John Back from the Dead?

In Matthew 10, Jesus sent out the Twelve and gave them authority to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons.

In Luke 9, the same event is told much more succinctly. Immediately following the commissioning of the Twelve, we hear the story about Herod wondering about Jesus, and who He was and what He was up to. Some people thought Jesus was John the Baptist back from the dead, or maybe Elijah. I don't think I'd ever noticed those two stories back-to-back before.

Yeah -- people really were being raised from the dead. No wonder John-come-back was considered a reasonable possibility. Before I'd always thought they were being so stupid to have thought up an explanation of John's coming back. But other people were being raised. Why not John too? (Of course, that wasn't the true explanation of who this Jesus-guy was, but the rumors going around don't sound so outlandish in light of Matthew's version of the previous story in Luke's account.)