When the Hebrew people who had been enslaved by the Egyptians finally gained their freedom and began heading out of Egypt and toward Canaan, the Egyptians had second thoughts about letting them go. They pursued them until the Hebrews were trapped between the impassable Red Sea and the armed Egyptians.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea“ (Exodus 14:15-16, KJV).

Well, Romanus of France didn’t have a murderous band of Egyptians (or any other nationality) on the tail of him and his people, but the River Seine in Paris was flooding. Butler tells it this way:

Amongst many miracles which [Romanus] wrought, it is related that the Seine having overflowed a considerable part of the city, the saint, who happened to be at the court of Dagobert for certain affairs of his church, upon hearing this melancholy news, made haste to comfort and succour his afflicted flock: and kneeling down to pray on the side of the water with a crucifix in his hand, the water retired gently within the banks of the river.

A rod for Moses, a crucifix for Romanus–and the waters receded!

So let’s consider the issue of miracles:

What are the elements of a miracle? God? A holy person? A tool of some sort? Something that ought not to naturally happen? People to witness the event?

What is the purpose of a miracle? To make people marvel at God’s power? To make people marvel at the work of a holy person? To help people in times of distress? To help those who were not present to never give up hope?

Or are miracles merely astonishing coincidences, so astounding that people feel compelled to attribute them to divine causes?

Whatever they might be, they do not bear up well under theological, justice-based scrutiny. After all, the very Red Sea that opened up to allow the Hebrews to pass through on dry land ended up drowning Egyptians. And lives lost to floods far outnumber those saved when Romanus knelt and prayed at the banks of the Seine. Why no miracle in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on May 31, 1889? Or in Manhattan on September 11, 2001? Were both cities bereft of any holy person? For everyone miraculously cured of a seemingly terminal illness, how many others do not survive? For every home amazingly left standing during a hurricane…well, you get the idea.

Thoughts about miracles folks?