Are Miracles Dangerous?

May 14, 2023

         We have an interesting sequence of events in the first reading of today.  Initially the Samaritans “paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing”, and then we are told that the Samaritans “accepted the word of God.”.  In other words, they were taken up by the wonder-working, the miracles, and so choose to follow this new preacher, Philip, who had done all these miracles for them and brought great joy to them.  This response is something that we see even today, when people go to ‘miracle centres’ and are in awe of the power of God, when they see a miracle, especially if it is a miracle that is personally experienced.   And that is well and good.  

And yet, the first reading tells us that the Samaritans did NOT receive the Holy Spirit, even though they were filled with joyous wonder when they experienced these miracles and agreed to be baptized in the name of Jesus.  So, is the reading telling us that coming to believe in Jesus and even being baptized on the strength of miracles, is apparently not enough to receive the Holy Spirit?  This ties in with another reading from Mathew’s Gospel (7:22-23) where we have Jesus saying: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”  So apparently there can be situations in which even those who work miracles in Jesus’ name are not accepted by him, and are in fact condemned by him.  Strange, isn’t it.  Can miracles and miracle-working be dangerous?  

What then were the Samaritans lacking that prevented them from receiving the Holy Spirit when they were baptized?   Could it be that they were so taken up by what the miracles did for them, rather than see those miracles as ‘signs’ pointing to Jesus’ real message which was telling them what they are called to do. We have an interesting incident in Jesus’ life (John 6: 22ff) when the crowds come searching for Jesus after they had experienced the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes.  And seeing the crowds who came following him, Jesus says: “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”.  In other words, the miracle of the loaves and fishes was meant to be a sign to point them in the direction of Jesus’ deeper message, but Jesus complains that they were only interested in the miracle that gave them something tangible, like food.  

Are we like that?  So that it is not the message of Jesus and changing our lives accordingly that draw us to Jesus, but the wonder of the miracles and what it does or could do for us?  Are miracles like a flash that mesmerize us for a while after which we then fall back into our routine ways, always yearning for more such miracles?  Maybe, we tell ourselves, the next miracle will give ME what I yearn for. Do miracles tend to make us focus on ourselves, encouraging the possibility that our attraction to God’s word is basically to see what is in it for us?  

This is always the danger of miracles.  The ‘wonder’ of the miracle, and the gift it gives us (e.g. a miraculous healing, or some other favour we wanted) so dazzle us, that they do not work as a ‘sign’ to point us towards the real message of Jesus. And so perhaps that was what happened in the case of the Samaritans who were so taken up by the miracles that they decided to be baptized. But their baptism ( or accepting Jesus) did not really change them - they did not receive the Holy Spirit. They had not really understood the true message of Jesus, their hearts were not changed.  

Could it similarly be that even today, at places of miracles (real or alleged) where thousands throng, that the miracles become a hindrance rather than a sign?  And to make matters worse, in some cases have we experienced at such miracle centres, a kind of preaching that really goes against the message of Jesus?  For example, does the preaching at such centres tend to USE those ‘miracles’ to cajole people to make “offerings” by making them feel that they are being ungrateful to God if they do not do so, or worse still, even frighten people with the possibility of God punishing them, if they do not respond in concrete ‘offering’ ways to thank God for the bountiful goodness given to them through the miracle?  Could it be that such preachers and miracle workers are in effect like those miracle workers whom Jesus condemned in Mathew’s gospel, to whom he would say today “I never knew you”?  And is that why we have probably often heard people say that after the ‘high’ of a visit to such a ‘miracle’ centre, they gradually lapse into their own ways as before - in other words their hearts are not changed.  Have the ‘miracles’ then become an obstacle to following Jesus, so that often enough our commitment to Jesus’ message and call is quite dependent on continuous ‘proofs’ by way of further miracles? Are we a people, a Church, who continuously look for miracles to buttress our commitment to Jesus’s message and the way of life that he has called us to? Can Jesus sorrowfully tell us: “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you got your miracle.”

 And what was the message that the Samaritans were probably missing as they were taken up by the wonder and joy of the miracles?   We could perhaps find an answer to that in Jesus’s teaching in the Gospel reading of today, when he says: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.”  And what is this supreme or primary commandment of Jesus?  We will find the answer to this in many parts of the Gospel, but most powerfully perhaps in the lesson he taught his disciples at the Last Supper when he broke bread and shared it with them, and told them that like this bread, he too would break his life for them, and then asked them to do the same in memory of him.  For that was his greatest commandment, to love one’s neighbour, even to be willing to die for the other.  And most of us, like the completely confused disciples, have religiously remembered to break the bread at every Mass, but have forgotten that that is but a symbol or sign that calls us to break ourselves for each other.    

Jesus, of course, knows that following this primary or supreme commandment is extremely difficult, and so he promises his disciples that the Spirit of God would help them, and will not leave them alone.  And it is this Spirit of God, that Peter and John come to bring to the newly converted Samaritans. 

1st Reading – ACTS 8:5-8, 14-17

⁵ Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them. ⁶ With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing. ⁷ For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed people, and many paralyzed or crippled people were cured. ⁸ There was great joy in that city. ¹⁴ Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, ¹⁵ who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, ¹⁶ for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷ Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

2nd Reading – 1 Peter 3:15-18

¹⁵ Beloved: Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, ¹⁶ but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. ¹⁷ For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil. ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit.

Gospel – John 14:15-21

¹⁵ Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. ²⁰ On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”