Miracles
In preparation to speak to a Wednesday night youth gathering at a local church, I was reading up on miracles. I read Scripture, scholars, accounts on the web of eyewitnesses, and David Hume. Hume is perhaps the most famous skeptic on the issue of miracles, because he sees them as a logical impossibility: if one believes in miracles, one has to relinquish sense experience as a way of knowing.
Interestingly enough, after Hume convinces the reader that the probability of the witness lying is greater than the occurrence of an actual miracle, he admits that believing in miracles is a matter of faith, not logic.
Why would someone claim a miracle as a logical conclusion? Aren’t miracles ‘miracles’ because they don’t occur everyday, because they challenge some rule of nature or science that we came to hold as fact? Isn’t this why they are called ‘miracles’ and not ‘ordinaries?’
For me, far more important than the literal occurrence feeding thousands with a loaf, walking on water, or changing water to wine, is the miracle that was and is the life of Jesus. It was a miracle that a Jewish man, who knew his scripture and tradition so intimately, could challenge religious and legal authorities to embrace an ethic of love and grace, peace and forgiveness. It was a miracle that he could find many dedicated followers, who were willing to change careers and move their families in order to follow hard after this rebel. And it was a miracle that this revolutionary and his rag-tag gang had within them the secret of the realm of God. By embracing the ethos of Jesus’ charity, joy, love and acceptance, they were led to God and the manifestation of this God’s governance on earth.
In short, every miracle Jesus performed was at heart a change in perception. Better than giving sight to one born blind was the ability of his charismatic life to give people a different perspective on things they thought were permanent. Stereotypes had to go. Prejudices had to be eliminated. Greater than seeing the lame walk was seeing a life changed to welcome the outcast and forgive the sinner.
Because of the rigidly hierarchical society, more than a step of faith was necessary for the religious and political leaders to change their lives. It would be nothing short of miraculous for people so steeped in and bound by tradition to break away from it. Breaking with a tradition as overwhelming as first century Jewish life was a step into uncharted waters, into the deep blue of insecurity. The waves and wind would be rough, but Jesus promised that the adventure on the waters would be worth risking the security of the shore.
And so, twelve men, seven women, and scores of other eyewitnesses stepped out with this man into the daringness that is everyday life. They learned to live and love selflessly, without regard for the return of either. They freely gave and embraced the occurrences that come and go when one commits to insecurity, to life. And this is the largest miracle in any individual who chooses to identify with Jesus. People commit to follow, and then they see greater things. They are changed internally and then, stepping out on this newfound faith, have the eyes to behold the miraculous change within them. All from a man who just wanted people to see things differently.
Jesus did not pull rabbits out of hats or saw assistants in half and put them back together. He walked with integrity when people tried to kill him. He loved enemies and befriended the lonely. He fought for equality and challenged others to step out into the insecurities of life. For them to do so brought about the existential reality of the miraculous.
And amazingly, the same Jesus who turned water into wine works today in the lives of humans in order to elicit a genuine response of follow-ship. No other life impacts individuals and communities today more than that of this man who lived 2000 years ago. Oswald Chambers, an early twentieth century missionary wrote, “You will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside.” Do miracles occur? Sure. Just ask the eyewitnesses. Do you believe that miracles occur? Look inside. You might be the answer to every question in this essay.
Interestingly enough, after Hume convinces the reader that the probability of the witness lying is greater than the occurrence of an actual miracle, he admits that believing in miracles is a matter of faith, not logic.
Why would someone claim a miracle as a logical conclusion? Aren’t miracles ‘miracles’ because they don’t occur everyday, because they challenge some rule of nature or science that we came to hold as fact? Isn’t this why they are called ‘miracles’ and not ‘ordinaries?’
For me, far more important than the literal occurrence feeding thousands with a loaf, walking on water, or changing water to wine, is the miracle that was and is the life of Jesus. It was a miracle that a Jewish man, who knew his scripture and tradition so intimately, could challenge religious and legal authorities to embrace an ethic of love and grace, peace and forgiveness. It was a miracle that he could find many dedicated followers, who were willing to change careers and move their families in order to follow hard after this rebel. And it was a miracle that this revolutionary and his rag-tag gang had within them the secret of the realm of God. By embracing the ethos of Jesus’ charity, joy, love and acceptance, they were led to God and the manifestation of this God’s governance on earth.
In short, every miracle Jesus performed was at heart a change in perception. Better than giving sight to one born blind was the ability of his charismatic life to give people a different perspective on things they thought were permanent. Stereotypes had to go. Prejudices had to be eliminated. Greater than seeing the lame walk was seeing a life changed to welcome the outcast and forgive the sinner.
Because of the rigidly hierarchical society, more than a step of faith was necessary for the religious and political leaders to change their lives. It would be nothing short of miraculous for people so steeped in and bound by tradition to break away from it. Breaking with a tradition as overwhelming as first century Jewish life was a step into uncharted waters, into the deep blue of insecurity. The waves and wind would be rough, but Jesus promised that the adventure on the waters would be worth risking the security of the shore.
And so, twelve men, seven women, and scores of other eyewitnesses stepped out with this man into the daringness that is everyday life. They learned to live and love selflessly, without regard for the return of either. They freely gave and embraced the occurrences that come and go when one commits to insecurity, to life. And this is the largest miracle in any individual who chooses to identify with Jesus. People commit to follow, and then they see greater things. They are changed internally and then, stepping out on this newfound faith, have the eyes to behold the miraculous change within them. All from a man who just wanted people to see things differently.
Jesus did not pull rabbits out of hats or saw assistants in half and put them back together. He walked with integrity when people tried to kill him. He loved enemies and befriended the lonely. He fought for equality and challenged others to step out into the insecurities of life. For them to do so brought about the existential reality of the miraculous.
And amazingly, the same Jesus who turned water into wine works today in the lives of humans in order to elicit a genuine response of follow-ship. No other life impacts individuals and communities today more than that of this man who lived 2000 years ago. Oswald Chambers, an early twentieth century missionary wrote, “You will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside.” Do miracles occur? Sure. Just ask the eyewitnesses. Do you believe that miracles occur? Look inside. You might be the answer to every question in this essay.
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