Miracles as Parables: Encountering the Love of God Through Jesus' Miracles

A striking thought occurred to me tonight while viewing Thomas Road Baptist Church's Virginia Christmas Spectacular for the second time. It dawned on me during the portrayal of Jesus' life and ministry here on earth.

A scene in the production displays several classical New Testament stories. It begins with the woman who touched Jesus' robe in order to be healed from her bleeding. The action on stage then switches to include the confrontation between the Pharisees and Jesus over a woman "caught" in adultery. The scene closes with the portrayals of a leper being healed, a dead girl being raised, and if I remember correctly, a blind man being restored his sight.

The aspect of all these miracles that really stirred my heart and mind, however, came through the dialogue being spoken in each instance and the physical (yet also symbolic) nature of what was taking place. I'll begin examining these as I come across the actual texts in Scripture, so bear with me if they're out of order from what I mentioned above. There are two in particular on which I wish to focus.

Firstly comes the cleansing of the leper. Leprosy is a disease that, as quoted from the production, catches a man "between life and death." Matthew 8 contains the story of this leper. Notice that the leper first came to Jesus after hearing about what He was capable of doing, and that the leper had faith in Jesus' power. He did not ask Jesus if He could cleanse him, Matthew 8:2 reveals that the leper stated matter of factly, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." The leper had complete faith that God could make Him well. What was Jesus' reply? Verse 3 records it as being, "I am willing; be cleansed." So what's the important point here? The leper came to Jesus with faith, and God was willing to cleanse him.

The second instance I wish to investigate is found in Luke 8:40-48. In this portion of text, a woman experiencing prolonged, severe hemorrhaging forces her way through the crowd in order to touch Jesus' robe and be healed. Again, notice that she had faith in Jesus' power to heal her. She knew that all she had to do was touch Him. Notice also the contrast here between the leper: the leper asked Jesus to touch him and heal him, and the woman shoved her way through the crowd and reached out to touch Jesus herself. The one asked Jesus to touch him and cleanse him, while the other just reached out and touched Him herself.

I think these two miracles in particular reveal something deep about seeking God. I need more time to think about it, but I wonder now if all of the miracles Jesus performed in the New Testament almost serve as "real life" parables to illustrate other deeper concepts besides just physical healing or restoration.

It seems that these two instances of healing reveal truths about salvation and spiritual cleansing. Each of us is infected with a disease -- a disease of the soul. Like leprosy, it catches us between true life and true death. We also suffer internal bleeding. Blood is often associated with the heart, and most of us have experienced at least one traumatic heartbreak in our lifetimes. If not, it's on the way. The point is, the only way we can be cured of our spiritual leprosy and our hemorrhaging hearts is by Jesus' touch.

There seem to be two ways of accomplishing this end, however. As illustrated by the woman, we can just force through the crowd that represents everything in our lives holding us back from Jesus. Sometimes, though, we reach places in life where we need to earnestly approach God and ask for His cleansing touch. Either way, Jesus' power is greater than any disease we have of the body or soul. We need Him to heal our spiritual infirmity and loneliness. No scientist or pharmicist in the world can develop a medicine to cure the sickness of sin. Like leprosy, it rots away our souls catching us between life and death. Like hemorrhaging, it makes our hearts bleed with no end. The only thing that can cure us is to experience Jesus, to either reach out or let Him reach out to make us whole.

~Tribal~