When Miracles Don't Happen

Jesus raising the son of the widow at Nain

Sermon   “When Miracles Don’t Happen”  June 9, 2013  Pentecost 4, Proper 5, 1Kings 17:17-24, Psalm 30, Gal. 1:11-24, Luke 7:11-17  The Rev. Laura Adelia  (Sermon given at St Peter's Episcopal Church, Casa Grande, AZ)

I have to tell you, this sermon just did not want to come to be this morning.  I have been wrestling with the text all week !!

I mean, at first glance, the scriptures we just heard seem like they would be an excellent topic to preach upon. 

In Kings, Elijah heals the widow’s son, and brings him back to life!

And similarly, in Luke’s gospel, Jesus is walking by, sees a crowd carrying a coffin and a grieving widow.  He goes up to the widow, tells her, “Don’t cry”, touches the coffin and says, “Rise!” and the young man comes back to life!    The people who witnessed this event, naturally were frightened by what they had just seen.

So, two miracle stories!  Perhaps I could say, this is evidence of God’s power and love in action!  Or preach on how Jesus, and Elijah were both moved with compassion over the situation of the widows, and they were compelled to act and help them.

Hmmm.  

Miracles, answered prayers, compassion…these are all wonderful things.

But what about when miracles don’t happen?

What about when tragedy, or illness occurs…and we pray, and pray and pray for the healing of a loved one, or for God to save them, and our prayers remain unanswered?

Or our prayers do not get answered in the way we had hoped?

It seems that is what happens mostly.  Miracles are a rarity.  They seem to happen a lot in Biblical times, not so much in the modern day.

Does this mean we should just give up hope?  Are we left to fate?

We in the modern world expect results from our efforts.  We have been taught, work hard, and you can be successful in your career or work!  Study hard, and you will get good grades in school, and so forth. 

So it stands to reason that if we “pray hard”, we should get what we pray for! Right?    

I was reading a blog on this very topic, and the writer, K.W. Leslie commented, “God is not your genie!”

He says, he has noticed that certain people arrogantly expect everything they pray for to happen.  They named it, they claimed it, so God has got to give it because God promised we would get whatever we ask for in Jesus’ name!

And hey, God wants us to live successful and prosperous lives, right?  If God comes through, we call God a mighty and loving God!

And if we do not get what we want, or prayed for…well, maybe we did not pray hard enough!    Or maybe we prayed ‘wrong’!

Or, how about this…maybe our faith was / is not strong enough.  Or perhaps we lack enough good works…

Eeesh!   

Oh if it were only that easy…to just pray and get whatever we want!

Sadly, though, I have met many people, and I am sure you have too, who have said they no longer believe in God, or chucked religion and church because they prayed and prayed for a miracle…for God to save their daughter, (or husband, or mother, etc.), and their loved one died anyway. 

The thing is though, miracles do happen all the time.  Ask any person in the medical profession or who works in a hospital.   Someone is ill with terminal cancer, and then out of the blue, it’s gone!

The reality is, all of us at one point or another in our lives, will be touched by illness, or the suffering of a loved one, and loss.  Is there anyone here who has not?

But when tragedy strikes we are shocked, and our world turns upside down.  Of course we know that the world is not fair and tragedy follows no line of reasoning. 

Yet when the world comes crashing in around us, who hasn’t asked or wondered, “How could this have happened?”  Or, “Why did this happen to me?” or  “What did I do to deserve this?” 

I confess, when it happened to me, I asked my doctor, “How did this happen?  I’m a semi vegetarian!  I eat organic!  I exercise!  I pray and meditate!”  And my doc answered, “If I knew the answer, I would have the Nobel Prize!  Just work on being well.”

As people of faith, we try to look where is God in the chaos.  While all attempts to make sense of the senseless prove futile, we turn to God to find meaning.  We look and pray for God’s compassion to bring our world back into alignment. 

We can’t stop ourselves from praying for the most impossible of miracles, especially when it concerns those we love. 

And sometimes, like the widow at Nain, we actually get the miracle we pray for.  

For those of you who have gone through tragedy or illness or trauma, what got you through it?    What helped?

We are social animals, and we need people!  We need each other!  We need strength and support from one another!  We are meant to share our stories, our faith journeys with each other, and be there for each other.  From this, we gain spiritual strength and learn from each other.

Stay focused on God. Pray anyway, even when miracles don’t happen.  Keep the faith. 

I know this sounds like a platitude.  But what is faith?  It is trust.   Trust...

It’s not easy, I know.  But that’s why we need each other...for strength through the storm...and especially when miracles don't happen.

Amen.