You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
How would you respond if somebody you knew to be blind could suddenly see, or someone paralyzed came dancing down the street? These days we have medical advances… but imagine if you were around when this blind man received sight he’d never had? It caused a stir, to say the least…. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" Some were saying, "It is he.'" Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him."
Funny how, when we’re positive something can’t happen, we can convince ourselves it hasn't. Even when the man said, “I’m the guy…” they couldn’t quite buy it. He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.”
Do we need to understand “how” to accept “what?” The man himself seems remarkably untroubled by how this came about – and this is before he gets the third degree from the religious authorities. Maybe it’s because he had no prior visual data to contradict his new reality. He did not have to overcome a lifetime of “that’s impossible – if you can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.” He had never seen anything with his eyes. Maybe that’s why children believe so much more easily than adults – less contradictory data.
We can get so locked in to our understanding of how the universe works – an understanding that the best scientists admit is incomplete – that we can’t entertain the possibility that the Creator of the whole thing has “laws” we have not yet discovered. Or have not discovered fully. That’s the “Kingdom of God” Jesus was making known, what I like to call the Energy Field, or Life of God.
Have you ever been asked to believe something that you knew to be impossible? Was it really? Or was your vision too limited? Is there something in your life now that you’re being invited to believe? A step of faith you’re being invited to take? A prayer you’re being invited to try on? Can you take a step in that direction in prayer today?
The God we worship as Christ-followers is One who ”calls into being things that were not.” (Romans 4:17). We don’t have to be limited in prayer by what we’ve already seen. We do have to open ourselves to the possibility that God’s ways are bigger than we can imagine. That’s the beginning of faith vision, seeing what we have not previously been able to see.
Imagine the sensory rush as our Spirit-vision kicks in and we truly begin to see the Energy of God at work around us.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Showing posts with label miracle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miracle. Show all posts
3-20-23 - Timing
You can listen to this reflection here.
This week we delve into a really long story and a really big mystery – Jesus’ raising of Lazarus after he’s been dead four days. This story is only told in John’s Gospel, and is presented as the penultimate sign of God’s power. This miracle leads many to believe that Jesus is who he says he is. It also seals his fate with the ruling authorities, spurring them to seek his execution. A man with power like this must be eliminated. A story like this must be suppressed.
Only, as we know, the story rose again, very much alive. We are still telling it 2000 years later. Which suggests that God’s timing is never too late. This can be hard to trust in the midst of life. It’s normal to believe in “too late,” when that’s what we feel we’ve experienced. And when death has come, we are by definition in the “too late” zone, right?
That’s what Jesus’ disciples argue when he takes his sweet time going to Lazarus’ side after receiving a message that he is very ill. Jesus says, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ..., and though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Then Jesus then decides to go, saying Lazarus has died (what happened to “does not lead to death?”), though the whole region where Lazarus lives is now dangerous for Jesus. His disciples protest, but Jesus says something cryptic about “Twelve hours of daylight.” Did they think he’d gone crazy? Thomas says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Four days too late, and in perilous territory. Why go at all? Jesus says God will be glorified through this in some way, but who could imagine how? Of all the times Jesus asked his followers to hang on and believe, this must have been the most challenging.
What about us? In what circumstances of our lives does it feel like God has intervened too late, or not at all? It would be a good exercise to think about that, and write down the times you remember. Can you see any benefits that came from those outcomes? There may not be… and there might.
How do you feel about those situations now? Are you still angry or grieving? Did it impair your trust in God? Can you speak that in prayer today? The psalmists and the prophets did not hold back their dark or troubled feelings toward God… It’s a relationship. It requires honest communication.
Are there circumstances in your life now where you feel you’re waiting on God? Ask in prayer whether there is any action you can take or receive. Maybe there is… maybe not.
We’ll be asking some big questions this week. When do we acknowledge that things we value or love have died (people, pets, relationships, jobs, prosperity, sobriety, health…), and grieve? And when do we allow the Spirit to whisper hope of new life? That takes growing in discernment. This story reminds us that what looks like the end isn’t always. Sometimes it’s the beginning of an even stranger trip.
This week we delve into a really long story and a really big mystery – Jesus’ raising of Lazarus after he’s been dead four days. This story is only told in John’s Gospel, and is presented as the penultimate sign of God’s power. This miracle leads many to believe that Jesus is who he says he is. It also seals his fate with the ruling authorities, spurring them to seek his execution. A man with power like this must be eliminated. A story like this must be suppressed.
Only, as we know, the story rose again, very much alive. We are still telling it 2000 years later. Which suggests that God’s timing is never too late. This can be hard to trust in the midst of life. It’s normal to believe in “too late,” when that’s what we feel we’ve experienced. And when death has come, we are by definition in the “too late” zone, right?
That’s what Jesus’ disciples argue when he takes his sweet time going to Lazarus’ side after receiving a message that he is very ill. Jesus says, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ..., and though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Then Jesus then decides to go, saying Lazarus has died (what happened to “does not lead to death?”), though the whole region where Lazarus lives is now dangerous for Jesus. His disciples protest, but Jesus says something cryptic about “Twelve hours of daylight.” Did they think he’d gone crazy? Thomas says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Four days too late, and in perilous territory. Why go at all? Jesus says God will be glorified through this in some way, but who could imagine how? Of all the times Jesus asked his followers to hang on and believe, this must have been the most challenging.
What about us? In what circumstances of our lives does it feel like God has intervened too late, or not at all? It would be a good exercise to think about that, and write down the times you remember. Can you see any benefits that came from those outcomes? There may not be… and there might.
How do you feel about those situations now? Are you still angry or grieving? Did it impair your trust in God? Can you speak that in prayer today? The psalmists and the prophets did not hold back their dark or troubled feelings toward God… It’s a relationship. It requires honest communication.
Are there circumstances in your life now where you feel you’re waiting on God? Ask in prayer whether there is any action you can take or receive. Maybe there is… maybe not.
We’ll be asking some big questions this week. When do we acknowledge that things we value or love have died (people, pets, relationships, jobs, prosperity, sobriety, health…), and grieve? And when do we allow the Spirit to whisper hope of new life? That takes growing in discernment. This story reminds us that what looks like the end isn’t always. Sometimes it’s the beginning of an even stranger trip.
1-12-22 - Follow Instructions
You can listen to this reflection here.
In addition to its other charms, this story of the wedding feast and the wine gives us a glimpse into Jesus’ relationship with his mother. He had no problem saying “no” to her when she nudged him to use his super-powers to address the wine shortage – and she had no problem ignoring his “no.”
When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you."
Despite his demurral, Jesus does enlist the servants, and somehow storage jars filled with water become vats of finest wine. His instructions to the servants are two-fold: Fill the giant jars with water, and then draw some off and take it to the chief steward. Jesus works the miracle, but it is accomplished through ordinary servants who followed his instructions, as daft as they may have seemed.
When God is up to something in this world, something big and transformational, it is generally done through people like us. And the bigger the “something,” often the whackier the instructions seem. Quit your job. Sell your house. Leave your country. Call that person. Join that movement. Raise thousands of dollars. Give away thousands of dollars.
Maybe God is always asking outrageous things of us, and we just aren’t getting the message. Or maybe these things happen rarely. I do know that the instructions usually come one at a time. We have to do the first thing before we find out what the next is. Fill the jars, all the jars. All the jars? With that much water? That’s crazy? But we have to do that before we get the next instruction: draw some off. And it’s only after the chief steward has tasted that we know just what a crazy thing God has just done.
Can you recall a time you felt prompted by the Spirit to do something odd, bold, even controversial? Did you do it? What happened? Are you receiving such promptings in your life now? What instruction are you being given?
God’s instructions to me haven’t been that wild – the most extreme I can think of were “Take on a boatload of debt to attend seminary” (and that was never the message; the message was just so clear I didn’t think twice about the debt…) and “Go to this little place called Charles County, Maryland and pastor two churches there. And then wait, and see if I don’t bless your socks off.”
If you draw a blank when asked that question, you might try asking God straight out: “Where do you want me to further your plans today? What purpose can I help fulfill?” Then pay attention and see what develops – and while you’re waiting, enjoy the party!
In addition to its other charms, this story of the wedding feast and the wine gives us a glimpse into Jesus’ relationship with his mother. He had no problem saying “no” to her when she nudged him to use his super-powers to address the wine shortage – and she had no problem ignoring his “no.”
When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you."
Despite his demurral, Jesus does enlist the servants, and somehow storage jars filled with water become vats of finest wine. His instructions to the servants are two-fold: Fill the giant jars with water, and then draw some off and take it to the chief steward. Jesus works the miracle, but it is accomplished through ordinary servants who followed his instructions, as daft as they may have seemed.
When God is up to something in this world, something big and transformational, it is generally done through people like us. And the bigger the “something,” often the whackier the instructions seem. Quit your job. Sell your house. Leave your country. Call that person. Join that movement. Raise thousands of dollars. Give away thousands of dollars.
Maybe God is always asking outrageous things of us, and we just aren’t getting the message. Or maybe these things happen rarely. I do know that the instructions usually come one at a time. We have to do the first thing before we find out what the next is. Fill the jars, all the jars. All the jars? With that much water? That’s crazy? But we have to do that before we get the next instruction: draw some off. And it’s only after the chief steward has tasted that we know just what a crazy thing God has just done.
Can you recall a time you felt prompted by the Spirit to do something odd, bold, even controversial? Did you do it? What happened? Are you receiving such promptings in your life now? What instruction are you being given?
God’s instructions to me haven’t been that wild – the most extreme I can think of were “Take on a boatload of debt to attend seminary” (and that was never the message; the message was just so clear I didn’t think twice about the debt…) and “Go to this little place called Charles County, Maryland and pastor two churches there. And then wait, and see if I don’t bless your socks off.”
If you draw a blank when asked that question, you might try asking God straight out: “Where do you want me to further your plans today? What purpose can I help fulfill?” Then pay attention and see what develops – and while you’re waiting, enjoy the party!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)