DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?
In February of 1980, the Cold War between the US and Russia was not only cold, it was icy. The US was in a bad emotional place with long gas lines but also depressed by the hostages taken by Iran in 1979 still being held (and the ill-fated rescue mission yet to take place). The US was in dire need for some good news. Then it happened…on February 22nd, the US Hockey Team took on the Russian Hockey Team in the Lake Placid Olympic Games. The Russians were professionals, while the US squad was a bunch of amateurs. It was boys against men, like David versus Goliath. Al Michaels was the play-by-play commentator whose exclamation as time ran out, when the boys of the US beat the professional Russians 4-3 was, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”
There was a need for good news in Israel when Jesus walked with his disciples. Matthew 16 tells us that not only were the Pharisees and Sadducees demanding that Jesus show them signs from heaven, the disciples were short-sighted as well when they discovered they had forgotten the bread. He reminded them of the miracles he had rendered in the five loaves feeding five thousand and the seven loaves feeding four thousand. He even reprimanded them saying, “O you of little faith,” the same words that he had spoken to Peter in Matthew 14 when Peter sank in the water after walking a bit on it. There were many miracles performed by Jesus during his time of incarnation (see his instructions to the disciples of John the Baptist in Matthew 11:5 as examples, but those instructions weren’t all-encompassing). We see water turned to wine in John 2, the lame walking in Matthew 9, and the deaf hearing in Mark 7 as some other examples. The greatest of all his miracles was his resurrection; for without it, we would all be hopelessly lost. With it, those who choose to have faith in him are covered by his blood and will spend eternity with him in heaven.
As exclaimed by Al Michaels in 1980, do you believe in miracles? As Christ-followers, we say emphatically: “YES!