The Miracle

The Miracle

Positioning Yourself To Receive From God

3/10/04

I. Introduction

A friend of mine was sitting in the living room one day when his cat dragged in a little “gift” in its mouth—a dead animal of some sort. Taking a closer look, he was dismayed to recognize the dead animal to be a bunny that belonged to a little girl who lived next door. Her name was Bonny. My friend felt terrible, believing his cat had killed little Bonny’s bunny.

My quick-thinking friend came up with a plan. Removing from the cat’s mouth the dead animal, which by now was a dirty mess, he put it in the kitchen sink. With a little warm water and some shampoo, he tried to clean up the dead bunny as best he could. Then he took a hair dryer (a “hare dryer” actually) and blow-dried the bunny until it looked pretty good. Finally, he took the dead bunny out to the neighbor’s rabbit hutch and placed it back in the cage. He kind of fluffed him up so that he looked very natural there in his little box.

The next morning, my friend looked out the window and noticed a crowd of people gathered around the rabbit hutch. Everyone seemed to be talking and pointing. My friend decided to go over and act like any normal curious neighbor and find out what was going on.

When he got there, Bonny’s mother said to my friend, “You won’t believe what has happened! It’s a miracle! Bonny’s bunny passed away a few days ago, and we buried that little bunny right over there....”

What’s your idea of a miracle? Your bunny was resurrected? Your older sister was healed of her halitosis? You finally got an A in Spanish? Your best friend won the lottery and he’s going to split it with you? Your little league team wins the state championship? What do you think a miracle is? (allow answers)

II. Defining Miracle

Miracle (’mir-i-kl) n. 1 : an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs 2 : an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment

A miracle is what happens when the supernatural gets involved with the natural. Divine healing – blind eyes can see, deaf ears can hear, paralyzed man can walk, dead man lives.

The Bible is full of miracles, many of which happened during Jesus’ time on earth. The first miracle that Jesus performed occurred at a wedding, let’s check it out.

John 2:1-5 “1On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."

4Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come."

5His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."”

There is a marriage feast in Cana. Mary, Jesus’ mother, was already there, getting her groove on at the reception. And then Jesus and all his homies stroll in to the wedding feast. Then they run out of wine, “OH, NO!” And of course, Mary immediately goes to Jesus with the problem. No one else would have went to Jesus, because he hadn’t done any miracles yet. He was just a carpenter to everybody else. But Mary knew his secret…Mary knew he was God’s son. It’d be like Martha Kent giving Clark a call when someone’s in trouble, before everybody knew about Superman. Because she knows about his power. Well, Mary knows that Jesus has some power, so she goes to him with the need. And how does Jesus respond? “Here I come to save the day! This looks like a job for Godman.” No. He’s like, “So there’s no more wine, what’s that have to do with me?” “Moms, it’s not my time yet.”

Well, momma knows best, and she’s rounding up some servants. “Hey, you, come here, and bring the rest of your crew. This is my son, do what he says.”

John 2:6-8 “6Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it.”

Well, Jesus looks around, sizing up the scene, seeing what he has to work with here. And out of the corner of his eye, he spots these huge stone water pots, so he says to the servants, “Fill ‘em up with water, boys.” And they did it.