Miracles of Christ

Jesus Christ is a miracle worker. He did, and still does work miracles. He has performed miracles among us. He is alive, still performing His miracles every day because His love for mankind does not change, and the needs of mankind never end. True, Jesus is not among us in the flesh, but He is in our midst in His Spirit, in His church, in the hearts of those who follow Him and in the whole world. He said, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth... I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:18,20). Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

The miracles of Christ reveal His power and His love. At the beginning people are dazzled with power. But the miracles of Jesus always dazzle us, because the power of Jesus works in the service of His love. Our wonder at Jesus continues to deepen and increase, so we shout for joy,

• Oh, happy day, happy day,
• When Jesus washed my sins away,
• He teaches me to watch and pray,
• And live rejoicing every day.
• Oh, happy day, happy day
• When Jesus washed my sins away!

I have read the miracles of Jesus many times. I meditated on them as true historical incidents. I also saw them as contemporary occurrences in my life and the lives of those whom I know and serve. Now I am sharing the good news of the wonderful love of Jesus with the readers in the east and the west.

Meditating on the miracles of Jesus, mentioned in the four gospels, I have concentrated on:

1. The person in need of the miracle. He presents our need to the Lord. A miracle is something beyond us. This is why God performs it for us.

2. Those who saw the miracle: believers and non-believers, those who were happy for the miracle and those who opposed it. This shows us the power of God reaching to the needy ones who waited upon Him, and filling their lives with joy. But the miracles of Christ are like the light that disturbs the sick eye. It disturbed the non-believers and provoked them to anger.

3. Then we will meditate upon the person of Jesus who performed the wonders. Many times we behave like children who grab the gift and forget about the giver. As we meditate upon Christ we want to thank Him, live closer to Him and follow Him in love.

This is the wish and prayer of the author for himself and for his readers.

Menes Abdul Noor,

Cairo, February 1994

TURNING WATER INTO WINE

1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." 4 "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?" Jesus replied. "My hour has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." 6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of the purification of the Jews, twenty to thirty gallons apiece. 7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He told them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it. 9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made to wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then that which is inferior; but you have saved the good wine until now." 11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him (John 2:1-11).

This miracle took place in a wedding party at the village of Cana which is about ten kilometres away from Nazareth. Both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. It is most probable that the people of the wedding were blood relatives of Jesus. When the wine that was offered to the guests was consumed, the people of the wedding were faced with serious trouble. For if they did not offer wine to the guests, whom they had invited, there would be a scandal. Mary the mother of Jesus came to Him, saying, "They have no wine."Thereupon, He told the servants to fill up the waterpots, and turned the water that was in them into wine, meeting the needs of the hosts. And this is how He always is.

This first miracle that Jesus performed was at a simple party of some poor folk. The narrative starts off saying, "On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee ...", which means that two important days preceded this third day. The first of these days was mentioned in John 1:35 when John and Andrew found Jesus and followed Him because of John the Baptist's witness to Him. Then Andrew brought along his brother Peter to Christ. As regarding the second day, it was mentioned in John 1:43 when Christ found Philip, who in turn found Nathanael. And on the third day Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding at Cana of Galilee. It follows that these five persons accompanied Jesus to the wedding banquet, enjoying in their hearts the joy of salvation. Jesus shares our joys with us and does not separate between spiritual joys, which are brought about through receiving Him as Saviour, and social joys, such as weddings. He shares in the joys of the families.

Then they ran out of wine! Some expositors have remarked that Jesus and His five disciples' going to the wedding added to the number of the guests, which caused them to run out of wine, and they therefore appealed to Him! This interpretation is not acceptable on the grounds that Jesus and His disciples had been invited to the wedding. It is most probable that the people of the wedding were poor, and had the hope that the stock they had was enough for the guests. But, as it was, the guests consumed more than what the people of the wedding had planned!

	I. THE PEOPLE IN NEED OF THE MIRACLE

1. The bride and the bridegroom:

   The wedding party is the happiest time for the wedded couple. The Jews used to call the bridegroom "the king", and the bride they called "the queen". Any wish they asked was instantly granted them. It is most probable that no one had told the bridegroom that the wine was finished, because they did not want to spoil the joy of getting married. He was in need, yet he did not know it. How often are we in need, yet do not feel that we are! But we have to feel thirsty before asking for the water of life, and hungry before asking for the living bread. We have got to feel our sinfulness before we turn to God for forgiveness and salvation. How dangerous is the situation of him who is in need but does not know it! Sometimes the ones nearest to us prevent us from hearing the news that we are in need because they love us. Yet if they really loved us, with a reasonable love, they would tell us immediately about what we need so that we may ask it from the Lord.

2. The guests of the wedded couple:

   They felt the need and appealed to Mary. So Mary, His mother, said to Him, "They have no wine."She presented the request as a statement and not as a command. This is the same as what two other beloved sisters did with Christ, namely Mary and Martha, when their brother Lazarus was sick. They sent Him a message (John 11:3). How beautiful it is to know that Christ is aware of what we need even before we ask, and that we can present our needs to Him as a statement: "Lord, we have no salvation of our own. We have no money. Our children are having exams. Lord, my son is sick. My relative is in trouble." The bridegroom's folk knew how well they had to cater for the guests. Wine was indispensable! The Rabbis used to say, "getting drunk with wine is a shame, but there is no wedding without drinking wine. We drink, but do not get drunk."

	II. THE WITNESSES AND THE MIRACLE

1. The Virgin Mary:

   Seeing that things went wrong, she looked for Jesus. She teaches us to seek Christ, for He is our true refuge and primary help. Before we seek a physician, let us seek Him. Before seeking a lawyer, let us seek Him. Before we ask for people's advice, let us consult the great Counsellor, "for His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor" (Isaiah 9:6), since He is the mighty God. He is the Prince of peace who gives security to our hearts, and then we can seek people for help, whom He assigns and helps to help us.

   The Virgin knew who Jesus was, and she marvelled at those things which were spoken of Him and kept them in her heart thinking of them (Luke 2:32,51). And when she presented to Him the request of the people of the wedding, He answered her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come." It seems to us as though she got no direct answer from Him, but she understood what He meant, and in perfect faith she said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."

   So what did Jesus mean by saying to His mother, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?" This Aramaic expression depends to a great extent on the tone of the speaker. If the speaker says it sharply, then he is reprimanding the one he addresses. But if he says it softly, then he means to say, "Do not worry; you do not know what I will do. But leave the matter in my hands, and I will tackle it in my own way. I will see to it." And it goes without saying that Christ could not have answered his holy mother sharply, but rather in all love and tenderness, as if He was saying to her, "Mother, no need for you to worry about it; give it up to Me, depend on Me. I have My own way of bringing problems to an end. Do not think about it any more."

   As to His saying to her "Woman ...", it might seem to us dishonourable. Yet the fact is otherwise, for it is a word of respect and appreciation. Jesus addressed her while He was on the cross, saying, "Woman ..." (John 19:26) when He was entrusting her to John the beloved. It was a word of respect, not disrespect.

   Then He said to her, "My hour has not yet come." This hour of His is the hour of manifesting his glory, which was to ultimately lead to his crucifixion. It was as if He was saying to her, "The hour for revealing Myself to the people has not yet come; that revelation which is to lead Me to the cross." For the glorification of the Son of Man is His crucifixion. This major event was brought about by His teachings and miracles, which provoked the elders of the Jews to anger so that they decided to crucify Him (John 12:23,24).

   The Virgin Mary did not know the solution to the problem, but she commanded the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." This kind of faith holds a great lesson for us, for whatever commands and instructions Christ gives you are the best for you, even if you do not find them logical.

2. The disciples:

   "He manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him"(John 2:11). The five disciples had believed in Him on the two previous days. Why then does it say that He manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him? The answer: Faith does not stop at a certain degree; it increases and grows stronger and deeper every day. Those five believed in Him and followed Him, and left everything to go after Him, but they need their faith to be strengthened. "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24). One godly man said, "A believer is like a man riding a bicycle. The bicycle does not stop or go back, but has to go forward all the time." Believers are supposed to be like this bicycle rider, going always forward to Christ.

3. The servants:

   "Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece."These waterpots were made of stone and were filled with water so that they could wash themselves whenever they came in from outside. There were two sorts of washing: washing the feet whenever they come in from the dust of the road, and washing the hands for the ritual purification. Without this ritual purification they could neither eat nor pray. Due to the big number of the guests, all the water was used up. Each stone pot held 30 gallons.

   Christ commanded the servants to fill the waterpots to the brim. We notice that these pots were waterpots, not wine pots. So no one can say that there was any wine left over from before, or even that they smelt wine. He told them to fill them up to the brim so that no one could say that He added some wine to them. They were so big that no one could put wine into them without being seen. The evidence is clear before all the people: empty pots filled by the servants, not the disciples.

   The servants were the first to obey the command of the Virgin Mary, and the first to behold the miracle performed.

4. The guests:

   Christ ordered the servants to offer the wine to the guests; and the master of the feast (the honorary guest) tasted the wine first and expressed his satisfaction.

   Today we refuse wine because we fear that the one who drinks it cannot control it, and rather it controls him, as the Japanese proverb says, "People drink the cup (of wine) and the cup drinks the cup, and the cup drinks the people!" Wine starts out as your servant, and ends up turning you into its slave. We fear for our little children, that if they see us drinking they, too, will drink to excess and lose control over themselves. We are afraid of drinking wine for this may cause a stumbling block for those around us.

5. The master of the feast:

   When the master of the feast tasted the wine, he said, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then that which is inferior, but you have kept the good wine until now." This is a wonderful statement said by the master of the feast, but he was not aware of its depth in relation to what Christ does in the lives of people. With Christ, the best always comes at the end. In your study through the word of God, the more you study, the deeper you get. You start out by eating of the word and finding it "sweeter than honey and the honeycomb" (Psalm 19:10). "Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart" (Jeremiah 15:16).

   This also happens when you obey Him; the more you obey Him, the more blessing you discover in your life. Obeying Him may at first be hard, but the blessings of obedience show you that the best comes at the end.

   You may not see His disciplining you as a joyful thing, but grievous; nevertheless He gives those who have been trained by it the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11). The end of chastisement is always the best. The end part with Christ is always better: "Every new morning is better than yesterday for me."

	III. CHRIST AND THE MIRACLE

1. Christ joined in a wedding party in which He performed His first miracle to say to us, "Marriage is honourable among all" (Hebrews 13:4):

   Some people spread misery round about them, presenting the message of Christ as though it is only a message of grief over sin. Christ, however, presents to us the gladdening gospel of the kingdom. When He was born, the angel announced: "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people" (Luke 2:10). The gospel of Christ means the joyous news, for our faith life is a life of joy. When someone sees joy over our faces, he will want to share our joy with us.

   In one of the church's conferences in Bet Al-Salaam, Agami, Alexandria, Egypt, an expert psychologist, who worked in a hospital for psychosomatic mental disease, said, "If we bring our patients to Bet Al-Salaam, Agami, I assure you they will get healed seeing your joy while eating, with happiness and simplicity of heart, and playing and praying together happily, and listening to the word of the Lord with joy."

   Christ sanctified the joys of life by being present in their midst, and returned the joy that the hard circumstances of life have spoilt. Christ blessed every-day life; so that even the daily chores of life have become holy and gladdening. Isn't it He who changed the Law into the covenant of grace? "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). He turned that which is good (the Law) into that which is better (grace).

   This is the great Christ who began His miracles at a wedding party; blessing, providing and meeting needs.

2. Christ performed the miracle in a poor house in Cana:

   He shared with ordinary people, the sinners, and used normal things like waterpots and water.

   He asked for the cooperation of the servants with Him to fill up the pots and give the guests to drink.

   This is Christ who came to us being born in a manger, so that we all may find the way that leads to Him both the poor and the rich, the sinners and the godly. He has everything that anyone would need.

   But the normal turns in Christ's hands into the miraculous! If you surrender your life to Him, He will perform a miracle in and through your life. Try to offer all of yourself to Him, and you will see the miracles happening to you day in and day out.

3. Christ changes that which is good into that which is better:

   The master of the feast bore witness that the last was better. This is what Christ does to you when you offer your life to Him. Your end will be better than your beginning.

   He turned the symbols of the Old Testament into the truths of the New Testament. He turned the sacrifices of the Old Testament, when He came to us as the Lamb of God who carries away the sin of the world, into one sacrifice: the sacrifice of Himself, providing for us thereby an eternal redemption.

   He turned the water baptism with which John the Baptist baptised into the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Baptism of John was for repentance. Repentance is good, but Christ turned it into the Baptism of the Holy Spirit to control the lives of the believers.

   I hope that He turns His word, which we always hear, into that which is better: namely into the cup of salvation, so that we may lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord (Psalm 116:13).

	PRAYER

Our heavenly Father, we thank You that Christ shares our joys with us, as He also feels our needs and stands by us in all the circumstances of our lives, responding to our prayers, and holding us up in the time of want.

Teach us to run to Him without hesitation, and offer our lives to Him in all confidence, fulfilling the sweet commandment that says, "Whatever He says to you, do it." In Christ's name, Amen.

	QUESTIONS

1. What had happened on the first important day that preceded this miracle?

2. What had happened on the second important day that preceded turning the water into wine?

3. What did Christ mean by saying to His mother, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?"

4. What do you learn from Mary's statement: "Whatever He says to you, do it"?

5. Why did Christ join in the wedding party?

6. How can the last with Christ be better than the first?

7. Identify two things that Christ turned into that which was better.

HEALING THE NOBLEMAN'S SON

46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe." 49 The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!" 50 Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!" 52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household. 54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee (John 4:46-54).

This is the second miracle that Jesus performed. The first one (turning water into wine) was performed in a wedding party, while the second under the shadow of an impending death and funeral. The first one was performed for the sake of some poor folk, while the second for a nobleman.

The poor man has got his problems, and the rich man too. The higher the tree towers, the more it feels the vehemence of the storms. There is still the pestilence that walks in darkness, and the destruction that lays waste at noonday (Psalm 91:6)!

This is a miracle of healing a sick son, whose father travelled from Capernaum to Cana, a distance of about 30 kilometres that would have required a whole day of travelling at the time. The father must have travelled for a whole day then, in order to meet the Performer of the miracle.

We do not know who this nobleman was. Maybe he was Chuza, Herod's steward (Luke 8:3), or maybe he was Manaen who had been brought up with Herod (Acts 13:1). But above all, he was a father who loved his son, and was at the point of losing him for ever!

As we meditate on this miracle let us consider:

1. The one in need of the miracle

2. The witnesses and the miracle

3. Christ and the miracle

	I. THE ONE IN NEED OF THE MIRACLE

1. The one who was truly in need was the sick son:

   1. He was sick and at the point of death, unable to move. He was in the charge of his father. Although he had no idea of what was going on around him, yet his father did what should have been done. Are you a son who casts himself on his heavenly Father with assurance, knowing that He is in charge of all your affairs and that He holds all authority over your life? Do you know that your Father is perfect love? Do you know that His love, authority, and everything He has are at your service?

      God often gives us a shock that paralyses us and renders us unable to move, so that we must surrender all our affairs to Him. Many times we think we are capable and independent of Him, and that we can do a lot of things without having to turn to Him. So He gives us a shock because He loves us, and in order to cause us to fly to Him for refuge, and seek His shelter.

   2. The sick son, however, teaches us another lesson. Many times we do not feel our needs for the severity of our sickness. The son was so sick that he did not feel the need for a physician. But our good Father draws our attention to out spiritual sickness, our weakness and need for a Saviour, so that we may cry out with the tax collector, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" (Luke 18:13).

2. The second person in need of the miracle was the nobleman:

   The Gospel does not mention the mother. But she, too, needed Christ to heal her son, just as the father did. The mother remained behind, beside the sick bed, while the father went seeking Christ's help. The man and his wife are one (Matthew 19:5). Since they are one, the Gospel considered it sufficient to mention only the father who went to implore Christ and lay his request before Him.

   Both father and mother were stricken with grief. But unless this distress came upon them, they would not have thought of going to Christ. God let them get into such a predicament in order to compel them to turn to the Nazarene Carpenter who had a reputation for being a performer of miracles. "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes" (Psalm 119:71). God is a loving and gracious father who never afflicts us just for the sake of affliction, but to teach us and bring us closer to Him.

   1. The nobleman swallowed his pride and travelled from Capernaum the capital to a small village to meet Christ and ask Him to heal his son. He did not care what the people might say, because the distress of his soul made him humble himself before Christ.

   2. He accepted Christ's reproach in humility, and, therefore, passed the test of faith. He said to Christ, "Please, come down and heal my sick son, because he is at the point of death." But Christ gave him a seemingly harsh answer: "Unless you people see signs and wonders!" Christ reproached the man, and he accepted it in humility. Christ was aware of the man's faith, so He gave the test that his faith could pass! "God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted (tested and examined) beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape..." (1 Corinthians 10:13).

   3. The father came to Christ for his son's sake, and sought healing for him. How much fathers do for their children's sake! These are also children who do good to their parents. There may be a son who leads his father to Christ. Do we care for the members of our families spiritually? Do we think about the elders in our families, pray and tell Christ about them, as the father told Christ about his son?

      There are old parents in our families. I wish we would care for them, as our parents cared and prayed for us until we came to know Christ the Saviour! Let us think about our uncles, aunts and those who are older than us and present them to Christ.

   4. The nobleman placed his whole confidence in Christ in spite of the pressure of time: "Please, come down with me before my son dies." And when Christ said to him, "Your son lives,"he believed the word and returned to his home not seeing anything yet. He placed his trust in a spoken word, and realised that his son got healed. He returned home without seeing anything that would soothe his heart. But, isn't this faith? It is having confidence in things we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). It was said about Abraham, "who, contrary to hope, in hope believed" (Romans 4:18), and got what he hoped for. The nobleman did not say, "Maybe what Christ said was true." But he rather said, "Certainly Christ fulfilled His promise and was as good as His word." We need this sort of faith that makes us put our complete trust in Christ as sinners who need forgiveness, and realise that the atonement of His Cross is sufficient for cleansing us.

      Every faith has a starting point, and every faith grows and increases. It all starts by hearing, which makes us ask. Faith started in the nobleman's heart when it was said to him, "Christ can heal your son; He has performed a miracle in Cana, turning water into wine. The Messiah has come!"

      Here, his faith increased. He went to Christ, covering a distance of 30 kilometres that took him a whole day, in order to implore Christ for his son's healing. The increase of faith was manifested when he believed Christ as He said, "Your son will live," and acted on this word. His faith was perfected in action and experience when he got what Christ gave him. He understood that in the hour when Jesus said, "Your son will live," his son was healed. His faith was also perfected when he and his whole household believed on the Lord. The perfection of faith is to open your heart to Christ to change your life, so that you can lead others to Christ the Saviour. Many of us enjoy God's care and know and love God who takes care of us. This is, however, the way a beggar treats a benefactor. But we want to have the relationship of a son with his father. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even those who believe in His name" (John 1:12). Thus we are transported from the position of a slave begging from a benefactor to the privileged status of a son asking his father.

      Our faith must feed on the promises of God and take hold of them. This way faith grows and increases, because not a single word of any good thing that the Lord has spoken to us shall fail (Joshua 21:45).

      Faith must always act in the absence of feelings. It was not the father's feelings that made him return to Capernaum, but his faith in the fact that the word of Christ must come true, that His promise must be fulfilled and that His command must come to pass. He said to him, "Your son lives."

      Does your faith in Christ encourage you to talk to Him as the nobleman did about his son? Does it rest assured? When He says to you, "Your son lives," do you believe in the word He spoke and act on it? Your faith in Christ gives you and your family a blessing, for true faith blesses the believer and his family.

	II. THE WITNESSES AND THE MIRACLE

1. Those who heard the entreaty of the nobleman:

   When the nobleman entreated Jesus to heal his son, they heard what He had to say. Christ said to them, "Unless you people see signs and wonders!" Perhaps Christ addressed this sentence to those standing around Him because they wanted to see the miracle that Christ was going to perform. They sought to see with their own eyes before they would believe, while Christ wants the strong faith that believes even before it sees, as He said to Thomas, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29).

   Christ said this word in order to treat a case in Cana of Galilee. He wanted them to believe in Him not on the grounds of being the son of a carpenter, or on the grounds that all His brothers were there among them, but because He is the One who came from heaven. This was the belief of the repentant criminal who said, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom" (Luke 23:42). He saw the One hanging on the cross as Lord of a kingdom, although the human eye would see Him only as a fellow criminal! The repentant criminal saw the unseen! Therefore, Christ rewarded him with faith that leads to eternal life.

2. The nobleman's men:

   They met the returning father with the good news, the hour and circumstances of which they knew. They saw and carried the report to their master. They did not originate the good news; they only carried it. "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."The seventh hour is one p.m. according to our way of keeping time, which is seven hours after sunrise according to the Jewish way of keeping time. So the father realised that it was the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."

   We believers often watch God's work among us, and see the miracles of change in people's lives. We see miracles of healing that more than satisfy people's expectation, and a great divine providence that does wondrous works that are above our imagination. "To Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us" (Ephesians 3:20).

   God performs miracles in our lives. We did not imagine these miracles. We merely see them and enjoy their blessings. So let us go out and tell what the Lord has done and how He showed mercy to us!

	III. CHRIST AND THE MIRACLE

1. We can see Christ's utter compassion:

   Christ had compassion for the father who presented the request, and for the sick son lying far away in Capernaum. The father's faith was weak. We do not blame him, though, for if we were in his shoes, maybe we would say something worse than what he said! It is weak and simple faith to say, "Come down and heal my son, for he was at the point of death."It was as though he said to him, "It would be no use if You delay." This is limited faith, yet Christ did not put it out. Isaiah said concerning Him, "A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench"(Isaiah 42:3, Matthew 12:20).

   Chrysostom said in one of his sermons, "Why did Christ go to the house of the centurion but did not go the house of the nobleman?" He answered his question, saying, "The centurion had a great faith, but the nobleman had a weak faith. Christ wanted to strengthen the man's faith, so He healed his son from afar off, to make him sure that He had the authority and power over everything."

   Christ deals with us in different ways that are dependent on our situation, circumstances and measure of faith. We cannot say to him, "Why did You do this with one person, but did not do the same way with me?" The Lord has many ways of dealing with every one of us according to our circumstances and situations. He even deals with you in many and different ways.

2. The power of Christ:

   The father said, "My son is at the point of death. Come down before he dies!" But Christ said, "Your son is alive." Christ's word was completely contradictory to the visible reality! But His word carries His authority, for this is the meaning of Christ's title as the "Word," since He carries all the authority of the Lord. Therefore, Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the father" (John 14:9).

   "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the father, He has declared Him"(John 1:18). We have the written word of God in the Bible; it has God's authority to save souls by the work of the Holy Spirit. We have the living Word, as well; the Lord Jesus Christ, the living Saviour. The Saviour and His word are working among us.

   Christ's word "Your son lives" performed two miracles at least: the first is healing the weakness of the nobleman's faith, and the second is healing the weakness of the sick son who was lying on his deathbed! The word of Christ does not initiate one miracle only, but many miracles. Every miracle we see is in fact a group of miracles. The more we meditate on them, the more they react with our hearts to strengthen and increase our faith, and heal our sickness and take it away.

   Christ has the authority in spite of the distance. At a distance of 30 kilometres, at the same moment, at one o'clock in the afternoon, the sick son was healed.

3. Christ's wisdom:

   The father asked Christ to heal his son in a certain way, but Christ healed him in a different way. His request was: "Come down with me before my son dies." Christ, however, did not go down to Capernaum, but healed the son right there from Cana, to teach us a great lesson: how to submit ourselves to His wisdom and say to Him, "Let it not be according to my will, but according to Your will; for Yours is the good, pleasing and perfect one. If You grant me my request the same way I asked it, I will be the loser. But if You grant me my request as You want to do it, then I will gave gained everything!"

Let us learn how to put our trust in Christ's compassion, power and wisdom.

	PRAYER

Our heavenly Father, perform in our lives a miracle of healing from all our sicknesses: from the sickness of sin through forgiveness, from the sickness of anxiety through security, and from the sickness of haste through waiting for the Lord.

Give us spiritual health, and let our bodies always be a temple for the Holy Spirit. In Jesus Christ's name, Amen.

	QUESTIONS

1. Identify two differences between the miracle of turning water into wine and this miracle.

2. Why did not the Gospel mention the mother in the story of healing the sick son?

3. What is our responsibility towards those in our families that are older than we?

4. How did the nobleman's faith start, increase and how was it perfected?

5. Christ did not put out the nobleman's faith, but rather kindled it. How?

6. Why did Christ go to the centurion's house, but not to the nobleman's house?

7. Christ healed the sick son differently from what his father asked. What do you learn from this?

GREAT CATCH OF FISH

1 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, 2 and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. 3 Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. 4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." 5 But Simon answered and said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men." 11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him (Luke 5:1-11, see also Matthew 4:18-22 and Mark 1:16-20).

Christ performed His first miracle at a wedding, the second in the presence of the shadow of death, and the third on the shore of the Lake Gennesaret. The name of this lake means "the Princess of the Gardens", because there are ten populous and prosperous cities around it with fruitful gardens. It is a place of happiness and joy.

This lake is also called "the Sea of Galilee" or "Lake Tiberias". It is 20 kilometres long, 13 kilometres wide and situated 230 meters below sea level. Therefore, it has a tropical climate. The winds that blow over it change completely and unexpectedly, without any previous warning signs.

Christ performed many of His miracles around this lake while moving from shore to shore. He calmed the storm there and gave His disciples an abundant catch of fish. From that lake, standing in a small boat, He addressed the crowds gathered on its shore. He compensated Peter, the owner of the boat by giving him many fish. In fact, Christ's working relationship with Peter began with the miracle of the great catch of fish here. His working relationship with him during His existence on earth ended with another miracle of a catch of fish (John 21), when He charged him with shepherding His sheep.

In this miracle we concentrate on two persons:

1. The one in need of the miracle

2. Christ and the miracle

	I. THE ONE IN NEED OF THE MIRACLE

1. The assets of the person in need:

   Peter owned a boat standing on the shore. The fishermen had disembarked from it and were washing their nets after having spent the whole night fishing without catching anything. This is a situation of discouragement and exhaustion. The boat was given to Christ in order that He might make it a pulpit and address the multitudes from it. One commentator has said: "The fisher of souls was out at sea in a boat while the souls He was fishing for were standing on the ground, on the shore of the lake. The heavenly preacher throws the net of the Gospel to gather the souls into His kingdom from death to life." We may see in the boat presented to Christ a silent expression of Peter saying in effect: "The word you preach from the boat and from outside it give eternal life."

   An empty boat was given to Christ, and lo and behold! it became overflowing with fish, so much that the nets were about to break, and the fishermen had to ask another boat to come along and help them. They came and filled the two boats to the point of sinking! An empty boat given to Christ was filled with more than Peter expected. Is this not the situation of all of us? When our hands are empty we open them to Christ and He fills them. If only we would offer everything we have to Him, not because He is in need of it, but in order that He might bless it. If we fail in something, let's surrender it to the Lord. When our health fails, offer the body to the Lord to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. If our work fails, offer it up to the Lord that He may bless it because it becomes His work. The shares in Peter's boat were entirely Peter's. But when he offered them to Christ, they all became Christ's. Peter, then, became a successful partner with Christ. If all the shares are ours we will not succeed. But if we give them all to Christ, He will bless them, and we become His partners and partakers of His success.

   Let us offer our bodies to Him to be a living, holy acceptable sacrifice, that they may become healthy, blessed and filled with the plenitude of the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:1).

2. The faith of the person in need:

   1. Peter began his life with Christ by becoming His follower. When his brother Andrew told him: "We have found the Messiah" he followed Christ immediately. Though Peter was admitted into the fellowship of Christ, he continued to live in his home and practice his trade as a fisherman.

      But the day Christ told him, "move out a little from land," he experienced something new: he became a disciple of Christ. Jesus sat in Peter's boat teaching the multitudes. Then He told him: "Do not be afraid! From now you will catch men." So he left all things and followed Christ. He had been a follower; now he became a full-time disciple of Christ. Peter left all things in order to follow Him. Later he made more progress in his faith, becoming an apostle of Christ.

   2. Peter began his walk of faith in such astonishment and amazement at this miracle. He said: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Later, having made progress in his faith, he said: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68). He began by fearing Christ and His holiness. Christ told him: "Do not fear me and my holiness, for I will wash you and cleanse your heart." Peter learned his lesson and said: "Do not leave my boat. Stay with me." There had certainly been progress and development in Peter's spiritual life. Peter said: "I want myself and my boat to be at your service. Stay in my boat, because I need your daily sanctification and spiritual refreshment." Great progress had taken place in the boat and in the owner of the boat. The boat and its owner had become the property of Christ.

   3. Peter and all those who were with him were gripped with amazement at the catch of fish. We also need to be dazzled by Christ, always astonished by His dealings with us and always eager to thank Him for everything at all times. Let us learn from Peter to be always dazzled by every gift from God. Our life with God should be radiate our amazement at God's gifts. He continually stretches out His hand towards us with blessing "and there shall be amazement at Him in all His faithful ones" (2 Thessalonians 1:10).

   4. After this surprise comes the divine promise: "Do not be afraid! From now you will catch men." Everyone who comes to know Christ deeply is promoted from being a fisher of fish to being a fisher of men. Take the promotion of plants: when animals eat them, plants are promoted from the kingdom of plants to the kingdom of animals. When man eats an animal, he promotes the animal to the human kingdom because it becomes cells of the human body. When we commit ourselves to God and give our God the right to all we own, we say: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). We become partakers of divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Let us give ourselves fully to God and commit everything we have to Him that His authority over us may be perfect, to bring us from the human kingdom to the divine kingdom, into which Christ wants to bring us.

      Among the promotions which Christ wants to give us is the promotion from mere "breadwinners" to "those who do God's will". There are children who complain because their fathers are too busy providing for their material needs to care for them! There are wives who complain about their husbands because they leave the house early in the morning and don't come back until late at night, eating the bread of sorrows (Psalm 127:2). All the while God wants to make them holy people, since they chose the good part which shall not be taken from them (Luke 10:42). This "good part" does not isolate them from the world and does not fail them, but makes everything increase for them (Matthew 6:33).

   5. Peter's consecration was completed when he left everything and followed Christ. While you are busy here and there God is asking you to spend more time in worship or to think more deeply about someone who needs salvation, in order to speak to him. If you want satisfaction in your life, be a faithful follower of Christ.

	II. CHRIST AND THE MIRACLE

1. Christ attracts people:

   The multitude was crowding around Him to hear the Word of God from Him. There is a special attraction about Jesus. Among the most enjoyable years of my life were those I spent preparing The Life of Christ series of books for publication, then for broadcasting. An intense friendship developed with an awesome beauty, whose influence still impresses my heart. When Christ attracts you, you meditate on Him and "crowd around Him". This is the attraction of Christ which never ceases. He has said: "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself" (John 12:32).

   As you know, magnetism attracts metal and not stone. But even though you may feel that you are like a stone, ask God to work a change within you which will eliminate from you anything which hinders your being attracted to Him, in order that you may "crowd around Him".

2. Christ in need:

   He needed Peter's boat, and sat down in it to teach the people. He needed the experience of a fisherman to take the boat out into the lake. He was capable of creating a boat and ordering a wave to take it out from land, but He wanted to honour and bless Peter. When the Lord asks something from us, He does not ask it because He is incapable of doing it, but because He wants to make us share in His ministry. Let us be wise enough to say: "I will give the Lord the boat of my life, and if it is empty, He will return it to me full. With Him my weary soul can rest and the thirst of my heart can be quenched."

3. Christ, the holder of authority:

   1. He held authority over Peter. He said to him: "Take the boat out from the shore. Go out to the deep." Then He ordered him: "Throw out the net." And Peter obeyed. There is power and attraction in Jesus. If you hear His voice you will find that you want to obey Him, not only because it is to your advantage, but because there is authority in Christ's word, "for the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword" (Hebrews 4:12). Let us read God's Word and we shall see its authority in our life.

   2. The authority of Christ over the fish: There were no fish at the place where they were fishing. Furthermore, fishing is done at night. Nevertheless, the fish gathered at Christ's command.

      Peter's success in fishing was not caused by any favourable circumstances, but by his obedience to the word of Christ, the holder of authority. You also can succeed, not because of the circumstances, however favourable they maybe, but because of the blessing which He gives you. I hope you will agree with whatever Christ has for you by His word. Blessing is always upon the obedient. God ordered Elijah to go to the river Cherith saying: "I have commanded the ravens to feed you there"(1 Kings 17:4). The word "there" is the key: Not where you want to be, but where He wants you to be.

4. Christ's love:

   1. Christ encouraged Peter. He told him: "Do not be afraid. From now you will catch men." Peter was astonished by the catch of fish, fearing because of his sin. Christ encouraged him with words of love. He said: "Do not fear. I will cleanse your heart. I will promote you." These words keep coming to us as we face an exam, or an interview for a job, or before undergoing a surgical operation, or when we will become parents for the first time, or when we send our children to school for the first time, or when we have them married and leaving the nest of our home, or when we are about to be retire and leave our job. How we need these words! In every experience we have not already undergone before we hear the voice of love in our ears: "Do not fear. From now..."

   2. "From now..."presents another proof of Christ's love. There is divine timing here. Why didn't Christ say to Peter: "From now on you will catch men"as soon as Andrew called him to follow Christ? Answer: Because Christ was preparing Peter for the suitable moment.

   3. Christ declared His love to Peter when He called him to a specific ministry: fishing for men. Peter's self-esteem, then, increased. His prestige in his family and society went up. God gave him a great position in the Kingdom of Heaven.

   4. Then Christ declared His love to Peter by giving him many fish: Does the renting of a boat for a few hours merit the enormous compensation that Peter received? If Christ had rented the boat from which He preached, He would have paid the equivalent of one dinar, but He filled Peter's boat with fish. He kept the nets from bursting and the two boats from sinking. What a compensation! Whoever gives a glass of cold water in His name shall by no means lose his reward (Matthew 10:42). Have you ever felt regret at something good you have done and not found recompense and gratitude? Do not regret, for you will receive recompense from the Lord. Christ is the One Who compensates.

   5. Then let us consider Christ Who sees the future: Christ said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when was full, they drew to the shore, and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age"(Matthew 13:47-49). We see in this miracle a prophetic parable: The fishers are the apostles who bring God's word to every age. The boat is the Church. The net is the Gospel. The sea is the world. The shore is eternity. The only difference is that the fishers catch fish that die, while the servants of Christ catch people that they may live. One day, the net will be pulled up. There will be good and bad people in it, for the Church is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners. The bad are separated and the good taken for the Kingdom. Which side do you belong to, then? Have you offered up your soul and your boat and your family to Christ?

	PRAYER

Heavenly Father, we thank you with all our heart because you love us and care for our needs, even before we know them! You grant it to us even before we ask for it! And when you give you grant generously and do not reproach.

Grant that we may always find the right way toward you, for we submit our souls to you and surrender our will to yours so that we can be filled with blessing and grace, and receive from you grace above grace. In the name of Christ. Amen.

	QUESTIONS

1. Describe the Sea of Galilee.

2. What happens when we surrender ourselves to Christ?

3. What happens when we surrender what we have to Christ?

4. Name a development that took place in Peter's faith.

5. What was Christ's commission for Peter?

6. Why did Christ borrow Peter's boat instead of creating a boat?

7. What was Christ's compensation for Peter?

HEALING PETER'S MOTHER-IN-LAW

14 Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. 15 So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them (Matthew 8:14,15, see also Mark 1:29 and Luke 4:38).

Christ performed His first miracle before a great number of people, in a house crowded with guests, during a wedding party.

His second miracle (healing the son of the nobleman from afar) took place in Cana while the patient was lying in Capernaum.

As to this miracle (healing Peter's mother-in-law), Jesus performed it when standing beside her bed, in a house in Capernaum, in the presence of just a small number of friends and relatives.

On a Sabbath in the city of Capernaum, the city lying on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, after the religious service in the synagogue and after Christ had finished delivering His sermon, He returned to Peter's house where He was staying. The disciple had a house of his own, while the Teacher had nowhere to lay his head. Yet He is the One in authority in heaven and on earth! When Peter offered the house to his Teacher, Christ honoured him by working the miracle of healing in his house. Peter gave his ship to Christ so that He could preach from it, and He filled the ship with fish. When he put Him up in his house, He honoured Peter by a miracle of healing that brought gladness to their hearts. Peter's mother-in-law had a high fever, but Christ took her hand, raised her up and she was instantly healed and rose up to serve the household. The evangelist Matthew says, "That it might be fulfilled that was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses" (see Isaiah 53:4). This was a prophecy that had been spoken more than seven hundred years before the birth of the Messiah, and was fulfilled in Peter's house. It also can be fulfilled in the house of every one of us.

Meditating on this miracle we will consider:

1. The one in need of the miracle

2. The witnesses of the miracle

3. Christ and the miracle

	I. THE ONE IN NEED OF THE MIRACLE

1. Peter's mother-in-law was bedridden and unable to complain to Christ:

   Her body had a "high fever" as Luke describes it. Her frail body must have been shivering, and perhaps she thought she was not important enough to ask Him to heal her. Many of the old people think they are not important anymore, but there is no one without importance in the Lord's eyes. A small child is important in Jesus's eyes even if the disciples drove his parents away when they carried him to Christ, for He said to His disciples, "Let the children come to Me"(Matthew 19:14). Anyone who is advanced in years should not think to himself that he is not important, because Christ provides him with blessing and grace. He carries him to his gray hairs (Isaiah 46:4).

   There were three known kinds of fever at that time; the first of them was called "the Maltese fever". This causes weakness and anaemia that would last for months, and leads to death. There was also another kind that was similar to our typhoid fever. Beside these there was the malaria fever which was transmitted by the mosquitoes that bred in the area where the Jordan River meets the sea of Galilee. Fever in all its kinds was widespread in both Capernaum and Tiberias.

2. This severe fever rendered the lady speechless, so they spoke for her:

   There are some who need Christ without realising their need. What they are asking for is available with Christ, but no one points them to the way. This is the Christians' responsibility. Maybe we are not sensitive to the need of our society; for many people do ask about our faith, but we dodge the answer, either because we are not used to answering or because we do not know how to answer. But first of all, we should be sensitive to our surroundings, so that we might be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks us to give a reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15). I do not think that there is a Christian clerk in an office that was not asked by his neighbour, "How did you do this good deed in spite of being mistreated?" Most probably the inquirer would not get a sufficient answer from the Christian. And even if he does, the answer may be superficial or inadequate!

3. Christ touched the hand of this lady, and she rose up and served them:

   I wonder what kind of service Peter's mother-in-law did? It was not a great and famous service like the service of Mary, Aaron's sister who led the singing (Exodus 15:20). It was not like the service of Deborah the judge of Israel, for she received no training or divine call to be a judge for her people (Judge 4:4). I do not think, either, that she did a service like Ruth's or Hannah's (Samuel's mother) service, or like the service of Queen Esther. The number of famous people is few. But there is a large number of ordinary believers who do ordinary services that are important and necessary, even if they were not famous. The Lord records in the Gospel the service of Peter's mother-in-law who helped in the kitchen, in cleaning the house, or washing the dishes after the guests had eaten. This is a simple thing that the Gospel honours because our daily work is holy. The lady who prepares food for her household, or changes her child's clothes and offers him Christian love, does in fact a holy service equal to that of the pastor of the church who preaches or administers communion to the people. All these jobs are important and necessary, since they reveal the love of God to the world which was poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that was given us (Romans 5:5). The book of Acts speaks of Dorcas who used to make clothes for the poor (Acts 9:36-42). It also speaks of Mary the mother of John Mark who offered her house to be a church (Acts 12:12). The apostle John speaks in his second epistle of the chosen lady whose ministry was to raise up her children. There are many simple services that people do not appreciate, and those who do them may look upon them as being too simple to even mention. But the divine grace mentions them since it wants us to appreciate ourselves, and appreciate our fellow believers. Above all, let us realise that heaven appreciates the service which we do, however small it may be, as long as the motive for it is the love of Christ and devotion to Him.

   There are many other services which we can do, such as serving at home, raising up the children, serving the sick and elderly who are lonely. Give a word of encouragement on behalf of Christ. Give a smile in Christ's name. (Read Matthew 25:34-40.)

   Peter's mother-in-law was great as she used her regained health in serving Christ.

   The Irish poet Oscar Wilde (d. 1900) wrote a short story that he described as the most beautiful short story in the world. In this story he said:

   Christ went from the white valley to the gray city, and saw a drunkard lying down on the street. He asked him, "Why do you destroy your life drinking?" He answered, "I was a leper, and You healed me. But when you restored my health I found nothing to do!" ... Christ then went to another street in the same city, and saw a young man pursuing a prostitute, and asked him, "Why do you destroy your life in depravity?"He answered Him, "I was blind, and You opened my eyes. In what can I possibly use my eyes other than in this I am doing now?" Then Christ saw an old man sitting on the ground and weeping. He asked him, "What do you do, and why are you weeping?" He answered, "You raised me up from the dead; and what can I possibly be doing but weep?"

   I think that his painful story reminds us of many people who received the blessings of God and misused them. But we thank God that Peter's mother-in-law was not one of these!

	II. THE WITNESSES AND THE MIRACLE

1. Peter:

   Peter was already a disciple of Christ, and had a home of his own. He first offered himself to Christ, then his boat, and lastly his house. How happy is the man whose whole life belongs to Christ! For then Christ makes a better life, and He becomes the aim of that life. Happy is the man who surrenders himself to the Lord completely and unconditionally, for then the Lord becomes responsible for that man's life. He carries a responsibility that we cannot carry. He, then, holds the reins of our affairs, carrying our worries, forgiving our sins and bestowing upon us eternal life.

   Yet, the Lord allowed sickness to come into Peter's house. It is also for a purpose that He allows the sickness of our bodies, or the fatigue of our souls. In His divine wisdom, He allows some painful things, because He wants to form our lives in a certain way, of which pain must be a part! It is above what we can grasp or explain, but the crisis is lifted. We discover that it was one of the most important things that shaped our lives so that we could be in the divine will. Although sickness is undesirable, it causes sympathy among the residents when it comes into a home. Perhaps a father forgot to pray because of the pressures of his work. But the sickness of his son makes him bow down in prayer. The father who spends all his time earning money, when his son gets sick, spends all the money he earned to restore his son's health. Sickness wakes a person up to realise that it is not by bread and money alone that man lives, but by the word of God.

   Sickness brings out the good potential qualities in us. Often we have inside us good qualities, but worry, preoccupation, seeking after one's livelihood and caring for daily problems cover them with dust. Sickness comes to remove this dust and the potential good in us comes forth. Then we realise that it was God who placed this good in us, and that He is the One who develops it by the work of His Holy Spirit, when we allow Him to do this in us.

   Peter's family got together and united in the face of sickness because Peter's sick mother-in-law needed help. Sickness is not all evil. It is not good, but it produces a lot of good. If we realise that everything we go through is ordained by God, we would be able to say, "Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them" (Isaiah 3:10). "And we know that all things work together for the good to those who love God"(Romans 8:28). This is Peter, Christ's disciple, who offered himself, his ship and his house to the Lord. But the Lord allowed sickness to come in order to bless Peter himself more, and to bless us also as we meditate upon what happened with Peter.

2. The believers who were friends of Peter:

   The story, as St. Mark narrates it, goes like this: "But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with fever, and they told Him about her at once" (Mark 1:30), since they were conscious of His love and power. Had He loved without power, He wouldn't have had the ability to heal. Had He been powerful without love, He wouldn't have cared to heal. But since He is both powerful and loving, His power was always subservient to His love. Therefore they went to Him and "told Him about her at once."

   Pain and sickness make us tell Christ about our situation. We sometimes take the credit for our success ourselves. But to whom shall we take our troubles? We may be proud when our own sun has risen and refer our success to ourselves. But when we fail and are troubled, we hear this precious word of His "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me" (Psalm 50:15).

	III. CHRIST AND THE MIRACLE

1. Christ's humility:

   In the home of the poor fisherman, where the fish reeked, and in front of the shivering body of a feverish woman, He performed the miracle. Usually we like people to see us doing a great work, but all of Christ's concern is for the one in need, for He did not come to be served, but rather to serve and give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

   It costs Him some effort to perform the miracle. There was power that went out of Him to heal. He was willing to grant the blessings of power to Peter's mother-in-law, for Christ does not know the word "too simple" or "too small to be healed".

2. Christ's power:

   He is a specialist in everything. "They brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick" (Matthew 8:16).

   He performs the miracle before a small crowd of people in the house, or performs miracles for many on the streets or in the open. It does not matter with Him; for He is the One who calls to Himself all those who labour and are heavy laden to give them rest (Matthew 11:28). Wherever you are and however your state might be, He is able to help you.

3. Christ's family:

   Christ once asked, "Who is My mother, and who are My brothers? ... For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother" (Matthew 12:48-50). Christ had called Peter to follow Him, then to be an apostle for Him. He did not tell Peter to leave his wife and she travelled with him in his ministry (1 Corinthians 9:5).

   Clement of Alexandria (AD 150-220), the founder of the Alexandrian school of theology, said that Peter and his wife were martyred together, and that they killed her before they killed him. Peter called her by name and told her, "Remember the Lord."

   Christ sanctified the family, the marriage and the home, and has made the believers His family, flesh of His flesh and bones of His bones (Ephesians 5:30).

4. Christ's compassion:

   On hearing the request of the people of the sick woman, Mark says that "He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them"(Mark 1:31). He took her by the hand to show His compassion and power and to emphasise that He is the source of her healing. Often times, after receiving many blessings from God, we think that we got them from another source. He then comes in and assures us that it is He who takes care of us, and has compassion for us, so that in case we needed Him later on, we would be able to return to Him. Let us bear in mind that the one who comes to Him, He will by no means cast him out (John 6:37).

5. Christ's revelation:

   Christ's presence makes us feel our need. Unless Christ was there, they would not have thought of seeking healing for her from sickness. Sickness makes us depressed, but the presence of Christ makes us think positively and uncover a mountain resting inside us, of which we saw only the top part: a mountain of problems, and another mountain of His love for us and our love for Him. Then we run for refuge with Him from our troubles, and to His love.

   Christ's presence in Peter's ship revealed his sin. He asked Christ to leave the ship. Christ's presence in Peter's house revealed to Peter the existence of the healing power, which made them ask Him to heal her.

   Christ called a married man, an individual named Peter, and blessed his whole house and healed his mother-in-law. Later He blessed the whole town by His presence in one of its houses (Mark 1:33). He justified Peter, and through the one righteous man He blessed all those around him. Thanks for the revelation of Christ.

And now, what do all these teachings mean to you personally?

	PRAYER

Our heavenly Father, You want to make me a blessing. So fill me up with Your grace. Make me Your disciple, bless my home through me and bless my country through my home. Give me spiritual sensitivity that would make me aware of the need of my society, that I may share this good news with all, so that Your glory may be lifted up over all the earth. In Christ's name, Amen.

	QUESTIONS

1. Where did Christ perform this miracle? What do we learn from that?

2. Write a Scripture verse with its reference that proves God cares for the old people.

3. What was the service which Peter's mother-in-law rendered after she got healed?

4. What is God's purpose for sickness?

5. What do we learn from Peter's friends?

6. Who are the spiritual family of Jesus?

7. How was the blessing of Jesus extended from Peter to all Peter's city?

HEALING THE LEPER

40 Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." 41 Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." 42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." 45 However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction (Mark 1:40-45, see also Matthew 8:2-4 and Luke 5:12-16).

In this miracle Jesus heals a person sick with leprosywhom the physician evangelist Luke describes as being "full of leprosy" in its final stages. Leprosy had filled his whole body. Leprosy is a skin disease that affects the members it afflicts in such a way that the patient's extremities, knuckles, nose, and palate start falling off. Leprosy manifests itself at first as a swelling or a bright spot with corroded edges that sink lower than the skin itself, and the hair that grows from it turns white (Leviticus 13).

Leprosy was a curse, which the Jews considered as punishment from God. This happened with Miriam, Aaron's sister (Numbers 12) and with Gehazi, Elisha's servant (2 Kings 5). A leper who thought he got healed was supposed to get a healing certificate from the priest before he could rejoin society. A leper was rejected by society, and was forced to got out of town and live by himself or with a group of leprosy-stricken people. Whenever a healthy man would approach him, a leper should shout aloud, "Leper! Leper!" so that the healthy man would go away from him. The Jews, therefore, always connected sin and leprosy, for leprosy was uncleanness that kept man away from society and from the house of God. There was no known remedy for leprosy. A leper would, therefore, spend time with no hope outside populated societies, waiting for his limbs to fall off and die. This is the man who was never to be touched.

This man who was full of leprosy came to Christ and knelt down before Him, saying, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."He had no doubt in Christ's ability, but he doubted His love. He knew that if Christ wanted, He could cleanse him. Christ was moved with compassion for him, stretched out His hand and touched him. This is forbidden according to the Mosaic Law, but the Lord of the Lawwho is also the Lord of the Sabbathstretched out His hand and touched him lovingly, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. Jesus warned him not to tell anybody about this miracle, but the man did not obey, and rather went out proclaiming the matter in every place telling what Christ had done. He had no right at all to break the commandment of the Physician who healed him, but he was so possessed of his emotions that he could not obey the command given him. As a result, many gathered around Christ and He had to go out of the city of Capernaum, for the people pressed Him too much. Christ told the leper who was healed to go to the priest, who held an office that resembled our present-day hygienist, so as to give him a certificate of healing in order to go back to the society that rejected him. At the same time, he was supposed to offer a sacrifice with the priest for the cleansing he received from his disease, as thanksgiving for his healing. The patient went to the priest and received his certificate of healing.

Meditating on this m