The “Power” of Miracles

This story of Jesus’ miracle of healing this woman comes in a series of other miracles which He performed (raising a girl back to life, calming a storm, restoring a demon-possessed man). This particular miracle however, has an interesting twist—it was an inadvertent healing by Jesus—you could almost call it a ‘passive’ miracle.

When Jesus asks His disciples, “Who touched me?”, Peter responds telling Jesus it could have been almost anyone in this huge crowd all pushing in on them. But Jesus persists, saying, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

That interesting aspect of this miracle was always fascinating to me as a child. I could almost picture it like a wizard or a scene from Harry Potter—with some electrical field around Jesus and when the woman touched His garment, she got the healing power. I’m sure that I’m on thin theological footing with that way of thinking about Jesus healing power, but His statement “I know that power has gone out from me.” is just really striking.

This miracle of Jesus became even more real and dear to me several years ago when my wife was diagnosed with a rare form of glaucoma—normally a disease for the elderly, but for Barb it happened in her early 40’s. A dear friend of ours, just prior to one of our trips to see the specialist at the University of Iowa, assured us that they were, “Praying for a miracle.” It was my wife’s immediate response which makes me think of this story from Luke—“I’ve already got my miracle—I live 5 hours from the world’s best glaucoma specialist and I have health insurance to help me afford the treatment.”

A few years later, Barb experienced again the ‘miraculous’ healing from Christ as she went through cancer treatments for Hodgkin’s lymphoma—and professed the same healing by having well-trained doctors and well-equipped medical facilities nearby and available to her. Most would consider such treatments and healings to just be ‘medical science’, but we consider them tangible ‘miraculous’ power distributions from Jesus—through His Kingdom servants and Kingdom institutions.

Barb’s faith helped put this into perspective for me—that God’s miracles in our lives can certainly be of the ‘active-type’ of direct intervention for healing; but also through various institutions and persons, God’s healing power also comes to us in no less of a miraculous fashion, albeit in a less dramatic and potentially more passive manner.

Prayer

Lord—thank You for the stories of Your various miracles in Scripture—which show us Your power and might—and build our faith in You. We also thank You for the institutions and persons You have created which bring healing miracles in our lives each and every day. May we put our confidence in You—when we access the miraculous medical care available to us—and not forget that You are the ultimate power source and giver of every good and perfect gift. Amen.