Have Faith, Miracles Happen!

 

FRI Evening Prayer Reflection 091120 (Job 31:24-40; John 11: 30-44)

It is hard to meditate on the book of Job but sometimes, I find feelings in Job’s life that are most common with us. In reading this passage, I had the impression that Job has good reasons to think he is not a bad guy. He was somehow asking in his own defense, “Have I ever done this? Then, I don’t deserve this suffering.” He enumerates the worst possible offenses which obviously he has never done. We all think this way too: None consider himself or herself a bad person. Job was right. He was not guilty of those things he said he didn’t do. Quite frankly, by our standards, Job would be considered a saint. But the question at hand here is: can anyone truly be free of sin and guilt without God? When we think we are innocent/sinless, then we find out quickly that we may be guilty of other things we were unaware of. Everyday we sin in ways we may not be aware of. Take Job’s example which he says he didn’t do: “Have you ever rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated you? Or exulted when evil overtook them?”

I remembered my days in High School. Our country was freshly entered into civil war in the early 90’s. It was announced that one of the chief rebels had been killed in battle. It turned out he was not killed by our country’s soldiers but by his own people: a friendly fire! Nevertheless, the whole country went into celebratory mode, we danced and were given time off to do that. Looking back, we thought it was the right thing to do. I can’t speak for slave owners or what feelings they had, but times do change and people learn to think for themselves instead of letting the authorities do “the thinking” for them.

When finally, we get it [that we have sinned and need forgiveness from both God and the offended party], we repent of that, which we were unaware of, and depend on God for forgiveness. I consider this a miracle when someone’s life change. Prisons don’t have the power to change anyone. People themselves can change only with the help of God. When change happens, it surely is a miracle. Nowadays we hear people spewing vitriol because, they are allowing the storms of this life to affect their inner selves…

We can change by the influence of the Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit, overwhelm our wills completely every moment of our life, I pray. This discussion of the miracle of life change brings our focus to another miracle of life in the Gospel according to John. It is the story of Lazarus coming back to life from the dead. I had a question about it. When did the miracle of bringing Lazarus back to life happened?

(1) Was it when Jesus told Mary: “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”, or (2) Was it when Jesus commanded Lazarus with a loud voice to come out? On close examination, it appears that Jesus was having a simple conversation with Mary. But really it sounds like a rebuke to me: Did I not tell you? Was it to wake up faith in Mary towards the miracle in the making? I am convinced that this is non negligible because time and time again, Jesus kept telling his disciples how powerful our faith is to change things. He said: “Ask my Father anything in my name, it will be given to you… If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would tell this mountain to move and be planted somewhere else…” Was Jesus appealing to Mary’s faith? Anyway, I am not implying that Lazarus couldn’t have come back to life if Mary didn’t believe, Jesus knew, her faith was important here. Your faith is important when it comes to any situation. Don’t doubt that!

Jesus commands Lazarus to come out. This is a miracle out of this world. Jesus is divine, his voice penetrates not only this world, but also the world under. If Lazarus was in the after world, he certainly listened to Jesus. Is there anything/ anyone who will not hear the voice of our creator? Jesus said: “unbind him and let him go”. This phrase is rather destined to us: it tells us to do as He says. I was drawn to think of people who are bound by horrendous situations, hopeless situations, deadly situations as we speak. We are asked to have faith, call them out of those situations [spiritually], unbind them and let them go… Jesus told us that if we believe, we would do more than what He did! Call someone out of gambling debts and addiction by faith…Say Come out!

Have faith, believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God! Miracles will happen! Be blessed today and forever!