The Scarcity of the Miraculous

There are people who have witnessed many miracles. Some people see miracles everyday. I am not one of them, although I believe that miracles do occur. By definition, a miracle is an event that occurs contrary to the natural laws of the universe. I wish I could see more miracles, like other people, but it is extremely rare for me to see one with my own eyes.

Mark 6:32-56
“So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. 35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36 Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." 37 But he answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" 38 "How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five-and two fish." 39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. 45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. 47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."  51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. 53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.   56 And wherever he went-into villages, towns or countryside-they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.”

Sometimes we think Jesus was always performing miracles, and the people in other parts of the Bible witnessed miracles all the time. They got to speak with God on a face to face basis; they saw for themselves that God was real and breaks into history on a seemingly regular basis. But when you stand back from these miraculous events and look at the sweep of history, miracles are still incredibly rare. Even in Jesus’ ministry, the miracles He performed were a regular part of everyday activity. The Gospel writers record multiple miracles – water into wine, raising the dead, walking on water, feeding thousands, healing lepers, the blind, the demon-possessed, the epileptic, the hemophiliac. But these miraculous events serve to provide evidence of what Jesus claimed to be: the Messiah Son of God. Put them against the backdrop of the whole of His recorded ministry, and even with Jesus miracles are still irregular events. There were people who were never healed by Jesus, people He walked by for whatever reason and did not stop. There were pairs of people carrying stretchers all over the place, trying to guess where Jesus would show up. If they guessed wrong, they missed the only chance in their lifetime for their loved one in the stretcher to be healed.

People sometimes wonder why God just doesn’t part the heavens and show Himself, thus proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is there and loves us. The best answer I have heard of is if He did that, the ability to choose to believe and love Him would be forever lost. There would be no question of God’s existence, and therefore no choice. God seems to honor His gift of freewill in human beings so much that He hides Himself sometimes. I think Jesus operated in the same manner while on earth. He could have revealed Himself from birth, or instead of waiting thirty years to begin, just come riding out of the clouds. But Jesus chose the subtle approach, even telling people not to reveal Him too soon. The people who made it to Him with their sick and possessed, the ones that Jesus healed, all seemed to have one thing that set them apart from everyone else clamoring about in search of Jesus: they believed in Him first, before the miracle occurred. God wants our faith first, then and only then will understanding and the miraculous come.