In any discussion involving miracles there ought to be definition, some perception of differences in the practice of miracles, and what the matter means to present day activity and the Christian context. To many thoughtful persons, miracle is either a contradiction or a paradox. The word miracle is commonly used to cover ignorance. If something beneficial occurs in our experience that seems unexplainable we commonly report it as a miracle for us. It may later be discovered as natural. In medicine the unexplained remission for an illness may be the natural response of the body to some negative physical influence. The force of physical healing may be stronger than the force of the illness. I interpret such an event as the work of Providence in the natural environment. As demonstrated in Scripture, a miracle is an event palpable to the senses, but unexplained by any natural means – ever. If the Red Sea opened for Moses so to offer escape for Israel and closed so to swallow up the Egyptian army there is no other explanation than that it was a miracle. If Jesus and the Disciples gave sight to the blind and straightened leg bones, there were miracles. Even so, miracles in Scripture appeared most commonly during transitional periods in faith history as with Moses in the Egyptian experiences, or the prophets (Elijah and Elisha) in the spiritual decline of Israel and the flurry of miracles noted in the transition introduced by Jesus and the Disciples that changed the era for the west. The miracles of Jesus became so widespread to communities that when King Herod heard of opportunity to talk with Jesus, he moved rather quickly to do so – that he might see a miracle. (Luke 23:8)
There were single miracles here and there, but their influence was narrow in scope. God appears to be reluctant to perform miracles in lives because they become so controversial. As some persons would follow Jesus, or even Peter, to see a miracle would as likely become a stumbling block as an evidence of divine intervention in some matter. While Jesus’ miracles were verifying him to some persons, they served to raise questions about trickery to others. Was he practicing some tricks to mislead the people for his purpose? His largesse and power to suffering men and women likely contributed to the decision to crucify him. Further, to meet human skepticism but serve some need, a miracle may be muted. For example, some archaeologists argue that the drying up of the Jordan River, permitting Israel to pass over to the Promised Land dry shod, was the result of landslides upriver which created a temporary dam (which event has occurred several times) caused the temporary circumstances permitting Israel to cross over. If so the miracle was in the ordering of Israel’s journey so to arrive at the river bed at exactly the right moment. In all the discussion of the Shroud of Turin, I have great doubt that it relates to Jesus. In the biblical story the strip of cloth around Jesus’ head was folded separately from the shroud, and that separation convinced John that Jesus rose from the dead – something that both he and Peter did not believe, and Peter missed until John verified the evidence to him. They left the tomb believing Jesus was alive somewhere.
The Catholic Church declares persons to be Saints by title. One of the requirements for Sainthood is to verify a miracle related to the Christian man or woman candidate. The church tends to delay the declaration, even against pressure from membership, in order to verify a miracle event. It is likely that nearly everyone has had some miracle event in life, not known, but perhaps felt, that generates entirely from the care of God for his creation. The contexts of these are so well managed that they do not become controversial, unless pressed publicly by the beneficiaries. I don’t discuss the felt miracles of my life, even to my family, and concern for those who roll their eyes in hearing such reports. Without some miracles there would be no affirmative answers to many prayers. Even though miracle is perceived as an aid to faith in a practical world of verifiable evidence, miracle is not a necessity for faith. This is asserted even as we discuss the most important miracle of all time for mankind, the resurrection of Jesus. We may protest that other occasions of death, as in Lazarus, who had to die again. We might surmise how others may have survived a death experience to die again. Jesus experienced torture, death, and resurrection entirely on his own recognizance, and all that attached to meaning and redemptive life for mankind. He didn’t die again. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020