 Because he didn't want to go back down to the real world. Here he was with Jesus. Who wouldn't want to stay with Jesus? But that was a dumb thing for him to do. That wasn't the will of God. The disciples, James and John, along with their ambitious mother, once said to Jesus, When we get to heaven, I'd like to be seated one on the right hand and one on the other. They wanted seats of prominence in the kingdom. And they got their mother involved in the deal.