Get On with It

There is a story in the New Testament where Jesus comes with his disciples to Peter's house. It seems that his mother-in-law was very ill. Jesus visits her, touches her, and heals her. The story goes on to report that the woman immediately got up and "waited upon them." There have been observations made by women that that was just typical male behavior. A woman just recovered from illness is still expected to take care of the disciples. Maybe the woman wanted to do it out of gratitude. Maybe she would have been insulted if she had not been allowed to care for them. It is hard to know what motivated her to "wait upon them."

But the story does provide an example of the fact that most of Jesus miracles are done to enable the recipients to get on with life. Miracles are not a doorway out of the demands and duties of our ordinary lives. The gift of a miracle is not the gift of luxury and wealth. The wine at the wedding continues the celebration. The sight returned to the blind enables them to go about the normal life. The gift of life to the widow's son gives them back the same old ordinary life they had before he died. So many of the miracles of health and new life do not bestow super powers or extraordinary giftedness to the recipient. The miracles merely restore them to the common life of the period.

By that standard there are lots of miracles happening all around us. People are being restored to their daily lives. And much of what we think we want from a miracle is not a part of what Jesus does with his miracles. Maybe the best miracle for so many of us is that we get up each day and are able to get on with the daily grind. After all most of us just pray "give us this day our daily bread." They say when you fall off the horse you have to get back on. When you almost drown in swimming, you need to get back in the water. The miracle of God's sustaining love is what keeps us getting back into the pool.