When Miracles Test Belief

 Last Sunday we heard about Jesus calming a storm. In this Sunday's reading from Mark 5:21-43, Jesus heals a woman and raises a child from the dead. 

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

  While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

What are we to make of these miracles? All too many people these days dismiss them as myths or misinterpretations of what actually happened. People cannot believe that any person could perform such feats. 

I find that people who believe in an omnipotent God are much more willing to accept miracles than those who either believe in a god of limited power and interest in intervening in human affairs or who do not believe in God at all.

I think therein lies the crux of the problem with people accepting Jesus as God's son, and that is a theology gap. 

Let's consider theology, 

Theology is the study of God, God’s character, God’s actions in relation to the cosmos, and especially God’s relationship to humanity (the character and history of humankind) in its responsive relationship to God within the panorama of the world and history, space, and time. (Grace Theological Seminary)

 Those who study the God of the Bible, Jesus of Nazareth, his resurrection, and the Acts of the Apostles who died refusing to deny that they were witnesses to that miracle, usually come to the conclusion that anything, even miracles, is possible when talking about God. 

Even that Jesus was God's son.