Readings: Zechariah 8:1-8; Psalm 101; Luke 9:46-50
Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus be with you.
Let me start my reflection by asking how many of us believe in miracles?
Put differently, how many of us believe that God still performs miracles?
The Bible is replete with stories of miracles, both in the Old and the New Testaments, powerful miracles like waters parting for people, raising the dead, curing leprosy, hemorrhage, deafness, dumbness, blindness, paralysis, getting money from a fish, multiplication of loaves, an angel delivering people from prison.
Many of us read about these miracles and marvel at what God did but we do not believe that He still does it. In 2 Timothy 3:5, St. Paul talks about those who have a form of godliness/religion but deny its power.
My message today is simple. Our God is a miracle-working God. Miracles are His signature and they are a signature of His power, love and presence. He still does miracles today because He has not changed (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8).
This is not to say that God will perform miracles in every crisis we face in life. However, God does perform miracles and our faith can also cause miracles to happen.
There are miracles that we experience every day but we do not think about them – waking up, receiving forgiveness of sins through confession, the change of status through Baptism and the Eucharist, which is a great miracle.
God can also heal us of our physical, spiritual and emotional illnesses. He can transform lives and free people from addiction and destructive lifestyles. He can restore ruined relationships; give unexpected blessings, and repair homes and families. He can step in and change an impossible situation to reveal His power, love, goodness and glory.
In the First Reading of today, He promised to rebuild, repopulate and restore the glory and beauty of Jerusalem. He said if this seemed a miracle to His people, it is not a miracle to Him. For God is not limited by any possible limitation, neither can the working of nature hinder him.
So today, I stir your faith and invite you to believe that God can change an impossible situation in your life according to His will and if you have faith. It is not a sin to believe in God for a miracle or to expect a miracle from God, as long we are also willing to accept His will as the greatest miracle.
Secondly, God can perform miracles in our lives as a testimony for others and He can also use us to perform miracles. A holy person is a miracle of God’s grace. A person who is kind to the poor is an instrument of God’s miracle.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on September 27, 2021