How to Pray for a Miracle? The case of Jahi McMath.

The Jahi McMath case has troubled me over the last few weeks.  How can I pray and ask God to heal this little girl when so many other families have made the heartwrenching choice to let go and remove life support.  If she were to be healed, wouldn’t this be harmful to those families who accepted the doctors’ prognosis and let go?  Wouldn’t it be cruel of God to heal her when others weren’t “given that opportunity” to be healed?

Today, as I sat down to read my daily devotional, I reflected upon the story of the deceased child found in chapter five of Mark.  The community declared and mourned the death of twelve-year-old Tabitha.  Yet Jesus said, “This child is not dead but asleep.”    This statement of Jesus makes me wonder two things.  Was there something Jesus knew about death that the culture of the time didn’t know?  Was she really, truly still alive, yet only asleep?  Or, was this Jesus speaking a new truth into the air and giving life to a corpse?

Either way, reading this passage today reminded me that it is okay to pray for Jahi’s healing, because God does raise the dead.  And just because a miracle might be performed for Jahi, does not mean that same miracle would have been performed for any of those other loved one’s who were taken off life support.  Had we not had the technology we have today, they more than likely wouldn’t have lived as long as they had anyway. 

So instead of being jealous of the potential miracle in Jahi’s case, we should rejoice!  I’m claiming the miracle for she and her family now, even though it doesn’t make any medical sense. But, it does make sense in regard to faith!  Her parents and family believe.  Let’s pray alongside them for God to raise the dead.  When the time is right to stop praying, we will all know. And then we will remember Jahi’s premonition that she wouldn’t come out of the surgery.