Miracles — genuine miracles — change our perspective or deepen our understanding. They give us hope to believe that impossible blessings can happen through the power of God. And they show us that it is God’s desire to bless us.
Born Blind
The Bible tells the story of a man who was born blind. This man had never seen anything. He had never witnessed beautiful things — the sun setting on a lake, the delicate pink tint of a rose, the contented smile of a baby. He had never witnessed everyday things — a pebble on the road, a bowl of brown lentil stew, a crack in a piece of pottery. He must have yearned to see what others saw. Yet all was darkness. Until the Light of the world stepped into his life.
As Jesus approached the man, His disciples asked who was responsible for the blindness, the man or his parents.
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:3-5).
Jesus paused in front of him and spat on the ground. He reached down and made mud and then applied the mud to the man’s eyes. Jesus told him to wash in the pool of Siloam. The man obeyed and when he rinsed the mud from his eyes he could see!
He could see everything! People, trees, sky, sun, temple, everything! The joy he must have experienced! He drank in the sights before him as eagerly as a thirsty man gulps water from a pitcher. His friends were surely happy for him and his parents too…although their happiness turned to fear when the Pharisees asked accusingly how he had received his sight. The fellow explained about the mud and washing in the pool, but the Pharisees were not pleased because Jesus had healed him on the Sabbath.
Religious Leaders
The Pharisees were offended because in their view, Jesus had desecrated the Sabbath. They considered themselves the guardians of the Sabbath and had instituted new rules for keeping it. Making mud was a violation. It was also another example that Jesus was not following their lead.
The Pharisees manifested no compassion for a man who had been in darkness since birth. Their hearts did not swell with gladness as they observed his widened eyes gazing about him with awe. They did not offer praise to God for a man who was restored to wholeness. Instead, they were angry.
The Pharisees had self-righteously added to the law, not making it a delight, but making it terribly burdensome. They reasoned that God approved this because they thought God was like them. They had a darkened view of His character. They did not perceive of God as a loving merciful Father but as a tyrannical accuser. Yet, the evidence of His love was throughout the Old Testament. The Sabbath itself was proof of God’s steadfast care and compassion.
“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Genesis 2:1-3).
Sabbath Blessing
God blessed the Sabbath and gave it value for our sake so that one day out of seven we would pause and remember our Creator. There is an implicit promise in Genesis and in the Sabbath in particular, that God will continue to nurture His creation. He is not a Creator who indifferently set the world in motion and moved on to other things. He blessed and continues to bless.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11).
In the fourth commandment God manifests great concern for the well-being of His children. He gives everyone a reprieve from daily toil, one day out of seven: men, women, sons, daughters, servants. Even slaves are included in the Sabbath rest. He embraces them all, from high to low, from male to female.
It was unheard of in the time of Moses for a slave to have a day off. These were the first rights ever granted to them. And what a spectacular place for their burdens to be recognized and their rights to be asserted! It was meaningful that this commandment, along with the others, was personally spoken by God and written with His finger in stone.
We learn from the commandment that it makes no difference what your station is in life; God sees you and has mercy. He even has compassion on the animals He created and orders that the Sabbath rest include them.
But God is not merely granting a day free from work. He is giving an invitation to a blessing. An invitation to delight.
“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy day of the Lord honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking your own words,
Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord;
And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 58:13-14
Jesus kept the Sabbath His entire life, preaching on Sabbath, declaring Himself Lord of the Sabbath, and finally resting in the grave on Sabbath before His resurrection. He kept it according to the commandment, which offered freedom and blessing. He did not keep it the way the Pharisees demanded.
The Pharisees had created oppressive restrictions for the Sabbath. They taught the people that following the restrictions was the way to win God’s approval. Sabbath became not a day to enjoy blessings, but a day of suffocating under man-made rules.
When Jesus performed the miracle of giving the man sight it was not a coincidence that He did it on Sabbath. He was not being thoughtless when He mixed mud on that day to make an eye salve. He knew that the Pharisees would have a problem with it. He did it deliberately.
The Pharisees were angry because Jesus did a “work” they did not approve of on the Sabbath. They argued that “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath” (John 9:16). In their view His healing proved that He did not represent God.
Religious Corruption
Over time, the Jewish leaders had corrupted the fourth commandment and in doing so, corrupted the identity of God in the eyes of the Jewish people. Instead of being the God-Who-Sees (Genesis 16:13), He became in their eyes the God who turns away in condemnation. The people were led to believe that, like the Pharisees, He had only judgment and disgust for sufferers. Because the Jews had lost sight of the compassion of the Father, Jesus chose to perform these miracles on the Sabbath to demonstrate who the Father is.
Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 5:19-20 ESV).
This Sabbath miracle, performed deliberately and openly, shone light on the love of the Father. Jesus used it to enlighten the Jews and change their perspective.
Power of Miracles
Miracles can change you too. They can cause you to see God as your Father, loving, compassionate, eager to do good for you, one who delights in doing the impossible to bless you.
Or, they can deepen your understanding of who God is, causing you to pause and like the blind man whose eyes were opened, worship Him.
Unless noted otherwise, scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
