Much of what Jesus did strikes us as impossible, not only for us to do, but for anybody ever to have done. The blind see, the lame walk, the dead rise, the weather obeys: miracles were the signature of Jesus' life. Are there two and only two options? To be sensibly scientific and conclude the miracles were either fabricated or the delusions of simpletons? Or to believe God abrogated the normal rules of how things work, dipping into the chain of cause and effect - and if you don't believe Jesus really walked on water, you are not a believer at all?
Centuries ago we chalked up much of what transpired - a clap of thunder, sickness, victory in battle - to direct divine intervention. As knowledge grows, the category "miraculous" seems to shrink. But should it? The world and all that transpires within it is of God, stirring in us what Martin Buber called "an abiding astonishment," a sense of wonder.
And yet Jesus' miracles are far different from a baby's cry or a flower's petals. People who understood the miraculous, people who had seen other wonder-workers such as Hanina ben Dosa or Honi the Circledrawer - they were astonished by what Jesus did. Yet as soon as Jesus excited the their frenzy, he hushed the crowd, and commanded people he had healed not to say a word to anybody. Why this hesitancy to dazzle the throngs with his power? Jesus knew that the sheer exercise of miraculous power would be misconstrued, that people would pin their fantasies on him, that the unscrupulous would devise plans to capitalize on this wizardry. Jesus performed whatever "miracles" he performed, not to impress anybody with his power, but to teach a lesson. He did not heal everyone. And, at least as far as we know, he rarely healed in private. He healed in front of a crowd, and he always attached a sermon, a point to the miracle.
Leif Enger (in Peace Like a River) is right: "Real miracles bother people, they rebut every rule all we good citizens take comfort in. A miracle contradicts the will of the earth. People fear miracles because they fear being changed - though ignoring them will change you also." Jesus' miracles say: pay attention to what I say, and to where I am headed (the cross), and know that everything is at stake in whether you follow or not. Healing staves off death for a while, but salvation "vanquishes the power of death forever - so we are healed not through Jesus' miracles, but through Jesus' wounds" (Jürgen Moltmann).
Yet, if we focus on the "point" of a miracle, we need not infer that nothing of wonder happened. Marcus Borg suggests that "the purpose of the narrative may be symbolic rather than historical. Moreover, it is no less true for being symbolic; indeed, its truth is verified in the experience of Christians ever since." Evil and suffering were being resisted, and signs were appearing that the rule of God was dawning. Something extraordinary happened with Jesus, the greatest proof being the changed lives of those who knew and followed him.
James
james@mpumc.org
Coming up:
eBibleQuestions30 - Was Jesus God? or a man?
eBibleQuestions31 - Were there women disciples?
eBibleQuestions32 - How are we saved? By faith? Deeds? Grace?
eBibleQuestions33 - Are the Jews saved?
eBibleQuestions34 - When will Jesus return?
The full eBibleQuestions series may be viewed online by clicking here.
