Miracle in the Way

I rarely come up with a good double entendre.  I just did:   “The Miracle in the Way.”  Let me explain.  Christians have been named:  Followers of the Way.  He called himself the Way.  We have an understanding that he is not a way but the way.  The journey along the Way is a marvelous one indeed.  Of course, anyone who follows Jesus sees, believes and lives the miraculous.  That is part of the benefit of walking in the Way.  Our life truly is a miracle- transformation from death to life and the removal of sin and its weight with no more than a momentary prayer.  For those of us who have experienced it, it leaves us in awe.  How can anyone draw so near so quickly who has wandered so far for so long?  That is the miracle of new birth.  Of course, there is the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus.  All other miracles pale in comparison.  History and eternity turns on this hinge miracle- the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Unheard of!  Unbelievable if not witnessed by so many at that time and experienced by so many since.

 

I have seen many miracles with my own eyes through the years of my following that can only be disputed by the irrational rantings of the inconsolable cynic.  [Many such cynics exist.  I’ve met them and gone around and around.]  But, though not commonly experienced (hence the name “miracle”), we have experienced the miraculous enough to respond with less surprise than we did many years ago.  As recently as two months ago, my wife and I prayed for a Vietnamese contract worker in Taiwan who had an immobile arm that medical science could not treat over a long period of time.  The injury was serious enough to jeopardize her ability to fulfill her work obligation and contract.  After prayer, her arm was suddenly, miraculously and unexplainably fine.  I am not saying this to draw attention to those of us who prayed.  I still consider myself to be more of a bystander to God’s grace, power and goodness than a vital participant.  The point is, bystanders by definition “stand by” and watch what is happening.  I have been a witness to such immediate answers to prayer enough times to remind me that as bizarre as some of the requests are and as ill informed I am of how to pray, God continues to pour out his love in unexplainable ways.  That is partly what I mean by “miracles in the Way.”    

 

But, here is the other side of the expression- the double entendre.  Oftentimes the “miracle that is in the Way” is also the “miracle that is (or gets) in the way.”  We would like to think that miracles always produce great and mature responses.  Sadly, they do not.  In fact, a simple reading of John’s gospel shows that miracles are more often than not a watershed that divides people and becomes the ground for controversy.  For some, miracles prove to be a challenge to those who would not be convinced regardless of the undeniable presence of a miracle (John 2:18; 4:48; 5:15-16; 6:30; 11:47; 15:24).  For these, their minds are made up.  Don’t confuse them with the facts.  The miracle becomes the reason to destroy the miracle maker and even eliminate the miracle.  Such was the case with Lazarus- irrefutably raised from the dead before a large crowd after being entombed several days before (John 11:47-50; 12:9-11).  That miracle brought enough furor to make the religious leaders more resolved than ever before to destroy the miracle and the miracle maker.

 

Among others, the miraculous led to belief, but it was shallow belief (John 6:2, 26; 7:21; 12:18). For these, it drew the crowd, but shortly after, many of them fell away.  It got hot for Jesus and those close to Jesus and they got out of the kitchen.  If they did not serve God for more than the miracle, their faith was temporary and destined to fail. 

 

For still others, the miracle was a challenge to Jesus.  It was an attempt to bait him to do something to impress everyone (John 7:3).  Though not in John’s gospel, this was even Satan’s tool for tempting Jesus.  The goal is to get the miracle for the entirely wrong reason. 

 

For still other people, miracles simply became a conundrum (John 9:16; 12:37) that placed them in a quandary.  These folks do not know what to do with him or his miracles.  The miracles were undeniable.  They just could not make that their reason to believe.  Their expectations for God and his works are different.  So, the miracle is little more than a Rubics cube or head scratcher. 

 

Please do not get me wrong.  In John, there are also a number of passages that speak of the powerful witness and transforming belief that comes from the miracle (John 2:11, 23; 3:2; 7:31; 20:30; etc.).  But, that is precisely my point.  The benefits of the miraculous are many.  They are visible testimonies of God’s goodness and power.  The person who is involved in the miracle experiences the obvious benefits of healing, transformation and/or unexplainable release from a physical, spiritual, mental or emotional burden.  That is the glory of the “miracle in the Way.”  They make us smile and give us reason to stand tall as disciples of Jesus Christ.  Experiencing miracles in this way makes us proud of our heavenly Father just as we are of our earthly father when he becomes the talk of the town for good deeds witnessed by others.  The miracle is an exclamation point.  It is the sentence followed by “Hallelujah.”  It is the icing on the cake- not the cake.

 

But, for many, the miracle is just in the way.  It becomes too much of the focus- for many non-believers as well as for many believers.  God becomes the magic man rather than purpose and hope of life.  For them, the miracle is akin to cocaine.  A little taste and all else becomes inconsequential.  “Just give us more and more of this stuff and we’ll be O.K.  Forget about living sacrificially or loving our neighbor or walking in obedience.  That stuff takes too much heavy lifting.  We want the light show.”  For these, the miracle is in the way.  It is in the way of true faith.  True faith is about living with rock-solid trust in the midst of pain and suffering when the miracle is nowhere in sight.  When faith becomes “miracle dependent,” growth is an impossibility.

 

Or, the miraculous makes others angry, since they have already concluded that all miracles can be explained away.  For them, the miracle is just more fodder for believing the duped are dupier (don’t bother looking it up, since that word doesn’t exist).  They can all be explained away.  And trust me, they can- every one of them.  For these, reading about the Vietnamese woman I mention above makes them rush in their mind to ask questions like:  How long did she have a condition?  Was it really that serious?  Could positive suggestion been her answer?  How much effort did the doctors make in diagnosis?  Could it not have been a pinched nerve that straightened out in that moment by some specific movement?  Was she making it all up, walking around with agony and wanting to create celebrity for herself?  Is she faking wellness to keep from disappointing those who prayer for her?  I need not stop at these.  I could list more questions.  I’ve heard them all.  Early in my ministry, I would try to answer the questions.  After I learned that it was a tail chasing exercise and that Jesus himself never chased his tail or “go there,” I would simply stop and just listen to the indefatigable cynic.  Then, I would go my way. 

 

John’s gospel is a story filled with miracles and responses to miracles.  We should learn a lesson from John’s gospel.  We can make too much of miracles.  We can also make too little of them.  They should never be center stage of our faith.  Nor should they ever be something that fails to prompt our gratitude and joy.  They should never be our primary pursuit.  Nor should they be ignored.  They should not be that in which we believe.  Nor should they be less than a stunning reminder of the power of the one in whom we believe. 

 

I will continue to be a person who enjoys the “miracle in the Way,” always aware that what it is for me is not the same for others.  In fact, it is disappointingly the opposite for more folks than I would like to believe.  In view of that, I am just looking forward to the miracle ending to all of this that opens the door for an eternity of the miraculous.  For us, it will be commonplace “miracles in the Way.” 

Comments

[Judy Weitman Bevier]

Thank you so much for these truthful words Matt. I must keep a Godly lookout for what I allow Satan to do. Thank you God for the Holy Spirit!