Pentecost XIII, Cycle B

"I Love the Miracles of Jesus"

September 7, 2003

The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel

Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Lessons:  Isaiah 35:4-7a;  James 2:1-17;  St. Mark 7:24-37

     I love the miracle accounts in holy scripture.  I love the two accounts St. Mark recorded for us, and which we've heard today…where Jesus casts out a demon that was possessing a Gentile woman's little daughter, and Jesus opens the ears of a deaf man, so that he could hear and speak.  Now I know, not everyone views the miracles the way I do.  Pastor Erik Strand, of Edina, Minnesota, writing on this passage, differs, saying, "Miracle stories are always problematic.  For many of us they are too primitive, too raw, even too unclean.  They tread in areas or dimensions of life that are outside of our control and powers of explanation."  Do you think of the miracles of Jesus, as problematic--or, do you love them as I do? 

     I guess we all can understand the feeling that miracles are problematic--especially those of us who live in a time when healing and medical care and psychological treatment are relegated to hospitals and clinics and doctor's offices.  I suppose we can understand why someone would think of Jesus' miracles as problematic, when we are accustomed to going to professionals for physical and mental care--where the doctors can either cure us, or not.  Where they either have a pill, or a treatment for what ails us, or not.  In our world, it's as simple as that. Most of us look skeptically at most forms of "alternative healing"--preferring more tried and true methods of medicine and treatment, those stamped with the seal of the AMA, or the APA, or the FDA.  To then hear accounts of Jesus, casting a demon out of a little girl--to hear of Jesus putting his fingers into a deaf man's ears, spitting and touching the man's tongue, speaking an ancient word, "Ephatha", to give the man hearing and speech--well, we can understand why some might think of Jesus' miracles as "problematic".

     But, why are they problematic?  Are they problematic, because we don't think Jesus can do what he appears to?  Are they problematic because we don’t think Jesus has power to heal and cast out demons?  Are they problematic because we don't believe in demon-possession?  Are they problematic because we think only doctors and nurses and hospitals and counselors can heal, today?  Or-- are the healing miracles of Jesus problematic for us, because, we've never seen such miraculous faith-healing--because we think Jesus has never worked a miracle of healing, for me, for my mother or father, for my son or daughter or friend?  Pastor Strand says miracles are problematic for us, because they are too primitive, too raw, even too unclean--he says they are problematic for us because they tread in arenas or dimensions of life that are outside of our control and powers of explanation."  I love the  miracles of Jesus--for just those reasons!  I thank God for the miracles of Jesus, BECAUSE they are primitive, raw, unclean--BECAUSE they tread in arenas or dimensions of life that are outside of our control and powers of explanation!  I appreciate the miracles of Jesus, because in them, and through them, we are reminded that there is something at work in our world, greater than the little purple pill;  something greater than Prozac;  something greater than long-term intensive therapy!  And the miracles manifest, that--that something, is the power of God, which is the power to heal, and to clean, and to open us to life!  These miracles, in particular, show us that sometimes, when all else fails, God, at work through His Son, our Savior, can still find a way.  These miracles prove to us, that sometimes, God chooses to work in arenas or dimensions of life that are outside of our control and powers of explanation.  And for that, we say, "Thank you, God!"   For that, we say, "Thank you, God, that we have doctors and hospitals and modern medical miracles.  Thank you, God, that we have counselors and family therapists and yes, thank you, God, that we have Zoloft."  But we also want to thank God, that healing, wholeness, well-ness, is not limited to, our institutional health-care system.  That sometimes, God chooses to work, in ways that defy our control, and powers of explanation.  That God, even today, sometimes, chooses to work, in ways that we can't control or explain.  And we have to admit, this miraculous activity of God, is not at our beck and call.  We have to face up to the fact that we are not in control of God's miraculous, supernatural power.  We have to confess that in spite of our prayers, as heartfelt and persistent as the Syro-phoenecian mother, our daughter, our loved one, may not be cleansed of her unclean spirit.  We have to accept that though we come to church every Sunday of our lives, we may not be healed of our ailment.  And why that is, we will only know, we hope we will know, after resurrection, in heaven, when the veil will be lifted, and God's will and ways may be revealed to us.  But just because miraculous healing hasn't come to me, yet--hasn't been granted to my loved one, yet--who can deny that God is still working miracles, among us?  Who can deny, that Jesus is at work, today, casting out demons, and making the deaf to hear and the mute to speak? 

     Consider, for example, the miraculous healing that God works, every day, through his servants, doctors and nurses, in thousands of hospitals and clinics around the world--which we view, now, as commonplace.  Think of the cancers that have been healed, the breasts that have been saved, the hearts that continue to beat, the premature babies that have lived, the aneurysms that were not fatal, the millions of healings that take place, routinely--because of God's power at work in and through our medical personnel, and we say, "ho--hum, thanks, Doc, nice job."  The miracles of Jesus ought to shake us out of our complacency, to give thanks to God for the miracles that are taking place, moment by moment, through God's servants, nurses and doctors and technicians and counselors and EMT's and, well, we could go on and on.  That's one kind of miracle that God works over and over again, that is just as powerful and life-changing, as those described in the Bible.  And I love the miracles of Jesus, because they remind us, that God is at work, today, still, healing the sick and the possessed and the troubled. 

     But let's not ever assume that God only works through the health-care system.   As we witness the miracles of Jesus in scripture, let's continue to pray to Jesus, and to plead with Jesus, for the miracle of healing that may not be able to come through doctors and nurses and counselors.  The miracle of healing that may indeed, be primitive and raw and unclean--outside of our control or explanation.  The miracle of healing that comes to the young mother, who has been diagnosed with inoperable, terminal cancer, yet inexplicably, is found to be cancer-free.  The miracle of healing that comes to the teenager, who is abusing drugs, who is disrupting his family, who has no desire to change, yet steps into a church one day, and is radically touched by the healing power of God.  The miracle of healing that comes to us, when we come to the altar, feeling broken and unclean, but leave knowing we have been forgiven and made new, because we have received the body and blood of Jesus, broken and poured out for us, for the forgiveness of sin.  The miracle of healing that comes to the 60 year old woman, who, after years of struggle with illness, finally yields, and looks to God for the ultimate miracle of healing, that is, resurrection unto eternal life.

     I love the miracles of Jesus, because, they remind us of God's power, still at work in our world, and in our lives.  And because, they proclaim to us, the good news, that sometimes, when it is totally unexpected, God works in ways that are out of our control, and beyond our powers of explanation.  And because we can't control it, or explain it--what are to we to say about it?  As with all God's gifts, we can only say, "Thank you!"  For all of God's miracles of healing, we should simply say, "Thank you."

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.