This sermon is Part 1 of a Series The Power of Miracles
inspired by
Made for a Miracle: From Your Ordinary to God's Extraordinary
by Mike Slaughter
This past week has been a difficult one to process. Many of
us gathered here on Wednesday evening to contemplate our mortality and our need
to sit in the ashes of repentance for our sins and draw closer to God. We met even as the news was still
unfolding that 17 people in Parkland, Florida had been gunned down in yet
another school shooting. It made for a difficult night for me as each time I made the ashy mark of the cross on someone's forehead and said, "Remember from dust you came and to dust you will return" I thought of some parent in Florida learning all too well the truth of those words. I wanted to weep, I wanted to rage, I wanted to demand that
God provide a miracle. I wanted to demand that God bring healing to the
brokenness that leads us to these horrific pits of despair.
I went home after the Ash Wednesday service and I sat down and opened my bible and reread the scripture I had chosen for today. And I realized God has already provided the miracle I asked for... is all around us...and within us.
Our scripture today opens our eyes to the truth that God lays an important call upon those who follow Jesus. These two little verses of scripture may not seem like much at first glance but truly they have the potential to change the world.
Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. Luke 9:1-2
"Jesus called the twelve together." Who are the 12? They are his core
group of faithful followers. Jesus had many followers, both men and women but these twelve were his core group of leaders. This group included uneducated fisherman, a
tax-collector, a zealot (a modern example of a zealot might be a civil rights marcher, a revolutionary, a protester willing to fight for what they believe in), and at
least one verse says Judas was a thief and embezzler (John 12:6). We don’t know the
occupation of the others but I imagine they were from similar backgrounds,
unremarkably ordinary.
Who were the disciples? They were sinners, trouble-makers, laborers,
and ordinary men and women just like me and you. My point is, they were
very human, very flawed, very imperfect, marginally understanding and
fleetingly devoted and yet there are several extraordinary things that stand
out.
1. They tried very hard to be faithful followers; even
though most of the time they seemed to have no idea what they were doing.
2. They tried so hard and at times made such great progress
that they were forever changed and Jesus acknowledged that by giving them new
names: Simon became Peter (the Rock), Levi became Matthew (Gift of Yahwey), and
later Saul would become Paul.
What we learn from this is that devotion to following
Jesus can create a new identity for us. We can gain a new name for ourselves
based upon our faithfulness. I tend to refer to myself has having three lives because in each one I was such a different person. Each "life" brought a new
sense of transformation and while my name never changed my identity
sure did. Jesus has that effect upon people.
So, who were the disciples? They were ordinary, fragile,
sometimes foolish folks just like you and me who did their absolute best to do
what Jesus asked of them – hopefully just like you and me.
Yet, as our scripture points out today these ordinary, fragile,
sometimes foolish, yet devoted people were also called to be a miracle.
Jesus gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
These are things that up until now we have only seen Jesus
do but he now tells his disciples that they too are able to do these miracles.
As a matter of fact in the 14th chapter of John’s Gospel, he records
Jesus as saying,
“ Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these…”
Wednesday we are beginning a Lenten
Bible Study written by Mike Slaughter entitled Made for a Miracle and he points out that God calls ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things and
the key is making yourself available for God to use you to bring God's miracles into the world.
Slaughter goes on to show how Miracles always
have two components: Divine Intervention and Human Initiative. In other words, God’s actions in the world are accompanied by human participation. We can see this in the example of Moses. When Moses led the Hebrews away from Egypt and Pharaoh's army was in hot pursuit the people were greatly afraid. Their terror intensified when they ran
straight into the Red Sea – trapped. Exodus 14 records it this way...
13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”
Moses understands that the Hebrew’s
need a miracle to survive and he has all faith in the God of miracles so he
says, just stand still and wait, see how God will take care of this.
Moses, despite having seen God do some
fantastic things still doesn’t quite get it. He acts as if God is in the magic
business not the miracle business. Just stand here and wait to see what rabbit
God pulls out of the hat for us.
But God says this….
15 And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. 16 But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
I love this response from God. Why are
you just standing there? GO! Tell the people to move, lift up the rod, stretch
out your hand! It is as if to say, "Moses I know the people need a miracle to get out of this but you don't realize YOU are their miracle. I sent them YOU. I gave authority to YOU.
Jesus could declare healing with mere
words but then always came an action to be performed: Go, wash yourself in the
pool. Go, show yourself to the priest. Disciples lay hands and lift prayers.
Need to feed 5000? God can get it done but you better show up with the bread
and fish.
When God acts in
miraculous ways it is always accompanied by a human response. And that brings me back to my pain from Wednesday's events. We cannot afford
to be passive at every tragedy and simply keep saying “My thoughts and prayers are with you,” and then expect
miracles to happen as we sit back and do nothing. If we bother to actually pray God might likely respond with, “Why
are you calling out to me? You feed them! You heal them! You bring peace to the world!
If Luke understands that Jesus gives
his disciples authority over demons and to heal disease and if John understands
Jesus gives his disciples the ability to do even greater things than he, we can
begin to understand why these 12 ordinary disciples who struggled so many years
to get it right would almost all go on to do some extraordinary and miraculous
things. They were willing to follow Jesus and allow themselves to be used for
God’s miraculous purposes. Slaughter says it best when he reminds
us that God is not interested in our ability,
but God is very interested in our availability.
Brothers and sisters, are you available
for a miracle? Are you willing to put yourself out there so that God can use
you to bring acts of healing into the world? Are you available to help subdue
the demons that seek to destroy communities and households and our precious children and their teachers?
Friday I picked up my three month old granddaughter and
babysat for the night. At 6 am as we sat by a warm fire and watched the sunrise
all I could think about was the miracle needed to make this world a safe place
for her: a place where I don’t have to worry about her being abducted into the
sex trafficking industry; a place where I can watch her go off to her first day
to Kindergarten and not have to wonder if she will come home at the end of the
day or if she will be gunned down by some broken, or mentally ill child or young
adult with access to an assault weapon.
I beg God for that miracle not just
for my granddaughter but for yours and every other child on this earth. I beg
for that miracle and then I open my bible and I see it plain as day – God
has already declared the miracle of peace – God has already declared the day
when weapons are flattened into plowshares – God has already sent his son, the Prince of Peace, and
forgiven our sins – God has already achieved the Miracle! So if I’m going to be
a faithful disciple and make myself available for the carrying out of that
miracle then I have work to do…and so do you. If we want the miracle of peace –
it is time we make it happen. The miracles of God are indeed all around us and if
you are having trouble seeing where then go home and look in the mirror! The miracle may be you. Who is to say you weren’t made for a such a
time as this?
