7. The Miracles of Jesus

The sceptical contemporary mind cannot accept the concept of the miraculous. We prefer to believe that miracles occurred in the fabled ages of long ago, associated with such outmoded ideas as the earth is flat or that everything is ordered by divine providence. To a scientific and technologically astute society, a miracle is an out-of-date concept relegated to religious believers who will not accept the facts of an otherwise cold and scientific world.

Yet we use the world ‘miracle’ or ‘miraculous’ with greater frequency in this generation than in any other. We apply the term especially to scientific technology, whether a successful space probe, a new medical discovery or a development in computer science: ‘It’s a miracle what they can do these days.’

In spite of all our pseudo-sophistication, we use the word ‘miracle’ with greater abandon and less thought than did Jesus. The miracles of Jesus have about them a sense of authenticity, a substance that is hard to dismiss, an integrity of their own that enables the truly open-minded person to accept that they were consistent with the character of Jesus.

The nature and regularity of miracles

What is a miracle? We might define a miracle as an intentional act of power showing evidence of divine intervention, for a religious purpose, transcending the usual observed laws of nature. 1

We are efficient at systematising what we observe in nature and calling what we usually see a ‘law of nature’. Consequently, when anything transcends what we usually observe to be a law of nature, we want to immediately cry ‘Miracle!’ None of the miracles of Jesus could be described as being contrary to nature. They may have been in a manner different from our usually observed processes or at a speed greater than what we usually observe, but the miracles of Jesus seem to be operating in line with what we see around us – although in a higher sphere. His miracles were contrary to our usually observed order of things, yet consistent with the aims and purposes behind the providence of God and within what we call ‘the laws of nature.’

The Bible has relatively few miracles recorded in it. Those which are recorded are usually associated with one of the following three aspects. First, there are nature miracles. These concern creation, growth, storms and rain, the ending of drought and the transformation of natural products. The second group of miracles concern human life, especially birth and death, knowledge and power. The third group of miracles concern the healing of bodily disease. There are usually associated in the Bible with Moses and his successor Joshua, Elijah and his disciple Elisha, and with Jesus and his disciples. 2 About 700 years separate each of these great men and the miracles attributed to them.

There are thirty-five recorded miracles attributed to Jesus. Most of these are healing of people from physical disease, four of them concern miracles from nature, three concern the resuscitation of people from death and one concerns the destruction of a fruitless tree. 3 Modern Bible translations rarely use the world ‘miracle’, preferring the more accurate terms ‘acts of power’, ‘signs’ or ‘wonders’.

Four miracles of Jesus

We now look at four of the miracles of Jesus, taken representatively from the miracles of nature and resuscitation from death. (The miracles of healing have been examined in chapter 6.)

(a) The wedding in Cana

The first miracle ever attributed to Jesus occurred in Cana of Galilee, at a wedding during a time of great festivity. 4 Jesus and his disciples had been invited to a wedding and John records the story:

Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine had given out, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They are out of wine.’ 5

There follows in the simplest of words a description of the first miracle:

Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill these jars with water.’ They filled them to the brim and then he told them, ‘Now draw some water out and take it to the man in charge of the feast.’ They took the water which now had turned into wine, and he tasted it. He did not know where this wine had come from (but, of course, the servants who had drawn out the water knew), so he called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone else serves the best wine first, and after the guests have drunk a lot, he serves the ordinary wine. But you have kept the best wine until now!’ 6

After this miracle, apparently enjoyed by a large number of people, John comments: ‘Jesus performed this first miracle in Cana of Galilee; there he revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him.’ 7

It was obvious that this miracle was performed for the benefit of his disciples who, early in their career of following him, needed some evidence that Jesus was who he claimed to be. This miracle, quietly performed to save the embarrassment of a bride-groom and a friend, helped the disciples understand who he was.

Driving one day through the Hunter Valley past some Australian vineyards, I watched row-upon-row of grapes on a very rainy day. As I watched the grapes absorbing the rain through their roots, growing lush and full for the vintage, I thought: ‘There you go again, Lord. You are still turning water into wine!’

This miracle had a profound influence on the lives of the disciples. They now realised that the purpose of Jesus was to bring colour and fulfilment to the lives of ordinary people.

(b) The calmity of a storm

The second such miracle occurred on the Lake of Galilee. No one who has ever sailed in a small boat upon these waters, knowing the fierceness of the wind that without warning can whip across this lake, could ever doubt the fear those professional fishermen had in their hearts when, late one night in the middle of the lake, they were caught in a most devastating storm. Each of the Gospel writers records this event from the memory of the disciples; it has about it the ring of truth.

As they were sailing, Jesus fell asleep. Suddenly a strong wind blew down on the lake, and the boat began to fill with water, so that they were all in great danger. The disciples went to Jesus and woke him up, saying, ‘Master, master! We’re about to die!’

Jesus got up and gave an order to the wind and the stormy water: the wind ceased and the waves were stilled, and there was a great calm. Then he said to the disciples, ‘Where is your faith?’

But they were amazed and afraid, and said to one another, ‘Who is this man? He gives orders to the wind and waves, and they obey him!’ 8

Recent generations have tried to explain away this event with talk of a sudden cessation of wind or unique climatic conditions. Or they allegorise the whole story by claiming the storm was internal: the fear within the hearts of the disciples. Jesus calmed their fears and consequently they felt as if he had calmed a storm upon the lake.

But this story has that objective authenticity which simply states what happened: the wind died, the waves were still and there was a great calm.

If we do not find it hard to believe such a storm could spring up, why is it that we find it so difficult to believe that it could just as quickly die down?

(c) The feeling of the five thousand

On the shore of this lake one of the best known miracles of Jesus also occurred. Jesus had travelled on foot the twenty or more miles around the northern end of the lake in order to get away from the crowd which, by now, was constant. People in their thousands were clamouring after him. They had seen the healings and had heard of these miracles. They left their work and home to follow him, listen to his teaching and perhaps witness a miraculous event.

Like many of the other miracles of Jesus, this sign had a double purpose. Jesus was not just interested in feeding some hungry people – he was also explaining to them his true identity, pointing to himself as the source of all spiritual life.

From the very earliest days, the four Gospels refer to when Jesus fed five thousand men at one time. In the usual shorthand of the day, the number referred only to the men that were present, not the women or children. For accuracy’s sake, we would need to at least double that number.

In spite of the fact that people were miles from home, and in an area which could not support them (no fast-food outlets in Bethsaida!), the people stayed behind, hoping to witness some other miracle. Jesus wanted them to return to their homes, but the people paid no attention to the lateness of the hour.

When the sun was beginning to set, the twelve disciples came to him and said, ‘Send the people away so that they can go to the villages and farms around here and find food and lodging, because this is a lonely place.’

But Jesus said to them, ‘You yourselves give them something to eat.’

They answered, ‘All we have are five loaves and two fish. Do you want to go and buy food for this whole crowd?’ (There were about five thousand men there.)

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Make the people sit down in groups of about fifty each.’

After the disciples had done so, Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up to the heaven, thanked God for them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. They all ate and had enough, and the disciples took up twelve baskets of what was left over. 9

Jesus was always concerned that people had sufficient to eat. In a land where food was scarce, the left-overs were carefully gathered, no waste allowed. Jesus encouraged us in his Lord’s Prayer to pray for our daily bread. There are over 400 references to the provision of bread in the Bible.

John tells us that it was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, who located the boy with five loaves of barley bread and two fish. 10 Jesus took the boy’s offered meal and used it for the good of all.

Some people in our century have sought to explain this miracle not as a miracle of multiplication, where Jesus took a small amount of food and multiplied it so everyone had sufficient, but as a miracle of sharing. The people, moved by the wonderful example of a small boy, took out from their hidden resources their own meal and shared it with others, turning a situation of non-availability into surplus. Such people quickly point out that God provides sufficient food in this world for everyone, but the selfishness of people must be overcome with a miracle of sharing, so that in this world of hunger and famine there might be enough for all – with plenty left over.

But no matter how sophistiated our rewriting of history might be, there is more to this miracle than that. Jesus obviously appreciated the needs of people. He was concerned for their welfare; he was willing to use whatever resources he had to hand. God in the past had indicated that he was willing to use such trust when it was fully dedicated to him. So a staff in the hand of Moses, five small stones in the hand of David, and a trumpet and a pitcher in the hand of Gideon all became instruments of achievement, when used for the benefit of others.

Many people wring their hands in helplessness when faced with today’s universal problems. Yet we have the example of Jesus who broke the problem into smaller component parts. By ordering the people to sit down on the grass in groups of fifty, he arranged for the orderly distribution of resources. By taking existing resources, he supplied the needs of all.

Similarly, we have the necessary resources to feed the needy of our world. Of course, we still need to overcome our own selfishness, but that miracle starts with spiritual renewal. As Archbishop Angelo Fernandes of Delhi, India, once said: ‘Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbour is a spiritual question. The greatest evil in the world is not poverty, but unconcern by those who have sufficient.’

As a child I grew up among bakers. What changes I saw over the years. I would watch horses winch the flourbags to the loft and then I’d help stoke the ovens overnight with logs. I watched the old doughmakers bending over the deep troughs to punch the dough. I’ve seen the old wood-burning ovens replaced by automatic, computerised ovens, with bulk flour deliveries, automatic slicers and paper wrappers. Much has changed. The bread carts are no more; instead motorized bread vans now choke the early morning yard.

But the men who make and sell the bread are no different. There are greetings from the early shift men, broken marriage, good-humoured conversation, alcoholism and cheeky carters always on the run – all of them sustained by bread, but needing more than physical nourishment, needing the Bread of life.

Later, when discussing the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus challenged the shallow thinking of the crowd:

I am telling you the truth: you are looking for me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you understood my miracles. Do not work for food that spoils; instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life. 11

And later:

I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will be never hungry; he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 12

That spiritual resource is available to all today.

(d) The raising of Lazarus

The fourth miracle was one of three accounts of resuscitation. It occurred in Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem. 13 Here lived a family friendly toward Jesus and his disciples. Two single sisters and their brother lived in the house. Mary, Martha and Lazarus frequently provided hospitality whenever Jesus came to Jerusalem.

The sisters sent a message to Jesus informing him that his close friend Lazarus was ill. But by the time the message reached Jesus, Lazarus had already died.

The journey to Bethany took three days. When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been buried four days. 14 Crowds of people were gathered around, lamenting and sharing in the family’s grief.

Jewish tradition stipulated that for seven days all relatives and friends should gather and join in a public display of wailing as an outward sign of their grief. Martha expressed her faith, ‘If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died!’ 15 Like many others ever since, we believe that if only the doctor had arrived earlier, the ambulance had not been delayed, or some miracle drug had only been available, then we may have outwitted death.

Jesus replied to her with words that have given comfort to grieving people ever since:

‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’

‘Yes, Lord!’ she answered, ‘I do believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.’ 16

Deeply moved, Jesus went to the tomb, a cave with a stone placed at the entrance. ‘Take the stone away!’ Jesus ordered.

Martha, always a practical one, said, ‘There will be a bad smell, Lord. He has been buried four days!’

Jesus, with a profound display of faith, called out in a large voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ And Lazarus did. His hands and feet were wrapped in grave clothes with a cloth around his face. ‘Untie him,’ Jesus told them, ‘and let him go.’ 17

It was just as well that Jesus had used the name ‘Lazarus’. You get the feeling that, such was the power expressed, if Jesus had just called upon the dead people buried in the burial cave to come forth, then all of them would have come in their grave clothes!

But there is an important difference between the resurrection of Lazarus and our own. Lazarus was to die once more. The son of the widow at Nain, also resuscitated to life, would also die. 18 Christians believe that because of the resurrection of Jesus we will all be raised to eternal life through faith in him. 19

The plausibility of miracles

Why should we believe in the miracles of Jesus? Today, many common events which we accept as ordinary, such as plane travel, the telephone, television – even the refrigerator – would have been regarded as ‘miraculous’ in the first century.

The advancement of science does not allow us to outlaw the miraculous. Instead, the miraculous is frequently confirmed by later scientific discoveries, or the new frontiers of science raise new questions about the world we live in. The person who outlaws the miraculous has gone further than any scientific mind – or his own knowledge – can go.

There are five reasons why it is possible to believe in the miracles of Jesus:

1. The very attitude of Jesus himself commends the factuality of the miracle. Jesus did not work a miracle for the normal reasons that might be expected of such a powerful personality. He did not seek to win popularity, to persuade sceptics, to ensure his position within the community, or to gain a following. Indeed, Jesus seemed to have done the opposite: he urged people to believe when they had not seen miracles and encouraged those who had seen them not to tell others about them. On a number of occasions he was reluctant to work a miracle; only compassion for the needy overcame that reluctance. 20

On one occasion some Pharisees asked Jesus specifically for a miracle to show that God approved of him. Jesus gave a deep groan and said, ‘Why do the people of this day ask for a miracle? No, I tell you! No such proof will be given to these people!’ 21 Elsewhere Jesus said to the same audience: ‘How evil and godless are the people of this day! You ask me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of Jonah.’ 22 Faith in him was not to come by watching supernatural tricks.

In fact Jesus often encouraged those people who had witnessed miracles to keep the information to themselves. On one occasion, when he healed two blind people, he ordered them not to tell anyone who he was. 23

This practice was consistent with Jesus’ teaching. He often made the point that faith should not rely on observing the miraculous. Jesus illustrated this truth with the story of Lazarus and Abraham. Father Abraham in heaven said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from death.’ 24 Jesus was quite convinced that no amount of miracle-making could lead people to true understanding of God. Our relationship with God depends upon our faith in him, not upon gimmicks to provide for our comfort or amuse our minds.

2. Jesus worked miracles as a sign of God’s power and concern, directing attention to God and not to himself. When confronted with the blind man, Jesus replied, ‘He is blind so that God’s power might be seen at work in him.’ 25 Jesus went on to say that he was working even as God had worked in the world – to bring new life to people.

There have been many others since who have made claims for miraculous powers, but they have always sought to draw attention to themselves.

3. Belief in the miracles is inextricably bound up with belief in God. It is God who makes a miracle possible. If we do not believe in God, we have no basis for belief in miracles, but if we do believe in God then there is no reason why we ought not believe in him making special intervention where it is required.

Jesus once said. ‘Everything is possible for the person who has faith.’ Then, to demonstrate that, he healed a boy suffering from epilepsy. 26 Faith and miraculous power were associated together. If we have faith, there is no reason why we ought not believe in the possibility of miracles.

4. Large numbers of people testified to the miracles of Jesus. We read of various groups – four thousand and five thousand men, crowds, whole towns of people – all of whom witnessed what he had done. 27

It’s important to realise that the strongest testimony came from those who actually rejected his claims to be God’s Son. His enemies and those who wanted him dead certainly believed in the effectiveness of his miraculous power.

5. Miracles are basic to Christianity. The greatest miracle is not in healing the sick or calming the storm. The greatest miracle of all is that God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son. His incarnation, his life on earth, his resurrection and ascension is the real miracle.

The miracle of what God did through Christ on earth is only to be compared with the miracle of what God can do in our lives. Our conversion, rebirth and salvation are in themselves miracles of God’s grace.

Miracles are either lies, legends or facts. I cannot accept that they were lies, because too many people knew Jesus and saw the works that he did. Even his enemies accepted the fact that he had power beyond the ordinary.

Neither can I accept that they were legends. People do not persecute a legend, striving to put to death those who have created the legend or benefited by the miracle.

This leaves me with only one alternative: I believe in the miracles of Jesus because of who he was – because God worked in him, demonstrating his presence and power in him.

To accept Jesus as Lord is to accept he had power over the world in which we live.

Endnotes:

1. Alan Richardson, A Theological Word Book of the Bible, SCM, 1956, p.152
2. 1 Kings 17:20-24; 2 Kings 1:15 and 5:1-14; John 11:1-44
3. See Matthew 21:18-19; Mark 11:12-14
4. John 2:1-12
5. John 2:1-3
6. John 2:7-10
7. John 2:11
8. Luke 8:23-25
9. Luke 9:12-17
10. John 6:8-9
11. John 6:26-27
12. John 6:35
13. John 11:18
14. John 11:17
15. John 11:21
16. John 11:25-27
17. John 11:38-44
18. Luke 7:11-17
19. Romans 8:11
20. Matthew 14:13-14 and 15:32
21. Mark 8:11-12
22. Matthew 12:39
23. Matthew 9:27-31
24. Luke 16:31
25. John 9:3
26. Mark 9:23
27. Mark 3:7-8; Matthew 4:25, 14:21 and 15:38

For personal reading

Theme: A God for All Seasons

Monday : The day the wine ran out (John 2:1-11)
Tuesday : The morning the nets broke (Luke 5:1-10)
Wednesday : The night the boat nearly sank(Mark 4:36-41)
Thursday : The lunch that fed five thousand (John 6:1-14)
Friday : The man who came back from the grave (John 11:1-44)
Saturday : The slaves who escaped a tyrant (Exodus 14:5-25)
Sunday : The foreigner whose faith was rewarded (Matthew 15:21-29)

For group reading

Topic: The Miracles of Jesus

1. How do we conclude what to call ‘laws of nature’ ?

2. Most of the miracles in the Bible centre around three men and their immediate disciples. Why these three?

3. What was Jesus’ underlying purpose in turning water into wine?

4. The author suggests that the miracles of Jesus have ‘a ring of truth’ about them. What is meant by this?

5. Jesus used what was readily available to feed five thousand hungry people. What resources do Christians today have that can be used to feed the hungry?

6. The resuscitation of Lazarus from the grave is claimed to be symbolic of what will occur for all believers. Discuss.

7. The author gives his reasons for believing in the miracles of Jesus. What are your reasons?

Tuesday, 4th August, 2009, 1:12 pm | Bible Studies