Is There a Short Supply of Miracles?

Matthew 4:23-25

Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues. He announced the good news of the kingdom and healed every disease and sickness among the people.  News about him spread throughout Syria. People brought to him all those who had various kinds of diseases, those in pain, those possessed by demons, those with epilepsy, and those who were paralyzed, and he healed them.  Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from the areas beyond the Jordan River.

Jesus has moved to Galilee, called his first disciples, and now, he begins to show his disciples this kingdom He proclaims looks like.  Sickness is healed, pain is relieved, and demons are cast out.  These are the signs of the kingdom and people are taking notice.  Not only that, they are telling others about it.  This word-of-mouth campaign spreads quickly and spreads far.  The crowds are getting larger every day.

Matthew notes that the people coming to Jesus are, for the most part, because they want something.  They are sick and need healing, they are in pain and need relief, or they are tormented by demons and need deliverance.  They aren’t coming for a good sermon (although they will get one soon).  They aren’t coming because they want a deeper faith.  Most are there because they have a need and their hope is that Jesus is the answer for which they have been waiting. 

This is still the case.  Most people who first come to Jesus come because their hope is that Jesus has something that they are missing.  They need a miracle and they have heard that Jesus is in that business.  And despite the general feeling that miracles are less numerous these days, quite the opposite is true.  The miracles we witness in the gospels were all performed by one person in one isolated part of the world over the period of three years.  Most scholars count approximately forty distinct miracles that Jesus performed in the gospels.  Of course, there are allusions to many, many more.  So just for argument sake, let’s say that for each distinct miracle listed, Jesus performed one hundred more that are never mentioned.  In three years, that would bring the total to four thousand.  That’s quite an impressive number!

However, over the last three years, I personally have witnessed at least half a dozen miracles.  I know people who are well who by all medical accounts should be dead.  I know of one person who reports that she was dead and on her way to heaven when Jesus brought her back to life in the hospital room she was in at the time.  I also personally know of people brought back from madness (people who would have been classified and demon-possessed in Jesus’s day) to sanity and peace and they credit Jesus with their deliverance.  This is not to mention the dozens of other miracles that I have seen that others try to explain away as “coincidences.”  So, I, one person can point to at the very least six miracles over the last three years.  I wonder what the total would be if we polled all of the approximately 2.3 billion Christians.  Let’s just say that each Christian could only point to one miracle in three years.  I think you see where I’m going with all this math. 

Jesus’s ministry is still meeting thousands of people at their desperate need each day.  The reports of these miracles generally don’t rise above the noise of our 24/7 news cycles.  But the news is still spreading quickly and far.

Question:  Do you believe miracles are more numerous today or in Jesus’s time?  Why or why not?

Prayer:  Lord, forgive our doubts about Your willingness to bring miracles to those in need.  Increase our faith and help us spread the news of Your kingdom to those who need it desperately.  Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Pray for things today that you have long since given up hope would ever happen.

Song:  I Need a Miracle – Third Day