MIRACLE OF RAISING THE DEAD (Luke 7:11-17)
Fred Vergara, St. James Episcopal Church, Elmhurst, New York. June 9. 2013
Please remain standing as we declare our affirmation
together in my Christian Tai-Chi: “I am a
child of God; I believe in His Word. I breathe the Holy Spirit; I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me. I push out negative thoughts, I take
in positive thoughts. I push out sickness, I take in good health. I push out
poverty, I take in prosperity. I push out hatred, I take in love. I push out
despair, I take in hope; I push out sadness I take in joy. And now, I will
share the Good News to my friends, to my family, to my neighbor here and all over
the world in Jesus Name. Amen.” Please be seated.
Let me start with something funny. There was this missionary
who went to Africa to evangelize the natives. While he was in the jungle, he
saw a lion. He ran but it seems that his speed was no match to that of the
lion. So he decided to stop and pray. He knelt down and closed his eyes and
prayed, “Lord, save me from the lion.” When he opened his eyes, he saw that the
lion was also kneeling in front of him. So he shouted, “Praise the Lord, the
lion is now Christianized!” The lion said, “Quiet, I also pray before eating.”
Let’s now open our Scriptures to read this gospel this
morning. Luke 7:11-17. Jesus made a
miracle of raising a dead boy to life. It seems that the making of miracles is normative
to the ministry of Jesus. In fact, two-thirds of the New Testament is all about
Jesus making miracles: healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, making
the deaf to hear, multiplying the bread, and raising the dead. What is the
purpose of making miracles? We all know that those who have been healed
eventually got sick again and those who have been raised from the dead, eventually
died. All of us are mortals, formed of
the earth. On this side of life, we are born, we grow old and we die. It is on
the other side, in heaven, that we are born to eternal life. So what’s the reason
for miracles? Well, there are at least three reasons why miracles happen.
First reason: Miracles happen as a response to human need. The Bible says in Matthew 7:7 -8“Ask and it
shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be
opened. For everyone who asks receives, everyone who seeks finds, and everyone
who knocks, the door will be opened.” So this miracle was simply a response of
Jesus to the crying widow. This woman had already lost her husband. Now she just
lost her son. She was grieving, she was crying,
she was praying for mercy. And Jesus, filled with compassion, responded to her need. He touched the coffin and
said to the dead, “Young man, get up!” The boy sat-up and began to speak, “Where
am I? What’s going on?” Oh what a happy day that was! The funeral turned into a
festival!
I am currently writing a new book with the title, “Where God guides, God provides.” It will
record my experiences of God responding
to my need when I really needed it. One of these miracles happened in Singapore in 1981. I
left my country, the Philippines, and ventured in Singapore for further
studies. I had a scholarship for tuition
but I had only S$50 allowance for the whole semester. Actually, the S$50 was
supposed to be for books but because our dormitory did not provide meals on
weekends, I would spend that money for meals outside.
Now my wife and I were newly married and she
was left in Manila and she wanted me to come home for Christmas. I was in
turmoil. I also wanted to come home but the round trip air fare was 1,000 Singapore
dollars---and I simply did not have that money. So I prayed, and while I was praying, I heard
a voice saying, “Go.” I did know what to make up of that voice but I decided to
go and take a walk. I was thinking that
maybe as I was walking, I might stumble upon S$1,000. I did not step on any
money but I kept walking and it led me to St. Andrew’s Anglican Cathedral .
As I was
entering the church, the vicar (Canon Frank Lomax) met me and said, “Oh Father
Fred, its good you came. We have a worship
service going on right now, but our guest speaker did not come. Will you take
his place?” I was not really dressed up properly and I was not prepared but I
took the pulpit and for some reason words just came forth from my mouth. After
the service there was healing ministry and the vicar gave me my honorarium
which was S$50. It was not exactly what I was praying for but I thanked him for
it. But just as I was leaving the gate of the cathedral, a certain lady dressed
in white, gave me an envelope. I took it thinking it was a thank you card. I
went home to my dorm and opened it and lo and behold. Do you know what’s inside
the envelope? Exactly S$1,000! God answered my need. When I came home to my
wife the day before Christmas, it was a surprise! (Of course, it was not the end of the story for I would later became a priest in that cathedral).
Second reason: Miracles happen as platforms for evangelism. In a world of
skepticism and unbelief, miracles break open the heart of the people to
God. St. Paul said the Jews demand
signs and Greek seek wisdom. Miracles soften the hearts of stone and the minds of
steel to understand that there is a God to whom nothing is impossible. In this gospel, when the people saw that the boy
was raised to life, they were so amazed and said, “A great prophet is here with
us. God has made a visitation to his people.”
Do you remember the story of Jonah in the Old
Testament? Jonah was commissioned by God
to tell the city of Nineveh to repent of their sins or else they would be
destroyed. Jonah, instead of obeying God,
ran away from God. He went down to Joppa
and hid himself in a ship bound for Tarshish. In the middle of the ocean, there
was a violent storm that threatened the safety of everyone. The captain and the
crew cast lots on who among them was the jinx, the one responsible for the wrath
of God which was about to happen---and the lot fell on Jonah. In order to calm
the waters, he suggested that they threw him into the sea and they did! Be
careful of what you ask for, you may get it.
So Jonah fell into the water and a huge fish, maybe a killer
whale swallowed him up. Inside the belly of the whale, Jonah had a change of
heart and he said, “Okay, Lord, now I am really going to obey you this time.”
The Lord, who is also God of the second chance, caused the whale to have indigestion and it vomited Jonah right into
the shores of Nineveh. So Jonah preached, “People of Nineveh, repent or else
you will be destroyed in forty days.” The result was amazing: the whole city of Nineveh, from the highest
to the lowest, from the king to the slaves, repented and turned to God! Do you
know why they listened to Jonah? Of course, it was the power of God but there
was another reason, and it was cultural. The people of Nineveh had a folk tale that the God who was coming was to be in the form of "half-man and half-fish."So when Jonah came out from the belly of the fish, they believed that he was truly a messenger
of God! God works in mysterious ways.
Third reason: Miracles are a demonstration that the power of God is greater
than the power of the evil one. Jesus said in John 10:10 “The devil comes only to steal,
kill and destroy. I come that you may have life and have it abundantly.” The
word of God is Good News and the word of the Devil is bad news. And so when the Word of God is preached, the
Devil tries to prevent people from hearing it. Sometimes the devil would make
you sleepy so you won’t hear the word. I'm happy to see no one is asleep right
now.
Sometimes the devil would give people a demon of unbelief. In Acts 13:4-12, St. Paul was in Paphos ,
Cyprus when they met a Jewish sorcerer named Elymas. His other name was "Bar-Jesus" for he sometimes disguised himself as Jesus. He was an agent of Satan so as
Paul was explaining the word of God to the proconsul (a Roman governor) Sergius Paulus, Elymas
kept on interrupting and preventing Paul from speaking up. Sensing that this
man was evil, St. Paul looked at him straight to the eye and said, “You are a
son of the devil. Will you stop perverting the ways of God? Now the hand of the
Lord is against you. You are going to be blind and for a while unable to see
the light.” Immediately mist and darkness came upon Elymas and he groped about
seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul and the people saw
what had happened to Elymas, they believed in God.
Brothers and sisters, when you live and believe in God, do
not be afraid of the evil one: the power that is within you is greater than the
power that is in the world. Amen.
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