The miracles of Jesus are the
supernatural deeds of
Jesus, as
recorded in the
Gospels, in the course of his
ministry. According to the
Gospel of John, only some of these were recorded.
John 21:25 states that "Jesus did many other things as well.
If every one of them were written down, ...even the whole world would
not have room for the books that would be written." These
miracles
may be categorized into four groups:
cures,
exorcisms,
resurrection of the dead and control over nature.[1][2]
In the
Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke), Jesus refuses to give a
miraculous sign to prove his authority.[3]
In the
Gospel of John, Jesus is said to have performed seven miraculous
signs that characterize his ministry, from
changing water into wine at the start of his ministry to
raising Lazarus from the dead at the end.[4]
To many
Christians and
Muslims,[5]
the miracles are actual historical events. Others, such as some
liberal Christians, may consider these stories to be figurative.[6]
Historians are virtually unable to confirm or refute reports of Jesus'
miracles.[7]
Certain Christian scholars present arguments for the historicity of
miracles.[8][9]
Types and motives
In The Miracles of Jesus, H. Van der Loos discusses two main
categories of miracles by Jesus: those that affected people, e.g.,
the Blind Man of Bethsaida and are called "healings", and those that
"controlled nature", e.g.,
Walking on Water. The three types of healings are cures where
an ailment is cured, exorcisms where demons are cast away and the
resurrection of the dead. Among these miracles, the
Transfiguration of Jesus is unique in that the miracle happens to
Jesus himself.[10]
One characteristic shared among all miracles of Jesus in the Gospel
accounts is that he delivered benefits freely and never requested or
accepted any form of payment for his healing miracles, unlike some high
priests of his time who charged those who were healed.[11]
In
Matthew 10:8 he advised his disciples to heal the sick without
payment and stated: "freely ye received, freely give."[11]
The miracles are outlined in this section and a visual
representation, with a link to the each miracle's own page, appears in
the
gallery of miracles below. The structure and separation of miracles
mostly follows Robert Maguire's "The miracles of Christ", John
Clowes' "The miracles of Jesus Christ", and H. Van der Loos' "The
Miracles of Jesus" listed in the
references section.
Cures
The largest group of miracles mentioned in the
New Testament involve cures. The Gospels give varying amounts of
detail for each episode, sometimes Jesus cures simply by saying a few
words, at other times employs material such as spit and mud. Generally
they are recorded in the
Synoptic Gospels but not in the Gospel of John.
The Blind
The canonical Gospels report four separate cases of
Jesus
healing the blind. The
Gospel of Mark[8:22-26]
is the only place that tells of Jesus healing the
Blind man in Bethsaida.
Each of the three
synoptic gospels tell of Jesus
healing the blind near Jericho, as he passed through that town,
shortly before his
passion.
Mark [10:46-52]
tells only of a man named Bartimaeus being present and healed, as Jesus
left Jericho, making him one of the few named people to be cured by
Jesus.
Matthew[20:29-34]
is a similar account of two blind men being healed outside of Jericho,
but gives no names.
Luke[18:35-43]
also tells of two unnamed blind men, but seems to place the event
instead as when Jesus approached Jericho. The Synoptics state that Jesus
met a beggar (Mark gives the name: bar-Timai or son of Timai)
who, though blind, still identified Jesus as the
Jewish Messiah; Jesus said that the man's faith has healed him, and
he "received his sight," and was allowed to follow Jesus.
The Gospel of Matthew
[9:27-31]
also reports of Jesus
healing two blind men in Galilee, at some earlier time, who also
called him "Son of David." Jesus touched their eyes and restored their
sight.
Healing the man blind from birth is discussed in the
Gospel of John[9:1-12]
and is placed during the
Festival of
Tabernacles, about six months before his passion. Jesus stated that
the man's blindness was not because either the man or his parents
sinned. Jesus mixed spittle with dirt to make a mud mixture, which he
placed in the man's eyes. Jesus then asked the man to wash his eyes in
the
Pool of Siloam. This done, the man was able to see.
Lepers
The
Jesus cleansing a leper miracle appears in
Matthew 8:1-4,
Mark 1:40-45 and
Luke 5:12-16. Early in
Jesus' ministry, he healed a leper, whom he then instructed to offer
the requisite ritual sacrifices as proscribed by the
Deuteronomic Code and
Priestly Code. Jesus instructed the ex-leper not to tell anyone who
had healed him; but the man disobeyed, increasing Jesus' fame, and
thereafter Jesus withdrew to deserted places, but was followed
there.
In the
Cleansing ten lepers miracle,
Luke 17:11-19 states that while on his way to
Jerusalem, Jesus sent ten lepers who had sought his assistance to
the priests, and that they were healed as they went, but that the only
one that came back to thank Jesus was a
Samaritan.
Paralytics
Healing the paralytic at Capernaum appears in
Matthew 9:1-8,
Mark 2:1-12 and
Luke 5:17-26. The Synoptics 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 also told the man that his sins were forgiven,
which irritated the Pharisees. 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. Mark and Luke
state 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.
A similar cure is described in the Gospel of John as the
Healing the paralytic at Bethesda[Jn 5:1-18]
and occurs at the
Pool of Bethesda. In this cure Jesus also tells the man to take his
mat and walk.[Jn 5:1-18]
[Mt 12:9-13]
Women
The
Cure of a bleeding woman miracle appears in
Mark 5:21-43,
Matthew 9:18-26 and
Luke 8:40-56, along with the miracle of the
Daughter of Jairus.[12]
The Gospels state that while heading to Jairus' house Jesus was
approached by a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for 12
years, and that she touched Jesus' cloak (fringes
of his garment) and was instantly healed. Jesus turned about and,
when the woman came forward, said "Daughter, your faith has healed you,
go in peace".
Healing the mother of Peter's wife. The Synoptics[13]
describe Jesus as healing 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 just after the calling
of Simon, while Luke has it just before). The Synoptics imply that this
led other people to seek out Jesus.
Jesus healing an infirm woman appears in
Luke 13:10-17. While teaching in a synagogues on a Sabbath,
Jesus cured a woman who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years
and could not stand straight at all.
Men
Healing a man with dropsy is described in
Luke 14:1-6. In this miracle, Jesus cured a man with
dropsy at the house of a prominent Pharisee on the Sabbath. Jesus
justified the cure by asking: "If one of you has a child or an ox that
falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it
out?"
In the
Healing of the man with a withered hand miracle,[14]
the Synoptics state that Jesus entered a
synagogue on
Sabbath, and found a man with a withered hand there, whom
Jesus healed, having first challenged the people present to decide what
was lawful for 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 contemplate killing Jesus.
The
Healing the deaf mute of Decapolis miracle only appears in the
Gospel of Mark.[7:31-37]
The Gospel states that Jesus went to the
Decapolis and met a man there who was deaf and mute, and cured him.
Specifically, Jesus first touched the man's ears, and touched his tongue
after spitting, and then said
Ephphatha!, an
Aramaic word meaning Be opened.
Other
The
Healing the Centurion's servant miracle is reported in
Matthew 8:5-13 and
Luke 7:1-10. These two Gospels narrate how Jesus healed the
servant of a Roman
Centurion in
Capernaum.
John 4:46-54 has a similar account at Capernaum, but states
that it was the son of a royal official who was cured at a distance.
Jesus healing in the land of Gennesaret appears in
Matthew 14:34-36 and
Mark 6:53-56. As Jesus passes through
Gennesaret all those who touch his cloak are healed.
Matthew 9:35-36 also reports that after the miracle of
Jesus exorcising a mute, Jesus went through all the towns and
villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the
kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
Exorcisms
According to the three
Synoptic Gospels, Jesus performed many
exorcisms of
demoniacs. These incidents are not mentioned in the
Gospel of John. Jesus pointed to his ability to cast out devils as a
sign of his Messiahship, and he empowered his disciples to do the same
in
his name.[15]
The seven major exorcism accounts in the Synoptic Gospels which have
details, and imply specific teachings, are:
-
Exorcism at the Synagogue in Capernaum, where Jesus exorcised an
evil spirit who cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of
Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy
One of God!".[16]
-
Exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac, where people had tried to
chain up a demoniac but he had escaped, and lived in tombs, and
roamed the hills, crying and cutting himself. Jesus asked the man's
name, and was told by the man/devils that his name was
Legion, "...for we are many". The devils asked to be expelled
into a group of swine, which Jesus allowed, and thereafter the swine
fell into the lake and drowned. The swine keepers told the townsfolk
what had happened, and when the townsfolk saw that the man was
sane,
they besought Jesus to leave "for they were taken with great fear".
The man, on the other hand, informed the whole of the
Decapolis what had happened. There are some discrepancies about
this particular exorcism; both Mark and Luke only mention one man
who was possessed. Matthew saw two men whom Jesus freed from
demoniac possession.[17]
-
Exorcising the Canaanite woman's daughter, appears in Matthew
15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30. The woman asked Jesus to heal her
daughter, but Jesus said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of
the house of Israel". The woman replied, "Lord: yet the dogs eat of
the crumbs which fall from their masters' table", whereupon Jesus
told her that her daughter was healed, and when the woman returned
home she found that this was true.[18]
-
Exorcising the blind and mute man, appears in
Matthew 12:22-32,
Mark 3:20-30, and
Luke 11:14-23. Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who was
blind and mute, so that he could both talk and see. People were
astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?" But the
Pharisees said that it is only by Beelzebul, that he drives out
demons, but Jesus rebuked them.
-
Exorcising a boy possessed by a demon, appears in
Matthew 17:14-21,
Mark 9:14-29, and
Luke 9:37-49. A boy possessed by a demon was brought
forward to Jesus immediately after
Jesus' transfiguration. The boy was said to have foamed at the
mouth, gnashed his teeth, become rigid and involuntarily fallen into
both water and fire. Jesus' followers could not expel the demon, and
Jesus condemned the people as unbelieving, but when the father of
the boy questioned if Jesus could heal the boy, Jesus said
"everything is possible for those that believe", so the father said
he believed that the boy could be healed, and Jesus healed him.[19]
- The miracle of
Jesus exorcising at sunset appears in the Synoptic Gospels just
after
healing the mother of Peter's wife, in
Matthew 8:16-17,
Mark 1:32-34 and
Luke 4:40-41. In this miracle Jesus healed people and
cast out many devils who knew he was Christ.
- The miracle of
Jesus exorcising a mute appears in
Matthew 9:32-34 immediately following the account of the
miracle of
Jesus healing two blind men. A man who was demon-possessed and
could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the devil was cast
out, the man who had been mute spoke.
There are also brief mentions of other exorcisms, e.g.:
Resurrection
of the dead
All four
Canonical Gospels report
Jesus' own resurrection from the dead but the Gospels also relate
three other occasions on which Jesus calls a dead person back to life:
-
Daughter of Jairus.[Mk 5:21-43]
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 with the words
Talitha kum!
-
The Young Man from Nain.[Lk 7:11-17]
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.[Jn 11:1-44]
A close friend of Jesus who had been dead for four days is brought
back to life when Jesus commands him to get up.
Control over
nature
The Gospels include eight pre-resurrection accounts concerning Jesus'
power over nature:
-
Turning Water into Wine—at a wedding, when the host runs out of
wine, the host's servants fill vessels with water at Jesus' command,
then a sample is drawn out and taken to the master of the banquet
who pronounces the content of the vessels as the best wine of the
banquet.
- The
miracle of draught of fishes[Lk 5:1-11]
takes place early in Jesus's ministry and results in Saints
Peter,
James, son of Zebedee and
John joining Jesus as his Apostles.
- The
Feeding of the 5000 and of the 4000 men—Jesus,
praying to God and using only a few loaves of bread and several
fish, feeds thousands of men, along with an unspecified number of
women and children; there are even a number of baskets of leftovers
afterward.
-
Walking on water—Jesus walked on a lake to meet a boat.
-
Transfiguration of Jesus—Jesus climbed a mountain and was
changed so that his face glowed.[20]
-
Calming the storm - during a storm, the disciples woke Jesus,
and he rebuked the storm causing it to become calm. Jesus then
rebukes the disciples for lack of faith.
- Finding a
Coin in the fish's mouth is reported in Matthew 17:24-27.[21]
- The
Cursing of the Fig Tree—Jesus cursed a fig tree, and it
withered.
Post-resurrection miracles attributed to Jesus are also recorded in
the Gospels:
Setting
and Interpretations
Cultural
background
Miracles were widely believed in
around the time of Jesus. Gods and
demigods
such as
Heracles (better known by his Roman name,
Hercules),
Asclepius (a Greek physician who became a god) and
Isis of
Egypt all were thought to have healed the sick and overcome death (i.e.
have raised people from the dead).[22]
Some thought that mortal men, if sufficiently famous and virtuous, could
do likewise; there were myths about philosophers like
Pythagoras and
Empedocles calming storms at sea, chasing away pestilences, and
being greeted as gods,[23]
and similarly some Jews believed that
Elisha
the Prophet had cured lepers and restored the dead.[24]
The achievements of the 1st century
Apollonius of Tyana, though occurring after Jesus' life, were used
by a 3rd-century opponent of the Christians used him to argue that
Christ was neither original nor divine (Eusebius
of Caesaria argued against the charge).[25]
The first
Gospels were written against this background of
Hellenistic and Jewish belief in miracles and other wondrous acts as
signs - the term is explicitly used in the
Gospel of John to describe Jesus' miracles - seen to be validating
the credentials of divine wise men.[26]
Traditional Christian interpretation
Christians in general believe that Jesus' miracles were actual
historical events and that his miraculous works were an important part
of his life, attesting to his divinity and the
Hypostatic union, i.e., the dual natures of Jesus as God and Man.[27]
Christians believe that while Jesus' experiences of hunger, weariness,
and death were evidences of his humanity, the miracles were evidences of
his divinity.[28][29][30]
Christian authors also view the miracles of Jesus not merely as acts
of power and omnipotence, but as works of love and mercy: they were
performed not with a view to awe men by the feeling of omnipotence, but
to show compassion for sinful and suffering humanity.[27][31]
And each miracle involves specific teachings.[32][33]
Since according to the
Gospel of John[20:30]
it was impossible to narrate all of the miracles performed by Jesus, the
Catholic Encyclopedia states that the miracles presented in the
Gospels were selected for a twofold reason: first for the manifestation
of God's glory, and then for their evidential value. Jesus referred to
his "works" as evidences of his mission and his divinity, and in
John 5:36 he declared that his miracles have greater evidential
value than the testimony of
John the Baptist.[27]
John 10:37-38 quotes Jesus as follows:[34]
"Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do
it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that
you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the
Father."
In Christian teachings, the miracles were as much a vehicle for
Jesus' message as were his words. Many of the miracles emphasize the
importance of faith, for instance in
Cleansing ten lepers,[Lk 17:19]
Jesus did not say: "My power has saved you" but said:[35][36]
"Rise and go; your faith has saved you."
Similarly, in the
Walking on Water miracle,
Apostle Peter learns an important lesson about faith in that as his
faith wavers, he begins to sink.[Mt 14:34-36]
[37]
Christian authors have discussed the miracles of Jesus at length and
assigned specific motives to each miracle, e.g., authors Pentecost and
Danilson suggest that the
Walking on Water miracle centered on the relationship of Jesus with
his apostles, rather than their peril or the miracle itself. And that
the miracle was specifically designed by Jesus to teach the apostles
that when encountering obstacles, they need to rely on their faith in
Christ, first and foremost.[38]
Authors Donahue and Harrington argue that the
Daughter of Jairus miracle teaches that faith as embodied in the
bleeding woman can exist in seemingly hopeless situations, and that
through belief, healing can be achieved, in that when the woman is
healed, Jesus tells her "Your faith has healed you".[39]
Liberal
Christianity
Liberal Christians place less emphasis on miraculous events
associated with the life of Jesus than on his teachings. The effort to
remove
superstitious elements from Christian faith dates to intellectual
reformist Christians such as
Erasmus and the
Deists in the 15th–17th centuries.[40]
In the 19th century, self-identified liberal Christians sought to
elevate Jesus'
humane
teachings as a standard for a world
civilization freed from
cultic traditions and traces of
pagan belief in the
supernatural.[41]
The debate over whether a belief in miracles was mere superstition or
essential to accepting the
divinity of Christ constituted a crisis within the 19th-century
church, for which theological compromises were sought.[42]
Attempts to account for miracles through scientific or rational
explanation were mocked even at the turn of the 19th–20th century.[43]
A belief in the authenticity of miracles was one of five tests
established in 1910 by the
Presbyterian Church to distinguish true
believers
from false
professors of faith such as "educated, 'liberal' Christians."[44]
Contemporary liberal Christians may prefer to read Jesus' miracles as
metaphorical narratives for understanding the power of God.[45]
Not all theologians with liberal inclinations reject the possibility of
miracles, but may reject the
polemicism that denial or affirmation entails.[46]
Other views
According to the
Jesus Seminar Jesus probably cured some sick people,[47]
but described Jesus' healings in modern terms, relating them to
"psychosomatic maladies." They found six of the nineteen healings to be
"probably reliable".[48]
Most participants in the Jesus Seminar believe Jesus practiced
exorcisms, as Josephus, Philostratus, and others wrote about other
contemporary exorcists, but do not believe the gospel accounts were
accurate reports of specific events or that demons exist.[49]
They did not find any of the nature miracles to be historical events.[48]
Harmony of miracles in the four Gospels
Over the centuries Christian authors have reviewed, discussed and
analyzed the miracles attributed to Jesus in the Gospels. In most cases,
authors associate each miracle with specific teachings that reflect the
message of Jesus.[50]
Miracles performed by Jesus are mentioned in two sections of the Quran
(suras 3:49 and 5:110) in broad strokes with little detail or comment.[51]
The exact number of miracles depends on how miracles are counted,
e.g., in the
Daughter of Jairus miracle a woman is cured and a child is
resurrected, but the two events are narrated within the same paragraphs
of the Gospels, and are usually dealt with together, and the fact that
the child was 12 years old and the woman had been ill for 12 years has
been the subject of various interpretations.
It is not always clear when two reported miracles refer to the same
event. For example, in the
Healing the Centurion's servant, the Gospels of Matthew[8:5-13]
and Luke[7:1-10]
narrate how Jesus healed the servant of a Roman
Centurion in
Capernaum at a distance. The
Gospel of John[4:46-54]
has a similar account at Capernaum, but states that it was the son of a
royal official who was cured at a distance.
Supernatural events such as the
Annunciation reported in the Gospels prior to the start of the
ministry of Jesus, and events following
his Resurrection are generally not included in the list of miracles
by Jesus, and neither is the use of "supernatural knowledge" such as in
the case of the
Woman at the well.[52][53][54]
It should be noted that the
Gospel of John[20:30]
specifically states that the miracles it recorded were but a portion of
the miracles that Jesus actually performed.
A sample
Gospel harmony for the miracles based on the
list of key episodes in the Canonical Gospels is presented in the
table below. For the sake of consistency, this table is automatically
sub-selected from the main harmony table in the
Gospel harmony article, based on the
list of key episodes in the Canonical Gospels.
List of miracles found outside the New Testament
Accounts of Jesus performing miracles are also found outside the New
Testament. Later, 2nd century texts, called
Infancy Gospels, narrate Jesus performing miracles during his
childhood.
| Miracle |
Sources |
| Rich young man raised from the dead |
Secret Gospel of Mark 1 |
| Water controlled and purified |
Infancy Thomas 2.2 |
| Made birds of clay and brought them to life |
Infancy Thomas 2.3 |
| Resurrected dead playmate Zeno |
Infancy Thomas 9 |
| Healed a woodcutter's foot |
Infancy Thomas 10 |
| Held water in his cloak |
Infancy Thomas 11 |
| Harvested 100 bushels of wheat from a single seed |
Infancy Thomas 12 |
| Stretched a board that was short for carpentry |
Infancy Thomas 13 |
| Resurrected a teacher he earlier struck down |
Infancy Thomas 14-15 |
| Healed James' viper bite |
Infancy Thomas 16 |
| Resurrected a dead child |
Infancy Thomas 17 |
| Resurrected a dead man |
Infancy Thomas 18 |
| Miraculous Virgin Birth verified by midwife |
Infancy James 19-20 |
Gallery of
miracles
Cures
Exorcisms
Resurrection of the dead
Control over
nature
See also