Was That Really a Miracle?

Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "He's alive!" Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. Acts 20: 9-12

Today’s Reading: Psalms 16-17; Acts 20:1-16

This reminds me of a scene from The Prestige (spoiler alert!). In the movie the main characters are magicians and they are doing the good old stuck in a water tank trick. You know the one where the magician’s assistant is dunked in the water tank tied up and then the magician makes her vanish. Of course the trick is that she is tied with a slip not that she can get out of.

Well this time the knot was not to be messed with.

When he revealed the tank she was still in it squirming about. They beat on the glass side of the tank to try to break her free. She becomes unconscious just before they can free her. As she slid out with the rushing water her husband held her and tried to shake her awake.

She did not wake up.

As I watched this all I could think to myself was “dude, y’all didn’t have CPR?” She had JUST lost consciousness. Doesn’t it take like at least four minutes for the oxygen deprived person to start having serious brain damage?

So me and my buddy looked up CPR and found out that it didn’t really come into its current form and popularity until the 1960s!

I was blown away by this. CPR seems like one of those things that has been around forever for some reason. I figured that if one of us went back in time to the time that this movie was set and performed CPR on the woman, her husband would think we brought her back from death.

This is what I thought about when I read the passage above. Of course things like walking on water and turning water into wine can’t be so easily explained but I wonder if when dude fell out of the building he really wasn’t dead.

Sure it was a long fall but maybe he just got knocked out. Maybe he was really close to dying but Paul was inspired to do something to him that the current medical community would have done to save that man’s life.

But when I think about the scene in The Prestige, and that the woman did end up dying, there is something strangely valid about the brought back to life concept. I mean in that day and age people did die of things that people don’t die of now. The woman in the prestige WAS dead as far as they knew. They started wrapping up her body while it was still warm!

Would the future existence of CPR make her revival any less a miracle?

Part of me says yes, and part of me says no.

But in the end it doesn’t really matter to me. It’s just fun to think about. There is one thing that I do know for sure… Three stories is quite a serious fall.

I’m glad he turned out to be alright; miracle or not.