There are two issues that might get in the way of people’s reading of this story. One is the impossibility of the miraculous, given the scientific understandings of the modern era. Such stories are easily written off as the expectations and faulty understanding of the time. The other is that we often look at Jesus’ life from our cultural perspective. From our perspective, the miracles done by Jesus should have made it obvious who Jesus was. Well, yes and no.

Scripture: Matthew 9:1-8, 20-22