SERMON ON MIRACLES OF JESUS

Jesus' miracles reveal his identity

First, Jesus' miracles reveal his identity.

This is the big theme controlling Luke's organization of the material. In the disciples' words of verse 25, Who is this?

Ironically, the demons were in no doubt. In verse 28, they call him, Jesus, Son of the Most High God 

And the Gentile former demoniac seemed pretty clear. Look at the lovely parallel in verse 39. Jesus tells him, Return home and tell how much God has done for you. So the man went away and told all over the town how much Jesus had done for him.

In short, Jesus does things that only God can do.

Psalm 89 says, O Lord God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O Lord, and your faithfulness surrounds you. You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.

King Canute, the 11th century king, got this. In the famous story, Canute set his throne by the sea shore and commanded the tide to halt and not wet his feet and robes; but the tide failed to stop. Canute leaped backwards and said "Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws." He then hung his gold crown on a crucifix, and never wore it again. God created those eternal laws; only he can subvert them to perform miracles.

Similarly, who else in the entire history of the world has been able to order demons around, able to heal at a touch, or able to restore life with a word?

Only God can do these things. The miracles of Jesus reveal his deity. He is God in human form.

Jesus' miracles reveal God's kingdom

Second, Jesus' miracles reveal God's kingdom.

To demonstrate his mastery over all of creation, Jesus could have done it by destroying: how spectacular it would have been if he'd commanded a volcano to erupt, or an asteroid to smash into the temple. How spectacular if he'd sent the Roman army mad with demons. How spectacular to inflict boils on all the Pharisees. How spectacular to strike Pontius Pilate down with a word.

But Jesus' miracles have no whiff of the destructive about them. In every case he chooses to bring order instead of chaos, he chooses to heal instead of harm.

In this way he shows us what God's kingdom is like.

You see, the creation we live in is like a wonderful, bright painting that has been obscured by a think layer of dirt and grime. We can just about make out the underlying picture, but it is faint, and our world is full, not of brightness, but darkness and evil.

What Jesus does in these miracles is punch a few holes through the grime so that we can see a speck of the glorious picture underneath. In Jesus' miracles, we catch a glimpse of creation ordered, so that never again will 200,000 people perish in an earthquake. We catch a glimpse of evil banished forever. We catch a glimpse of a world where there is no more death or mourning or crying or pain.

For now, it is only a glimpse. The miracles are down-payment and guarantee of Jesus' promise to return and bring the kingdom in full; to wipe away all the grime and restore the picture in all its glory. He can do it; he will do it.

Those who receive the miracles

The third observation I want to make is about those who receive the miracles.

In each of the cases we've seen, the recipients were desperate. There was no human means by which they could be helped. They had reached the end of the road: Jesus was the only hope they had left.

This applies equally to the disciples about to drown, the helpless man possessed by a legion of demons, the bleeding woman whom no-one could heal, the grieving father whose daughter was dying. All were desperate, they had nowhere else to turn.

So we learn that Jesus helps the desperate.

But it's not enough simply to be desperate. The other thing they have in common is that all of them came to Jesus. The disciples may not have had much faith, but they had enough to make them wake their Master. Even the demon-possessed man came to Jesus: apparently enough sanity prevailed that he came out of the tombs to meet Jesus on the shore. The woman forced her way through the crowd just to touch him. Jairus fell at Jesus' feet and pleaded with him to come.

These miracles were done for desperate people who cast themselves on Jesus as their only hope.

It's worth noticing that these seem to be the only important qualifications. In other respects, the recipients are a thoroughly mixed bunch: from Jesus' close friends, to a Gentile man, to a poor unclean woman, to a prominent leader of the synagogue. Jesus doesn't discriminate according to who you are: anyone can be desperate; anyone can come to him.