Inside the Miracle

Crash Course 6

            Sixteen verses in the KJV Gospels contain the word “miracle.” Only eleven verses do in the NIV Gospels. (Thanks to biblegateway.com) Except the word “miracle” doesn’t exactly exist in the Greek New Testament, the source of all other translations.
            There are actually three Greek words that may be translated "miracle" in English.

• Terr-as means “wonder;” we get the word “terrible” from teras.
• Doo-na-mis means “power;” we get the word dynamite from dunamis.
• Same-e-on means “sign.” 

          I regret I can't impress you with the Greek letters. When I pasted the Word document into the blog, they disappeared. Turned back into a pumpkin like Cinderella's carriage. 
          These three words fit well into the definition I shared in Crash Course 5. A miracle is an unusual event (wonder) requiring the act of a supernatural agent (power) performed to authenticate the message or messenger (sign).

            John uses “sign” to mean what we would call “miracle” seventeen times in his Gospel. He features seven signs as he does seven “I am” statements of Jesus. (Except there’s really a bonus sign and a bonus “I am.” I love bonuses.)

            The first sign, John writes, occurred at a village in Galilee.

            There had never been a celebration like it and there hasn’t been one since—a wedding with Jesus as a guest. The bride and groom and their families and friends were honored by Jesus’ first miracle…and they didn’t even know it. The wine had run out and Jesus instructed the servants to fill six huge stone jars with water. He then told them to dip into a jar and take some to the master of the feast—a wedding planner in today’s lingo—who marveled that the best wine had been saved for last.

            A little phrase in John 2:9 grabs me: …the servants who had drawn the water knew. The wedding planner didn’t realize he was drinking a miracle, but the servants knew. He experienced the relief of a problem solved, and the momentary pleasure of excellent wine, but the servants experienced Jesus.

            They never imagined they would participate in a miracle when they followed the order, Do whatever Jesus tells you. (John 2:5) Jesus’ command to fill water jars might have seemed pointless, but they obeyed, hauling over one hundred gallons. And their obedience put them inside the miracle.

            This leaves me wondering what you and I might experience if we do whatever Jesus tells us to do.

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples,
which are not recorded in this book.
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah,
the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:30 – 31, NIV