· 2 Kings 5:1-14
· Psalm 30 (2)
· 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
· Mark 1:40-45
So Elisha heals a leper, and then Yeshua heals a leper. Mm-hmmm...
Why is that, exactly? I was at a Roman Catholic Bible study the other day and we studied this passage in Mark. One theory proposed by those present was that Jesus can't even stop himself doing miracles, because he loves us so much. And in the ensuing discussion of other miracles Jesus did, it was suggested that even just proximity to the person of Jesus was enough to be healed, because the love just poured from him.
That's one theory. I don't agree with is.
If you read the Old Testament, the prophets do cool miracles. Elijah and Elisha are probably the top two miracle workers, except only Moses. In fact, some of their miracles are cooler than Christ's. And if you read the New Testament, the disciples also do tons of miracles. Jesus himself gives them a commission to do so. So the miracles aren't intrinsic to Jesus or even to Christ, that is, neither to the person of Yeshua son of Joseph, of Nazareth, nor to the anointing he received from the Lord in the presence of John the Baptist.
Likewise miracle-working isn't intrinsic to the person of Elijah, or Elisha, or Peter, or Moses. Miracles are a mark of Jehovah's authority. They are a seal which Jehovah lends to an individual to show that he, Jehovah, has delegated his authority to that person. The New Testament frequently uses this language of authority. Even in last week's gospel reading, we heard that Jesus teaches "with authority". When he sends out the Twelve, he "gives them authority over the unclean spirits." (Mark 6:7). We call this the "great commission". Well, "commission" means literally "the authority to perform a task." In military language especially, "commission" means granting the rank of officer, or the command of a ship. So Jesus is appointing his disciples as officers, which is to say, delegates of his authority.
We hear it as well when the centurion says to him "I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and the slave does it." (Matthew 8:9) Notice the centurion says "I also". The "also" is referring to Jesus, describing him as someone who is himself under authority, and having that authority, can give orders knowing that they will be obeyed immediately. From a comparative religion point of view, it's interesting to ask why a Roman centurion, most likely a worshipper of Mithras, recognises Jesus as a man under divine authority; but for our purposes what's to the point is this: Yeshua has authority from Jehovah. He can use this authority to work miracles. He can delegate this authority to his disciples. He has authority in the same way that an officer has authority: not because it is intrinsic to his person, but because he is part of a chain of command that flows from the highest authority. Nowadays the top of this chain of command is the head of state, but until very recently, the head of state himself or herself was assumed to hold his or her authority from God.
So this is to say, again, that miracles are the proof of Jehovah's commission to a person. Whether the person is Moses, Elijah, Yeshua or Peter, the miracles all come from one and only one authority: God. And God does not do miracles out of love for us. If that was the case, miracles would happen to all of us, every moment, because God hates to see us suffer. If miracles were how God shows his love, then there would be no disease, no amputations, no paraplegics, no broken hearts, no anything unpleasant. Puppies and kittens would never die, bad drivers would never crash, everyone would win the lottery every day.
That would be absurd. In fact I'll venture to say that God does miracles despite his love for us. The world would make absolutely no sense if everyone who is beloved of God could get miracles. People would probably prevent rain all summer so they could golf every day; then they'd complain about global warming. Plants would still grow despite the drought, and slugs would never eat your vegetables. Yet the slugs would never die, because God loves them and would provide something for them. And the vegetables would be eaten but not consumed, because God loves the vegetables too and wouldn't let them suffer either.
A world where God can't stop himself from doing miracles for those he loves is nonsense even by fairy-tale standards. Even Narnia or Shangri La aren't like that. God does no miracles, because he loves us. Because he wants us to have free will, and for that to happen we have to be able to predict consequences, and therefore God can't mess with the consequences. We can see in many children today the effects of preventing actions from having predictable consequences. Not only are they behaviourally challenged, but we know from brain imaging that the part of their brain responsible for self-control actually atrophies. Removing cause-and-effect is not an act of love, but of immediate gratification for the parent.
When God does miracles, it's as a sign of the commission he gives to certain people. If I say to you that I speak directly from the Lord, you may or may not believe me. But if I say to you that I speak directly from the Lord and then I raise the dead, I bet you'd believe me then. And that is why God permits his officers to do miracles: as evidence of their commission. No more.
And yet when you look at the outcome of the gospel reading today, the leper didn't actually listen to anything Jesus said to him. Jesus clearly said, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." But the leper "went out and began to proclaim it freely", and there is no mention that he ever went to the priest or did the offering. So God gives his officers the authority to do miracles, so they can prove they speak for him; and we Christians look at the miracles and don't listen to a word of the speaking. Like the Chinese proverb says: when the sage points at the moon, the fool looks at the finger.
Praise be to God, the Eternally Besought, the Omnipotent, the Powerful, the Most Exalted.
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