Study 1 - 2007: February 5th to 11th

Miracle Shot
Reading – John Chapter Ch 4:43-54.

“Jesus said, “None of you will ever believe unless you see miracles and wonders” John Chapter 4: verse 48 (Today’s English Version).

How many times do we hear the words; that’s amazing, that’s incredible, that’s a miracle on the golf course. Occasionally we pull of the miracle shot that stays with us forever.
My most miraculous shot happened one day when I holed out hitting a shank around the green. For those of you who do not know what a shank is, it is when the ball hits the shaft of the club and the bottom of the club at the same time and the ball goes off at a 45% angle to where you are aiming. My shot that day hit the left corner of the bunker then ricocheted again off a second bunker before rolling into the hole.
I heard another miracle shot the other day of a golfer who over hit the green, with the ball going into the clubhouse before re-bounding out again onto the green and into the hole. Sounds impossible but it is not.

At PGA Tour events you often hear comments from the crowd about amazing and miraculous shots played by Tour players and then later when they play a bad shot, you hear them say, “I can do that”.
There’s another miracle we wait for us as golfers, the day we play the perfect round of golf. That’s a miracle I am still waiting for.

If you have ever read the life of Jesus Christ in the bible, Jesus’ life is full of miracles. Some will say these are just stories that really didn’t happen, but then if God exists and Jesus came to represent God, then miracles are things we should expect from God who created the world and everything in it.
In our reading this week from John Ch 4, Jesus heals a sick son of an officer who is near death. Jesus also expresses disappointment that he needs to do miracles for people to believe in him.

The miracles that Jesus did in his life, apart from helping people, were meant as signs pointing to Jesus. Signs as the only Son of God and a testimony to his greatest miracle; his death for our sins and his rising again to secure eternal life to all who believe. This is Jesus’ greatest miracle and is the moment of glory for Jesus in his life.

Just like a golfer who wins a Tournament and holds high the trophy to show their victory, so Jesus holds his trophy on high, a life given for others that they might live.

The effects of Jesus’ miracle and trophy are eternal, the glory from winning a Golf Tournament lasts a short time.
A miracle is an out of the ordinary event, one that cannot be explained by scientific or psychological ways.

Jesus died in a normal way in the 1st century, yet the meaning and benefit of his death and his rising from the dead are miraculous. Through his death life is given.
What God also seeks from humanity is a faith that is not based on miracles, but one that can see God at work in the small unnoticed miracles of every day life, like the new day, a smile, a baby or a sunset.

Prayer, Gracious God
Help me to see you in every day life. Thank you that you have not left us in darkness, but have shown your light in the life of your son Jesus Christ. Amen.