وجبـــــــة روحيـــــ(†)ــــــــــة يوميـــــــــة

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III



The Lord Jesus Christ also used His command and rebuke in driving out unclean spirits, and they were cast out. That is why it was said: "For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him" (Mk. 1:27). The Lord also used His command in silencing the waves and calming the sea. It is written that "He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,
'Peace, be still!' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm (Mk. 4:39).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III



Commands to nature and to sickness and disease can not be given by a human being. It is a Divine power which, in most cases, made those who watched Christ confess His Divinity, as we have mentioned previously.
Even in raising the dead, we see the element of command. In raising Jairus's daughter, the Lord said to her: " 'Talitha, cumi.' Immediately the girl arose and walked" (Mk. 5:41,42). The Lord nullified death by His order, and restored life to the little girl by His order..

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Also, in the miracle of raising the son of the widow of Nain, it is written: "He said, 'Young man, I say to you, arise.' And he who was dead sat up and began to speak" (Lk.7:14,15). And in the miracle of raising Lazarus, we read: "He cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth!' And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes" (Jn. 11:43,44).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Sometimes the miracle was performed by mere touch or by laying His hand on the sick person. It is written: "He laid His hands on every one of them and heated them" (Lk. 4:40). When the ear of Malchus, the high priest's servant, was cut off, "He touched his ear and healed him" (Lk.22:5 1). In healing the two blind men, He "touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight and they followed Him" (Matt. 20:34). When the Lord put His hands on the blind man at Bethsaida, the man was able to see (Mk. 8:25). And the woman who had a flow of blood and had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse, when she merely touched His garment, "immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed' (Mk. 5:29).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Miracles were performed by the Lord's mere will without Him giving a command. The leper implored Him, saying: " 'If You are willing, You can make me clean.' And Jesus, moved with compassion, put out His hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I am willing, be cleansed (Mk. 1:40,41), "And immediately his leprosy was cleansed" (Matt. 8:2,3).
In the miracle of changing water into wine at Cana of Galilee, the Lord Jesus Christ created a new element by His mere will, without even giving a command, or by touch, but by His mere inner will (Jn. 2:7-9).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


All Christ's miracles were performed without prayer.
He performed them with His own power; with the power of His Divinity. The only miracle which was preceded by the Lord addressing the Father was the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, Probably the reason for this was that He wanted to hide His Divinity from Satan, because there were only a few days until the Cross. And also, if there was one miracle among His numerous miracles which was preceded by a prayer, it may be to teach us to pray, and it might have been a reply to the Lord's enemies who accused Him of using Belzebub's power in performing His miracles. Nevertheless, in raising Lazarus from the dead, the Lord also used His command, saying: "Lazarus, come forth!" (Jn. 11:43)

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


In the miracle of feeding the thousands, it was said that He looked up, gave thanks and blessed the loaves (Mk. 6:41); (Matt. 15:36). Neither of the two miracles mentioned that He prayed. His looking up and blessing the food before eating may be to teach us.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


The miracles performed in the New Testament in Christ's name are numerous. In healing the lame man at the gate of the temple called Beautiful, Peter said to him: "Silver and gold, I do not have, but what I have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarus, rise up and walk" (Acts. 3:6). This is also clear from the Lord's words: "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons" (Mk. 16:17).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


This is the difference between the miracles of Christ and those of His disciples or saints: He performed the miracle with His own power whereas the disciples' miracles were performed in His name or by the power they took from Him by His authority. So the power is Christ's. That is why the Apostle said: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13).
The Lord gave this authority -to His disciples: "He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease" (Matt. 10: 1). And He said to the twelve Apostles: "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons" (Matt. 10:8). And He also said to the seventy disciples: "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy" (Lk. 10: 19).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


The Lord Jesus Christ offered His miracles as a leading cause to believe in Him. He said: "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves" (Jn. 14:11).

And He said to the Jews: "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him" (Jn. 10:37,38).
Christ's words, "I do the works of My Father" mean that He does the very works of God Himself and this is a definite proof of His Divinity. That is why He reproached the Jews, saying: "If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin" (Jn. 15:24). These works which no one else did are the Divine works of which He said: "I do the works of My Father" (Jn. 10: 3 7). In this way Christ proclaims that His miracles are proofs of His Divinity.

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