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Q.
Where are all the miracles today?
Craig Detweiler
A.
Prayers for miracles are most often invoked in times of sickness.
We pray for children battling the fl u, parents wrestling with cancer,
grandparents encountering Alzheimer’s. Sometimes our prayers
are answered in a pill, a shot, or surgery. Doctors perform miracles that bring
our loved ones back from the brink of death. Sometimes a patient will outlive
a diagnosis. They may bounce back unexpectedly in ways that defy medi-
cal explanation. A doctor may call the recovery “miraculous.” But it may not
make the news.
Jesus is known as the great physician. He battled all manner of maladies,
getting quite involved in people’s diagnosis and prescription for getting well.
We see his powerful healing ministry carried on by televangelists. The “show”
they put on seems to undercut the mystery and power of miracles.
Perhaps we don’t see or hear about more miracles because too many
Christians have made us too cynical. When we put God to the test in prayer, it
may put undue pressure on everybody.
David J. Lose
A.
Two things on miracles: First, I have a hunch that miracles are as
much about seeing as they are about doing. That is, I wonder if the
difference between biblical times and our own is what we count as
a miracle. Today, we tend to think about things scientifi cally, and so we only
defi ne something as a miracle if it appears to defy the laws of nature.
In the ancient world, a miracle was anything that revealed the presence
and activity of God. This is most apparent in John’s gospel, where he doesn’t
even use the word “miracle” but instead calls the amazing things Jesus does
“signs,” as they were pointers, or clues, to who and what Jesus was.
Second, I think miracles have a lot to do with expectations. Biblical
writers were not bound by a scientifi c worldview and they expected to see
miracles. Moreover, it was common to report and describe miracles with little
concern that one’s audience would be skeptical. We have a harder time imag-
ing miracles, and so not only do we not look for them, but we would probably
be hesitant to report seeing one.
We live today by the maxim “seeing is believing,” but the reverse was
truer of the biblical world: “Believing is seeing.”
Does this mean that what feels like a lack of miracles is our own fault—
that we are limited by our expectations? Not necessarily. But it does imply (1)
that our worldview shapes how we experience God, perhaps less through mir-
acles and more through an excellent sermon or moving hymn, and (2) that we
might be bolder in claiming the miraculous presence of God in the everyday