Reflections on "Jesus Is the One Who Performs Miracles" Mark 4: 35-41; Luke 7: 18-23

The sermon sort of fell into place for me. I had the Jefferson Bible reference from Gordon in my original notes, but then expanded the illustration to make it the introduction, which I think worked well.

The boat trip ending at the land of the Gerasenes (the Gentiles) was a late addition to the sermon, but it really helped me figure out what the miracles might mean to us today.  If I had known I was going there, I would have added verse 42 to the Markan passage.

I left unanswered two critical questions:  1. What is a miracle in our time? and 2.  Why did Jesus choose to do the miracles some of the time and not some other times.  Since I don't really have an answer to those questions, leaving them unanswered worked for me!

“Jesus Is the One Who Performs Miracles” Jesus is the one who... “series; FPC, Troy; 5^th Lent; March 17, 2013; Mark 4: 36-41

Introduction: Thomas Jefferson, who penned the Declaration of Independence and later became President of the United States, took a razor and carefully cut out the sections of the New Testament to create what was called the the Jefferson Bible, or The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.

As the title suggests, he focused on the moral teachings of Jesus. From his rational, intellectual perspective, he chose to leave out any stories that dealt with the supernatural, which meant excluding all of the miracles of Jesus. In fact, there are instances when Jefferson would cut a section in mid-verse to include the teaching, while excluding the miracle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible)

This morning I would suggest, with all due respect to Thomas Jefferson, that the miracles Jesus performed are critical to who he was and how we understand what he was doing in our midst.

Move 1: First of all, let's be clear. Jesus performed miracles.

a. Admittedly, the Gospels do not contain the word "miracle" (Anatomy of the New Testament: A Guide to Its Structure and Understanding, Robert A. Spivey and D. Moody Smith, 211).

1. But they contain lots of miracle stories.
2. 30-40 miracles (depending on how you count them) are included in all four gospels (Spivey and Moody, 209).

3. nearly 1/3 of the Gospel of Mark – remember, Mark is the shortest of the gospels, in part because Mark's styles is action-oriented and full of verbs – nearly 1/3 of the action is devoted to healings (Spivey and Moody, 211)

4. The Synoptics have basically four types of miracles:

    

           exorcisms – Jesus casting out demons

           healings – like the paralytic whose friends lower him down through the roof in the Gospel of Mark

          resuscitations – Jairus' daughter

           and nature miracles – turning water into wine in the Gospel of John, or calming the seas in Mark's gospel story we read this morning.

Jesus performed lots of miracles.

b. Admittedly, Jesus was not the only miracle worker.

1. WE know from other writings of the time that others were performing what were considered miracles.

2. In Acts, we read the story of Simon, who performed miracles, who was also amazed at the miracles the disciples were performing and wanted to buy some of their power, only to learn that the power of God was not for sale.

c. how do we translate miracles into our time?

1. Sports – I am remembering the "Miracle on Ice, " when the US hockey team defeated the Soviet hockey team in the Olympics.

2. Medical technology.

3. A miracle has come to mean totally unexpected.

Move 2: Secondly, Jesus performs miracles to announce that the kingdom of God has arrived and show us what that means.

a. Story from Luke.

1. John the Baptist's disciples arrive and ask Jesus – are you the one? Or should we look for another.

2. Jesus makes no personal statement about who he is – he simply says, “Tell John what you have seen and heard:he Baptist's disciples ask Jesus whether he is the one to come or if they should look for another, Jesus replies"go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news."

3. Jesus points to the miracles he has performed and says, “What do you think?”

4. The miracles announce to the world that the kingdom of God has arrived with Jesus.

b. The miracles matter both in defining who Jesus is, but also in calling the followers of Christ into action.

1. Consider the story we read in Luke about Jesus calming the seas.

2. Jesus literally “rebukes” the waves. The same verb used when Jesus “rebukes” or calls out the demons.

3. This act establishes that Jesus is the one who can cause the waves to subside; he has power over nature.

4. He can support the disciples in their fear.

c. But he also introduces them to the new reality of how they are called to respond now that the kingdom of God has arrived.

1. Notice where they end up after they cross the Sea of Galilee.

2., they arrive at the land of the Gerasenes.

3. The land of the Gentiles, those people who are considered outside the realm of God.

4. Jesus miraculously calms the sea so that the disciples can spread the gospel among the Gentiles.

5. their world has shifted with the arrival of Jesus and the kingdom of God.

Move 3: Thirdly, Jesus changes the world in a personal, real way through his miracles.

a. Reading Jesus: A Writer's Encounter with the Gospels, Mary Gordon, (105): notes that she, unlike Jefferson, includes the miracles because they witness Jesus' acknowledgment can concern for human affliction.

1. The disciples are scared to death of the raging seas – Jesus calms the waves.

2. the paralytic's friends want him to be healed, so they lower him through the roof into Jesus' midst – Jesus heals him.

3. The wine has run out at the wedding feast and Jesus' mother wants more – so Jesus turns water into wine.

4. One of the great unanswered questions is why Jesus does not perform miracles in every situation – cannot answer that, but I do note that every miracle Jesus performs reaches into the real-life situation of someone's life and changes it.

b. Of course, when thinking about the miracles Jesus did not perform, we are reminded of the greatest example of the miracle Jesus did not perform and how that impacts us in a real, personal way.

1. Jesus, who could calm the waves, rebuke the demons, heal the lame, multiply the food – this Jesus did not choose to miraculously come down off the cross.

2. The one who seemingly could do anything, chooses not to invoke his miraculous powers to save himself.

3. the non-miracle that defines the arrival of the kingdom of God that brings God's saving grace to the world and to each of us.

Conclusion: 'We don’t use the word very often in the Uniting Church, but the Nave—is the body of the church. It’s where the pews are, where we sit. It’s has the same root as the word Navy. It’s the boat of the church. Jesus gets into the boat with the church in the story this week. We will find him in the church, in those odd folk we know only too well... http://onemansweb.org/man-overboard---mark-4-35-41.html