What Do You See?

 

I do not know about you, but after any miracle story of Jesus, I ask myself do I really believe he did that?

 

The story of the raising the Widow’s son is no exception.  Picture yourself there.  There is a funeral procession and Jesus in the midst of weeping, sees the poor widow who has lost her only son.  This is not just a parent loosing a son—if that wasn’t bad enough. 

 

It is a widow losing her livelihood.  Because without a husband and without a son there is no way that a lady can get the food that she needs to survive.  She will need to depend on charity and beg for whatever she needed.

 

Being a childless widow was just about the worst fate imaginable in the Jewish world.

 

This woman is crying for her lost son, but she is also crying for herself.  How will she be able to make it?  How will she be able to survive?

 

Jesus has compassion and stops the funeral procession and commands the young man to get up.

 

What great compassion Jesus shows. 

What great power Jesus shows.

 

There is an incredible parallel to the Elisha story.  The town of Nain just happens to be three miles northeast of Shunem, where the miracle of Elisha took place.  The close proximity would be making the parallel between Jesus and Elisha very clear to the nearby crowd and to the first century listeners.  The parallel comes out in the acclamation: “A great prophet has risen among us!”

 

So we have a fantastic story.  When I say story, I do not make any judgment about the facts.  It is just a good story. 

We have a great story teller in Luke.

We have 40 or so years before this story is written down.

 

We don’t have any collaborating sources - this story is not repeated anywhere else in the bible. So, we have this book of the Bible, this author, and this story and our faith.

 

Did this story happen?

 

I get asked frequently, especially when someone meets me for the first time, “Do you believe in miracles?”

 

Somehow people may feel that a Pastor may be a good source of information on such issues like miracles.

 

I do not want to project my faith or lack of faith on anyone, but let me say, yes, I do believe in Jesus’ miracles.   But let me say that I do not believe in all the miracles stories equally.  But generally speaking, with my inherent degree of skepticism, I believe Jesus preformed acts that defied nature.

 

I would like to share the root of my perspective on this—not because I want all of you to have the same approach, but to have us have a better understanding that we all come to faith differently. And that we can learn from each other where ever we are on our faith journey.

 

Some of you have the gift of faith that accepts the whole bible.  You accept the bible from cover to cover.  From your perspective, you need to read it and understand it and if you do, God’s word will be revealed to you.

 

I need to be honest with you.  I have not been gifted with the faith of accepting the whole bible like that.  While some may think that is a spiritual flaw, it just means that I need to work harder to get to an understanding of God.

 

This is consistent with how I engage anything in life.   Reading, learning, or even traveling: I  question and I have a curiousness that would make a cat die young.

 

The reason I have come to believe in miracles is the second part of this text, Jesus exchange with John the Baptist disciples.

 

For me, these few sentences are the most important lines in the whole four gospels.

 

Let me explain why.

 

First, their origin.  The exchange between John’s disciples and Jesus are believed to be part of an independent source—an earlier source then Luke.  Luke used this source as did Matthew (Matt 11:2-6).  Biblical scholars call this source Q, which stands for Quelle or source in German. 

 

This source, Q, is believed to be a group of sayings—not stories—just the saying of Jesus.  These sayings are considered to be part of the earliest of Christian traditions.

 

Second, the setting is that John is in jail. He hears what Jesus is doing and sends his disciples to ask Jesus if Jesus is “The one who is to come.”

 

The statement of “The one who is to come” is important.  Each Gospel writer has their own Christological titles for Jesus as they try to convince the hearer that Jesus is God.  This statement is void of these titles, meaning that the author didn’t change them and that John was not presuming Jesus to be something in particular and not jumping to any conclusions—other then are you “the one” who is to come?

 

Jesus doesn’t tell John’s followers that he is the prophet, messiah, the Christ, or their savior.  This is so perfect.  He tells them to tell John what they see and interpret what they see for themselves. Jesus holds himself to their scrutiny.

 

Jesus says the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.  Now, this text is not just in Luke, it is Matthew too. 

 

And the disciples of John don’t argue.  They don’t say, “I didn’t see that? Or when did you do that?”  They knew it happened.  They saw it.

 

So the lack of debate implies that Jesus miracles are accepted by John’s followers.

 

But the last line is important to.  Blessed is anyone (Jesus is referring to John) who takes no offense at me.  How can anyone take offense at someone who is giving the blind their sight, making the lame walk, cleaning lepers, having the deaf hear, and raising people from the dead?

 

The offense is if John was hoping for someone else!

 

Jesus blesses John and then a critical part: There is no reply.  The story with John does not have an ending.  If the Gospel writers wanted to be more convincing or a polished story, they would have added that John believed when he heard his disciples.  But they didn’t.

 

So the context of the “Q” source, and the nature and purity of this honest exchange leads me to believe that Jesus did do the things that he is asking John’s disciples to evaluate.

 

Can you see how these words can be very revealing?

 

So where does that leave all of us this morning.   When someone asks if miracles are true, I don’t try to tell them—it would take too long to explain.  I simple ask them what Jesus was asked when he was questioned by John’s disciples.

 

What do you see?

 

I see airplanes flying into buildings killing thousands of innocent people OR do I see thousands of people come together to help each other in unprecedented kind and generous ways.

 

I see the cold wall of communism circling Berlin separating people OR do I see the walls of hatred and confinement come tumbling down without one shot being fired.

 

I see sickness and death all around.  Or do I see the courage and the gift of life passed from a hospital bed to the family around them.

 

What do I see?  I see Jesus trying to find a way to raise us all up.  I see Jesus today living the compassion and power of this story. 

 

I see things that I don’t understand.  But I also see some things that I discern as the presence of God in our world.

 

So yes, I believe in miracles.  I believe that God walked the earth and was human and divine at the same time.

 

Yes, I believe that Jesus lived and died for us so that we can have eternal life with him.

 

Yes, I believe that it is not too hard to meet people—even doubting people-- where they are at and share with them our disappointments, our wonder, and our amazement of Jesus’ compassion and power as he walked the earth and his power and compassion present in our world today.

 

That is what I see, how about you?  What do you see?