Impossible dreams....

It is easy to believe that Jesus performed many miracles while he was on earth.  It is not hard to imagine that the power of his word would cause the seas to calm or the wind to cease or demons to be cast out or the blind to see.  God can do anything, and Jesus is God.

But that was then, and this is now, and it is equally easy to assume that the day of miracles is long past.  The world is a mess and God has a lot to keep track of.  What does a little thing like my life have to do with him, really?  Surely he has better things to do than worrying about me.  I don't know about you, but that is how my thought process usually goes.

But that is not really borne out by the facts when we look closely at the miracles Jesus performed.  They were, in fact, mostly dazzling solutions to the same stuff that we worry about.  Meeting basic needs and uplifting those in distress were the way Jesus reached out, and his miracles are no different from the rest of his ministry.

Realistically, the raising of Lazarus didn't change The World, although it did change the world for Mary and Martha, and Lazarus himself, of course.  Turning water into wine didn't solve the problems of the planet, it merely solved the problem of the moment.  Curing leprosy or blindness didn't mean no one would ever be sick again, it simply eliminated one problem for one person for one brief moment in time.  Jesus uplifted the insignificant, but in so doing, uplifted us all.

Jesus routinely brought his focus down to each individual, and to what that person needed.  He did perform those miracles, unimportant though they may have been to everyone but the people directly involved.  He changed the lives of those he touched, not because they were worthy, but because he had compassion and understanding of their human condition, and he used those moments to bestow grace on the undeserving.

There are scholars who believe the miracles of Jesus are merely metaphors, that he did not actually heal or restore or renew.  They believe that God was giving a lesson on his power and majesty, and the miracles are simply a story to show how powerful he could be.

But I disagree. I am not a theologian, but I do know that God does perform miracles, not just then, but now.  Every day, there are miracles happening around us, tiny moments of perfection that go mostly unnoticed, except for the person or people who are most affected.

But how do those miracles happen?  Jesus isn't here, on the ground, watching us suffer in front of him, like Jairus mourning his daughter.  And then there is the more difficult question of how does God decide what is the reason some people get the answer they are looking for, while others suffer and get told no?  How do we let God know what we want and need?

The answer is, quite simply, prayer.  The simple conversation between God and us can change everything.

I don't want to imply that those who don't get the answer they are looking for haven't "done it right" or somehow failed to pray correctly.  There is no right or wrong way to talk to your Lord and Savior, and his response is not contingent on our saying the correct words in some particular order.

In Mark 9, Jesus is responding to a father who is begging for help for his son.  He is disillusioned, because his son is possessed and no one could cure him.  He is doubtful, but brings his son, hoping against hope that perhaps this teacher, this rabbi, this Jesus, could do what his disciples could not.  He beseeches Jesus to cure his son, if he can, and to restore him to his family.

In Mark 9:23 we read:

 " 'If you can?' " said Jesus.  "Everything is possible for one who believes."

God doesn't hear "You can't," because you can always come to him at any time, in any condition, and he will listen and respond.  But there is one thing God does ask of us, each and every time we pray, and that is to believe that God can do anything.

This, then, is the key to prayer.  We must believe, not in what we are asking for, but in what God can do.  We must be confident that God can do whatever is needed, even when we don't know what that is, no matter what we think it may be.  There is no need for long diatribes where we explain to God exactly what needs to be done.  On the contrary, in the words of Martin Luther,

"The fewer the words, the better the prayer."

We can ask for what we want, but God knows the needs, and ultimately, if we trust him, we will be better off.

Life is complicated and filled with hard moments.  God does not always allow us to have what we sincerely desire, and the reasons are not always clear or obvious to us.  It is difficult to understand why our loved ones die (always too soon,) why we must face job loss, serious illness or financial difficulties, why children go astray or parents fail us, or even why we can't have some simple thing we want when we want it.

But sometimes, at odd and sometimes surprising times, our prayers will be answered exactly as we hoped, and a small miracle will occur in our life.  God hears us, and when we trust in him completely, he will shower us with his gracious goodness.

No dream is impossible when prayer and faith intersect and God is at the center of our lives.  That is a promise, sealed with the blood of our Savior who understands our human condition.