During His time on Earth Jesus preformed a number of miracles, sometimes called signs. These miracles were recorded in the Gospel accounts written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Intended to teach us about the power of God they were also intended to show us who Jesus really is. The miracles reveal God, Jesus, has the power to alter the rules of science, physics, nature and life and death. Jesus turned water into wine, calmed a raging storm, healed all types of sickness and even raised people from the dead. Each of these miracles show us who Jesus is, His power, and in many cases, a great deal more.
Nearly all of us are familiar with most of these miracles. Between the four gospel accounts we are given thirty-seven miracles Jesus preformed during His earthly ministry. There are additional miracles in the New Testament which we will not look at here. These include the virgin birth of Jesus, His resurrection from the dead, and His ascension into heaven. While these are certainly miraculous in nature and did involve Jesus, I consider them to be in a slightly different category.
Some people see the different miracles recorded in the Gospels as a possible contradiction. Why would the writers not record the same miracles in each of the Gospels? This is not a contradiction and the differences should in fact be expected. Each Gospel writer had a wide variety of miracles to choose from for inclusion in their writings. This could be compared to a person who compiles a sports highlight film. If they are to select the greatest plays from a weekend of professional football, there would be more than a dozen games with perhaps thousands of plays to consider. Some of the truly remarkable plays may be included in all of the different highlight reels. Others will depend on the personal taste and opinion of the person compiling the highlights. With so many plays, miracles, to choose from, we should not expect the same highlights in each of the Gospels.
We must remember the gospel writers did not include all of the miracles Jesus preformed. In the gospel of Matthew (9:35-36) he tells us Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching and healing every disease and sickness. Saint John also tells us he left out a great deal of what Jesus did during His brief time on Earth.
“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” John 21:25
Enough of His miracles were recorded to show us His power and authority here on earth. In this text we will look at each of the thirty-seven miracles the Gospels did record. These miracles are presented in what most agree to be the chronological order in which they were performed. Each entry lists the order in which the miracle was performed, where it was performed, and where it is recorded in the Bible.
Of the thirty-seven miracles, nineteen of them are recorded in only one of the Gospel accounts. Seven are recorded by two of the Gospels writers while ten are recorded in three of the four Gospels. Only a single miracle, The Feeding of the Five Thousand, is recorded in all four Gospel’s.
Of the four Gospel writers, Matthew and Mark recorded the most with twenty miracles being contained in each of their Gospels. Mark recorded one less with a total of nineteen miracles. John recorded far fewer miracles in his Gospel account, writing of only eight miracles of Jesus. Each of the authors were writing to a different first century audience and each chose to record different teachings and actions of Jesus to present to their audience. An example of this are the Parables of Jesus. Luke recorded a total of twenty-eight parables in his Gospel while Matthew recorded five fewer with twenty-three. Mark recorded even fewer of the parables, including only nine in his Gospel. John did not include any of the Parables in his Gospel.
Parable – a story, normally very simple in nature, used to convey a spiritual or moral lesson or truth.
The variety of the miracles recorded gives us a vivid picture of what Jesus was capable of doing. These miracles can also offer us a valuable insight into what Jesus was attempting to convey in His teachings. Jesus did more than preach, He was a man of action, of great miracles, and He conducted some of His greatest lessons through these amazing acts.
This post is taken from my work "New Testament Miracles"
