Is Our Fixation On Miracles Biblical?

And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.”  And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” Mark 1:36-38

In God’s providence, he gave us four gospels that paint the biographical portrait of Jesus from somewhat different perspectives. Commenting on the picture of Jesus as revealed in the gospel of Mark, R. C. Sproul notes:

“Mark’s gospel is brief and almost abrupt in its clipped fashion. Mark follows the life of Jesus, showing a blaze of miracles across the landscape of Palestine.”

Rightly so, one can scarcely begin reading Mark’s gospel than you are gripped with the sense of urgency and abruptness with which he writes. This is evidenced by the word “immediately” or “straightway”, which, by one count, occurs 41 times in Mark’s gospel, while the rest of the New Testament uses “immediately” only ten times in total. Mark’s miraculous emphasis on Jesus’ life is to be contrasted to the account of Matthew, for example, who presents Jesus as the fulfilment of numerous Old Testament prophecies and thus the long-promised Messiah. Or that of Luke, the gentile physician and missionary companion of Paul, who labours to show that Jesus is not the Saviour of only the Jews, but the whole world. John, on the other hand, gives us a theological treatise proving that Jesus is the Son of God and that, by believing in Him, we will have everlasting life.

Considering the pace of Mark’s gospel and the amount of space he dedicates to the miracles of Jesus (more than any of the other Gospel writers), isn’t it remarkable, the seeming pause in our opening verse to give us, from the horse’s own mouth, as we say, the mission statement of Jesus? “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”

Our verse is placed early in the morning, we are not told the specific time, but we meet our Lord coming out of a dawn prayer meeting. The previous day, he had been swamped. He had been in the synagogue in Capernaum, delivering a man oppressed with an unclean spirit and leaving the worshippers astounded at his miraculous powers and authoritative teaching. Immediately afterwards, Jesus visits Peter and heals his mother-in-law of the fever. You can be sure news of the miracle worker spread like wildfire. Sure enough, that evening, Mark records, “they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door.” (Mark 1:32-33).

Despite such a large turnout, which doubtless witnessed many healings, as Mark lets on, the next day brings even more crowds looking for a taste of the miraculous. Scarcely had Jesus finished his quiet time than Simon, Andrew, James, and John met him with the morning’s news headlines: “Everyone is looking for you”, obviously, for a repeat of the previous night’s experience. There were many needs to be met here: the demon oppressed needed to be set free, and the sick healed. Surely, this was an excellent place to build a camp and expand the healing and deliverance ministry of Jesus. Our Lord’s response may have come as a shock to the disciples. “Let us go the other towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” To Jesus, the preaching of the gospel came first before miracles. Others needed to hear the gospel, and that was more pressing than lingering in Capernaum to heal more people or raise the dead.

The healings, miraculous signs and wonders pointed to Jesus’ power over disease, evil forces, and even nature. But they are just signs (as they are referred to in John’s gospel). If all Jesus did was perform miracles and demonstrate his power, it would not be enough to get people saved, as per his own words. The primary work lay in preaching the gospel; everything else came second. Yet, it seems that the church today argues for the reverse situation. We reason that miracles should go first, and then when we have “attracted” people by the miracles, we preach to them.

Our attitude suggests that preaching is unattractive unless preceded by the spectacular. In our opening verse, our Lord seems to disagree with such a position. He could have said, “Let us go over to the next towns, that I may heal there also”, but no. He was keen to reach the following towns with the message he brought. The sad thing is, I have seen street evangelists who go around praying for people to be healed but, afterwards, don’t say a word about their need for salvation.

God has chosen to save the lost through the foolishness of preaching, to borrow Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:21: “For it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” That is his primary means of bringing sinners to repentance in Scripture. Elsewhere, Paul declared, “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:14-16).

Could it be that we are fixated on miracles because we are ashamed of the gospel? We fear the persecution of identifying with Christ in a godless world that considers faith in God a strange thing to do in an age of science. Or we fear the rejection of our message. Or perhaps, we don’t believe the gospel alone is powerful enough to save. Some are so bold as to say that preaching minus miracles equals a partial gospel. But they fail to produce a single Bible verse in support of such a bold assertion.

People are naturally drawn to the spectacular – our interest is piqued when something extraordinary or unimaginable occurs. So, we seek to ride on our fascination with the unusual to get an audience with the world. But the sad reality is that a thousand miracles can’t save anyone. As a matter of fact, there were multiple instances where the Jews saw Jesus perform miracles but still did not believe. Only the preaching of the gospel can – because in it, we are reminded of our sin and our great need to be rescued from the wrath of God. And, as a remedy, we are told of the good news of a great Saviour, who alone suffered the wrath and punishment we deserved so that we can be forgiven.

And so, to Jesus and the apostles, preaching the gospel has always come first. It has always occupied the central place. Everything else camesecond. When he was in Corinth, Paul said:

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”.

Doesn’t our opening text rebuke us for placing the cart before the horse? Our Lord heals, raises the dead, has power over demons and can meet our needs. But the primary reason he came out was to preach the good news of the kingdom. Oh, that we who follow in his steps would prioritise the preaching of the gospel as he did.