Magic or Miracle?

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31 ESV). The Apostle John ends his Gospel with this wonderful statement about the many works of Jesus. He did list seven “signs” in the writing of the Gospel, one of them being the raising of Lazarus from the dead. However, there were many more things that Jesus did during his ministry preceding his death, burial, and resurrection. They were all amazing I’m sure. Yesterday when I told you about our trip to Beech Bend, I didn’t tell you all of the things we did do. I had a pretty exciting time. You know. I rode things like the bumper cars, the Tin Lizzies, and of course, I did a round or two through the House of Horror. Pretty tame, but then that seems to be my level of tolerance for pain. I did attend two of the magic shows. On the first one, we were entertained well. We decided to attend the later show because of the promise of an act by the escape artist that would “baffle” us all. We arrived in time to sit very near the stage. The magician came out and introduced the show. When it came time for the last act, he selected two participants from the audience. I was one of those selected. I went on stage and began to “help.” He showed us two ropes, one short one and one much longer. We examined them and found them to be ordinary ropes. He put a long, black coat on me. Then he began to tie his assistant with the ropes. First, he tied her hands behind her back. Then he tied the longer rope around her neck, wound it around her arms tying them on each arm, and then around her waist and tying it with a double knot. To make sure every knot was secure he asked me to examine them as we went along and to tie another know on the final securing of the rope. They were secure and tight. I was instructed to step inside a frame on the ground holding a curtain that was pulled up from my feet to above my head. The assistant, still tied up, stood behind me. Within seconds, I felt the coat stripped off and the curtain fell. I was standing there without the coat on and the assistant had it on with the ropes still tied on her. The only difference was the ropes were on the outside of the coat! And, no, I do not know how they did that! Isn’t it strange how we are compelled to ask “how?” that’s why John points us away from “how” to “who.” Jesus did all these things. I’m sure the apostle was amazed, wondering how he did them. What he learned was none of that was important. Jesus did them. And he did them so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Stop worrying about the how or even the what. Concentrate your energy on the Who. Believing in Him will bring you life! That’s the miracle. There’s no magic, just the miraculous!