Interestingly, I just tried *124# and my phone said that the SIM will expire on Sep 27, 2014 (today is the 28th!). So i did an online top-up of a couple hundred J$, and BAM, the phone came back to life! The last time I used the phone was Feb '14, but I don't know when the minutes expired.

Papa, just do what CaptainD described. If you get a good response from the phone, try to top it up with few dollars. If you are going back soon, it's cheaper than buying a new SIM card (and saves a trip to the digicel store).