11God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
13Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." 14Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15(One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
17When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. 19A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.[d] 20In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
It's not everyday we witness miracles such as the one in the passage above, but I need to remind myself that there are miracles taking place all around me. They do not always have to be out of the ordinary, but it can be something simple as well. What struck me in this passage was how the people responded to the miracle they witnessed. They came to believe and fear the Lord, openly confessed their sins, and sacrificed their practice of sorcery publicly. A sacrifice that came to a total of 50,000 drachmas. (I have no idea what the value of that is in the present day, but it sounds like a lot of money!) What a great act of faith and obedience!
Does it have to take an extraordinary miracle for people to come to believe in the Lord? Knowing that there are miracles all around me as well personal miracles, I have yet to truly sacrifice my entire life to God. Of course I have my moments, but they are just temporary and more of a feeling. May I not always depend on "miracles" according to my standards to act in faith and obedience to God. Everyday of life is a miracle given to us by Him.
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3 comments:
Esther,aka very soon to be mom, thank you for your reflection.
Since I was very curious about how much 50,000 drachmas worth, I looked it up and I found someone's commentary on verses 17-19
"When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power."
"I wonder why they (other Ephesians) calculated the value of the stuff they were throwing into a fire. Was it for a tax write-off? Was it just because, as the scrolls kept coming in, someone realized that this was going to be a lot of valuable stuff (money-wise) and decided to see just how much it was worth out of curiosity?
Note that a drachma was about a day's wages. That means that the given value of the trash was about the same as 1 man's wages for 137 years. Or 10 men's wages for almost 14 years.
The point is that the things they once considered valuable now meant nothing and could be tossed into the flames."
This is what it means to be tranformed in the name of Jesus.
Hi Esther!!! Thanks for sharing.
The thing that caught my attention was the demon-possessed man and the seven sons of Sceva. The demon said, "Jesus, I know and I know about Paul, but who are you?" That freaked me out a little. I didn't know if the demon said that because these men did this without having the conviction in the power of Christ? Did they just mimic what Paul was doing? And if so, I started thinking about the power of our words when we speak about Christ and the Gospel. Do we carry and possess that kind conviction that Paul had when we speak about the Gospel?
thanks esther for such a wise and moving reflection today. i wonder if we are too wise in our own day to believe in a miracle if we ever saw one. if seeing a miracle is not combined with faith, you will not believe, no matter what you see. many witness miracles but are completely unmoved and unconverted in their spirit.
and you are very right to say that miracles abound every day if we just had the eyes to see them. you will yourself witness a real life miracle any day now :O)
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