It's a Miracle!

Jesus: Meet Him Again for the First Time  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  1:07:10
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There are times when I read through Scripture and at first blush I find myself more of a skeptic than a person of faith. I find myself among those who might see the miracles of Jesus as happy thoughts, fairy tales, and myth. Today’s passage is one of those passages that finds me in this space. And yet as I read carefully and put myself into the story I cannot stay in that mindset.
We often think of the people of the New Testament as a simple people, and indeed, they might be considered to be so in that they didn’t enjoy most if any of what we would call the modern conveniences. But these are not simpletons without life experience. In fact, when it comes to matters of life and death they were no doubt far better versed than most of us. In commenting on our Scripture today some have suggested that these people couldn’t really tell what “near death” was.
However, let’s take a moment to consider the context. How many people have you seen die? The average adolescent of the time would have seen more people die than most of us will see in our lifetime as our culture distances us from witnessing this profound moment. With that in mind, let’s read our Scripture for today as it tells of Jesus, miracles, life and death.
We’re reading from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 7, 1-23.
Luke 7:1–23 ESV
After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ ” In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

It's a Miracle!

Having considered the context of this scene, one can only conclude that these people understood what it was they were talking about. They knew what death was. They knew what near death was. Imagine going to a funeral procession and having the deceased sit up and begin speaking to you.
Who speaks to the dead in this way? What about the Centurion’s servant. Is this all myth? I would say without hesitation a resounding, “NO!” It’s not myth. They actually happened as recorded.
John the Baptist was in prison at this time, and his disciples reported these things to him. So he calls two of his disciples and sends them to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another.” When they are able to ask Jesus just as John told them to ask Luke tells us,
Luke 7:21 ESV
In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight.
Is that an answer? Jesus then answers them in the next verse:
Luke 7:22 ESV
And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.
That’s a powerful resumé, but more than that he is demonstrating that he is the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah. And one thing that is interesting in the way Jesus presents his resumé is how it reaches it’s crescendo not with what we would think would be the final thing, but with something else. Look at it again as it’s on the screen:
Go tell John what you have seen and heard:
the blind receive their sight
the lame walk
lepers are cleansed
the deaf hear
the dead are raised up
That’s where we would think he might end. Is there something greater? Apparently, because Jesus ends with...
the poor have good news preached to them.
That’s sort of an odd climax to what seems to be building. Each miracle seemed to get more and more spectacular, it would have seemed like the natural conclusion would be the resurrection.
So we must ask ourselves, could we be missing something? Let’s think back to our passage from two weeks ago in Luke 4. Jesus was in the synagogue and taking the scroll he read from the prophet Isaiah:
Luke 4:18–19 ESV
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And he concluded his reading in vs. 21 with
Luke 4:21 (ESV)
“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
At that point everyone spoke well of him, but in a few verses they would be ready to kill him, literally.
So there’s something here, isn’t there?
It is true that Jesus did a lot of great miracles. One only has to take a cursory look at the Gospels to see them: Water turned to wine, fed thousands with a few loaves and some fish, made the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, lepers are cleansed, and in our passage today we have a Gentile centurion’s servant brought back from the brink of death, and a widow’s son raised from the dead. And yet this resumé ends with the simple phrase: Lk 7:22
Luke 7:22 (ESV)
...the poor have good news preached to them.
So why the miracles?
The miracles again and again demonstrate who Jesus is. That He is the one that was promised, He is not only the one who can do all of these things, He is the promised Messiah, He is the Son of Man (a Messianic title) and He is the Son of God - which makes Him God with us today.
Dr. Paul Smith writes of the role of the miracles:
“They were a proof of the existence of this Person of Force beyond nature who could act within it. That’s good news! They revealed Him as the Power who could reverse the very forces of death and destruction that plague our world. That is certainly good news! And they revealed Jesus as the agent of that great reversal. Talk about good news!
“Anyone who came to Jesus would find [themself] in touch with the only Person or Power in the universe who could turn back the awful forces which continually preyed upon the bodies and spirits of the human race.”
The very source of life was with them, and abundant life at that. Yes, this is good news, indeed.
It’s easy to get distracted by the miracles, and to desire the miracles all the time. And if we were to think about it, to receive such miracles all the time would diminish the reminder of Jesus’ authority and definitely our dependence upon Him, we could do whatever we wanted with the knowledge that if we screwed up that God would intervene.
No, the miracles are not the ultimate in Jesus list of accomplishments, but instead it is “the poor have good news preached to them.” So this good news must have implications that reach far beyond this present situation, and of course we know they do.
Just as each commandment given to us in the Old Testament was meant to point us to God, Jesus’ miracles are meant to do the very same thing. The difference is that in Jesus’ miracles we have Jesus present, quite literally, in the flesh. God in our midst.
The good news is not the miracles. No, each one of those people would ultimately face death in this world once again. No doubt for some that death was sudden and for others it was drawn out and perhaps very painful, but the good news Jesus reminds us of is that this life is not all there is.
Truly, the final miracle that awaits those who have put their trust and dependence in the Lord of Life is eternal life. Life where there is no more death, tears or pain:
Revelation 21:3–4 ESV
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said,
Revelation 21:5 (ESV)
“Behold, I am making all things new.”
That really is the ultimate hope, isn’t it?
We are a praying congregation. We have had our prayers answered and I would even go so far as to say we have had miracles happen. Individuals diagnosed with critical cancer have seen it go into remission. A little girl born with severe heart issues is growing up as rambunctious as they come. And we have also had prayers that have not worked out the way we might want - cancer takes a loved one, mental health issues continue to plague those we pray for, I know my ear surgery did not turn out the way we’d all hoped.
And there-in lies the conundrum. Does the lack of God’s intervention equal the absence of God? Should we really believe God answers prayer?
The answers I believe come in Jesus’ life. In the Gospel of Mark we read that after spending a full day of healing Jesus got up early the next morning to pray. Upon finding Him Peter says, “Everyone is looking for you.” One can presume to heal and do miracles. But Jesus’ response is telling, come let us go to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came.”
The miracles much like the commandments are meant to be sign posts. Do I believe in miracles? ABSOLUTELY! But my reason is not because of what I want, but because I cannot help but believe in a living God.
Each day I have to thank God for the gift that is today. I recently read of a woman dying of cancer. When asked how she was doing she said with a smile, “Today is the best day of my life!” When asked how that could be so when she was so ill, she continued to beam and said, “because I get to see my family another day, to love and be loved, and enjoy all the richness that is in this created world.” That’s profound. It was a matter of perspective.
One ministry I worked for would describe it’s camp experience as “The best week of your life.” To which we often added “so far.” And it really was a phenomenal experience. Much of it was gaining understanding to the love of Jesus that would be presented throughout the week. It was also in just how loved the campers were while they were there.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kindgom of heaven.” That is good news.
And it’s all to the glory of God. Let me pray for you.

It’s a Miracle!

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