The Working of Miracles

Remember the story in Mathew 14, where Jesus fed 5,000 men, plus the women & children with them? That probably would have been well over 20,000. The disciples tell Jesus, “It’s late. Send the people away, so they can go buy something to eat.” But instead of sending them away, Jesus says, “You feed them.” And He provides food for all those people with little more than a Happy Meal. And makes a profit off it as well – they have leftovers for the next day.

Skip ahead to Matthew 15. I am not sure exactly how much time passed between these two chapters, but one would think that a miracle of the magnitude of feeding all those people, would have been imprinted on the disciples’ minds permanently. But it happened again. Again, the disciples ask Jesus to send the crowds away. Again, Jesus tells them, “You feed them.” And again, they fed, and had more left over than the amount with which they began.

How could they have forgotten about the first miracle? Even Jesus Himself later asks them, “Don’t you remember the previous miracle?

What if they really didn’t forget the first miracle? What if something else was bothering them? What if they were hoping that, instead of working a miracle, Jesus would simply send the crowds away.

Think about it. They had been there not all day long, but for three days. This was a conference!

If you have ever worked a conference or large event, you can have a little compassion on the disciples. They had been working with Jesus for three days. There were teaching sessions and healing sessions. All the while, the disciples were doing what good staff does. I imagine Simon the Zealot and Peter running security, John and the sisters keeping Jesus’ water bottle filled, and Judas, of course, was gladly accepting the donations! They were managing healing lines, keeping the crowds from becoming unruly, babysitting while parents were receiving ministry, and trying to keep their Master from overexerting Himself.

At the end of the third day, and in my opinion, being completely reasonable, they asked Jesus to send the people away. But no! He did it again. He said, “You feed them.”

All they wanted was a nice, quiet, relaxing dinner with the Master, a well-deserved perk. They remembered the last time He fed thousands of people with just a little; they remembered the work involved in serving all those people. Twelve men, serving 20,000-plus people. Then the clean up afterwards! Wow!

I can just imagine the disciples thinking, and maybe even complaining among themselves. “If He wants to do a miracle, then just do it. Why doesn’t He just speak, and have food appear in front of all these people?! Why do we have to serve them all?! This is NOT what I signed up for. I thought we were going to be training for a revolution, and all He does is teach love, and now this takes the cake! Now we have to serve all these people who should’ve had the intelligence to plan ahead, and bring some food with them. This is just ridiculous!”

Why DID Jesus involve them? Why DIDN’T He just POOF! Make the food appear in front of the people?

I don’t know. What I do know, is this -

1 Corinthians 12:10 mentions the “working of miracles.” That’s an interesting term. No matter which version you read, the word “miracles” itself tends to a connotation of “works.”

When Jesus healed the man with the withered hand, the man first had to stretch it out (Mat 12:13). When Peter and John healed the cripple outside the temple, he had to muster his faith and get up (Act 3:6). Remember the 10 lepers? They were healed as they went (Luk 17:14).

I don’t know WHY Jesus often required an action to precipitate a miracle, or why He STILL operates in the same MO.

Yes, I said STILL.

Jesus said that His followers would do the works that He had been doing (Jhn 14:12), and that miracles would follow believers (Mar 16:17,18).

If God STILL operates as He did in the life of Jesus and in the early church, why don’t we see more miracles? To make this a little more personal, why do I not see more miracles? Has God changed? No.

Then it must be me. I do not see more miracles, because I’m just too lazy or too busy or too scared to go “work” the miracles.

Too lazy. I like my recliner. Some days, after a long day at work, all I want to do is go home and sit with my feet up. After all, I deserve that, don’t I?

Too busy. I like staying busy. I have a job, a part-time job, a house to run. Sometimes I just don’t have time to go to someone in the hospital and work a miracle, do I?

Too scared. Fear. This is the big one. What if I do get over my laziness and my busy-ness, go to someone who’s sick, and say, “In the name of Jesus, be healed,” and nothing happens? Then I’ll look stupid, won’t I?

My challenge is to simply do what I’m supposed to do, as a believer, and let God handle the rest.

I am simply a conduit through which His power can flow. Nothing more. Nothing less.

My husband, Mark, & his cousin Barbara Tims, who was a
great woman of faith and a worker of miracles. May I be more
like she was!

Time to stop being too lazy.

It’s time.

Time to stop being too busy.

It’s time.

Time to stop being too scared.

It’s time.

Time to go WORK miracles.

Who’s with me?

Peace - Davina