Whether Jesus Performed the Miracles as Proposed in the Bible - Essay Example

The Miracles of Christ Introduction: This paper deals with the authenti of miracles and whether Jesus performed the miracles as proposed in the Bible. One of the greatest miracles performed by Jesus as proposed in the Bible is the miracle of what Jesus could see as going on in the hearts of people as Jesus could understand the deep and innermost thoughts of a person. This discussion draws out the meaning of the chronicles and the miracles in the gospels focusing on the interpretation and commentaries suggesting the true nature of such events. The Miracles: Chronicles 28:9 claims: The Lord sees every heart and understands and knows every plan and thought. (Companion to Gospels, 2006) All thoughts of individuals are seen by God and as such Jesus also saw the hearts of four faithful men and into the hearts of a paralytic man and the hearts of Pharisees. The paralytic man was healed by Jesus not because of his faith but because of the faith of his friends. So, when Jesus saw the faith of his friends, he forgave the sins of the paralytic man. This brings out the strength of faith in the bible and when there is faith there has to be fruits for the right action as seen through the miracles of Jesus. Could this be called Jesus' miracle Was Jesus focused on healing a person who was crippled and paralytic and forgiving his sins so that he could walk normally again The focus was on the spiritual condition of the person and most of Jesus' miracles seem to be based on an understanding the spiritual conditions of individuals and then performing the miracles. (Bible, 1989) Some of the Miracles of Christ are given in an order below The Miracles Of Jesus In The Bible Where Found In The Bible Water Turned to Wine John 2:1 Many Healings Matt 4:23 Mark 1:32 Healing of a Leper Matt 8:1 Mark 1:40 Luke 5:12 Healing of a Roman Centurion's Servant Matt 8:5 Luke 7:1 Healing of Peter's Mother-in-law Matt 8:14 Mark 1:29 Luke 4:38 Calming of the Storm at Sea Matt 8:23 Mark 4:35 Luke 8:22 Healing of the Wild Men of Gadara Matt 8:28 Mark 5:1 Luke 8:26 Healing of the Lame Man Matt 9:1 Mark 2:1 Luke 5:18 Healing of a Woman with a Hemorrhage Matt 9:20 Mark 5:25 Luke 8:43 Raising of Jairus' Daughter from the Dead Matt 9:23 Mark 5:22 Luke 8:41 Healing of Two Blind Men Matt 9:27 Healing of a Demon-possessed Man Matt 9:32 Healing of Man with a Withered Hand Matt 12:10 Mark 3:1 Luke 6:6 Feeding of over 5,000 People Matt 14:15 Mark 6:35 Luke 9:12 John 6:1 Walking on the Sea of Galilee Matt 14:22 Mark 6:47 John 6:16 Healing of the Syropheonician's Daughter Matt 15:21 Mark 7:24 Feeding of over 4,000 People Matt 15:32 Mark 8:1 Healing of an Epileptic Boy Matt 17:14 Mark 9:14 Luke 9:37 Healing of Two Blind Men at Jericho Matt 20:30 Healing of a Man with an Unclean Spirit Mark 1:23 Luke 4:33 Healing of a Deaf, Speechless Man Mark 7:31 Healing of a Blind Man at Bethesda Mark 8:22 Healing of Blind Bartimaeus Mark 10:46 Luke 18:35 A Miraculous Catch of Fish Luke 5:4 John 21:1 Raising of a Widow's Son from the Dead Luke 7:11 Healing of a Stooped Woman Luke 13:11 Healing of a Man with the Dropsy Luke 14:1 Healing of Ten Lepers Luke 17:11 Healing of Malchus' Ear Luke 22:50 Healing of a Royal Official's Son John 4:46 Healing of a Lame Man at Bethesda John 5:1 Healing of a Blind Man John 9:1 Raising of Lazarus from the Dead John 11:38 Source: Holman Book of Biblical Charts, Maps, and Reconstructions Analyzing the miracles performed by Christ, we see that there is no emphasis on blind faith and the emphasis is on spiritual or divine acts with healing being considered one of the greatest miracles of Christ. Seeing through the hearts and intentions of people could be considered as intuitive but any very highly developed sense of intuition would be close to performing miracles and that is what is evident in this case. Supernatural knowledge as shown by Jesus could be classed as miracles although according to many critics, the events of miracles are allegories and not actual events. The miracles may not be authentic miracles per se but simply symbolic to show the power of good over evil. Thus these would be biblical lessons to show Jesus' influence on the people from all walks of life and some have also tried to provide scientific explanations for these miracles suggesting that Jesus actually had rational rather than supernatural knowledge of things. Although the subject of miracles remains controversial, it is one of the major elements of the bible and reiterates Jesus' supernatural power and control over nature and all other humans. How authentic could these miracles be considering our increased understanding of science in the modern times The resurrection stands as the most important miracle in the Bible and the resurrection faith of Paul and the Gospels is explained with Christ's body seen as a temple and destruction of Christ is destruction of faith and the resurrection represents a new body (Soskice, 1998), not a corporeal body but a temple in which men and women can dwell eternally. Through resurrection, Christ has become eternal so it is a symbolic representation in the bible rather than a miracle. is seen not just as one who performed miracles but rather the miracles were effective because he led a morally perfect life. According to Swinburne (2003) Jesus not only had a morally perfect life but also practised teaching and healing through miracles and taught the importance of supererogatory love, prayer and repentance using judgment to separate the good and evil. Jesus' life may have had some controversies although his personal powers have gone beyond any judgment. The miracles in the Bible represent Jesus' personal power and influence on the masses and can be highly symbolic or representational instead of being actual occurrences. However two main miracles are seen in the four Gospels, Christ's Resurrection (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20), and the feeding of thousands through multiplication of bread found in Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:1-14. The Gospel of John brings forth the seven signs of Jesus as son of God as he turns water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana (2:1-12); feeds five thousand by multiplying loaves(6:1-14);heals a paralytic on the sabbath in Bethesda (5:1-47); heals an official's son in Capernaum (4:43-54); walks on water (6:16-21); gives vision to a man who was born blind (9:1-41); and proves himself through the resurrection of Lazarus (11:1-57). The Gospel of John shows three appearances of Christ to his disciples after his Resurrection. Conclusion Considering the widespread acceptability of the miracles among Christians, although not proven scientifically, certain modern experiences of mankind could be considered as inexplicable and miraculous as well and in this regard some credibility to miracles could be even as also to Jesus' supernatural power. The focus would however be on extracting the symbolic rather than the supernatural from these miracles to judge or weigh their authenticity. Bibliography The Cambridge companion to the Gospels /edited by Stephen C. Barton Publisher/year Cambridge :Cambridge University Press,2006. (Cambridge companions to religion) The Holy Bible: King James Version (Paperback) Thomas Nelson (June 1989) Polkinghorne, John C. The Credibility of the Miraculous Zygon, Volume 37,Number 3, September 2002 , pp. 751-758(8) Soskice, Janet Martin Resurrection and the New Jerusalem The Resurrection, September 1998 , pp. 41-59(19) Swinburne, Richard The Life and Moral Teaching of Jesus The Resurrection of God Incarnate, January 2003 , pp. 83-98(16) Websites: http://www.lifeofchrist.com/life/miracles.html http://www.jesuschristsavior.net/Miracles.html http://www.biblepath.com/christ_jesus/miracles.html Read More