The Miracles of Jesus Through Understanding the Context of the Narrative - Research Paper Example

The Eight Miracle Signs that Jesus is the Messiah Table of Contents Introduction 3 The Eight Miracles 3 Conclusion 8 Bibliography 8 The Eight Miracle Signs that Jesus is the Messiah Introduction The miracles of Jesus are wondrous and amazing, making great stories of the Son of God. However, in reading these miracles, a stronger and more important set of meanings can be delivered from the text. The way in which they represent the Messiah can be seen and understood as the reader begins to put them into context with the narrative. The stories become something more than stories. The miracles of Jesus create a representation of his state as the Messiah and close reading with the stories of the miracles, along with an understanding of the past and the future allow the reader to see the miracles than more than just wondrous events. The Eight Miracles During his lifetime Jesus performed a long series of miracles that helped to give credibility to his ministry. In addition, these miracles gave beauty and compassion to the historic value of the nature of his love. His miracles can be broken down into six periods and the stories of those miracles provide different meanings to the context in which they are told. The first period is a “preparatory period” between his baptism until he calls his disciples to him.1 Four miracles occurred during this time that as it is reported in the histories. He then continued forward to perform sixteen miracles in the first portion of his ministry, eight in the second, six in the third, and four in the last days before his death. After his resurrection he performed one miracle. The total number of miracles reported as having been done by Jesus is 34.2 There can be identified eight miracles that are considered to be sign miracles. Leeler, Grimbly, and Wiggins define seven sign miracles that suggest that Jesus is the son of God. These ‘signs’ are intended to signal his arrival and to be taken as reflective of the nature of worship that would be used towards Jesus as the son of God. As well they define him as deified. The first sign, according to Leeler, Grumbly, and Wiggins, is the most important sign as it is the first to signal that he was more than a prophet or a man. The first sign miracle identified is that of the miracle at the wedding feast in Cana where Jesus turned the water into wine.3 The importance of these signs, such as turning the water into wine, is that they are visible and do not leave an abstracted idea of the nature of Jesus. They clearly proclaim that he is divine.4 In turning the water into wine, the act provided for “symbolic actions (that) were valuable for his purpose because they were able to integrate several levels of meaning into a coherent whole”.5 Jesus showed himself through compassionate and real life applications of his miracles. The sign of the wine is also connected to prophesy concerning the messiah. According to Koestner, the use of wine was symbolic of the expectation that there would be an “outpouring of divine favor upon Israel”, the quote from reflections that suggested that “the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it’ and sometimes connecting abundant wine with the restoration of Davidic rule (Amos 9:11, 13; Joel 3:18; Isa 25:6)”.6 That the messiah was from the line of Davis was an important proof of his deity, however reinforcing that deification through associating his miracles with wine provided for symbolic proof, as well the proof of his lineage. Because of the well known, but sometimes vague nature of prophesy, creating symbolic proofs was as important as creating blatant proofs. Short of crying out this claim, the miracle of creating wine from water was a sign to those who had studied the prophesies that Jesus was the Messiah that Israel had been waiting to arrive. The second sign miracle can be considered as the act of healing the royal official’s son. According to Gross who paraphrases John 4: 46-54, Jesus says to the official that “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe”.7 Jesus did nothing spectacular, nor made an event of this healing. He did not go to see the boy, nor did he lay his hands on him. He simply said that he was healed, and the official found at the very hour that Jesus made this claim, his son had awakened healed.8 This sign shows great power as it was accomplished with seemingly effortless will by Jesus. He simply stated that the healing was done, and it was accomplished. He created the act through a desire to show others his power, but did not make it an ostentatious act. In giving into human need for proof, Jesus acknowledges that his divine nature would require proof for the present and the future. In the third sign miracle, Jesus heals a paralytic man and it is the first time that he suggests that he has the authority to forgive sins. In the book of Mark the point is made that he has this power, and in taking this power he suggests that he has the power of the divine. The miracles of the book of Mark demand that faith be a part of the process, and it is through faith that these feats are accomplished.9 The sign that is given here is one of authority, as Jesus performs a miracle, takes on the right to forgive sin, and also commands the man to pick up his mat, something that he would not be able to do on the Sabbath. Jewish men and women do not carry things on the Sabbath, as it does not suggest rest when one is carrying something. Therefore, Jesus has given him a command that will place the man in conflict with the laws of the Sabbath, which sets up the conflict that Jesus has with the Jewish leadership.10 When Jesus fed 5000 with five loaves of bread and two fishes, it was important enough to make it into all four gospels. This act impressed upon a large crowd the power that he held, thus further impressing upon them his divinity. This miracle was powerful and far reaching, making it one of the more often repeated stories of the life of Jesus. This incident, in both Mark and Mathew, appears after the description of the death of John the Baptist, creating a contrast between the horrors of Herod and the love of Jesus.11 When Jesus walked on water, he performed another miracle that the disciples found to be both amazing and reassuring. He walked on the water to calm its wake, to take away the fears of his disciples as they feared death. After they got into the boat, Jesus went to sleep. Without his awakened self, the disciples were afraid. They said to him “Lord save us! We’re going to drown!” (Mathew 8:25).12 They are emphatic that they are in danger, but what Jesus does is calm the danger, thus suggesting that in Him can be found safety. The nature of this miracle was to show that he has the power to remedy all dangers, and through faith in him fear is not needed.13 Walking on water was a sign that he could defy nature and has become a colloquialism for defying what seems impossible. The metaphor that was created through healing the blind man has also become a strong, modern metaphor. ‘Once I was blind, but now I can see’ is a line that comes up in song as well as in philosophy. When Jesus healed the blindness of the man, he gave a sign that through Him will come an understanding of what was not understood before His time. This becomes a metaphor for the nature of his ministry, that He will unveil what was previously veiled, just like the veil would be torn from between the people and their God. According to Anderson and Moore, the idea of studying the Bible and its history must be related to the time period in which it was written in order find context. Understanding the rhetoric is essential to understanding the meanings behind the inclusion of the story. In order to understand the rhetoric of the Bible, the placement of the story as well as the message of the story must be considered.14 When Lazarus was raised from the dead, this convinced many religious men that Jesus was the Messiah and should be followed.15 The miracle that is left out by Keeler, Grimbly, and Wiggins is the incident where Jesus clears out the money lenders from the temple. When Jesus drove the money lenders out of the temple, he was fulfilling prophesy that had been seen in Malachai that the Messiah would come to the temple and “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty” (Malachai 3:1). When Jesus comes into the Temple and makes his feelings known, he is asserting his authority once again over those within the temple. While not a specific miracle, the event is a miraculous sign fulfilling prophesy. Conclusion The miracles of Jesus are defined by their meaning as much as their result. In understanding the miracles that are signs, it is clearly established that Jesus was the Messiah and that his works prove him to be so. When he made water into wine, the story does not end at the event, but extends into the historical record of what was expected of a Messiah. When he walked on water and allowed the blind man to see, he metaphorically mandated his followers to live without fear, their eyes wide open to the world. Through understanding the context of the narrative, the reader of these stories can see that they are more than just the relatable tales of miracles. They express about Jesus the ways in which he wanted his followers to follow and the reason that He was the one that they should follow. Bibliography Anderson, Janice Capel, and Stephen D. Moore. Mark & Method: New Approaches in Biblical Studies. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992. Barton, Bruce B. Life Application New Testament Commentary. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001. Gross, Francis L. The Gospels with Salt: Jesus Wildman--Jesus Woman : Meditations on the Gospels. Lanham, MD: Hamilton Books, 2005. Keeler, Helen, Susan Grimbly, and James B. Wiggins. 101 Things Everyone Should Know About Catholicism. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2005. Keene, Michael. St Marks Gospel and the Christian Faith. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes, 2002. Kistemaker,Simon. The miracles: exploring the mystery of Jesus’ divine works. Grand Rapid, MI: Baker Books, 2006. Koester, Craig R. Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel: Meaning, Mystery, Community. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003. Loos, Dr. H. Van Der. The Miracles of Jesus. Brill. Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research, 1965. Read More