Did Jesus Perform Miracles?
We have finally arrived at the beginning: did Jesus really perform miracles? Many things are said and attributed to Jesus: a “good” man, a good “teacher”, a “holy man”, and many other positive attributes. Some other things that people say and may believe about Jesus are hippie, revolutionary, communist, homosexual, rebel, zealot, polygamist, and so many others.
However, very few people venture out to make a bold proclamation as to the truly performed miracles and, when they do opine, they are well content at stopping their reasoning short of having to give proof as to why they don’t believe in the miracles of Jesus.
Why do people refute miracles?
You see, most people are okay with the washed-down, washed-out, beatitude-preaching, cheek-turning version of Jesus: he makes for a good “moral” example. But to fathom a supernatural miracle-working, Jesus, as the follow-up to the beatitude-preaching Jesus forces people to have to conceive a greater, larger, context with which they are emotionally, ethically, and morally unwilling to square up.
The quaint parable teller Jesus that loved everyone is one thing, the Divine Jesus that filled jugs with wine, baskets with food and paid taxes from the mouth a fish is totally a different animal.
In the end, it has been my experience that people don’t refute the miracles of Jesus on a scientific basis. Ironically, the same self-acknowledging “logical” thinkers that would doubt the miracles are the same people that believe the universe was created from the big bang out of the void and without a greater intellect. In this case, one fairy tale is worth another. No, people refute the miracles of Jesus on a personal level.
Even the Pharisees, the religious people of Jesus’ time were insulted, personally and morally, by His miracles because of what it said about them. For Jesus to be the Messiah, as His miracles clearly showed to even the dullest bulb in the Rabbinic schools, meant that they had missed it: they had misread it, mistaught it and, worse of all, misled it and misapplied it. They would sooner see Him hang on a tree than examine themselves.
Read: God of Heaven
Questioning Jesus’ Miracles
The Jews, as we have said earlier, didn’t deny His miracles, they simply said that He was a worker of evil: a statement they knew very well, according to Scripture, was false from the moment they thought it. No, they never denied the miracles, they simply kept questioning Him on His practice: “is it lawful….” they kept asking.
Two thousand years of history have been added since the days when Jesus walked the earth and, unfortunately, very little has changed in the hearts of men. For the believers among us, still, no sign is necessary. For both the religious and the skeptics among us a sign is necessary but none will do: perhaps rising from the dead…again?
The day is coming, and coming soon, when that sign will be given again and every question will be answered and, simultaneously found inconsequential. God gave us a mind to ponder and learn and, most importantly, to be in awe of His handy-work. It’s true that in some circles being a “skeptic” is akin to being known as a “free thinker”, a philosopher of sorts, someone with deep-held questions and few strong beliefs; someone with, as the term goes, an “opposable mind”.
But when the dinner party is over and the high-brow agnosticism has served its purpose and everyone goes home to their own beds and cries themselves to sleep, I say to you friend, try Jesus. You’ve tried everything else: no medicine cures it, no drug numbs it, no experience drowns it and no relationship quenches it.
Jesus, in His Love and Wisdom, has left a void in your heart, in your life, in your mind, in your soul that nothing else in Creation can satisfy. Skepticism may get you the applause of men but faith in Jesus Christ as your Saviour will get you the Peace of God. If you consider yourself, truly, a free thinker, choose wisely and you will finally see a miracle.
Bondservant to Jesus Christ, Married to Michele, Dad to Madelyn, Claudia, and Joseph and educator by trade, apologist by calling and saved by Grace. Antonio loves to read, write, and discuss all-things-apologetics. He has many passions in life including reaching, teaching, and keeping men for Jesus Christ. Waiting on God’s big reveal: Antonio knows He has something beautiful in mind.
