2021.07.25 | Miracles Happen
“Miracles Happen”
Pastor Arlene Nehring
Good morning, Church! Today we’re talking about miracles, specifically two of the six miracles of Jesus found in the Gospel of John: the Feeding of the Five Thousand and Jesus Walking on the Water.
I wonder, do you believe that Jesus performed miracles? If so, do you believe that miracles still happen today?
If you’re a little iffy on the question of Jesus’ ability to perform miracles, the Feeding of the Five Thousand just might be the proof that shores-up Jesus’ credentials for you, because it is the ONLY miracle account that appears in all four gospels.
If you were alive in the first century, these miracle stories coupled together might have been the proof you needed to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, and (for John) the Logos, because nobody who couldn’t do these things would have ever been seen or believed to be divine without these capabilities.
II
Ironically, despite the significant way that Jesus’ miracles bolstered the faith of his early followers, these miracle stories have become a stumbling block to the faith and the veracity of scripture for modern people.
Douglas John Hall, Professor Emeritus of Christian Theology at McGill University in Montreal, puts a point on this fact in his exegesis of today’s gospel reading, in Feasting on the Word, edited by David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor.
Here, Professor Hall explains that the trouble with an appeal to the miraculous today is that it doesn’t work! Specifically, Professor Hall writes, “...[miracle stories are] more apt to reinforce doubt than encourage faith.”
As a pastor with a fancy education and one who has mostly served congregations with highly educated members who apply the tests of scientific evidence and human reason to literature and life, I resonate strongly with Professor Hall’s assertions about miracle stories, particularly those found in the Bible and their potential to inspire faith.
I also agree with Professor Hall, who expresses grief over the negative effects that the primacy of science and reason have had on modern people’s ability to embrace the truly miraculous events that still occur in the world today, or to enjoy the truly wonder-full work of the divine in our midst. Professor Hall writes:
...What is truly wonder-full in biblical terms is not that a (seeming) human could multiply loaves and fishes in so astounding a manner but that this (“truly human”) human being could represent, by his words and deeds, such a sign of hope and healing that hundreds of needy people would follow him about, and feel that their hunger for ‘the bread of life’ had been assuaged.
What is is truly awe-inspiring is not that someone could walk on the surface of the water without sinking, but that [Jesus’] presence among ordinary, insecure, and timid persons could calm their anxieties and cause them to walk where they feared to walk before--in the end, all the way to their own Golgothas.
What is genuinely miraculous is not that a dead body should come to life again, but that through the journey with the crucified one, the disciple community was enabled to find hope, on the far side of despair, faith that could live with doubt, and the courage to live beyond the sting of death.
To be sure, Professor Hall eloquently explains how modern-day people’s tendency to hold every situation to the standards of science and reason have caused far too many to miss God’s miracles and prohibit our ability to experience the divine’s wonder-filled work in our midst, because their adherence to science and reason has caused them to develop a very narrow definition of truth.
For example, most atheists would say that there is no truth in the Genesis stories of creation, because they assume that the first two chapters are recipes for how God cooked up the cosmos. Since these recipes don’t jibe with scientific theories like “The Big Bang,” neither of these stories (Genesis 1 or Genesis 2) are true.
Alternatively speaking, consider, for example, the approach taken by biblical scholars who bring literary theory to the study of scripture. They help us understand that the book of Genesis, particularly chapters 1 and 2, were never intended to be “recipes” describing ingredients and steps about how God “cooked up” the cosmos. Instead, literary scholars view these Genesis stories as etiologies, stories that convey the meaning, purpose, and value of creation.
In this light, Genesis is not held to scientific definitions of truth, but rather to the existential meaning of truth. Literary critical analysis of Genesis shows that the Genesis creation stories were never designed as recipes from God’s cookbook, but rather as narratives that describe our ancestors’ belief that God is the author of creation, that the cosmos is inherently good, and that God intended for human beings to be faithful stewards of all that has been entrusted to us.
So let’s press on--neither checking our brains at the door--nor using the wrong tools to interpret the accounts of Jesus’ miracles.
III
Theologian and author Megan McKenna suggests that the Feeding of the Five Thousand might better be understood as the feeding of the 35,000, because in the first-century women and children weren’t included in attendance counts. Only the men were included.
In her book, Not Counting Women and Children, McKenna explains that the ratio of women and children to men in the first century, 5 or 6 to one. Therefore, the number of people gathered at the shores of the Sea of Galilee that day was at least 35,000--not 5,000. Bend your mind around that thought.
Wow! Who would ever believe that five loaves and two fishes could feed 5,000 people, much less a crowd of 35,000?
The disciples didn’t believe it. At least not at first.
So how did Jesus pull off that stunt? Was he some kind of magician?
I don’t think so. Jesus was a prophet. He didn’t try to trick people into believing the impossible. Instead, he highlighted the generosity of a boy and inspired greater generosity in others.
Jesus compelled his followers to trust that there would be enough for them and everyone else, by daylighting the child’s generosity, and inspiring the grownups to share what they had with others, rather than squirreling away the food that they had brought for themselves.
Notice how when the disciples ask Jesus to work a miracle, he did not pull out a wand and say, abra cadabra. Instead, he said: “You give them something to eat.”
The disciples replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and a couple of fish.”
The child might have said, “Liars, liars, pants on fire!” But he didn’t. Instead, the child offered all the food he had brought to share with others.
That child’s act of generosity, reminded everyone in the crowd that they had something to bring to the table, and they were moved to share what they had with others. And they did, everyone in attendance ate their fill and there were 12 baskets of food leftover.
So then, the miracle that occurred that day at the shores of the Sea of Galilee, wasn’t the result of some first-century side show, but rather the miracle of generosity that Jesus inspired in the boy with five loaves and two fishes, and the cast of thousands who had come to taste and see what God was doing in the world.
My prayer for us today is that God will grant each of us eyes to see and experience every miracle under the sun, and generous hearts so that we may contirute we may contribute to the miraculous ministry of Jesus Christ. Amen.