How important are the miracles for understanding Jesus’ ministry?
The miracles of Jesus create a large portion of all four of the Gospels. They not only include demonstrate the miracles themselves, but the crowd’s reaction to Jesus, and controversial moments in Jesus 's ministry, such as opposition from the Pharisees, and other authorities. It is during the miracles that we see hostility towards Jesus 's claims about himself, for example it is suggested that his authority derived from Satan. The miracles also show us a large portion of Jesus 's teaching and general beliefs. Although in the first century, it was generally accepted that miracles did in fact take place as reported within the Gospels, since the enlightenment debate about the nature …show more content…
Many of the miracles in the Gospels carry teachings of faith, and a lesson to be learnt. When Jesus is spoken of as a teacher, it is often ignored that a substantial amount of his teaching, especially on the importance of faith, is shown through his miracles, and not merely just in the parables and sayings. During one of the most famous miracles of the Gospels, Jesus walking on water, it is stated that Peter, ‘got out of the boat, started walking on the water and came towards Jesus.’ However, ‘when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened’, and falls into the water. Jesus says ‘you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ (Mark 14:29 – 31). Here it is implied that it is faith that allows him to walk on the water alongside Jesus, and that when he loses the total faith in God and Jesus, he loses this ability. Edo not know if this event occurred, and attempts rationalise it may end up sounding somewhat ridiculous. Nevertheless, the miracle clearly has a message of faith that was central to Jesus’ ministry that is demonstrated practically through the …show more content…
They give us insight into who he was, and the reactions others had to his ministry, positive and negative. It is possible that the miracles may be a sort of ‘poetic fantasy’ (Theissen and Merz, 1997, 295). For example, Jesus did sail on the Sea of Galilee with his disciples. Therefore, miracles such as walking on water and calming the storm may be an extension of real events, aiming to show important aspects of Jesus teaching and faith in Jesus. In addition, if one is to assume that the miracles did happen as they are written in the Gospels, the miracles could arguably point to Jesus’ Messianic nature, or at least his importance over other miracle workers. Ultimately the miracles do play an important role in the understanding of Jesus ministry, as removing the miracles eliminates not only the miraculous elements themselves, elements of his teaching, and our ability to understand how Jesus was such a controversial figure during his
The miracles of Jesus create a large portion of all four of the Gospels. They not only include demonstrate the miracles themselves, but the crowd’s reaction to Jesus, and controversial moments in Jesus 's ministry, such as opposition from the Pharisees, and other authorities. It is during the miracles that we see hostility towards Jesus 's claims about himself, for example it is suggested that his authority derived from Satan. The miracles also show us a large portion of Jesus 's teaching and general beliefs. Although in the first century, it was generally accepted that miracles did in fact take place as reported within the Gospels, since the enlightenment debate about the nature …show more content…
Many of the miracles in the Gospels carry teachings of faith, and a lesson to be learnt. When Jesus is spoken of as a teacher, it is often ignored that a substantial amount of his teaching, especially on the importance of faith, is shown through his miracles, and not merely just in the parables and sayings. During one of the most famous miracles of the Gospels, Jesus walking on water, it is stated that Peter, ‘got out of the boat, started walking on the water and came towards Jesus.’ However, ‘when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened’, and falls into the water. Jesus says ‘you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ (Mark 14:29 – 31). Here it is implied that it is faith that allows him to walk on the water alongside Jesus, and that when he loses the total faith in God and Jesus, he loses this ability. Edo not know if this event occurred, and attempts rationalise it may end up sounding somewhat ridiculous. Nevertheless, the miracle clearly has a message of faith that was central to Jesus’ ministry that is demonstrated practically through the …show more content…
They give us insight into who he was, and the reactions others had to his ministry, positive and negative. It is possible that the miracles may be a sort of ‘poetic fantasy’ (Theissen and Merz, 1997, 295). For example, Jesus did sail on the Sea of Galilee with his disciples. Therefore, miracles such as walking on water and calming the storm may be an extension of real events, aiming to show important aspects of Jesus teaching and faith in Jesus. In addition, if one is to assume that the miracles did happen as they are written in the Gospels, the miracles could arguably point to Jesus’ Messianic nature, or at least his importance over other miracle workers. Ultimately the miracles do play an important role in the understanding of Jesus ministry, as removing the miracles eliminates not only the miraculous elements themselves, elements of his teaching, and our ability to understand how Jesus was such a controversial figure during his