Joe Sardler had been blind for six years. His blindness was caused by atrophy of the optical nerve. One night Joe tripped over his dog’s dish which had been left on a step. Subsequently he fell down the basement stairs. As he fell, his head slammed against a wall--and suddenly, miracle of miracles--his vision was restored. All of a sudden Joe could see things he hadn’t seen in years, such as the face of his five-year-old daughter.
Can you imagine such an incident? Can you imagine how this event made him feel? People kept asking him, “How did it happen, Joe?”
Joe told them God did it. It was Joe’s firm belief that God used the dog dish and the basement stairs and the wall to effect his miraculous healing. He gave God complete credit. (1)
Joe’s experience and his interpretation of that experience remind me of something that Dr. Albert Einstein once said, “There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
Now I would not dare argue with Dr. Einstein, but there is a third alternative. Yes, everything in life is a miracle, but we need to leave room for those rare instances that occur every once in a while when something so extraordinary happens that there seems to be no other explanation than that God intervened in somebody’s life in a wonderful way and something that wasn’t supposed to happen did.
Do you know the story of Alcides Moreno? Dr. Craig Brian Larson tells Moreno’s story. He says that by every law of physics and medicine, Moreno should be dead. Moreno was a window washer on the towering skyscrapers high above Manhattan. He rode platforms with his brother Edgar high into the sky to wash the windows of those skyscrapers. From his perch he could look down to see the pavement far below where the people looked like ants.
However, on December 7, 2007, catastrophe struck the Moreno family. As the two brothers worked on the 47th story of a high rise, their platform collapsed, and the Moreno brothers fell from the sky. As you might expect, Edgar died from the fall. However, Alcides survived.
“If you are a believer in miracles, this would be one,” said his doctor. No, says Larson, Alcides didn’t land on a passing airplane, or catch his shirt on a flagpole, or have anything else amazing happen like you see in the movies; he fell the entire forty-seven stories to the pavement below. Somehow he survived this 47-story fall. For two weeks he hung onto life by a thread. Then, on Christmas Day of that year, he spoke and reached out to touch his nurse’s face. One month later, the doctors were saying that he would probably walk again someday. (2)
Do you believe in miracles? We desperately want to, don’t we?
Seven hundred years before the coming of Christ the prophet Isaiah was describing the age of the Messiah. He said that when the Christ came, “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy . . . .” (Isa. 35:5-6). Two of those prophecies are fulfilled in today’s lesson from the Gospel of Mark.
Mark tells us that Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
It’s interesting, Jesus didn’t heal this man in the way these people asked. Have you noticed that in your own life? God sometimes works in your life . . . but not exactly in the way you had specified? He didn’t put his hand on the man. Rather he took him aside, away from the crowd and put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. Then he looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to the man, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
Jesus commanded the man and those who were with him not to tell anyone about this miracle. But, of course, the more he told them to maintain silence about his mighty works, the more they started talking about them. People were overwhelmed with amazement at Jesus’ ability. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
People were amazed when they saw the things that Jesus did, particularly his acts of healing. He healed those who were in distress physically, spiritually and emotionally. And it makes sense that people were impressed. Medicine was very primitive in New Testament times. That is one reason life was very short. If you had a serious disease, where would you turn? You and I simply do not realize how fortunate we are to have the benefits of modern medicine.
And almost every day there are advances that we never hear of in such things as stem cell research, gene editing, and many other areas of medical knowledge that are revolutionizing the practice of medicine today. In fact, one expert says that the advances in medicine over the next two decades will be almost unimaginable.
For example, if you have liver failure in the near future, you won’t go on an organ donor list to wait on a new liver. It may be possible that a new replacement liver will be printed on a 3-D printer in a medical laboratory right there in your town--a liver designed especially for you. That day is getting very close according to people in the field. How about a replacement heart or lungs? We’re not there yet. But hang in there. The time’s getting very close according to the experts.
People in Jesus’ time could only pray for the miracles that you and I experience every day. They’re not miracles to us. We take them for granted--thanks primarily to the marvels of modern medicine. But people who lived in biblical times could not even imagine such advances. So when they discovered a man in their midst who could cause the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the mute to speak, and the lame to walk, they were astounded. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” People traveled for miles on foot to seek his help for loved ones or for themselves. And most of them were not disappointed.
I say “most” because physically Jesus, while he was encased in human flesh, could not be everywhere at the same time. He had compassion on those who sought him out but there were only so many hours in the day. Besides, it is obvious that healing the hurting was not his primary mission. His primary mission was to preach the good news of deliverance and healing for all people. But still he responded to people who were in need whatever that need might be. And he performed miracles--all kinds of miracles. But most significantly he performed miracles of healing. The question is, does he still perform such miracles today?
Some very devout Christians say, “No.” They say the day of miracles is past. You may know that both Martin Luther and John Calvin, the two great leaders of the Protestant Reformation, were in this camp. But many other Christians believe this as well. They cite Jesus’ words that his miracles were but signs affirming that he was who he said he was. And that makes sense too. We don’t have to witness his miraculous powers to believe he is the Son of God. We have our Bibles, which contain numerous eye-witness reports from people who were there when he healed the blind, the deaf, the lame and the mute. We don’t need to miracles to know that Christ is who he says he is.
And we do have the wonders of modern medicine. People are already living nearly twice as long on average than they did in biblical times. That doesn’t mean we will not still be at the mercy of forces that can destroy us. That doesn’t mean that many of us will not destroy ourselves.
Did you see the news report last winter that the average life span of adults in this country actually shrunk in 2017 because of the opioid epidemic? Insane! The number of suicides continues to grow as well. And of course there are those lives lost to gun violence. Just because many people are living longer than ever doesn’t mean that we will no longer pray for God to intervene in our lives or the lives of those we love from time to time. But it does mean that we will not be as vulnerable to sickness and death as people were when Jesus was teaching and healing. And it gives us the opportunity to rethink the ways in which God answers prayer.
There are two things we need to recognize about miracles of healing. First of all, we need to get rid of the idea that the more faith you have, the more likely it is that you will experience a miracle. Recently a radio pastor gave the best response I’ve heard to the question of faith and healing. The pastor was a wise, grandfatherly gentleman who has that calm reassuring voice that can melt all fear.
A lady on the broadcast, who was obviously crying, said, “Pastor, I was born blind, and I’ve been blind all my life. I don’t mind being blind but I have some well meaning friends who tell me that if I had more faith I could be healed.”
This was evidently causing this woman some distress. Not only was she blind, but some of her so-called friends were telling her it was her fault. If she just had enough faith, God would heal her.
The radio pastor asked her something that I felt was quite humorous and yet also right on target. “Tell me,” he asked this blind lady, “do you carry one of those white canes?”
“Yes I do,” she replied.
“Then,” said the radio pastor, “the next time someone says that hit them over the head with the cane; then say, ‘If you had more faith that wouldn’t hurt!’” (3)
What a wonderful statement. Healing is not proportional to our faith. Too many fine Christians have had guilt piled on to their already suffering bodies because people have told them that if they had more faith they would be healed. It is a lie! Some of the greatest Christians who have ever lived have suffered terrible deaths. And, of course, everyone is going to die sooner or later. Prayers are not answered according to the amount of faith we have.
We also have to recognize that most prayers do not lead to physical healing. Some of us don’t want to hear that, but it is true.
Most of us have known at least one person who has lain at death’s door, and people have prayed and prayed for healing, but physical healing has not come. Most of us are mature enough to realize that prayer isn’t a heavenly slot machine into which we pour our prayers and automatically the answer we desire comes out. If we could do that, there would be no need for faith. Faith is belief in the unseen. “Now we see through a glass darkly.” But that doesn’t mean that our prayers are unheard and unanswered.
Let me give you an example. Some time back, sociologist and pastor Tony Campolo was challenged by a friend to add a ministry of healing to his work.
Campolo decided to try it at a service in a church in Oregon. On impulse at the end of the service he announced to any who wanted to remain that they would be having a healing service. He warned them that they should not expect much, but he would be glad to pray with them, and anoint them with some oil that he had. Campolo was surprised when about thirty people stayed for this event. He prayed with each one individually, hearing all kinds of requests for deliverance, including many with physical illnesses.
Four days later he received a call from a woman who indicated that he had prayed for her husband in this service. Her husband, she said, had “had cancer.” Notice I said, “Had cancer.”
“Had cancer?” Campolo asked, wondering somehow if her husband had been cured.
“Yes,” she said, “He’s dead now!” Disheartened, Campolo listened further to her story. She recounted how prior to this event her husband was quite angry with God and unbearable to be around. Since the night of the healing service, however, he was different.
“The last four days have been the best days of our lives together,” the woman said. Then she added, “He was not cured but he was healed.” (4)
What a grand testimony. Those prayers did make a difference. Perhaps the anointing oils did as well. Healing did take place even if being curing from cancer did not.
This should say to us, never give up on prayer. God uses all kinds of means to offer help to His people just as Jesus used different means to heal people. Sometimes it is the prayer of a pastor. Sometimes it is just the presence of a loved one in times of crisis.
Nurse Susan M. Bottoms tells of the night she admitted a dying pastor to her hospital’s ICU. The man was at death’s door, and the doctor urged his wife to call in the family. The wife had a very special favor to ask of the hospital staff: could they arrange for her son, James, to visit his father? It wasn’t as simple a request as you might think. James was a convicted murderer serving a life sentence in the local prison. But the hospital staff pulled all the necessary strings to get James transported from the prison to the hospital. It was the least they could do for a man who was dying.
No one in the hospital that night could forget the sight of a desperately ill father joyfully hugging his wayward son. The two men clung to one another for a long time, enjoying every second of their brief time together. That night, after James returned to the prison, his father seemed to regain his strength. Within a short time, the pastor was discharged from the hospital. The man who had been lying at death’s door lived another year before passing away. (5)
Can anyone doubt that the sight of his son made a difference in this dying man’s recovery, however temporary? The human body is complicated. Healing may take place when the emotions are stirred. Healing may take place when a deep emotional wound has been cleansed. A word of forgiveness has been known to heal a broken body. All kinds of things can make a difference in whether we are healed or not--including prayer. Jesus healed people in many ways--physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Do you have someone who is experiencing a crisis in their life? Pray for them, but do it like a mature Christian, recognizing that God does not always work in the way we have specified. But God does work . . . and every once in a while a miracle occurs.
1. William H. Hinson, Faith, Lies, and the Opinion Polls (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993), p. 130.
2. PreachingToday.com. Source: “It Wasn’t All Bad,” The Week (1-18-08), p. 4. Cited by Keith Krell, https://bible.org/seriespage/12-tale-two-heads-romans-512-21.
3. Doc’s Daily Chuckles, docsdailychuckle-join@freegroups.net.
4. Tony Campolo, Let Me Tell You A Story (Word Publishing, 2000), pp. 34-36. Cited by Dr. R. Tim Meadows, http://www.tellicochurch.org/Sermons/060205.html.
5. “The Preacher and the Felon” by Susan M. Bottoms, R.N. in Nursing 2004, reprinted in Reader’s Digest, September 2004, p. 216.