Miracles accompanied Jesus’ teaching, which appeared to teach as one with authority. These miracles were a means of proving the truth of Jesus’ teaching and of revealing his person as the awaited prophet, “the Messiah,” who would heal the sick and make the blind see…
Today, the Gospel text can be called “the text of miracles,” because it speaks at the same time about the healing of two blind men, and then a demon making him mute. In the face of these events, people were divided in their interpretation. Some saw in them an indication of Jesus’ divinity, and said, “We have never seen anything like this.” Others considered its source to be demonic, and said, “By the prince of demons he casts out demons.”
Miracles were not limited to the time of Jesus, but the disciples themselves after him supported the gospel with powers and wonders. The chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, with its many wonders, confirms what Jesus said, that whoever believes in him will do the works that he did, and even greater works.
In our days, as in the past, people are divided in the face of such phenomena. Some consider them an old idea and manifestation. While others seem to be passionate about them in their way of believing in them to the point of believing in false miracles. The division that we saw in the Gospel text occurs today in the face of some miracles. Some see in every miracle a divine source. While others see them as demonic manifestations.
The miracle is not just a supernatural phenomenon! Rather, it is a tool to confirm the good news, and a “sign” that points to the divine presence, love, tenderness, and care for man. The miracle is a cry that “God is here” and now. Because where nature is defeated, there is the Lord of nature.
The miracle as an event that exceeds natural things can have three sources. The first is God, the second is science, and the third is Satan.
Science sometimes reaches the level of miracles when people’s perception fails to understand or predict it. There are not a few cases where we can, using modern scientific achievements and inventions, achieve what many consider “supernatural.” The disparity in scientific abilities and knowledge often allows one party to surpass the concepts and perception of the other party in an admirable way and to achieve what can be imagined as a “miracle.”
These scientific miracles are related to knowledge and time. The secrets of science and inventions are numerous. However, they are closer to magic than to the “sign” that states that “God is here.” These scientific miracles and “wonders” have no relation to the wonders of the Bible and its purpose.
The other source of miracles is Satan. The Jews themselves attributed the works of Jesus to him. This is a fact that the Church knows, that there are miracles, that is, supernatural events, whose source is Satan, who, as the Book of Revelation says, will lead many astray. Magic is nothing but a manifestation of man’s cooperation with Satan to achieve miracles, which are pleasing and pleasant to people, especially in our Eastern world with its religious enthusiasm, among the superficial among them. So, summoning spirits, clairvoyance, reading coffee cups, amulets and books… all of these are “miracles” but their source is Satan. These do not say “God is here” but they lead many astray. The good miracles are those whose source is God.
But how do we distinguish the source of every miracle? The manifestations of miracles are one, in the sense that they are beyond the natural and transcend our rational understanding. Therefore, distinguishing them is not based on using reason alone here, as it is helpless before every miracle.
The Church basically wants faith to bring miracles, not miracles to bring faith. Miracles are means of evangelizing the weak or hard-hearted; the word is best. The Church rejects every miracle until God confirms it after a while. We are wary of miracles, not passionate about them. Today, after the spread of the Gospel, the necessity of miracles in Christianity has become rare.
So how do we distinguish the “source of the miracle,” and how do we judge it when it happens? And where do we classify it when we encounter it? Is it a scientific trick, or satanic magic, or divine providence?
There is no light that reveals the source of miracles except “the knowledge of God,” that is, our knowledge of Him. And thus at the same time our knowledge of the tricks of Satan.
God's friends are the only measure of the source of every miracle. This is what we also experience in ordinary human relations. If we are told, for example, that someone did something great for someone else, we cannot judge the truth of that except on the basis of our personal knowledge of him. If we are told that someone's father performed a miracle when he explained a difficult question to him for an exam, our personal knowledge of that father may lead us to reject it and consider that this father does not raise his children in this way, but rather develops them with knowledge; or the opposite. Any piece of news about a person may be believed or doubted by people. But the only person who can make a definitive judgment about this news is his friend, because he knows exactly what this friend might do or do.
He who truly knows God feels Him, yes, feels with Him! He knows what God can will and do. It is a sense born of knowledge – an acquaintance, a friendship between man and God.
Of course, there are general rational and faith-based implications, but they are inadequate and may be wrong on their own. One example is that a miracle may bear signs of love, goodness, and good news... But there are many examples in the Bible when Satan used miracles that had these appearances at first, in order to lead us to believe them and then take us to his evil intentions afterwards. Satan mixes things up in order to catch the naive among people and prey on the sheep that is separated from the flock.
Resorting to God's friends, to the saints and guides is the safest and most correct way to read every miracle and understand its purpose.
The Pharisees did not deny Christ the truth of the miraculous events, but they misunderstood their source. They saw in them manifestations of demonic interference instead of urging them to believe in Jesus, to know Him, and to have a “sign” of His care and love. This is because they judged with a spirit of resentment and hatred towards Jesus, not with the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God dwells in the saints who know perfectly well the movements of their Master, their Lord, and our Lord. Amen.
Metropolitan Boulos Yazigi
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