THE DANGERS OF SEEKING FOR MIRACLES AND WONDERS

In the gospel reading of this Monday in the sixteenth week, we find Jesus rebuking the scribes and Pharisees who wanted to see a sign from him (Matt. 12:38-42). This encounter Jesus and the these lots has a lot to teach us especially in our own time when there is a proliferation of miracle centers in the name of Churches and when many Christians are after signs, wonders and miracles. It is good to we know that Christianity is not built on signs and wonders. The craze to perform miracles and the hunger to have miracles worked for us has led astray many pastors and Christians alike.

Healing ministry and the ability to perform wonders and miracles are not the whole of the services of a pastor. But it is sad to note that today, most pastors open up Churches for the sole purpose of performing miracles of healing and breakthrough in financial and personal lives of their members. Most churches now use miracles and wonders as baits. The danger in this trend is that most pastors now resort to diabolical means in the bid to gain power to perform miracles to satisfy the vision and goal of their mission. As pastors, we must understand that the ability to perform miracles is a gift from God and if as a pastor, you are not given one, then, do not seek for it at all cost. We are simply instruments through which God carries out his work in the world. Our fecundity as men and women of God is not measured solely by our ability to wrought signs and wonders. No pastor is ever seen as a failed man or woman of God because he/ she is not able to perform those jaw-breaking miracles we see on the media like raising the dead, telling the future and healing the sick. As men of God therefore, we need to review what initially attracted to us to the ministry.

Also, this gospel passage speaks to us Christians who seek miracles and wonders. We want healing and we also want to know what our future looks like. Most often, in an attempt to have these miracles and wonders worked for us, we put so much pressure on our pastors. What is noticeable nowadays is that many people seek the miracles and signs of Jesus but not the Jesus who performs the miracles and wonders. Dear friend, Jesus is God’s sign for our time and he is everything that we need. So, to have Jesus is to have his miracles and wonders as well. Let us ask the Lord to grant us the grace to seek him always and to also know that the miracles of Jesus are not always physical. The scribes and Pharisees already had the sign of Jonah but they were looking for other signs. So it is with us. We rarely treasure that we already have. May God open the eyes of our mind to see his miracle of inner transformation that is always on-going in our lives. Amen.

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch