Alcides Moreno was a window washer on the towering skyscrapers high above Manhattan. He rode platforms with his brother Edgar high in the sky to wash the windows of those skyscrapers.<\/p>\n

One day, disaster struck the family. As the two brothers worked on the 47th story of a high rise on the Upper East Side, their platform collapsed, and the Moreno brothers fell from the sky. As you might expect, Edgar died from the fall. But Alcides survived. By every law of physics and medicine, Moreno should have died.<\/p>\n

Now Alcides Moreno didn\u2019t land on a passing airplane, or catch his shirt on a flagpole, or have anything else amazing happen like you see in the movies; he fell the entire forty-seven stories to the pavement below. Yet somehow he survived. And, despite having plenty of scars and back injuries, Alcides can walk today.\u00a0 He estimates that he operates at about 80% of what he was before the fall.\u00a0 But 80% isn\u2019t too shabby considering he hit the pavement at over 100 miles per hour.\u00a0 Moreno\u2019s physician has no explanation for it and says it was a miracle.<\/p>\n

Do you believe in miracles? We desperately want to, don\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel some people bring to Jesus a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting, Jesus didn\u2019t heal this man in the way these people asked. Have you noticed that in your own life? God sometimes works in your life . . . but not exactly in the way you had specified. Jesus didn\u2019t put his hand on the man, as requested. Rather he took him aside, away from the crowd and put his fingers into the man\u2019s ears. Then he spit and touched the man\u2019s tongue. Then he looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to the man, \u201cEphphatha!\u201d (which means \u201cBe opened!\u201d). At this, the man\u2019s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.<\/p>\n

The question is, does Jesus still perform such miracles today?<\/p>\n

Some very devout Christians say, \u201cNo.\u201d They say the day of miracles is past. Both Martin Luther and John Calvin, two great leaders of the Protestant Reformation, were in this camp. And many other Christians believe this as well. They cite Jesus\u2019 words that his miracles were but signs affirming that he was who he said he was. And that makes sense, too. We don\u2019t have to witness his miraculous powers to believe he is the Son of God. We have our Bibles, which contain numerous eye-witness reports from people who were there when he healed the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the mute.<\/p>\n

And we do have the wonders of modern medicine. People are already living nearly twice as long on average than they did in biblical times. But that doesn\u2019t mean we will not still be at the mercy of forces that can destroy us. That doesn\u2019t mean that many of us will not destroy ourselves.<\/p>\n

Did you see the news report that the average life span of adults in this country actually shrunk in 2017 because of the opioid epidemic? The number of suicides continues to grow as well. And of course there are those lives lost to gun violence. Just because many people are living longer than ever doesn\u2019t mean that we will no longer pray for God to intervene in our lives or the lives of those we love from time to time. But it does mean that we will not be as vulnerable to sickness and death as people were when Jesus was teaching and healing. And it gives us the opportunity to rethink the ways in which God answers prayer.<\/p>\n

There are two things we need to recognize about miracles of healing. First of all, we need to get rid of the idea that the more faith you have, the more likely it is that you will experience a miracle. Recently a radio pastor gave an interesting response to the question of faith and healing.<\/p>\n

A lady on the broadcast, who was obviously crying, said, \u201cPastor, I was born blind, and I\u2019ve been blind all my life. I don\u2019t mind being blind but I have some well-meaning friends who tell me that if I had more faith I could be healed.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was evidently causing this woman some distress. Not only was she blind, but some of her so-called friends were telling her it was her fault. If she just had enough faith, God would heal her.<\/p>\n

The radio pastor then asked the blind lady, \u201cDo you carry one of those white canes?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes I do,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the next time someone says that, hit them over the head with the cane; then say, \u2018If you had more faith, that wouldn\u2019t hurt!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

What a profound statement. Healing is not proportional to our faith. Too many Christians have had guilt piled on to their already suffering bodies because people have told them that if they had more faith they would be healed. It\u2019s a lie! Some of the greatest Christians who have ever lived have suffered terrible deaths. And, of course, everyone is going to die sooner or later. Prayers are not answered according to the amount of faith we have.<\/p>\n

We also have to recognize that most prayers do not lead to physical healing. Some of us don\u2019t want to hear that, but it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

Most of us have known at least one person who has lain at death\u2019s door, and people have prayed and prayed for healing, but physical healing has not come. Most of us are mature enough to realize that prayer is not a heavenly slot machine into which we pour our prayers and automatically the answer we desire comes out. If we could do that, there would be no need for faith. Faith is belief in the unseen. \u201cNow we see through a glass darkly.\u201d But that doesn\u2019t mean that our prayers are unheard and unanswered.<\/p>\n

Some time back, sociologist and pastor Tony Campolo was challenged by a friend to add a ministry of healing to his work. Campolo decided to try it at a church in Oregon. On impulse at the end of the service he announced to any who wanted to remain that they would be having a healing service. He warned them that they should not expect too much, but he would be glad to pray with them and anoint them with some oil. Campolo was surprised when about thirty people stayed for the event. He prayed with each one individually, hearing all kinds of requests for deliverance, including many with physical illnesses.<\/p>\n

Four days later he received a call from a woman who indicated that he had prayed for her husband at the service. Her husband, she said, had \u201chad cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHad cancer?\u201d Campolo asked, wondering somehow if her husband had been cured.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she said, \u201cHe\u2019s dead now.\u201d \u00a0Disheartened, Campolo listened further to her story. She recounted how prior to this event her husband was quite angry with God and unbearable to be around. Since the night of the healing service, though, he was different.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last four days have been the best days of our lives together,\u201d the woman said. Then she added, \u201cHe was not cured, but he was healed.\u201d<\/p>\n

What a great testimony. Those prayers did<\/em> make a difference. Perhaps the anointing oil did as well. Healing took place even if being curing from cancer did not.<\/p>\n

So never give up on prayer. God uses all kinds of means to offer help to His people just as Jesus used different means to heal people. Sometimes it\u2019s the prayer of a pastor. Sometimes it\u2019s just the presence of a loved one in a time of crisis.<\/p>\n

Do you have someone who is experiencing a crisis in their life? Pray for them, but do it like a mature Christian, recognizing that God does not always work in the way we have specified. But God does<\/em> work . . . and every once in a while a miracle occurs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alcides Moreno was a window washer on the towering skyscrapers high above Manhattan. He rode platforms with his brother Edgar high in the sky to wash the windows of those skyscrapers. One day, disaster struck the family. As the two brothers worked on the 47th story of a high rise on the Upper East Side, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n