Miracles and the Ways of God

Last updated on: January 16, 2019 at 7:09 am by Jack Hartjes

Miracles and the Ways of God 2019-01-16T07:09:27-06:00 Jack Hartjes

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A sign says, "There will be miracles."

One way or another, God will be acting.

Should Jesus have worked more miracles than he did? The atheist says, of course he should have. If he was God and if God is what Christians believe, Jesus could have cured every sick person in Palestine. Jesus said, if you have two coats, share with one who has none. The Church should apply the same logic to its God.

Twelfth in the series “Stories of Jesus and the Character of God.” In this series I probe what historical Jesus scholars can say about the humanness and the earthly career of Jesus. Beyond that historical research cannot go. The ultimate objective is to let this Jesus reveal the character of God. Contents and links to other entries in the series here.

The prevalence and persistence of suffering in the world, especially undeserved suffering, is a powerful argument for the atheist inside us. Jesus gave relief to suffering people by working some miracles, but not as many as, it seems, he could have. Why not?

Asking that question is thinking in terms of Jesus’ power. I doubt that Jesus thought that way. For Jesus it wasn’t “I can do this.” Rather, “This is what God’s Kingdom is like.” And, “Look, God’s Kingdom is beginning to make itself felt in the midst of this world’s kingdoms.” I think that would have been Jesus answer to anyone who asked him, “How did you do that?”

The ways of God

In the 21st century, we Christians have to think about how God’s Kingdom happens if we’re going to be part of it. We are among those disciples whom Jesus sends to cast out devils, heal the sick, and announce the good news of the Kingdom. We don’t have much hope of doing that without the help of the laws of nature, which science reveals. But with our understanding of nature, we can do some amazing things.

The science of medicine helps us cure diseases of the body. With psychology we cast out the devils of the mind sometimes. There are lots of other “devils” that we are less successful with, but we certainly are expected to work on them. And we certainly can if we wish. These are devils like poverty, war, discrimination, environmental destruction. And there are personal “devils” – pride, laziness, hopelessness. We know perfectly natural cures for all of these devils. In actions of people, some extraordinary and some just like ourselves, God’s Kingdom lives.

A religious person might attribute to God a healing that doctors can’t explain. But God’s ways are broader than that. We probably don’t think “miracle” when we think we know what procedures effected a cure, but maybe we should. If God can work through a chain of causes that we don’t understand, God can as easily work through one that we do understand.

The world is familiar enough with miracles of the first kind, the baffling ones. I don’t mean only the Christian world. The miracle phenomenon is well-known in many traditions. It would hardly be fitting for Christians to say only our miracles are real ones.

What is going on with miracles?

Imagine taking our scientific minds back to the first century and seeing Jesus cure Peter’s mother-in-law. That’s one of the more historically probable of Jesus’ miracles. Would we see something that we could easily explain or something that would amaze even us? Probably Jesus and his disciples had cures of both types. As witnesses to Jesus’ cure of Peter’s mother-in-law, trying to figure out what’s going on, we might go either way.

What is God doing in all these phenomena, the ones we call miracles and the ones where we believe God is only subtly acting? Is God a power in the universe in addition to and over-ruling the powers science investigates? Is the atheist right to argue that an all-powerful God should be working harder, performing more miracles? Another post will have something to say about power and God. For now, my suggestions are more general.

Maybe the way God works is less like power and more like what Jesus says about those who would rule—a servant kind of ruling. Maybe, to grab an image from a previous post, it’s like the way an artist rules a work of art or a storyteller rules a story. Again, God’s creative rule may be like the sun and the moon, the way they rule day and night. Or maybe it’s like the way humans are supposed, biblically and ecologically, to play their leadership role on earth. That would be cooperatively, not in a dominating way.

Believing in the Kingdom

Of those who saw Jesus in action, some believed in him and some didn’t. Faith isn’t much easier in one age than another. In the 21st century it helps me to know that the Bible’s miracles aren’t about a few impossible things that God could do and we can’t. The Bible doesn’t give us miracle stories to prove what Jesus can do. The stories (the fictions, the exaggerations, and the accurate memories) tell us what God and world are like. Jesus’ interpretation is something that can be meaningful for us even today, especially if we don’t feel a need to look for breakdowns in the laws of nature:

The Kingdom of God is upon us, catching us off our guard, invading our comfort zones, interrupting our lives!

Stories of Jesus

Previous Post

January 14, 2019

Power to the Powerless: Miracles and the Way of the World

Next Post

January 18, 2019 God, Pantokrator: What Does the Creed Say about God’s Power?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Christmas Amazon Synod Angels Being Consumed Bible Catholic Modern Creed Ecology Economics Elizabeth Johnson Eucharist Fragments and Filaments Gender and Sex Gospel of Mark Herzog Historical Jesus Liturgy Luke Opening Scriptures on Way to Emmaus Ordinary radicals Parables Pro-Life Reincarnation Rosary Sacraments science Social Justice Souls Stories of Jesus The Creed Torture and Eucharist Tracy Uncategorized War and Peace

Select a Month October 2026 June 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 November 2024 July 2024 March 2024 December 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz