Wednesday February 19, 2003

~ Miracles ~

Healing the lame, rain of fire, raising the dead, dividing the Red Sea, calming storms, exorcising demons, edible mana appearing on the ground, feeding 5,000 with 2 people’s worth of food, water to wine, walking on water, spliting curtains without a touch, curing disease by touch, just by saying a word…

What makes a miracle, a miracle?

I think there are many things that can be explained by “natural” phenomenon. There could be a medical explanation for how Jesus got a lame person to walk… the power of belief can make people do things that they normally would not do. The dividing of the Red Sea as the Israelites fled Egypt is sometimes explained as a combination of high winds and earthquake. Probability of something like this actually happening: as close to zero as humans can imagine. (I’m not good at math, does it show? ) So then what really constitutes a miracle?

God breaking through. That is what a miracle is. Taking something ordinary and adding the “oomph!” that takes it to extraordinary. Breaking the “laws” of physics. Showing that the wise don’t really know everything. That there are somethings that we see as impossible, are actually possible. God makes all things possible. It defies what we see as “true.” It takes a sense of God, of something beyond us and what we can do… in order to believe in a miracle.

Everyday, doctors affect lives. If something awesome happens, it’s called a medical breakthrough. If someone lives when all doctors think the person should be dead, they say he/she pulled through because of a great fighting spirit. How come even if probability is against you, do you try anyway? Because somewhere deep within, we know that even if everyone was to tell you it is impossible and everything points the other way, God makes all things possible. To walk on water, to be loved by God, to have something that seems out of reach… Joy, Peace, Hope, Love….

P.S. By their very definition, miracles are not normal. If a miracle ever was to become a “normal” event… it is no longer miraculous… it is normal (taken for granted).
Case and point: Human Life, Growing, Healing, Consciousness, Weather Forcasts…

   During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
   But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
   “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come ot you on the water.”
   “Come,” he said.
   Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
   Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

— Matthew 15:25-31 —

God, you are beyond something I can touch… beyond something I can see.. beyond the limits of my mind, my ken. Thank you for showing us that there is something beyond us, beyond human control. That we are not the end-all-be-all of life. It is good to know. I would be very very afraid, if everything I did was all that mattered and there was nothing beyond me and what I can do… In Jesus name, Amen.