Luke 8:43-48

43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

45 ‘Who touched me?’ Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, ‘Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.’

46 But Jesus said, ‘Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.’

47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.’

Miracles are an interesting topic to talk on. There are people who wait for a miracle to give them a reason to believe, not quite grasping the point of faith. Yet there are countless times where God does use miracles to bring people to faith, so that can’t be discounted. There are other people who see faith as the currency with which to purchase miracles. They have been brought up to believe that their prayer hasn’t been answered because they don’t have enough ‘faith dollars’. The question for some is what came first, faith or the miracle. And I apologise in advance for the corny Christian answer, but the answer is neither, it’s God. At not point is God predictable, just like the formulae for miracles is not predictable. It is not something that we can study and write down, hoping to recreate when necessary.

Yes, we have examples of the woman touching Jesus’ cloak whereupon he tells her ‘your faith has healed you’. Likewise we have examples of miracles being performed for those entirely lacking in faith.

And also, what is the rod by which we measure a miracle. Is a miracle confined to that which defies the realm of possibility. I would consider it a miracle that I ended up at St Mary’s and became a Christian. I met a girl staying in the same hostel as me for one night in Bristol. We exchanged details and kept in contact. She was from London which was where I moved to the following week. A few weeks later she invited me to a church she herself had never been to before. And once there, Kirstine shared details of a small group that was the sole reason that I ever returned. All of those evens were well within the realm of possibility. They also did not occur to someone who had any measure of faith whatsoever. Yet if you were to ask me about it, you can be sure I’ll use the word miracle.

Lord, thank you for the million miracles in each of our lives, from big to small. Give us the joy and awe filled eyes of a child so that we may see the many miracles that surround us each and every day. Amen.