The Miracle Dilemma

Pastor Anthony Preaching on: "The Miracle Dilemma.” Scripture focus is: Mark 6: 1-13. Preached on June 27, 2021.

Copyright 2021 by Rev. Anthony J. Tang and Desert Mission United Methodist Church

It is not lost on me that I could not be farther from Christmas on the calendar except for the last two days. Nonetheless, and I’m sure you know where I’m going with this, I’d like to start today by talking about Christmas.

Or, at least, Santa Claus and the Miracle on 34th Street. I know it’s from 1947, but I still watch it every year. It’s about Kris Kringle who has been institutionalized as insane; a young lawyer named, Fred Gailey, who’s trying to get him released by arguing that he is the one and only Santa Claus; a young girl named Suzie Walker and her doubting and skeptical mom, Doris.

In one scene, Suzie was expecting a big present from Santa Claus, but was sorely disappointed. She tells Kris Kringle, “You couldn't get it because you're not Santa. You're just a nice old man with whiskers... like my mother said... and I shouldn't have believed you.”

Surprisingly, her mom, Doris, having experienced a change in heart tells her, “I was wrong when I told you that. You must believe in Mr. Kringle and keep right on doing it. You must have faith in him.”

Suzie: “But he didn't get me the... That doesn't make sense, Mommy.”

Doris tries to explain: “Faith is believing in things... when common sense tells you not to. Just because things don't turn out... the way you want them to the first time... you've still got to believe in people. I found that out.”

On the way home, Doris and Fred are taking an alternate route given to them by Kris while Suzie sits in the back seat repeating over and over again, “I believe. I believe. It's silly, but I believe.”

Just then, Suzie sees her present from Santa Claus. She jumps out of the car and into the house she always wanted that’s up for sale. Her mom and Fred scold her for running into someone else’s house and she screams in excitement,

“But this is my house, the one I asked Mr. Kringle for. It is! I know it is! My room upstairs is like I knew it would be! You were right, Mommy. Mommy said if things don't turn out right at first... you've still got to believe. I kept believing. You were right, Mommy! Mr. Kringle is Santa Claus!”

It’s a Miracle!

I still have a question, though, and I promise in asking it that I’m not in any way either criticizing or casting doubt on the movie. I do believe that it is a miracle and I’d also ask, have you ever wondered why it’s a miracle? Some definitions incorporate supernatural events or an intervention of God’s divine will, but nothing supernatural happens in this story, right? The house didn’t just materialize out of nothing. It also wasn’t without cost; her mom and Fred still have to purchase the home. I would also add that it did not change Kris Kringle nor did the event actually provide verifiable evidence that he was Santa Claus, which was a part of the mystery discussed between Doris and Fred at the end. So what is it about this event that indeed makes it a miracle?

This weekend, as I was reading and watching news reports about the condominium collapse in Florida, I said to Katherine, “It will be a miracle if they can find anyone alive in that disaster.” Why did I say that? Because I fear that it was such a devastating event that there’s little chance anyone could live through it. So, is a miracle simply the occurrence of something we don’t expect to happen?

But the birth of a baby is something that most of us do expect to happen and yet how many times has someone looked into the eyes of a newborn baby and exclaimed, “You are a miracle!”? And they would be right too.

There are about 385,000 babies born every day; are they all miracles?

Our scriptures have many stories of miraculous healings performed by Jesus and others. Miracles! And also, there was a time when no one could have ever believed that a shot could protect us from a virus or that doctors could transplant a heart. Just last week, I learned about sight-restoration surgeries that are able to give some blind people the ability to see. One patient went from 20/2000 vision (meaning that he would need to be 20 feet away from what many of you could see from 2000 feet away) to just 20/50 without corrective lenses, only six months after his surgery. These seem like miracles to me.

Is there a definition that helps us to consistently define what makes all of these different events appropriately labeled by the word, miracle?

In our scriptures, in many different accountings of the healings of Jesus, Jesus told folks that it was their faith that made them well, like with the healing of the hemorrhaging woman, the healing of the man brought to Jesus through the roof by the man’s four friends, and the healing of the Centurion’s servant. Interestingly, in our scripture for today, we hear the other side of that coin.

Jesus returns to his hometown with his new disciples and he is not received well. The people of the village are offended by him. They seem to resent that he thinks of himself as worthy to teach in the synagogue, which we would call our church. And notice that what they emphasize about Jesus are all of the things that define his humanness: he’s the son of Mary and brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon and his sisters, while seemingly ignoring what makes him also divine.

And the consequence? The scriptures tell us that Jesus could do no deed of power there. Not that he wouldn’t, but that he couldn’t.

Jesus couldn’t do deeds of power.

How is it possible that Jesus, the son of God, was unable to perform any deeds of power there in his own hometown?

Was it because they didn’t believe?

Does God depend on us in order to perform miracles? This doesn’t make sense at all; the creator of the universe, who creates order out of chaos and oversees the birth of galaxies, is not dependent on people in order to do work.

Or is it that the people did not have enough faith to receive the miracle?

This is a tough one here. And by tough, I mean that this is the question that has caused countless numbers of people to suffer from the guilt and shame of believing that their loved one’s sickness and death was due to their own failures of faith or due to their own sins. I absolutely reject this interpretation. There is nothing holy or good about believing that God would use sickness and death to punish us. It is not just, or righteous, or reasonable, or kind, or loving. Our Bible says that God is love and a loving God would not use sickness as a punishment for disagreement.

But while Jesus could do no deeds of power there, being amazed at their unbelief, our scriptures do tell us that he healed a few sick people and then went on to bless the disciples and send them off to preach the Good News and to heal others who were sick. So it isn’t that Jesus didn’t have power or that no one benefitted.

So what is it that Jesus couldn’t do?

He couldn’t help them believe. He couldn’t help them to have faith. They have free will; they have the power to decide what they will and will not believe in. God does not force that upon us. And if we refuse to believe, Jesus cannot help us to have faith.

So it wasn’t that their belief limited God’s work or God’s power. It’s that they refused to accept God’s true power in Jesus, which was not his ability to change the physical condition, which, if we think about it, is as temporary as the leaves of grass, but the true power of Jesus, which is eternal, is his ability to transform our lives in love.

From this, I believe the definition I would use of a miracle is this: A miracle is any event that reaffirms our belief, our faith, in what is good and holy in God’s kingdom. Let me simplify that if I may. A miracle helps us believe in God’s love.

By that definition, Suzie; her mom, Doris; and Fred all receive a powerful affirmation to believe in all of what is good and holy that Santa represents; that reaffirmation was the miracle. It wasn’t the house that was the miracle, the miracle was that Suzie’s beliefs were affirmed and that Doris could believe in the goodness of other people.

Whenever we find life and hope in the midst of a tragedy, it’s the miracle that causes us to thank God.

When we stare into the eyes of a newborn and are humbled by the power of God’s creation, it’s a miracle.

When we witness a healing we never thought possible and are overwhelmed with gratitude toward God, it’s a miracle.

And perhaps most amazing of all, if we are ever in the position where we feel like we don’t get any of the good things we ask for at all, and we still open our hearts to feel God’s unconditional love wrapping around us, it’s a miracle.

A miracle can be natural or supernatural; it can be common or extraordinarily rare; it can be nearby or far away; it can affect us, our loved ones, or even strangers, as long as it touches our hearts, humbles us, and transforms us by God’s love, it’s a miracle.

What miracle is it that you need in your life today? I know for my own life, the hardest part of my own spiritual growth is that through my life, I have filled my heart with so many things, like my fears, my rules, my ideas, my hurts, my wants, and my expectations. I’ve filled my heart with so many distractions that there isn’t always space for God’s love. If you’re like me, sometimes, what I have to pray for is not just what I want, but for the miracle of God’s love to break down all of my defenses and humble me with love.

Do miracles exist? Absolutely. I am one. And you know what? You are a miracle too. You are a miracle too.