In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov, we find a remarkable statement: “In the realist, faith is not born from miracles, but miracles from faith.” I have been puzzled for years over the miracle stories of Jesus. He healed all kinds of people with all kinds of diseases. He calmed the waters on the Sea of Galilee. He fed the multitudes. John’s Gospel even says he raised Lazarus from the dead. And yet for all of these mighty works, we have little indication that very many people became his disciples because of these miracles.
John’s Gospel tells us that once Jesus explained his mission and the nature of the discipleship he expected from his followers, many would-be followers abandoned him and his cause (John 6: 60-69). His mighty miracles were not enough to lead the majority into faith and trust. Those who depend on miracles for their faith can never really have a deep faith and an abiding trust. They can “believe” only as long as God produces. Once the “miracle machine” shuts down, their faith evaporates, and they go elsewhere for easy answers to the mystery and potential of life. They are looking for answers that require little investment or participation from them in a communion of love and faithfulness.
For those who choose to follow Jesus and to trust his way even when outward circumstances and external events fail to validate that way with “easy success, “ miracles will come out of their faith investment. They do not have faith because miracles have happened. They have faith because they see in Jesus the presence and character of God and are willing to commit themselves to him and his way, regardless of the cost or consequences. For these followers, there is no turning back. And as the great Albert Schweitzer said:
To those who obey him, whether they be wise or simple, he will reveal himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in his fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience who he is.
From such communion and intimate knowledge miracles occur. The Spirit moves in the spaces created by our trust and following. Lives are changed. Bodies are healed. Storms far more severe than the winds that swept across the Sea of Galilee are calmed by the peace of Christ. Newness is born from the ashes of failure and defeat. Spirit molds spirit into harbingers of God’s Kingdom. By God’s grace, we are the stuff of miracles. Our committed faith and deep trust make room for the winds of the Spirit to hover over the chaos of our lives and the world so that God’s ever-fresh creation can happen again and again. We trust not because we have seen miracles. We become conduits of the miraculous because in our trust, God can use us for redemptive and holy purposes. And in the fellowship of this mystery of grace, we shall come to know even as we are known.
