On mountains, miracles and faith.

October 6, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

This is a republication of a meditation I wrote several years ago. 

The Gospels are filled with the stories of Jesus performing miraculous healings. What is most striking in them is his compassion for human need and suffering . He never refused to help anyone, whether they were hungry, or out of their right minds, or burdened with terrible health problems and social stigma, or at the door of death. It all seems so effortless, especially where the individuals or their care-givers and family put great faith in Jesus’ power.

As we read the stories, it is so easy to be captivated by Jesus’ divine power to heal people instantly, to fix what was broken, to reverse birth defects with a word or a touch, or to feed a vast crowd with a few loaves and fishes and a prayer.

It seems that faith is the cornerstone of these miracles. Jesus tells us that, if we have enough faith, we could move mountains–as if it would further the Christian mission to relocate a mountain range or two! Certainly, “mountains” is the metaphor for insurmountable obstacles of any kind. Faith can remove enormous obstacles.

A literal reading of these texts, however, would have us galvanize our faith to the hope of divine intervention or supernatural miracles–the divine equivalent of snap solutions, spontaneous healing, instant messaging, and quick fixes. Unfortunately, our world does not often see such divine intervention in the lives of ordinary, real Christians. Don’t we not have enough faith?

Worse yet, some Christians instill doubt into the minds of other believers by suggesting that, in their church, miracles happen. This subtle prelude to sheep stealing is simply one organization trying to pump up its market share at the expense of a “competitor.” Miraculous cures are extremely rare, not nightly spectacles. And for every one person supposedly healed in miraculous manner, ten people are contributing money because they saw it on TV. The real stealing is the money, of course, and the results are sad. Money winds up in the hands of splashy, colorful and unscrupulous “evangelists,” who are often exposed later by their self-indulgent lifestyles.

We need to refocus our fascination with Jesus away from the supernaturally miraculous and toward the divine compassion. Faith and compassion are brother and sister within the human soul. When faith and compassion are found in a human heart, divine energy is the result. Mountains of obstacles fall away. Lives are saved, or turned around. Demons are chased away, or evaporate. Dragons are slain and evils, confronted with faith and compassion, are beaten back. The hungry are fed—with more than bread and fishes. Lights go on for those who have been blind. And the lost are found, brought back from the pit of self-hatred and the edge of self-destruction. Miracles happen—whether in little side-street churches or big-name, prominent ones, where faith (not gullibility) and compassion (not condescension) move our hearts in the name of Christ to help, to listen, to be present, to walk with and to get our hands dirty to alleviate the suffering of others. If we have faith, and act in faith, then we become the vehicles of God’s miracles today. It may be that the biggest mountain we can move for Christ is the mountain of our own hearts.

You are invited to participate in the regular miracles of compassion, kindness and generosity which change ordinary lives. Put your faith in Jesus Christ, the worker of miracles.

— Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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