from death. The Bible references to all these events were found in a study book under the heading 'resurrection'. It is true that they are all cases of life returning to dead bodies. But they are not comparable with the Resurrection, that of Jesus himself. In bringing this about no human being was involved. His body disappeared from the grave. And while he was subsequently able to appear to his friends and disciples in recognisable form, the life to which he rose was wonderful beyond compare to the human life he lived during his ministry. Praise God. GC |
