Jesus: The Magician

    A young magician worked on a cruise ship with his pet parrot. However, the parrot constantly ruined his act by saying things like, “He has a card up his sleeve” or “He has a dove in his pocket”. One day the ship sank and the magician and his parrot found themselves alone on a lifeboat. For a couple of days, they just sat there looking at each other. Finally, the parrot broke the silence and said, “Okay, I give up. What’d you do with the ship?”

We’re in the 5th week of our current Sunday sermon series- “Who  Is Jesus?” Based on a book by United Methodist Bishop William Willimon, this series peels back the shiny, pristine veneer we use to cover Jesus and see who He REALLY is…and some of it is shocking. The 1st week He was a Vagabond. The 2nd week He was a Peacekeeper. The 3rd week He was a Storyteller. Last week He was a Party Person. Today we look at Jesus: The Magician.

I’ve been a magician for 30 years, even made a living at it for a time. Magicians get a bad rap…much it deserved.

Q: How do you get a part-time professional magician off your porch?
A: Pay him for the pizza he delivered.
Q: How do you get a wedding magician to do 100 card tricks?
A: Ask him to show you one.
Q: What’s the difference between a professional magician and a pizza?
A: A pizza can feed a family of four.
Q: What’s the difference between a close-up magician and a parrot?
A: One is noisy, loud, and obnoxious…and the other is a bird.
What does it mean to be sick? In Jesus’ first-century world, they didn’t have healthcare systems. They had the temple, the priesthood, and Scripture.
So what did you do when you needed medical attention? You went to the first-century sanctioned health care professional…the priest. And the priest told you what to do: “Take two doves, sacrifice them, and call me in the morning.” This system was fine for those who had the money to pay for this expert attention. But what if you were poor and couldn’t afford the doves, much less a trip to the specialists at the Jerusalem temple? Too bad for you. Your only hope is to contact one of those half-baked wandering magicians who are shunned by respectable, educated people. They travel around taking advantage of the gullible and the desperate by offering them their magical healing arts for a small fee.
Often, when we see Jesus’ signs and wonders, we DON’T think, “Only God could do that” but rather, “I wonder how He did that?”
Jesus is…a magician. Many dismiss Jesus as a magician, and while that might say something about Him…it says a whole lot about us.
Since the birth of science, Jesus’ miraculous work has been an awkward thing for us sophisticated, modern, Western people to deal with. We can deal with Jesus as a teacher, but Jesus as a magician…it’s a big much for our delicate sensibilities. We believe in medicine and science, not magic and voodoo…only crackpots practice those things…right?!
Whether in 1st-century Palestine or 21st-century America, when we believe it works AND the government certifies it…we label it medicine. When we DON’T believe in it and the government won’t sanction it…we call it magic…or something worse.
What does the Bible have to say about it?
Luke 24:45-49- Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Parents sent their son to summer camp. When he returned home after his first day his dad asked, “What did you do at summer camp today?” “I’m taking a really cool magic class. I learned how to make a coin disappear and then make it re-appear from someones ear.” “That’s great!” The next day the dad asked, “What did you learn in your magic class today?” “We learned a card trick. I have you pick a card, put it back into the deck, mix it up, and I can find the card.” “Wow, that’s awesome!” dad. On the third day the dad asked, “What did you learn in magic class today?” “I couldn’t make it to class today.” “Why not?” “I had a gig!”
Did you notice what the Scripture said? Jesus is going to tell the disciples about the miracle of rising from the dead on the 3rd day. But 1st He has to prepare them. So He…did you catch it?…OPENS their minds so they can understand. A good magician first opens the minds of the audience to new possibilities…then hits them with the magic. But NO ONE does it like Jesus- He opens their minds, the reveals to them the REAL miracle…Resurrection.
Interestingly, none of the Gospels refer to Jesus’ healings as “miracles”. That’s our word for any unexplainable phenomena produced by a source other than ourselves. The crowds are always amazed by Jesus’ miraculous moments…but Jesus NEVER is- it’s as if His wondrous works are the most natural things in the world. What we label as miraculous, odd, out of this world…the Gospels seem to regard as normal. Jesus does these things organically, challenging our notions of “natural” and “supernatural.”
Even Jesus’ most severe critics, who had no intention of following him anywhere, agreed that Jesus performed many signs and wonders. But signs and wonders don’t always mean much to us post-modern people- we like to believe we live in an orderly, cause-and-effect world governed by predictable natural laws- a world miracles just don’t fit in. But then Jesus’ miracles show up and disrupt the predictable world and signal that there’s more going on with Jesus than we first imagined. Something is afoot.
Though Jesus healed many, he didn’t heal everybody. He walked by all the sufferers laid out on pallets by the magical pool and healed only one crippled man who had been lying there for years. As important as health and wholeness was to Jesus, something else was even more significant. Jesus never once told his disciples that, if they loved and obeyed him, he would free them from all pain and misery. In fact, just the opposite, he told them that there would be a cross for every one of them.
Jesus seemed to regard his miracles as cryptic at best, often instructing people to not talk about them. When Jesus healed someone or produced an overflow of bread, it was a sign…that God’s kingdom had come close, that God’s intentions for the world were surging forth.
As modern, Western, scientifically-minded people, we’re at a disadvantage when it comes to grasping and accepting signs and wonders. We value predictability, order, and control infinitely more than surprise, mystery, and wonder. We tend to see the world as closed, adhering to certain natural laws. The line between “natural” and “supernatural” is obvious and not to be crossed. And if you start with the assumption that miracles don’t happen…it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to the conclusion that Jesus’ miracles didn’t happen. But, what if, just for the sake of argument, what we call “natural” is, in fact, the result of God’s loving, constant, yet often subtle and undetected interaction with the world? Jesus sent out the Twelve “to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” Even as a magician, Jesus didn’t work alone.
Whether or not we find Jesus’ miracles revealing and compelling is tied to the depth of our imagination. Many of us sophisticated modern people are content with a fairly flat, restrictive worldview. But what if we’re wrong? What if there’s more going on in us and around us than we’ve been led to believe? What if the modern worldview is pure fiction, just another in a long line of futile human attempts to play God? What if the Gospels are right? What if something’s afoot that can’t be fully contained or described by our human understanding? In these miracles, it’s as if Jesus the magician pulls back the curtain that separates the real from the unreal and shows us what’s really going on behind the curtain of our limited understanding of what’s what. In miracles, Jesus reserves the right to work in ways that disrupt our settled opinions of just what He can and can’t do.

All the miracles Jesus performed on people’s bodies were temporary! The deaf who started to hear…eventually quit hearing again… the lame who walked soon stumbled again… for the last time. Even those Jesus brought back from the dead… eventually stopped breathing for good. The only miracles that outlive our earthly bodies are the ones that happen inside our soul! Every day holds the possibility of a miracle.

Thanks for stopping by- I pray you have a blessed Sunday! Please make sure and come back again tomorrow, and stick with Jesus!