What Do Miracles Look Like Today?
By Michael Cariño
Two patients with stage-four cancer received two different types of miracles from God. The first patient was cured of the horrible disease. His family rejoiced and thanked God for this miracle. But the man went back to his old ways of debauchery, drunkenness, and moral decadence. He spent the remaining years of his life in misery, hated by many.
The second patient received no cure from cancer. But something beautiful happened in his character. As he battled with this excruciating disease, the once egotistical, abusive, and angry person became humble, kind, generous, and compassionate. The impossible happened. His friends had a difficult time recognizing this brand-new person. His family rejoiced and thanked God for this miracle. The cancer stayed, but he lived his final weeks with gratefulness, loved by many.
Miracles and Spiritual Lenses
Both miracles are the powerful work of God to bring about what is humanly impossible. However, it is interesting to note that even if the second miracle seems more profound, it is the first miracle that is more sought-after. Sometimes, the miracles of God are hidden in plain sight. It just depends on the spiritual lens we use in order to see how God is working powerfully in our midst.
A miracle is generally defined as an extraordinary and often inexplicable event that is considered to be caused by a divine power or supernatural force. It typically refers to occurrences that defy natural laws, seemingly beyond human understanding or scientific explanation.
It is sad but true that society is plagued with deceptive forces that produce counterfeit miracles disguised as divine. However, these demonic activities do not invalidate the truth that God is still doing miracles in our world today. Moreover, while it is also true that the spiritually astute believer may see the unnoticeable mundane tasks of daily life existence as miraculous in themselves (e.g. the birth of a child, the kiss of a lover, the beauty of a sunset, the poetry of peach blossoms, the aroma of good coffee, etc.), we recognize that there still exists today spectacular powerful events that are beyond-the-natural, which defy rational explanations even in our postmodern world.
As Christians, it is our spiritual lens that serves as a map by which we steer through life. This helps us see things that others do not see, and stirs in us a desire to understand how God works. More than knowing the truth, there is also an aspect of faith that brings illumination — realizations, insights, and awakenings that lead us to see Christ’s miracles in our lives and in our world.
Miracles of The Inner Life
In the Gospel of Mark, we see a plethora of miracles that Jesus Christ displayed: (1) physiological miracles such as healing people with evil spirits or mental illness (Mark 1:21–28; 5:1–20; 7:24–30; and 9:14–29) and people with physical illness — skin disease (Mark 1:40–45); paralysis (Mark 2:1–12); hemorrhagic sickness (Mark 5:25–34); deaf mute (Mark 7:31–37); blind (Mark 8:22–25); etc.; (2) geophysical miracles such as calming the storm (Mark 4:35–41) and walking on water (Mark 6:45–52); and (3) inner-life miracles — people who had moral turning points, such as from greed to generosity (Mark 2:13-17), hopelessness to gratefulness (Mark 14:3-9), confusion to confidence (Mark 8:29), doubt to faith (Mark 15:39); etc.
A case can be made that humanity’s greatest need today in the twenty-first century is what we call “inner-life miracles”. Seeing the miraculous Christ powerfully at work in our egotistic attitudes, our troubled marriages, our embittered unforgiving hearts, our sexual addictions, our psycho-emotional wounds, our manic depression, our relational brokenness, etc., these types of miracles are like signposts that point people to the God who heals relational wounds and who breaks emotional bondages.
Miracles and Relational Discipleship
All the miracles of Jesus are powerful works of God. Their overall impact was intended for people to recognize His divine authority as Messiah and His kingdom’s supremacy over the empires of this world. Ultimately, the greatest miracle of Christ is His resurrection from the dead. This truth shapes our belief — that in the resurrected Christ, our forgiveness is settled, our faith is sure, and our future is secure.
The miracles of Christ in the Gospel of Mark also shape our own discipleship — i.e., what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. They become enriching conversations on how we do relational discipleship.
First, the miracles of Christ occurred in RESPONSE to human need. A woman is sick, she is healed. A child is demonized; she is delivered. The disciples fear that they will drown, and the storm is stilled. The crowd is hungry, the thousands are fed.
Second, the miracles of Christ occurred to REVEAL the inclusive nature of the kingdom Jesus preached. Outsiders to Israel, such as a leper, a hemorrhaging woman, or gentiles (non-Jews), are included.
Third, the miracles of Christ occurred to REVERSE what makes people unclean. Unlike the strict Jewish purity regulations during His time, Jesus does not get contaminated by the impurity He touches. Instead, His own holiness is contagious. Lepers are cleansed. Evil spirits are overcome.
Yes. The eyes of our faith allow us to see the miracles of Christ still happening today in our generation. We can see that the kingdom Jesus teaches is an inclusive, all-embracing, restorative, compassionate, and victorious kingdom.
As followers of Jesus, He calls us to do a quality of discipleship that relates to where people are and that brings them closer to God. Christ invites us to become His hands and feet as He continues to do powerful miracles in our world today. When we live as the body of Christ, we have the privilege to work together with God to bring about the miracles that broken, wounded, rejected, empty, and lonely people need.