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According to the canonical Gospels, Jesus worked many miracles in the course of his ministry. The large bulk of them are various cures, though there are also a large number of exorcisms, three instances of raising the dead, and various other miracles that do not fit into these categories.
Critical scholarship and the miracles of Jesus
Since the modern science of biblical criticism began in the 19th century with the Tübingen school, scholars have examined the credibility of Jesus' life as depicted in the Gospels. Additionally, naturalism, the argument that it is more rational to assume a scientific explanation or false reporting than it is to assume the existence of miraculous events, arose in the Age of Enlightenment, and was later applied to the consideration of the historicity of Jesus' miracles.
Many scholars argue that miracles cannot be historically proven, and therefore are not falsifiable, and consequently discussion of them is inherently unscientific, and so does not belong in a discussion of any possible historical Jesus. The Jesus Seminar, a critical study by major theologians of what aspects of the Gospel accounts are likely to be factual, held that while the various cures for diseases are probably true, since there were many others in the ancient world credited with healing power, most of the other miracles of Jesus are unfactual, at least in their literal interpretation from the Bible.
The veracity of exorcisms carried out by Jesus is particularly questioned among critical scholars, as according to modern science there is no evidence whatsoever for demonic possession, while there is a large amount of evidence that what ancient peoples attributed to demonic forces were actually the result of psychological disturbances and mental illness.
Sometimes scientists speculate that the appearance of a miracle could have occurred, but that there is a naturalistic explanation for it. For example, a recent study has suggested that the miracle of Jesus walking on water could have been the result of a freak ice formation that is thought by climatologists to have occurred on the Sea of Galilee during that time *.
Types of Miracle
Curing disease and disability
The largest group of miracles mentioned in the New Testament are those concerning disease and disability. The bible gives varying amounts of detail for each episode, and sometimes portrays the Jesus curing simply by saying a few words, or laying on hands, and at other times quite elaborate rituals involving spit are described. In most cases they are recorded by all the Synoptic Gospels, but not by that of John, and in the few cases mentioned both by John and by the Synoptics certain of the more periphery details vary substantially. The miracles concerned with disease and disability that are mentioned by the Canonical Gospels include cures of the following:- Fever - The Synoptics (but not John) describe Jesus as having healed the mother-in-law of Simon Peter, when he visited Simon's house in Capernaum, around the time of Jesus recruiting Simon as an Apostle (Mark has it being just after recruiting Simon, while Luke has it occurring just before). The synoptics imply that this led other people seeking out Jesus, and him travelling over the whole of Galilee to preach to them.
- Leprosy - The Synoptics (but not John) state that, early in Jesus' ministry, he healed a leper, who he then instructed to offer the requisite ritual sacrifices as proscribed by the Deuteronomic Code and Priestly Code for being healed from leprosy. Jesus is described as instructing the ex-leper not to tell anyone who had healed him, but the man is described as disobeying, causing Jesus' reputation to become better known, and so Jesus tries to hide in lonely places, but is followed there also. Luke also states that later, while on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus sent ten lepers, who had sought his assistance, away to the priests, and that they were healed as they went, but that the only one amongst them that came back to thank Jesus was a Samaritan.
- long term bleeding - The Synoptics (but not John) state that while heading to Jairus' house (see the section below on power over death), Jesus was approached by a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for 12 years, and that she touched Jesus' cloak, resulting in her being instantly healed. Not noticing her do so, but aware that something had happened, Jesus is described as looking around the crowd to identify the perpetrator, and when the woman comes forward, Jesus says that her faith has healed her. The bleeding is sometimes interpreted as menorrhagia, but most scholars consider that the duration, 12 years, makes it more plausible that something more like Haemophilia is being referred to.
- Withered hands - The Synoptics (but not John) state that Jesus entered a Synagogue on the Sabbath, and found a man with a withered hand there, who Jesus heals, having first challenged the people present to decide what was lawful for a sabbath - to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill . The Gospel of Mark adds that this angered the Pharisees so much that they started to plot about killing Jesus.
- Dropsy - Luke (but not Mark, Matthew, or John) states that, during a Sabbath, Jesus ate in the house of a prominent Pharisee, opposite someone who suffered from dropsy, and so Jesus asks the Pharisees that were present if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, but after getting no reply heals the man. Jesus is described as then challenging the Pharisees to say that they wouldn't immediately pull out an ox, or a son (or a donkey, according to some ancient manuscripts of Luke), if it fell into a well during a Sabbath.
- Deafness - Mark (but not Matthew, Luke, or John) states that Jesus went to the Decapolis and met a man there who was deaf, and mute, and then cured him. Specifically, Jesus is described as doing this by first touching the man's ears, and touching his tongue after spitting, and then saying Ephphatha, an Aramaic word meaning Be opened
- Blindness - All four Canonical Gospels state that Jesus met a man named bar-Timai (meaning son of Timai), who is a blind beggar but still identifies Jesus as the Jewish Messiah; Jesus says that the man's faith has healed him, and the man receives his sight, and is allowed to follow Jesus. The Synoptics (but not John) states that this happened when Jesus was leaving Jericho, while John states that it happened near the Pool of Siloam. Matthew and Luke do not name the beggar, and Luke adds that there was another healed at the same time. John's description of the event is quite elaborate, adding that:
- the disciples first questioned Jesus whether bar-Timai's blindness derived from the sins of his parents or those of himself, and that Jesus said that both the parents and bar-Timai were blameless
- Jesus healed bar-Timai by spitting on the ground, mixing his spit with mud, and putting the mixture in bar-Timai's eyes, then sending bar-Timai to wash in the Pool of Siloam
- the event happened on a Sabbath, and the Pharisees question how someone could not uphold the Sabbath and still have the divine power to heal
- the Pharisees don't believe that bar-Timai is the same person as the man who was healed, and ask bar-Timai's parents if the healed man is their son, and the parents respond that he is
- the Pharisees criticise bar-Timai for becoming a follower of Jesus, and argue that he was steeped in sin since birth, so throw him out
- Jesus identifies himself as Son of Man, and so bar-Timai worships him
- Additionally, Mark (but not Matthew, Luke, or John) states that Jesus went to Bethsaida and met another man there who was blind, and then cured him. Specifically, Jesus is described as spitting in the man's eyes, to which the man responds that his vision is now blurred, and then Jesus touches the man's eyes, and the man responds that he can see clearly now. John's account of the healing of bar-Timai has been argued by some scholars to be a conflation of the account of bar-Timai in Mark, together with the healing method given by Mark's account of the second healing of a blind man.
- Paralysis - All four Canonical Gospels state that a paralytic was brought to Jesus on a mat, Jesus told him to get up and walk, and the man did so. Jesus is additionally described as saying to the man that his sins were forgiven, which according to the Synoptics irritated the Pharisees, and according to John irritated the people in general. Jesus is described as responding to the anger by asking whether it is easier to say that someone's sins are forgiven, or to tell the man to get up and walk. The Synoptics state that this happened in Capernaum, Luke adding that Jesus was in a house at the time, and that the man had to be lowered through the roof by his friends due to the crowds blocking the door, while John states that the event happened at Bethesda.
- Unspecified sickness - All four Canonical Gospels state that Jesus was asked by an official to heal a person important to them, and although Jesus is somewhat annoyed at being constantly asked to perform miracles, rather than being asked for teachings, he says that the person would be healed, and the official returns home to find that this has happened. The Synoptics state that official was one of royalty, originating from Canaan, and that it was his son who was sick, while the Gospel of John states that the official was a centurian, and that it was the centurion's pais that was sick. Pais can mean servant, but it can also mean son; however, the most common meaning was young slave with whom sexual activity occurs, and the context has been argued by many to imply that the centurion was asking for a homosexual lover to be healed. Jesus' treatment of this Pais, and lack of any condemnation of the centurion, has sometimes been argued to imply that Jesus approved of homosexual relationships.
Aside from literal interpretations, and assumptions of it being pure fiction, numerous other explanations of the events have been put forward throughout history. Beginning with the Gnostics, it has been suggested that the reports of alleged miracles were actually intended just as allegories, not as factual events. Healing the blind has been argued to be a metaphor for people who previously could not, or would not, see the truth being shown it; healing the deaf has been interpreted as simply meaning that people who could not, or would not, listen to true teachings were made to; similarly, healing paralysis has been interpreted as an allegory for rectifying inaction; and healing leprosy for removing the societal stigmatism associated with certain stances. It has also been argued that bar-Timai is a direct reference to Plato's Timaeus, a literary work, and that bar-Timai symbolises the hellenic audience of Mark's gospel, and that curing his blindness is a metaphor for the Gospel giving a revelation to the audience.
Other scholars have suggested that the Bible is more literal than that, but that the events can be scientifically explained by arguing that Jesus had a high knowledge of herbalism, as was common amongst the teachers of many mystery religions, and aescetic groups like the essenes, and simply applied quite ordinary and scientific cures for the symptoms described. Though things like blindness and deafness may seem incurable without very modern medicine, it has been argued by these scholars that it is not true blindness, deafness, etc., being referred to, but more easily curable illness such as conjunctivitis, and glue ear. Out of the Canonical Gospels, Matthew adds several other episodes of Jesus healing people who are blind, deaf, mute, lame, or some combination of these four; many scholars see this as an example of the common trait of Matthew trying to portray Jesus as fulfilling an Old Testament prophecy, in this case . Those who believe the miracles happened as literally stated also sometimes think there is a reference to this part of Isaiah, though in their case, these believers argue that Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy, rather than the author editing Jesus to fit it.
Expelling demons
Belief in supernatural creatures was very common in first century palestine, especially due to certain preachings of the Pharisees. According to a literal reading of the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus was present at multiple examples of demonic possession, while these incidents are not mentioned whatsoever by the Gospel of John. Most modern scholars dismiss these as simply being cases of mental illness and afflictions such as epilepsy, which provides the same external symptoms without requiring the need for a supernatural force, and hence is favoured by Ockham's razor.
The accounts in the Synoptic Gospels are, at face value:
- The man possessed by a demon at Capernaum - Jesus is described as carrying out an exorcism and forbidding the demon from informing people about Jesus
- The man possessed by demons at Gerasenes, who the people had tried to chain up but had escaped, and lived in caves, and roamed the hills, screaming - Jesus is described as asking the man's name, but is told by the man/demons that his name is Legion, ...for we are many; then the demons request to be transferred to some pigs, so Jesus obliges, and the pigs rush into a river and drown. The pig owners tell the townsfolk what had happened, and when the townsfolk see that the man is now sane, they are disturbed enough to expel Jesus from the area. The man, on the other hand, informs the whole of the decapolis what had happened.
- The possessed daughter of the phoenician woman in Tyre - the woman asks Jesus to heal her daughter, but Jesus criticises her for giving the children's bread to the dogs. However, the woman replies that even the dogs eat the children's crumbs, and so Jesus tells the woman that her daughter is healed, and when the woman returns home she finds that this is true.
- The boy possessed by a demon that is brought forward to Jesus straight after Jesus' transfiguration, and who foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, becomes rigid, and involuntarily falls into both water and fire - Jesus' followers are unable to heal the boy, and Jesus condemns the people as unbelieving, but when the father of the boy questions if Jesus can heal the boy, Jesus says everything is possible for those that believe, so the father says he believes that the boy could be healed, and Jesus does so.
Scientifically, while many of these cases have an uncertain explanations, due to the minimal description of the possessions themself, the possession of the man at Gerasenes could be explained as simply being a case of schizophrenia, while the possession of the boy, brought forward after the transfiguration, has symptoms more scientifically explainable by epilepsy. Critical scholars typically see these exorcisms of such illness as allegorical, representative of Jesus' teachings clearing even the most troubled mind. Some critical scholars, however, have suggested that the events could have been real, though with the scientific explanation of the illnesses, and that the cures given were really just psychological drugs that Jesus, like many others in the era, would have been aware of; for example, Sage and Mistletoe were used in early times to treat epilepsy, and Snakeroot was used to treat schizophrenia.
Nonetheless, many Christians accept these exorcisms as having really happened as actual evictions of real demons. The Roman Catholic Church maintains a detailed protocol of what is to be done to perform an exorcism, and most local denominations have an exorcism 'specialist' at hand, as does the Anglican Church of England, which maintains an exorcist in each diocese.
Controlling Nature
Another group of Jesus' miracles reported in the Canonical Gospels, would at face value show power over the created world:- The Feeding of the 5000 and of the 4000 - despite the disciples only being able to collect just a few loaves of bread and a handful of fish, a large number of people are fed, and there are even a number of baskets of leftovers.
- The Cursing of the Fig Tree - Jesus is described as cursing a fig tree, and it subsequently withers
- Turning Water into Wine - at a wedding, when the host runs out of wine, the disciples of Jesus fill vessels with water, but the waiter pronounces the content of the vessels as the best wine that has been served that night
- Walking on water - Jesus is described as having walked over a lake to meet a boat.
- Transfiguration of Jesus - Jesus is described as having climbed a mountain and been changed so that his face glowed
- The Catch of 153 fish - Jesus is described as having instructed the disciples to throw their net over the side of the water, resulting in them hauling in the huge catch (for hand fishing) of 153 fish
- Calming a storm - during a storm, the disciples are described as having woken Jesus, and he as having rebuked the storm causing it to become calm. Jesus then rebukes the disciples for lack of faith.
To these, some Christians, predominantly Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglo Catholics, would add Transubstantiation during the last supper meal, though this is not clear in the narrative, and requires taking Jesus' words in this part of the Gospels extremely literally. Most Protestants reject this instance of transubstantiation, as do most non-Christians. It is worth noting, however, that not all schools of non-Christian philosophy rule out the possibility of transubstantiation in general; in Aristotelian schools of metaphysics the possibility is considered quite mundane rather than indicative of divine power - indeed Aristotle allowed the possibility of transubstantiation but rejected the possibility that God could intervene in the world.
Power over death
The Canonical Gospels, as they currently stand, report three cases where Jesus calls a dead person back to life:
- Jairus' daughter - Jairus, a major patron of a synagogue, asks Jesus to heal his daughter, but while Jesus is on his way, men tell Jairus that his daughter has died. Jesus says she was only sleeping and wakes her up.
- The son of the widow at Nain - A young man, the son of a widow, is brought out for burial in Nain. Jesus sees her, and his pity causes him to tell her not to cry. Jesus approaches the coffin and tells the man inside to get up, and he does so.
- The raising of Lazarus - a close friend of Jesus who has been dead for four days is brought back to life when Jesus commands him to get up.
If the Secret Gospel of Mark is to be considered genuine, then there is a fourth case in the Canonical Gospels, in which Jesus brings back to life a rich man who is loved by Jesus, and lived in Bethany. The rich man in question is implied by the Secret Gospel to be the almost naked individual that Mark states followed Jesus during his arrest, and the individual that Mark states was found in the otherwise empty tomb.
While the raising of the daughter of Jairus is in all the Synoptic Gospels (but not in the Gospel of John), the raising of the son of the widow of Nain appears only in the Gospel of Luke, and the raising of Lazarus appears only in the Gospel of John. It has been argued by several scholars and commentators that the story of the raising of Lazarus and that of the Nain widow's son really refer to the same event, and amongst those scholars also taking the Secret Gospel of Mark to be genuine, these two events are considered to derive from the raising of the youth in the original Mark (i.e. the event that was later excised from Mark, but survives in the Secret Gospel). That the story of the daughter of Jairus does not appear in the Gospel of John, despite the story clearly stating that John the Apostle was one of the only three people that Jesus took with him to witness it, is one of the reasons that most scholars doubt the Authorship of John.
To these must be added Jesus' own resurrection from the dead, if the Gospels are to be taken completely literally rather than allegorically. Most Christians accept this as fact without question, indeed almost defining being a Christian with a belief in the resurrection. Others, like Rudolf Bultmann, argue that the resurrection was not a historical event, as did a large number of early Christians, known as Gnostics, at one point almost a majority. Most non-Christian scholars point to the paucity of evidence, as well as the lack of evidence and scientific plausibility for other people having come back from the dead, and so reject the resurrection's historicity.
To the Gnostics, death had a profoundly allegorical meaning; people who had renounced their lack of knowledge and their carnality, becoming gnostics, were referred to as having died, since they had metaphorically escaped the prison of the body. The Gnostics viewed resurrection as an allegory for people attaining gnosis, and not as something that had to literally have happened, hence viewing these miracles as metaphors, and teaching devices, not actual events. According to those who see Gnosticism as the original version of Christianity, this is how the events were intended to be interpreted, and hence they were non historic, never really having been meant to be seen as historic.
Power over the mind
Historically, Scholastic Theologians argued that the act of Jesus' casting out the moneylenders from the temple was a miracle showing the power of Jesus over the minds of those in the temple. They reasoned that it would not be possible for one man to eject everyone from the premises without being attacked. In more recent times, hypnotists and magicians have argued against this, for example Derren Brown demonstrated mass conversion of atheists to theism (and subsequently unconverted them by explaining his trickery).List of miracles attributed to Jesus
It is not always clear when two reported miracles refer to the same event. An attempt has been made to indicate those that probably are related.
| Miracle | Matthew | Mark | Luke | John | Other sources |
| Water controlled and purified | Infancy Gospel of Thomas | ||||
| Clay pigeons brought to life | Infancy Narrative of James, Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Qur'an | ||||
| Healing of a woodcutter's foot | Infancy Gospel of Thomas | ||||
| Holding water in cloth | Infancy Gospel of Thomas | ||||
| Playmate killed and raised from dead | Infancy Narrative of James, Infancy Gospel of Thomas (different playmates) | ||||
| One grain of wheat feeds many | Infancy Gospel of Thomas | ||||
| Stretching a board | Infancy Gospel of Thomas | ||||
| Turning water into wine | |||||
| Cure of royal official's (centurion's) son (servant) | |||||
| Miraculous catch of fish | |||||
| Cure of a demoniac | |||||
| Cure of Peter's mother-in-law's fever | |||||
| Cure of a leper | Qur'an | ||||
| Cure of a paralytic at Capharnaum | |||||
| Cure of a sick man at Bethesda | |||||
| Healing of a man's withered hand | |||||
| Raising of the son of the widow of Nain | |||||
| Healing of a blind and dumb demoniac | |||||
| Calming a storm at sea | |||||
| Expulsion of demons in Gadara | |||||
| Raising (curing) of Jairus' daughter | |||||
| Healing of a woman with a hemorrhage | |||||
| Restoration of two men's sight | |||||
| Healing of a mute demoniac | |||||
| Feeding the 5000 | |||||
| Walking on water | |||||
| Exorcism of a Canaanite (Syro-Phoenecian) woman | |||||
| Healing of a deaf-mute | |||||
| Feeding the 4000 | |||||
| Restoration of a man's sight at Bethsaida | |||||
| Transfiguration | |||||
| Exorcism of a possessed boy | |||||
| Payment of temple tax with a shekel taken from a fish's mouth | |||||
| Healing of large numbers of crippled, blind and mute | |||||
| Healing of a woman on the Sabbath | |||||
| Raising of Lazarus (from the dead) | Qur'an | ||||
| Healing of a man with dropsy | |||||
| Healing of ten lepers | |||||
| Healing of Bartimaus, a blind beggar | Qur'an | ||||
| Cursing of a fig tree to never bear fruit | |||||
| Transubstantiation of bread and wine | |||||
| Healing of High Priest's servant's ear | |||||
| Resurrection of himself | |||||
In the canon, there are 44 miracles of Jesus during his life-time which were recorded in the New Testament, 37 of them are recorded in the canonical Gospels and 7 were recorded in other parts.
References
- Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament Doubleday 1997 ISBN 0385247672
- Brown, Raymond E. et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary Prentice Hall 1990 ISBN 0136149340
- Kilgallen, John J. A Brief Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, Paulist Press, 1989. ISBN 0809130599
- Miller, Robert J. Editor The Complete Gospels Polebridge Press 1994 ISBN 0060655879
External links
Apologist
- "The Miracles of Jesus: A Historical Inquiry" by Christopher Price
- The Historicity of Jesus' Miracles a feature of the Christan Cadre.
- Pool of Bethesda
Critical
"Miracles of Jesus"