This was the question we talked about in our worship gathering this past weekend. It was submitted by one of our elementary age students and it set the direction for our conversation and dive into scripture.
If you were with us this past Sunday, roughly half of those gathered shared that they have had some sort of experience they would consider miraculous. For those that haven’t I shared three possible reasons why that might be. (You can watch here or listen on podcast here.)
One interesting thing to note in scripture is that the majority of what we would consider miraculous events still involve some sort of natural element. For example Jesus didn’t create wine out of nothing but used water. He didn’t generate food from thin air but he multiplied what was already there. He chose to heal a blind man using mud. In this way miracles involve a demonstration of God’s power over and above, yet still through the natural world. But that isn’t always the case.
In the dessert God provided the food manna, (which literally means ‘What is it?’) to the nation of Israel out of nothing. While Jesus healing often involved touch there were also times when he healed with just a word. And sometimes the most miraculous occurrences involved the proclamation of God’s good news in a supernatural way (see Stephen and the Ethiopian, Paul and Jesus, or the many angelic visits recorded in the Bible). But these aren’t just things that happened in the Bible. Just today I read a fascinating story that shows God still works in this way today!
There is a famous rapper by the name of M.I.A. who recently shared that Jesus appeared to her in a vision and in one moment she went from disbelief to belief. She says, “if you are in need and you need saving, the person who turns out to save you is Jesus. That is what he’s known for.” Although she has a Hindu background M.IA. now knows that Jesus is real, that he loves her, and that he is still in the business of saving.
This is the type of miraculous message that we as Christians get to live by and share with others. Jesus is still working miracles.
- Pastor Andrew