Chapter Five – Miracles and Healings
Read Matthew 8: 5-13;
Matthew 9: 27-31; Matthew 14: 15-21; Mark 5: 25-34;
Luke 7: 11-18; Luke 8: 43-48; John 2: 1-11; John 9: 1-38; John 11: 1-46
To understand
Jesus we look to the witnesses, the things that He did, and the impact and
significance of those things. Nothing creates more discussion, especially among
those who struggle to believe, than do the miracles of Jesus. Did He actually
do them? I had a Professor when I was in Seminary who started the class by
saying that everything we know about the Bible stories of Jesus is a myth. Now
half the class left after he said that and they missed some powerful education.
Why did he dare call them a myth? Because we weren’t there to see them
ourselves! Plus the fact that there is no actual carryover evidence to allow us
to see tangible proof of the miracles of Jesus today. Does that mean they did
not happen? I wasn’t alive to see Washington cross the Delaware River in the
winter of 1776. Does that mean it did not happen? Maybe not the way it’s
pictured in all those paintings. But we know historically that it did happen.
We know it from the witnesses who recounted the events, from the writers who
put those witness statements on paper and the inherent belief we have in
witness testimony. The same holds true for Jesus and the miracles. What is
interesting is that part of the testimony is not to dispute the healings but to
call Jesus some kind of magician or evil man in cahoots with the Devil.
Jesus miracles can
be divided a number of different ways. For the purposes of this study we are
going to divide them into four groups, Physical, Nature, Death and Demon. Dr.
Efird, Professor at Duke Seminary is often quoted as saying, “You need to ask
the right question.” So what is the wrong question, did the miracles happen.
The right question is what we learn from the miracles about Jesus, living and
the Kingdom of God. We have a long history of miracles from God in the Old
Testament. Moses after arguing his own worth finally agreed to do God’s
bidding. But he wanted something that would prove that he was sent by God. So
God gave him miracles to perform that gave proof to who he was and who sent
him. Elijah takes what the widow has and gives her sufficient quantity (1 King
17: 17-24). Elisha cures Naaman of an incurable disease (2 Kings 5:14) and
resurrects a young boy (2 Kings 4:35). Moses brings about the plagues in Egypt
and parts the Red Sea. All of these before Christ is ever born. So whether the
miracles of Jesus ever happened is really not at question here. Not only do we
have plenty of witnesses, but we have historical expectation that the Messiah
would be able to do what He did.
There are also
several things that every miracle has in common in what the significance of
those miracles are. First, every miracle demonstrates the power of God. Each
miracle speaks to the grace and mercy of God. Whether we are talking about a
healing, a miracle that goes against the natural understanding of things or
resurrection from death itself, the significance of the miracle shows the power
and majesty of God. Second, every miracle speaks to the authority that God has
given to Jesus. The prophets had indicated that one of the ways we would know
the Messiah would be through the signs or miracles. The signs then are proof
that God had sent Him. John the Baptizer asks Jesus if he is the one that John
is looking for. Jesus replies in Matthew 11:3-5 that the signs that you see,
the blind receiving their sight, the lepers that are healed, and the dead
raised up is proof that Jesus is who John is looking for. In other words, each miracle
is significant as a sign of Jesus authenticity. Miracles are designed to be
sources of faith. The Gospels tell us that we only get a glimpse of the signs
of Jesus. We only have a small number of the actual signs of His ministry
written down in testimony of Jesus ministry. Finally, each miracle is
restorative. In other words, each healing not only provides physical healing
but brings that person back into relationship. Back into relationship with
family and friends and back into relationship with God. Remember, in Jesus day,
a skin condition we know as Eczemas could cause a person to be excluded from
family and friends and isolated outside the community.
How do we have
proof of the miracles of Jesus? We have the testimony of witnesses when they
were still alive. I remember some years ago reading Chuck Colson, an attorney
of the Watergate Scandal, write that he came to faith because of the willingness
for witnesses to go to their death for their story. He said he and the others
could not even keep a lie when prison was the consequence. No-one would
willingly go to their death for a lie, much less the thousands that gave their
lives across the generations. Historically I have already said that we don’t
have people disputing the miracles of Jesus in the early 1st
century. What we have is people discounting them as something other than
divine.
So what do we see
when we look at the miracles and signs. It would be easier to discount the
healings, but even one of these to me is significant. We have the story of the
woman who has been bleeding for some time, who would have ostracized by her
family and friends, excluded from her family because of her illness, simply
touches Jesus and is healed. We have the Centurion’s son who is healed from a
distance; Jesus neither goes to the son nor sends someone to him to heal him. It
is another demonstration for Jesus of what faith looks like. Throughout the
accounts Jesus makes the point that faith is something that does not require
signs but the signs are to overcome our own unbelief.
One of the signs
that we know well is the feeding of the five thousand (Matt 14: 13-21) followed
by the feeding of four thousand (Matt 15: 32-39). Jesus takes the fish and
loaves that a young person has and shows His power over nature itself. Only the
God of creation would have power to perform such a sign. This brings us to the
miracles of resurrection. Now resurrection miracles are not new to the Bible
story. Both the Elijah and Elisha performed resurrection miracles in the Old
Testament. Jesus raises the widow’s son to life (Luke 7: 11-17), Jairus
daughter is raised to life (Matt 9: 18-26), and the most famous, the raising of
Lazarus (John 11: 1-46). All of these signs point to Jesus being sent by God
and Jesus authority to validate His place in the world.
Why are the
miracles important to the story of Jesus? Without them, we must rely on
testimony and teaching. With them, we see the power and majesty of God given to
Jesus in His ministry. With them we see the importance of restoration to God in
relationship within community and with God. The resurrection miracles give us
clues to Jesus presence and who He really is. To the first century Hebrew, the
resurrection stories gave proof to Jesus being the Messiah. And yet the best
was yet to come. Jesus himself would become a resurrection story.
No comments:
Post a Comment