The Reason for the Miracle. Friday 26th Week Ordinary Time of the Year C
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Breakfast with the Word Friday 26th Week Ordinary Time of the Year C
The Reason for the Miracle
Luke 10:13-16.
Life is a miracle. Everything you have and you are is also a miracle. Where you are and the expectations you have achieved in life are all miracles.
Also, when an extraordinary thing happens in your life, it is a miracle. All those answered prayers and some unanswered prayers are miracles.
Someone may pray to have something but due to certain reasons God withholds it for their good or gives it a little time.
So, whenever God intervenes in your life, it is a miracle and these happen for a reason. There is the reason for the Miracle or the reason for the answered prayers that you are enjoying presently.
God does all these for you, not just for you to get excited about them. It is not for you to use them and make mouth.
God does not do it for you to intimidate others because of it, No. God does all these for a reason beyond all these.
So, let us analyze the reading a little bit.
Jesus and His Woes.
In today’s gospel, while talking to His disciples, Jesus expresses deep regrets against the cities where he worked great miracles. He says:
“Woe to You Chorazin! Woe to You, Bethsaida! for if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. And still, it will not go as hard with Tyre and Sidon at the Judgment as with you”.
Then He also says “And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell”.
The cities that Jesus mentioned are Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. We do not know much about Chorazin. But Bethsaida was the site of several miracles of Christ.
The Miracles of Bethsaida and Capernaum.
One of those miracles performed in Bethsaida was the restoration of sight to a blind man (Mark 8:22–26).
At Bethsaida, some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, He spits on his eyes and laid his hands on him.
It is also likely that the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 took place near Bethsaida (Luke 9:10–17). It is also noted that the miracle of walking on water (Mark 6:45–52) happened also in Bethsaida.
Jesus already sent His disciples ahead on the Sea of Galilee toward Bethsaida while He spent some time in prayer. Then late that night, a strong wind came and pushed the boat.
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In the midst of this, the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water. It was on His way to Bethsaida that Jesus walked on water.
2. Secondly, Jesus spends a lot of his earthly ministry in one village: Capernaum. The Old Testament prophesies that Jesus would spend much of his time there. He performed a lot of miracles in that area.
Luke records the miraculous catch of fish in Luke 5:1-11 which is in Capernaum when Jesus grants His would-be disciples the grace to catch a lot of fish.
In Mark 2:1-12, Jesus also healed the paralytic. The people were even amazed. They glorified God, saying ‘We never saw anything like this!”.
In Matthew 8:14-15, when Peter’s mother-in-law was sick, Jesus came to visit him and healed her. Even the woman with the issue of blood was healed at Capernaum in Mark 5:25-34. And many others.
After all these, the people still hardened their hearts to Jesus. The people refused to repent and believe despite the mighty deeds that were done in their midst.
So, when Jesus says “woes, alas” etc, Jesus expresses great concern and regrets over these cities. The reason is that they refused to repent, despite the mighty deeds that God did in their midst.
Woe or alas is an expression of deep regrets and feelings of distress over a great calamity. So, for Jesus, it is like a great calamity when these cities block and harden their hearts.
The Reason for the Miracle.
This helps us to understand that the reason for these miracles is not for the people to fill amazed.
It is not for them to start shouting the name of Jesus. The reason for the miracle is not for them to get excited about it.
The reason for the miracle is for them to repent and change their lives. It is for them to come close to Jesus Christ and trust him and believe in His words.
Therefore, when God does something for you, He is not doing it for you to get excited. When you read the testimonies of others, it is not for you to shout and claim it over and over again.
The reason for these is to draw you closer to God. This is the reason God is feeding you with milk because spirituality is not only about the glory, the testimonies and the crown, Christianity also involves the cross, the challenges, suffering and the dry moments.
Hence, the reason for the miracles, healings, answered prayers etc is for you to remember the things He has done, so that even in times of difficulties and challenges, you will remain strong, knowing fully well that your God does not disappoint.
Therefore, As you look at the mighty works that Jesus did for you, ask yourself if you are like those cities that experienced the mighty things He did, yet did not believe.
Also when things do not go well for you, do you still remember what He has done in the past? And what He is still capable of doing in the present?
So, the reason for the miracle is to make us closer to God. It is to keep our faith strong, repent of all our sins and still recognize the hand of God even when things do not go the way we want.
The reason for the answered prayers is for you to strongly believe and accept that God is real and that He is able. Therefore, we have to repent and come more close to Him.
May God help our faith.
May God bless you and give you the grace to stand strong in faith. He will never forsake you, Amen.
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