Straight up. I have problems with Jesus’s miracles. Water = wine, demons being cast out, walking on water, Lazarus being raised from the dead, loaves and fishes multiplying like tribbles. It’s difficult
for me to wrap my head around them.
Why? Well, blame the disciples. The silly bunch they are.
Just recently we read in church the story of the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain where he’s hanging with Peter, James and John and suddenly Moses and Elijah appear and Peter and James and John
are like: “Hey, let’s build you guys a shelter and let’s hang out.” And then God speaks from the cloud (or Heaven) and says: Here’s the guy I want you to pay attention to: And Jesus is there. I wondered what
Jesus and Moses and Elijah talked about before Peter, et al, jumped into the fray. Probably a good kosher recipe for bean dip.
The reason I blame the disciples is they’re with Jesus through his journey. They witness the miracles. They’re probably walking back to the boat saying: “Man! Did you see the fish and loaves? I
mean, WHA-HAPPENED! First we’ve got this kid’s lunch and then next thing it’s a feast! Jesus, wow, you totally nailed that miracle!”
Or walking on water. “Uh, Matthew – did you just see Jesus walking on water? Uh, yeah, I did. Pretty cool, eh? And remember when the boat was in the storm and he just waved his hand and it got all calm
and stuff? That was pretty cool. If my crops are hurting, think I could ask him to rustle up some rain?”
Okay, back to the journey. They’re walking with Jesus and witnessing all these things and then, when push comes to shove and shove comes to Jesus being arrested and nailed to a cross it’s like all these
miracles, all these amazing feats of wonder that they WITNESSED FIRST HAND suddenly go “poof.” Peter denies him three times. THREE TIMES! Dude, weren’t you there when God said: “Listen to this one?”
A few decades ago a guy by the name of “Amazing Randi” wanted to prove how gullible people were. A magician/illusionist by trade, he taught a young man a handful of tricks and they toured Australia
doing these amazing feats and calling the young man a prophet or a Holy Man. After their tour they announced to everyone that the man was a fake and that he was just doing simple magic tricks. Even after they pulled the
curtain back and revealed what they were doing there were people who came up to the young man and said: “We still believe you’re a prophet.” If these people who witnessed these simple tricks could somehow still believe
in this young man – I struggle to wonder how the apostles so quickly turned their back on Jesus, especially after raising Lazarus from the dead.
I ask, is fear of evil and death more powerful than your relationship to a friend who worked some really really cool miracles right in front of you? I mean water-to-wine, amiright?! Jesus would be great at a party.
Do I discount the miracles outright because of their “woo-woo” effect on me and my questioning of the disciples actions? No. But with everything that Jesus did I try to look at in the context of the
world he was in and the people writing the books. It’s not like I completely discount loaves and fishes and healings and blind-men with seeing eye mud packs but I also wonder if there is something more going on under the
surface. Something I’m not “getting.”
Maybe this Lenten journey I'm attempting will help me.
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