Reclaiming the Miraculous

October 24, 2021 • 22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture Readings: Matthew 5:38-41 (New International Version)
Pastor Alexis Lillie

[You can view the worship video recording, including this message, at: Facebook.com/churchofthevillage/videos.]

A year and a half ago I wrote about a tree, right at the entrance to Riverside Park near my apartment, that became my "rooting" tree. It was a place to be with myself, to sit with my thoughts and emotions and feel connected to nature.

I went by this spot a few days ago and saw, much to my sadness, that the tree had been cut down, I'm assuming because of some malady or sickness. This brought me back to thinking again about what this tree saw me through. I feel like I witnessed it, and it witnessed me through the season, both literal and metaphorical. In winter, with its bare branches, I could see from it to the river. In the summer I would sit on the roots in the shade. It saw me cry, and fight, and even scream.

Why am I talking -- as we think about miracles and the miraculous today -- about a tree?? I want us to consider that we all, moment-by-moment, experience the miraculous in our lives. Including a tree. And that doesn't cheapen the idea of miracles, it enriches things.

In our text for today we're trained to see the miracle in this story as the healing of the blind man. I’m going to suggest that there's more to it, but let's start there. Likely, many of us have some problems with "miracles" as they're often understood - as we're trained to see them in stories like this. I’m purposely using air quotes here! We often think of "miracles" as "interventions" - which is why many of us have a problem with miracles. It can feel like something anti-scientific or something outside the "laws" of the universe.

Then there's the problem of who's doing the intervening and why? We often end up thinking of miracles as something God does to someone or something. This doesn't sit well - especially with a view of God that is relational, and is not a god that acts on creation, but with.

Then there's the problem of selective miracles - why do miracles occur to elicit good sometimes and not others?? The phrase "your faith has made you well" right here in this passage can sometimes contribute to trying to figure out who "receives" a miracle and who doesn't. We take it at face value and think - if something "miraculous" isn't happening, do I not have enough faith? Do I not believe enough?

This leads to so much shame and doubt and - ultimately - distrust of God at times. This view of miracles makes us think their occurrence is either connected to us doing or not doing enough, or, God is picking and choosing and there's nothing we can do about it. Both of those options are not great, and that can leave us not feeling great about "miracles."

For all of these reasons, for a long time, I felt forced to give up "miracles" in exchange for a god I could believe in, a god that wasn't interventionist, that was relational. And in order to maintain a scientific understanding of the world.

But ... as we love to say at COTV about so many things ... what if there's another way? What if there is another lens through which to view "miracles" that transitions them to something more open, to the miraculous. Something still compelling, and compatible with the way we understand our own journey of growing and becoming with God.

How do we understand miracles - in this text and in our experience - in a relational, non-coercive way?

I offer this definition from theologian Dr. Tom Oord

A miracle is an unusual and (or) good event that occurs through God's special action in relation to creation.

He explains that "special action" occurs when God provides new possibilities, forms, structures, or ways of being to creatures. I add to this, that "special action" -- that new possibility and way of being -- is something mystical and beautiful that we can't quite explain, that moves us beyond ourselves. This “wonder” element feels important to what's going on when we consider the miraculous.

I also add "or" to the definition because I'm arguing that miracles can, in fact, be quite "usual" -- a tree, for example! They are common things, perhaps -- but things that are good, and special, and that tickle a sense of the mystical and wonder-full.

When it comes to a miraculous event like the one in our story -- something physical and related to healing -- how does this re-definition help us?

If we subscribe to a view of God's interconnected relationship with creation, and believe that God is moving toward goodness, then it makes sense that our bodies can respond in various ways to a lure toward healing and goodness.  

So in considering our text, was there literally a man who had his sight restored? Possibly? Can we understand this as miraculous while leaving some of the more troubling interventionist elements of "miracles" behind? I think that's possible, with an expanded understanding of miraculous as a relational movement toward new ways of being. Perhaps this man's body worked together with God to respond to new and good ways of being that included him being able to see more clearly -- physically and spiritually.

It also makes sense, because the organisms that comprise our body are free and uncontrolled, that sometimes they would not respond in affirmation to this lure. It doesn't mean we don't have enough faith, or aren't good enough. It means that each element that comprises this universe has freedom.

And it doesn't mean that, for example, going from blindness to sight is the end goal. Disabilities theologians point out the fallacy of seeing "sightedness" as the only manifestation of healing or miracle in this story. This view can lead to interpretations that denigrate people as less-than-whole. We'll think through some other miraculous occurrences that show up in this text in a minute, but wanted to bookmark that here.

However, Mark is very concerned with these physical miracles and what they understood in that time as a progression toward healing -- in this case, toward sightedness. The author is writing to a community suffering under Nero's persecution in the first century, and through these healing stories is pointing toward what they would consider *ultimate healing: a time when all creation would respond affirmatively to God's movement toward goodness and new ways of being.

Clearly, this didn't happen in the timeline they were thinking of, it's still a work in progress! But, the idea that this is possible, in and of itself, is miraculous -- something unusual or good that occurs through God's special action in relation to creation.

In a relational view, these “miracle” stories that feature prominently in Mark, and the larger view they point to, require a relationship with creation. They are not something that is done TO creation.

When we look at things that way, we can take the quotes off of "miracle," and begin to see as miraculous any participation with God toward new opportunities for goodness.

As such, there are many other parts of this story that we can define as miraculous:

The blind man keeps crying out when a crowd of people tells him to be silent and Jesus hears, in the midst of the chaos Jesus interacts with this person soul-to-soul -- this is an unusual event that provides new opportunities, it's miraculous!

The man acknowledges Jesus for who he is and asks for what he needs - this is an unusual and good event that provides new opportunities.

The man begins following Jesus - this is certainly a good event that provides new opportunities, again, miraculous.

With these expanded views of what can be relationally miraculous, what parts of our story can we define as miraculous? My tree felt miraculous because its existence was a good event that provided new ways of being to me -- and no doubt many others.

This community, honestly, feels miraculous to me! I would venture to say that all of us have, in some capacity, found unusual, good experiences here of God inviting us in wonder-full ways toward new ways of being.

What other things are coming up for you, as opportunities God is offering or has offered you, to respond to new possibilities and ways of being, in a way that feels mystical or wonderful? These are the miraculous events and infuse our lives!

I also want to caution us, of course, not to expand things TOO far!! Not ALL THINGS are miraculous, we have to be careful about what we mean by unusual, and good, and what lenses we're using to filter that.

As we wrap up ... when done faithfully, I don't think we cheapen anything when we assign the status of miraculous to much of what goes on in our lives. In fact, I think it further highlights the sacredness of everyday life. Seeing my rooting tree as a miraculous event I got to experience – and not just a tree I happened to sit with for a moment in time and then discover it was gone – instills that sense of wonder and gratitude of participating in something that extends beyond me.

That we get to participate with the divine in something new or unusual that invites us to new ways of being, and instills wonder … what is that if not miraculous?

(c) 2021 Alexis Lillie
All rights reserved.