Miracles - Tools of the Kingdom

Mar 1:16-17 MKJV
(16) And walking along beside the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
(17) And Jesus said to them, Come after Me and I will make you fishers of men.

Jesus said these words immediately after He was baptized by John, and then came out of the desert from being tempted by Satan. Luke records that when Jesus left the desert, He "returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee". It is good to notice the sequence of events. First Jesus hears what His Father says when the dove descends: You are MY Son. Next, that word is tested by Satan: IF you are the Son of God... And finally, Jesus emerges from all of this IN POWER. No, Jesus did not have this kind of power as a boy who sat in the Temple. But now... He did.

And then Jesus walks along the shores of the sea calling His disciples. Why do you suppose He didn't just walk out to them (if they were in the boat) or approach them from the water? I would think recruiting teenage boys might have been much easier had Jesus just skipped on out to the boats and said, "Hey guys, do you want to be like me?"

He walked along beside the sea of Galilee. God established rules on earth. Rules such as gravity, weather patterns, harvest cycles, sowing and reaping - were rules that Jesus did not come to shatter just for the sake of being "one who could". Miracles are tools of the Kingdom to be used only when LIFE can be imposed where before death had a grip. Yes, it's all about life. It's not even about good or bad... it's about LIFE. If there is any question about this, refer to the garden of Eden, where there were multiple trees to choose from. Don't try to figure out good and bad - just eat from the tree of life! Joshua said... choose life! Life comes from seed.

This raises a question. When Jesus did walk on the water, how was He imposing life? You could ask this to the disciples who at that time were in a vice of terror over that storm. Remember, not all of the disciples were fishermen. Some were accountants and politicians. What they learned from that miracle was that the One in which they had placed their faith was capable - even above the power of death and the abyss. There were seeds sown during that episode that bloomed into every sign and wonder that those young men performed later. Life!