So, after all, does a miracle convince? As it turns out, not everyone and not always. Faced with manifestations of God's power, the power of the Kingdom, that Jesus made entirely obvious to everyone, it would seem impossible not to believe in the miracle. But apparently one can bear witness to the Kingdom, yet it is impossible to prove its reality to someone who does not want to believe. The Pharisees, for example, invent ever new explanations for something that, in essence, needs no explanation at all but only needs to be accepted. They have no wish to accept it, and therein lies the whole problem.

One might think that the Pharisees, of all people, since they professed messianic hope, should only have rejoiced at the appearance of the Messiah and the Kingdom in the world. And they probably would have, had Jesus acted as the Messiah was supposed to act according to those same Pharisees' ideas. But the problem was precisely that Jesus did not conform to those ideas and had no intention of doing so.

Then what could not fail to happen did happen: the logic of opposition demands escalation, and eventually escalation came. Previously the leaders of the Pharisaic movement had tried to explain Jesus' miracles and healings in more or less neutral terms. Now they move to direct and very serious accusations, in effect accusing the Savior of paganism and demon worship. The calculation is simple: if you strike, strike with all your strength and without restraint; if you accuse, make the accusation as difficult as possible to answer.

Nor is this merely a desire to rid themselves of Jesus. His accusers, it seems, are trying to convince not only others but themselves that they are right. To do so they need the gravest possible accusations, and it no longer matters how plausible those accusations are. In such a situation the mind will accept any argument as long as it justifies rejecting what cannot reasonably be rejected. They seek to frighten not only others but themselves, and to frighten themselves so thoroughly that there can be no road back and no one will even dare think that this Man might be from God.

Such intimidation requires a taboo that blocks, even at the subconscious level, every attempt to view the situation differently. The accusation of demon worship was just such a taboo—a taboo that became the last refuge of religiosity opposed to the Kingdom.

There is an inner logic of its own in the Pharisees' reasoning about Christ. Indeed, if this Carpenter from Nazareth casts out evil spirits and heals the sick, then there must be some explanation for it. What power is at work in Him? Why is His will to heal ("I am willing; be cleansed," "Be silent, and come out of him"...) so effective?

Unbiased people say, "A great prophet has arisen in Israel," supposing that God's will is acting through Jesus - and this is a completely natural hypothesis. But the Pharisees do not agree that God's will can act without informing them, that God can allow Himself to do something unexpected for the Pharisees. And therefore their assessment naturally follows from denial: He casts out demons by the power of their own prince.

It is characteristic, first, that the impulse of denial, generally speaking, develops by itself in the direction of cursing. Second, it is clear that in taking Jesus for an impostor, a false messiah, the Pharisees are extremely inattentive: false messiahs (and there are plenty of them even today), when doing something unusual, always use it to confirm their own prestige. The Pharisees, hearing about Jesus' miracles, presume that He acts the same way. They simply do not trouble themselves to find out the matter to the end, and they pass judgment without learning that Jesus constantly forbids people to spread the news of such miracles.

That is how we sometimes drive ourselves into a trap and fail to meet God solely because of our own prejudice.

Another "series" of Jesus' miracles. It is striking how different these four healings are. The case of the woman with the flow of blood is especially revealing: Jesus does nothing special here; the healing happens as a result of the meeting between her bold faith (the bleeding makes a person unclean, and she has no right to touch other people) and the power abiding in Jesus, as the Gospel according to Luke tells it, opening for us a glimpse into the mystery of the Lord's miracles.

The description of each of the other healings ends by mentioning how people respond to it. Of course, word about Jesus spreads; of course, those healed by Him prove unable to obey Him even out of gratitude; and of course, Christ's miracles, like His preaching, draw some people to Him and repel others. Jesus will answer the accusations that He is working with the prince of demons later (this will be discussed in chapter 12).