TO JERUSALEM – Magdala to Jerusalem

For Cornelius, the next two weeks went by with a whirlwind of activities. He again followed Jesus going to every village in the region teaching and healing the sick. He did not stay long in each village. As soon as he had finished preaching, they were off to the next. Twice during that time Cornelius’ sense of reality was rocked by Jesus’ power. He had gotten used to seeing people healed by Jesus that it had become commonplace to him. But then bringing someone back to life from the dead was something that he did not expect. He had heard Jesus say that he brings life to the dead, but he had always thought that what he meant was metaphorical.

The first time was when they had landed on the shore near Magdala. As usual the crowd was waiting for him when Jesus was desperately approached by Jarius, the local synagogue leader, who told him that his only daughter was dying. But the press of the crowd had slowed them down when messengers arrived to tell Jairus that his daughter had died. When they finally reached his house, Jesus went in with only Peter, James and John. A question kept nagging Cornelius as they waited outside. If the girl was already dead, what was the reason for Jesus to tell Jarius to believe? Believe what? Can the dead be brought back to life? More importantly, could Jesus bring her back to life? With all that he had seen Jesus do, Cornelius had a hard time believing in this. His unbelief was disturbing to him and he did not know why.

After a short time, Jarius came out carrying his daughter who was obviously well. For many, they argued that she was not really dead and that Jesus healed her on time. Cornelius was of the same opinion and did not think anymore of it.

The second time was when they arrived in the town of Nain. As they were approaching the gate, there was a funeral procession. Four men were carrying a dead body in an open box litter followed by a weeping woman and a sizable crowd. They found out that the woman was a widow who had lost her only son. Cornelius could see that Jesus had compassion for her and somehow knew what he intended. Then those same questions and the feeling of great doubt came back to haunt him.

Jesus stopped the sad procession of which a number of the crowd was not happy. After whispering in the widow’s ear, he placed his hand on the coffin and commanded, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”   [Luke 7:14 NASB]

Cornelius’ heart was beating very fast as he watched the dead body stir and then abruptly sat up. The bearers were so startled that they almost dropped the coffin. The young man was speaking but his voice was muffled by the wrappings around his head. Jesus unwrapped his face, helped him out and gave him back to his mother alive. Cornelius felt shame for doubting but then he looked upon Jesus with a different set of eyes. He felt something significant had happened with him but he could not put his finger on it.

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The story continues on in my next post.

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