The miracles of Jesus - Classical Christian Literature by Athleo.net

U4
HEALING OF THE
I.
That Christ gives men a belief in
themselves.
We are surprised that the man should make the
attempt at all. That is wonderful that he should
have had any belief in the possibility of it. You
would rather have expected him to lie groaning and
lamenting that he was past all
that, that he might as
well attempt to fly, or get into a new body, as to
stand upon his feet. But no !
something
had stirred
to life the dead hope of the man. The look on
Christ's face had done it, or some meaning expression
in the tone of His voice. Anyhow, there was a
glimmer of hope again. A feeling, well, perhaps I
am not so desperately lost as I thought ; there is one
last chance.
And we see that in nearly all the Saviour's miracles.
We read of the marvellous way in which He kindled
hope in people who had long abandoned hope. He
seemed to blow upon the cold dead ashes of hope,
and make the ashes aflame again. He looked on
men, looked into their searching eyes, spoke to them,
and touched them, and they forgot that they were
crippled, impotent, incapable, doomed, chained down
to their desperate lot, and lost.
Another and a better
life beckoned to them, and invited them. It was as
if they saw their prison's door opening, and a world
of liberty and joy waiting for them outside. New
possibilities were revealed. They believed in them-