Matthew 4:23 (NIV) 23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
Matthew 12:22-23, 25-28 (NIV) 22Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?" 25Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
The miracles of Jesus were far more than attention getters. The miracles were those moments in Jesus’ ministry when He pulled back the veil that hid the presence and power of God’s kingdom and made it plain. Every time Jesus feeds the hungry, sets free the possessed, forgives the fallen, and raises the dead, we are shown a slide of what God’s intentions are for the human future. The miracles are a foretaste of life in the kingdom of God, where there will be no diseased bodies and minds, no one victimized by injustice, no malignant selfishness and hurtful relationships, no loneliness or addiction.
By preaching, by teaching, and by mighty works, wonders, and signs, Jesus unleashed the power of the Kingdom of God on earth. We may misread the miracles and seek them as an end in themselves, or we may not seek them at all, but our failure does not change the fact that God is holding them out to us in loving hands. We know we are reading the miracle aright when it leaves a residue of obedience in our life. We begin to live toward the future possibilities God may have in store for us, even when the present is wholly unpromising.
The miracle may past, but our new view of life becomes permanent. No longer can we take things as they are for granted because we never know what kinds of surprises God may have in store. Real miracles call us into obedience to God. We begin to take risks for Him. We are able to dare the impossible for Him. We are able to talk to people and take on tasks that we previously would have thought dumb to do.
And a strange thing happens on the way from the obedience evoked by a miracle, miracles happen, miracles we never dreamed possible. Are we open to God’s miracles, whatever those miracles might be and whatever call to obedience they might carry? Are we prepared for His miracles, those little lariats of God’s love that He uses to yank us back into His world and His work?
Preached February 12, 1989
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
No comments:
Post a Comment