Miracle
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Traditionally defined as an event which departs from the fixed or natural order of events.
Miracles stories include healing stories (where a person is healed of a physical ailment) and nature stories (where an event, contrary to what might be considered 'normal', occurs).
They feature a predictable structure:
Examples of miracle stories include:
Don't forget! Miracles indicate that Jesus was not an ordinary person; he was something quite extraordinary, capable of doing things far beyond human capacity. For the Gospel writers whose work we read, they indicate that Jesus was the Messiah, God in human form - the incarnation of God.
We are invited to take what the Gospel writers have said and understand the miracles in that sense: to accept that Jesus was God; fully human and fully divine. But if that is all we find in the accounts of Jesus' miracles we miss seeing their insight for us today: how we might be blind; how we might feel that we are cast in a boat being blown by the wind; how we might yearn for nourishment and feeding.
We can accept the miracles at a literal level and affirm belief that Jesus was the Christ AND we can look for meaning in them which shines a light on our present day, asking what these passages still have to say to us now.
Miracles stories include healing stories (where a person is healed of a physical ailment) and nature stories (where an event, contrary to what might be considered 'normal', occurs).
They feature a predictable structure:
- Setting
- Problem revealed
- Cure
- Result
Examples of miracle stories include:
- Cleansing of the lepers Lk 17:11-19
- Feeding of the 5000 Lk 9:10-17
- Miraculous catch of fish Lk 5:1-11
Don't forget! Miracles indicate that Jesus was not an ordinary person; he was something quite extraordinary, capable of doing things far beyond human capacity. For the Gospel writers whose work we read, they indicate that Jesus was the Messiah, God in human form - the incarnation of God.
We are invited to take what the Gospel writers have said and understand the miracles in that sense: to accept that Jesus was God; fully human and fully divine. But if that is all we find in the accounts of Jesus' miracles we miss seeing their insight for us today: how we might be blind; how we might feel that we are cast in a boat being blown by the wind; how we might yearn for nourishment and feeding.
We can accept the miracles at a literal level and affirm belief that Jesus was the Christ AND we can look for meaning in them which shines a light on our present day, asking what these passages still have to say to us now.