to another, the working of miracles…I Cor. 12:10a, NRSV
These are the days of miracles and wonders, this is the long distance call. The Boy in the Bubble, Graceland, Paul Simon
You yourself are a miracle, a gathering of handed down genetics, dust, love, and some divine spark. Every living thing you see around you is miraculous. This day is an instance and an opportunity that will never come again.
Perhaps the gift of working miracles is just as dependent on the willingness of others to recognize a miracle when they see it as it is on the miracle worker’s ability to bring it about…
To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles…I Corinthians 12:7-9 NRSV
Jesus healed with compassionate touch, and taught his disciples to do so. Someone has fits, fever, blindness, or can’t speak: a plea for help, a touch, and health restored. Possession is transformed into inner freedom, darkness and pain to light and relief. The gift of healing continues to be given to this very day.
There are those who take advantage of the desperate and sick, turning suffering into a self-glorifying and profitable spectacle. They prey on those least able to see them for what they are. But that doesn’t mean that the gift of healing isn’t alive and well in our time and place. It is. True healers are among us. Sometimes, the Spirit heals even through the least likely sources: the con artists who claim a gift they do not have.
To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit…
I Corinthians 12:9a, NRSV
Most people can accept the others as gifts, bestowed by God where and when needed. But not faith. For whatever reason, people have convinced themselves that faith isn’t a gift. Faith has been redefined as a merit badge, something that any true believer can achieve with hard work and good intentions. It’s also been considered a sign that a person is a true follower, a way to identify who is really God’s beloved.
But faith is a given, a gift. It isn’t an achievement or an outward sign of an inward connection to God. It’s a gift given to some for the benefit of all. Not receiving faith is no more a mark of infidelity to God than not being able to heal others. We don’t get to choose our gifts, but we do get to choose whether we judge the state of our souls and the souls of others by its presence or absence.
Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit…
ICorinthians 12:4-9, NRSV
Knowledge: knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom: knowing not to put it in a fruit salad…
It’s easy to mistake knowledge for wisdom, to mistake someone who knows a great deal with someone who has the ability to foster life and love in daily living. Knowledge, even and perhaps especially Biblical or theological knowledge, can be applied in ways that bring the peace of God closer; it can also be used to inflict damage and incite hatred. Acts of terror, even genocide, have been committed in the name of faith, with perpetrators justifying their actions with Biblical quotes and theological justifications.
Wisdom is a perspective, an understanding; it is knowing that all good things are rooted in love – love for God, love for self, and love for neighbor. When wisdom guides knowledge, amazing and beautiful things come to pass.
Listen to those whose knowledge is vast; let them add depth to your understanding. But don’t forget that knowledge requires wisdom to keep it from harming God’s beloved creation and creatures.
