Miracles

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday July 5, 2009, the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Psalm 48
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

Over the past several weeks, we have been privy to some of the most wonderful and miraculous acts the world has ever known. But this week, this week we read of miracles that fizzle out like dud Fourth of July fireworks. You know, all sizzle, no pop. We are so familiar with these texts, and with Mark’s verse four interpretation of them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house,” that we hardly pay it a never mind.

Often when people don’t get the miracles they want, they hope for, they pray for; this failure gets chalked up to verse five, “he could do no deed of power there.” This is explained further in verse six where we learn, “Jesus was amazed at their unbelief.” Or as the New American Standard Version renders it, Jesus “wondered.” But making this leap from the people’s faith to Jesus’ ability to perform miracles is a mistake. Saying that Jesus was not able to perform miracles because the people of his hometown did not believe may be true, but that’s not the only word on belief and miracles.

A few weeks ago, we read from Mark’s version of the crossing of the sea. We read of the great storm and the apostles hope that Jesus would get off of his pillow and help out. But instead of lending a hand, Jesus raises a hand and calms the storm. “Peace, be still” he cried and there was dead calm. As the apostles began to freak out in the boat, Jesus asks them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”[1]

In this case, Jesus questions the faith of his shipmates, his closest companions, while he calms the chaos of the waters. He literally stills death in its tracks, and he does this questioning their lack of faith.

It’s easy to question the strength of someone’s faith if a miracle doesn’t happen. It’s poor pastoral care. It’s being a lousy friend. It’s not quite right either, but it’s easy enough to do. It is easier explaining the lack of a miracle due to the doubt of others than any other reason. Still, Jesus did not need the apostles’ belief to make the storm subside. While it seems the faith of the people of Jesus’ hometown had something to do with the lack of miracles, to say that this is a hard and fast rule wouldn’t be right.

If there is a difference between the hometown people and the apostles on the boat, it’s this: The men on the boat expected Jesus to do something. They expected him to grab a bucket or take a line; and what he did was calm the storm. The people of Jesus hometown expected nothing, and nothing is what they got.

Theologian Frederick Buechner describes miracles this way. “Miracle: a cancer inexplicably cured. A voice in a dream. A statue that weeps. A miracle is an event that strengthens faith. It is possible to look at most miracles and find a rational explanation in terms of natural cause and effect.

“Faith in God is less apt to proceed from miracles than miracles from faith in God.”[2]

Buechner is on target here. The apostles’ own weak faith was affirmed and their faith demanded a response. Their responses were not perfect, far from it. James and John, the sons of thunder, will seek positions of honor without knowing where it will take them. Peter will deny Jesus, but not before Judas betrays him. They were the apostles. They were the chosen. They were trusted members of the twelve. None of them got it completely right.

This leads us to the second half of our reading, the sending of the twelve. Jesus pairs the twelve off and sends them out giving them authority over unclean spirits. They weren’t ready, we just made that clear. But the one thing they were was sent. They were sent with power and authority, and not much else. They went out with only what they had on their backs and a companion for the journey.

The Mainline Evangelism Project considered many things during its study. One of the things they studied was Mormon missions. We all know what the Mormon mission looks like. Two conservatively dressed young men, at least in my experience it has been men, come to your door and knock. Then you say “No thank you” and send them on their way.

If you ask how this brings new people into the fold, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that it doesn’t. Very few “new disciples” are added to the Mormon Church by this door-to-door evangelism. What is surprising is the way that this process, this door-to-door trek strengthens those who make it. Those who serve in Mormon missions don’t bring many people to the Latter Day Saints church, but it strengthens those who make the journey. Their faith becomes unshakable because they have been forced to depend on their faith. They responded to the call to know and share their faith story. They are stronger in their faith because of it. And I don’t doubt that the Apostles were strengthened the same way.

They were sent out and proclaimed that all should repent. But here’s a question: Of what we are to repent?

In a sermon, Johnny Ray Youngblood, pastor of Saint Paul's Community Baptist Church in Brooklyn, whose story Samuel Freedman tells in his book Upon This Rock: The Miracles of a Black Church, says: “Every time I see a man put down his bottle, there's a resurrection goin’ on. Every time I see a man go back to school, there's a resurrection goin’ on. Every time I see a man hug his son, there's a resurrection goin’ on.”[3]

Leaving behind our old ways, making amends with those whom we love, and who love us. This is how we repent.

Philip Pare writes, “Magic is usually a labor-saving device which spares the magician or his client time and trouble, and quite often magic is irrational. Miracle on the other hand tends to mean not less, but more work for its beneficiaries.”[4] Answering the call of the Lord, even when it means more work, not less, this is one of the ways we repent. By miracles and acts of power, we have examples of this repenting.

As for the Gerasene demoniac who asks to become a follower of Jesus. Instead he was given different work, and more difficult work. He was Christ’s first apostle to the gentiles. Say what we will of Saul of Tarsus, this Gerasene man is the model on whom all of our evangelism follows; and all we know of him is that he almost did what he was told. He was told to go home and tell his friends of all of the great things the Lord had done. Instead he went to the Decapolis and told of what Jesus had done. What he did may not have been what Jesus commanded to the letter, but if you will pardon the pun, he followed the Spirit of the Word.

Two women are healed gloriously. One a woman whose life is restored to her by the gift of healing as Jesus made her ritually clean; the other a little girl whose life is returned to her by the gift of Jesus. Today we learn of Jesus healing “only a few” then the apostles going out and healing more in his name, with his power.

So what is the miracle? Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961, put it this way: “We act in faith—and miracles occur. In consequence, we are tempted to make the miracles the ground for our faith. The cost of such weakness is that we lose the confidence of faith. Faith is, faith creates, faith carries. It is not derived from, nor created, nor carried by anything except its own reality.”[5]

As Christians, our reality is that the Lord our God, creator of all that is created, wants a loving relationship with us. The Lord who demonstrates for us the perfect relationship in three persons wants us to be in relationship with God’s own self. The miracle is that we were created for this relationship. The miracle is that the all powerful Lord of the universe wants us to join in this relationship of our own loving free will. A God who could coerce creation into worship and praise desires our response in love, not bending human will by force.

The miracle is that Jesus chose twelve imperfect, incomplete men and by them has shown the world a power and glory that was never known before. They expected Jesus to do something, and Immanuel—God with us—did more than they ever hoped or imagined. We have to expect this miracle too; we have to expect God is with us. We have to respond sharing the glory of the miracle of God with us. If we don’t, we are like the people of Jesus’ hometown, and we will get exactly what we expect.

[1] Mark 4:35-41
[2] Ibid, HomileticsOnline.com, -- Frederick Buechner, “Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC” (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1973, 1993), 74.
[3] Samuel Freedman, “Upon This Rock: The Miracles of a Black Church” (Harper Perennial, 1994), Ibid, HomileitcsOnline.com.
[4] Philip Pare, “God Made the Devil,” cited in “The Harper Religious & Inspirational Quotation Companion”
(New York: Harper & Row, 1989), 288 found at HomileticsOnline.com, http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustration_search.asp?keywords=miracle, retrieved July 4, 2009.
[5] Ibid, HomileticsOnline.com