Miracles - More Than Just A Rabbit In A Hat Trick
"[H]e ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children." (Matthew 14:19-21, NRSVCE)
I am sure that Jesus, should he ever work for them, would be Subway's employee of the month for 12 months a year, every year. Just imagine the impact of such an event: You go to a place where you have heard that this new teacher is talking about his understanding of religion. You sit there for hours. Then, when everything is over, you and the people around you notice that you are pretty hungry. And then it happens... They start with five loaves of bread and two fish, but suddenly, they feed the whole group of people. And we are talking about 5,000 people. You would ask yourself how this is possible. And immediately, you would know that this man is special.
"[A]fter he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear." (Matthew 14:23-26, NRSVCE)
While this second miracle is not as public as the first one, imagine being one of the disciples in the boat. The boat gets rocked by the storm, when suddenly, Jesus comes walking towards you...ON THE WATER. When was the last time that you have seen someone walking on water in real life?
But how? How do we get what it takes to perform miracles? Well, first of all, we need to have faith in Jesus and faith in the reality of miracles. Then, we need to repent. Repentance is the act of turning around and away from a life full of sin. Now, since being perfect is something we humans are not good at, repentance is also the absolute will and effort to stop sinning. Then, when those things are fulfilled, we need to be baptized and confirmed by someone who has the authority to do this. Long story short, after being baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost, we are technically able to do what he has done. But there is one little extra in the footnotes: We need perfect faith.
If we want to see miracles as big as Jesus', we need to have the faith that he has had, which was perfect. But do not be discouraged, by having great faith, we will see great things happening in our life. And in those moments, the Holy Ghost will let us know that this came to pass by God's power: the priesthood.
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