Do You Believe in Miracles? – August 21, 2022
Psalm 27:1-6, Acts 12:1-19
August 21, 2022
Do you believe in miracles? And where have you heard that question before? I’ll never forget one instance where I heard those words! Because they were the final words of Al Michaels in the last seconds of the USA/USSR ice hockey game in the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid.
Do you remember that? He yelled those words in the last 5 seconds of that famous game! I remember that I watched it in my dorm room in Seminary on my 13” black and white TV! That TV had an “X” on the side of it in black tape, because that’s where I knew I could hit it if the picture went all sideways on me! Hey it was 1980! In those days they were just starting to tell us that someday we were going to have TVs with thin screens that we would hang on our walls like pictures. We were like, “No way!”
Well, people were saying “No way!” about the USA hockey team that Friday afternoon in 1980. And yet the miracle happened. I hope you all saw the movie version of that story with Kurt Russel as coach Herb Brooks. It was very well done! (They actually did a movie for TV in the ‘80’s with Karl Malden playing Herb brooks. But I never saw it.)
But apart from Ice Hockey, do you indeed believe in miracles? Think about it. Think about medical miracles. Since the time of Jesus, and actually long before that, there have been stories of miraculous healing. And since then, there have been “faith healers” of all kinds. And yes, there are stories of tumors miraculously disappearing, and people being spontaneously healed in other ways. And those have always been fascinating to me. But as you know, I also like to talk about the miraculous ways we have been created, with healing capabilities built into our very design! And I also like to talk about medical miracles in terms the amazing things God has given humans the skills to do! I could talk about my Lasik surgery all day long!
But even with all the stories about miracles. It’s still hard not to be skeptical sometimes, isn’t it? Things that just don’t seem possible, are still somehow hard for us to believe. We all feel that way sometimes, I know. We say we believe, but there’s this skepticism within us that’s still hard to deal with.
Today we have the story of a miracle which was hard to believe when it happened. It was hard to believe for the people involved – even though they had witnessed many miracles during the ministry of Jesus. And again, that hadn’t been all that long before this story. And they were seeing more miracles in those early days of the church. And yet this miracle was hard to believe, even as they were praying for it to happen!
This story started with our old friend Herod. And when we think about the persecution of the church by the Romans, we often think of the really nasty guys, guys like Nero and Vespasian and Domitian. (He was a really nasty guy!) But here we have our old Buddy Herod. And he was starting a time of persecution of his own! Last time we saw him was at the trial of Jesus – which again, wasn’t all that long before this! If you remember, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, thinking his case was in his jurisdiction, and hoping he would handle the whole thing. But when Herod couldn’t get Jesus to say or do anything, he sent him back to Pilate.
By the way, the Herod here is thought by scholars to be Herod Antipas, who was son of another Herod, the one who the Wise Men dealt with at the time of Jesus’ birth, some thirty years before this. If you remember, he was the one who had all the children in the region under the age of 2 put to death, in an attempt to eliminate this newborn “King of the Jews.”
Well, this son of his wasn’t much better! In the beginning of this chapter, he had James killed with the sword, and he saw that that “pleased the Jews.” So, whether for his own popularity, or because of his own dislike of the believers, he went after the other early leaders of the church, the most prominent of which was Peter.
So, he throws Peter into prison – a place with which Peter is not unfamiliar. He’s been in prison several times already in Acts. And we’re here told that the believers were all together praying for him. They were at the home of Mary, who was the mother of John, whose other name was Mark. And that may have been the man who wrote the Gospel of Mark! Do you see how this all fits together?
So, this angel comes to Peter in prison and rescues him. And I love how he says, “Hurry, Peter. Put on your coat and your shoes, ‘cause we’re bustin’ out of this joint!” Well, it was sort of like that… Anyway, Peter shows up and knocks at the gate of the very house where the believers were praying for his release. And as the story goes, this woman named Rhoda, who went to the gate, didn’t open it. She didn’t let him in. She left him standing there. And she went in and told the others. And they didn’t believe it could be Peter. One of them said, “You’re crazy! You must have seen his angel – his ghost!” (And by the way, for Peter to have been executed by Herod already was a very real possibility!)
I once heard a sermon about this, where the preacher suggested that sometimes it’s hard for us to believe the answers to the very things we pray for! This woman left Peter standing at the gate, and went and told the others, and none of them believed her! And if you remember, disbelief was the “order of the day” on that first Easter morning. None of them believed what the women who went to the tomb were saying! (What was with them, not believing women in those days?!)
So, our difficulty in believing in miracles puts us in good company, to say the least. And I think it’s good to remember that. Because sometimes we feel like there’s something wrong with our faith if we’re skeptical or disbelieving. I think we need to remember that that’s part of our nature.
And when that happens, I think it’s also important that we don’t get mired in our disbelief! We don’t nurse it. We do something about it! Remember the words the man said after Jesus healed his child. “Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief!”
That’s a great prayer, isn’t it! And what it tells us is, yes, there are times we’re skeptical, but we don’t just give up. We do something about it! We pray more. We read God’s promises more. And we remember that we’re on a path – a journey – to greater belief! We’re not just sitting beside the road reluctant to go on.
The other thing we do, is we make it a point to be around other believers! That’s the problem with neglecting Christian fellowship. When we gather as God’s people we do so, not just because it’s fun to be together, but because we encourage one another! And that happens, either by our words, or sometimes simply by our example, or our presence!
Over the years, I’ve heard people say, “I didn’t come to church because I wasn’t feeling spiritual.” or “I wasn’t feeling faithful enough.” And that’s putting the cart before the horse! A lot of times, we come to church so that we can become more spiritual, so that we can become and more faithful! Not the other way around!
I used to tell the kids at Kirkwood that Kirkwood it was a “spiritual place.” It was “holy ground.” It was a place where they would probably think more about their faith than they did a lot of the rest of the year! And that was true! And there’s a reason for that. I would say to them something you’ve heard me say here. “It’s easier to be God’s people when we’re with God’s people!” “It’s easier to be better believers when we’re with other believers!”
If you think about it, that’s a great descriptive word for us. We’re “believers.” And we often use that word without really thinking about it! That word by its nature means that we believe things that others may be skeptical about! And sometimes that is a journey for us! Sometimes it takes time to move from being skeptical about something to belief. When Jesus confronted Thomas with the evidence of his resurrection, he said to him, “Do not be faithless anymore, but believing!” Sometimes he says the same thing to us.
The believers were praying for Peter. And for good reason. Prisons in those days were bad places. They were not the clean, neat cells we see in cops shows. And Herod had already killed one of them. They legitimately feared for Peter’s life! They were praying for a miracle from God! And when it happened, they were human. It didn’t seem possible. And it certainly wasn’t “instant belief!” But it all served to help them on their journey of belief. It helped them to grow their faith. And may their story do the same for us.
Prayer
Eternal God, we believe. Help thou our unbelief. Help us to keep moving on the journey of faith. Help us to see your hand in creation. Help us to see you working in our world and in our lives. Help us to grow in our faith in you. For we pray in your name, Amen.