The Miraculous Christ
Scripture Reading: Mark 4:35–5:43
Meditation
Miracles.
They display divinity. They manifest power. They demonstrate compassion. They destroy the works of the Devil, the corrupt world and the sinful flesh. The Strong Man, Satan, has come only to steal, kill and destroy but Jesus, the Stronger Man, has come to bring life and life to the full.
Over the course of a few days, Jesus stuns his world. First, he tames the rebellious natural realm. With three words,
“Quiet! Be still!”
… the winds cease, the waves flatten, and the sea is stilled.
Next, he hogties and humiliates the supernatural realm. He commands a legion of demons to come out of a shell of a man. For years they had possessed, imprisoned, and tormented this harassed and helpless soul. But now they have to obey Jesus. He casts them out and they rush into a herd of pigs, which run down a steep bank, dive into the lake, and drown.
Finally, Jesus reaches down into the realm of the dead and out to the walking dead.
Jairus comes to Jesus more as a father than a synagogue ruler. Finding Jesus, he falls at his feet. He pleads with him to come and heal his twelve-year-old daughter. Jesus goes with him.
But on their way, a sick woman in the crowd waylays Jesus. As he passes through the crowd, she sneaks up, reaches out and touches his garment. In return, his grace sneaks up, reaches in, and changes her life. For twelve years she has suffered but now she is free.
“Go in peace and be freed from your suffering!”
But as Jesus holds her hands, Jarius wrings his.
After she receives her miracle, they’re back on their way. But as they approach Jairus’ home the hope of a miracle is taken away. It’s too late. Jesus has taken too long. He has moved too slowly. The little girl is dead.
A father’s grief ignites a flurry of questions,
“Why didn’t Jesus heal my daughter?”
“Why were we delayed?”
“Why were we too late?”
They’re questions that rise up from a father’s greatest fear—the loss of a child. But in-between the mysterious delay of the pleading for the miracle and the receiving of it, Jesus says to Jairus,
“Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
He goes to the little girl, takes her limp hand, and says,
“Little girl, I say to you, get up!”
Immediately, she gets up and he gives her back to her parents.
Life in a sinful world is filled with impossibilities. Nature rebels. The supernatural revolts. The body breaks down, the emotions break up, and relationships break off. It’s a world full of grief, groans, and sighs. Sin and the Strong Man have sown their thorns and thistles into God’s garden.
The danger, as Jesus sees it, is that his world is getting used to sin’s status quo. The crowds have embraced and accepted the reality of depravity. Their lives have become corruptly content. They have elected not to expect the unexpected. They have chosen to believe that nothing in their life is going to, will, or can change. For them, redemption and re-creation and regeneration and renewal are ridiculous and unrealistic.
“Life is the way it is, so don’t get your hopes up. Don’t challenge the way things are. Settle for something less instead of hoping for God’s ‘immeasurably more’.” (1)
But Jesus doesn’t come to maintain sin’s status quo. He comes to challenge and change it. He wants to redeem and redefine it. He breaks the stupor of sin’s normality through miracles.
His miracles act as spiritual stimulants. They arouse attention. They excite, inspire, and inflame thoughts of what could be. They pique interest, prompt questions, and provoke emotions. They are God’s redemptive possibilities invading human impossibilities.
Miracles put the demonic bully in his place and remind us who’s the Strongest Man.
After a miracle, nothing and no one are the same. The demon-possessed man isn’t the same. The woman in the crowd isn’t the same. Jairus and his family aren’t the same.
The Miraculous Christ doesn’t reveal the reason why he calms one storm and allows another to rage. He doesn’t explain why he heals one, emotionally frees another, and relationally restores someone else, but doesn’t do the same for others.
He doesn’t give a reason; he just gives a revelation. He demonstrates that he cares. He proves that he is in control. He promises that he’s close.
Maybe that’s miracle enough.
Prayer
Father,
Through miracles, your Son revealed his divinity. He manifested his power and he demonstrated compassion. In the impossibilities of the helpless, the hopeless, and the hurting, he intervened.
He subdued the violent forces of nature. He vanquished a legion of demons. He loosened the grip of disease that had held a woman for twelve years. He conquered death. Through him, divine power invaded human problems and our impossibilities became his possibilities.
During this day, I want to know the person, the power, and the compassion of the Miraculous Christ. I want to know what he can do. I want to know what he will do. Above all, I want to know that he cares: cares enough to intervene in some miraculous way in my life.
In this day, may the Miraculous Christ say to me,
“Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
It’s in his name that I pray. Amen
Reflection
List the “impossibilities” of your life.
What miracle are you asking the Miraculous Christ for?
What miracles have you asked for in the past but didn’t receive?
What was your reaction? How did it affect your faith in the Miraculous Christ?
List the miracles that the Miraculous Christ has done in your life.
(1) “immeasurably more” a reference to Ephesians 3:20-21
All Scripture references in the meditation are marked by italics and are taken from the Gospel reading for the day (Mark 4:35–5:43). Those verses quoted outside of the chosen reading for the day are noted in parenthesis. All Scripture quoted on this site is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.