Miracles Of Jesus In The Gospels- Bible Study- 10

Narrated In 1 Gospel

Gospel Of Luke

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away. Then he asked them, “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?” And they had nothing to say. (Luke 14:1-6)

The confrontations with the rich, learned and powerful continued unabated in the 3 1/2 years of Jesus’ ministry. He was always watched carefully so that he might be caught in something that he said or something that he did. He spoke wisely so they could never catch him in his words. Finally they resorted to false testimony. But he knew that no one could do anything to him before it was his time so he continued his work with zeal and unmatched success.

Here was another occasion where the religious rulers, the experts in the law were eagerly waiting to accuse. Instead the tables were turned on them by his words and deeds. Whether the man suffering from dropsy was bait laid before him we wouldn’t know for sure but Jesus was up to the challenge anyway.

Here again we do not see Jesus looking for faith (for healing) in the sick man.  He had dealt similarly with the woman bound by a spirit of infirmity for 18 years. He was here to prove a point; that God is compassion and love personified and one who cares for the afflicted, performing beyond the boundaries of laws and regulation which he has set.

He had been healing many on the Sabbath and again he chose a Sabbath here to heal this man. He posed a question before his critics: “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” Strangely the Pharisees and experts in the law present there did not choose to argue or debate; perhaps knowing that it was an exercise in futility, because he was going to heal anyway.

The man in question here was suffering from Dropsy. Dropsy is an accumulation of watery fluid in the cellular tissues or in any of the cavities of the body, as the chest or abdomen, and may be due to disease of the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, or peritoneum. Whatever the cause, here was a man with generalized swelling; he must have been quite out of shape, but for Jesus, it was no major task. When someone is healed of a major debilitating illness or of a sickness which has no treatment, it is a MIRACLE to them and those who witness it, but for God it’s simple. He doesn’t have to work hard or put in extra effort. For him, it’s just “SAID & DONE”. So Jesus just took hold of the man, healed him and sent him away. All in a flash. He then faced his critics and asked, “”If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?”

There wouldn’t have been 2 answers to that question, so again everyone kept quiet. Jesus had proved to them again that God was good and intended to do good to those who suffered, be it the Sabbath or not. He thus silenced his critics time and again by his miraculous works.

Miracles Of Jesus In The Gospels- Bible Study- 6

Miracles Of Jesus In The Gospels- Bible Study- 6

Narrated In 1 Gospel

Gospel Of Luke

And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, `Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ “And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way. (Luke 4:23-30)

The miracle part in this passage comes only in the last verse where Luke writes that Jesus passed through the midst of the crowd and he went his way. Jesus got involved in what we call nowadays as “Mob Fury.” Well, the mob happened to be people who had come to worship God in the synagogue. That’s nothing new I guess. Jesus touched a few raw nerve endings by his telling them how hypocritical they were. This enraged the people in the synagogue and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.

How could he pass through their midst without them knowing? It was an impossible situation. Yet for him, everything was possible. Did he make himself invisible? Did he change his appearance by a divine miracle? Or did he move in their midst with lightning speed? We don’t know how he did it, but he managed to escape from their clutches, for his time had not yet come.

He did not resist the people who came to arrest him in the garden of Gethsemane, for he knew it was in the plan and will of God. He had to go through that to reach the cross and thus he did not resist. If he wanted he could have asked his Father for help and it would have been available to him in the twinkling of an eye. As he himself said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53). But he did not ask for help, knowing that it was his Father’s will for him to undergo the insult and sufferings that followed.

Here, in the passage above, Satan was trying to nip Jesus’ ministry in the bud and this he wouldn’t allow. The devil was trying hard to finish him off and that Jesus didn’t allow. He knew he had much more to do before dying on the cross for providing salvation to humankind. He always moved according to the Father’s plan. And so should we.

Miracles Of Jesus In The Gospels- A Bible Study- 4

Narrated In 1 Gospel

Gospel Of Mark

Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mark 7:31-37)

Traveling on foot, by boat and whatever transportation available in that era, Jesus was always where the heavenly Father wanted him to be. Interestingly, in this passage, we see that God does not and need not perform things according to how we would want it to be but chooses to do things his own perfect way. The results however would be as we would have desired.

People brought to Jesus, a man who was deaf and dumb and wanted him to place his hand on him and heal him. But Jesus chose to act differently. He did not place his hand on the man; instead he took him aside, away from the crowd. Why away from the crowd? Because he was going to do something unusual; things not many would have appreciated. Another thing we observe here is that Jesus was willing to do as the Father showed him because his desire was always to do his Father’s will and glorify him.

Jesus said,“The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.” (John 14:31)

Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears; not something that the ENT specialist would approve, then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. Then came the most important part of the whole miracle- The Command! Ephphatha, said Jesus, which meant “Be opened” and it was done!

The command of God has been effective since the 1^st chapter of the Bible where he said, “Let there be light and there was light.” No questions asked, no arguments entertained.

His command is perfect and so is the end result. Here the deaf and dumb man heard and spoke immediately. The Bible says, “his tongue was loosened”; something was binding his tongue, something physical or spiritual, but all the bondages were broken at the single command- Ephphatha.

As usual, to avoid unnecessary publicity to his ministry (unusual, when we see what many preachers do now) Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the effect was just the opposite. The more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.

People were amazed. They just couldn’t believe what they had witnessed. They concluded by proclaiming,” He has done everything well,” “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Miracles Of Jesus In The Gospels- A Bible Study- 3

Narrated In 1 Gospel

Gospel Of Mathew

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes–from their own sons or from others?” “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” (Matthew 17:24-27)

Peter, once a fisherman, now a catcher of men- in training, is asked by Jesus to do a task so unusual that his jaw must have dropped when he witnessed the miracle happening when he obeyed the master’s words. This was an unusual way to find money for paying the 2 drachma tax. Well, actually 4 drachmas, 2 for Jesus and 2 for Peter. The knowledge and experience that Peter had acquired by being a fisherman for long may have questioned the validity of his teacher’s proclamation of finding a 4 drachma coin in the mouth of a fish, but nevertheless he must have been obedient to his teacher.

Imagine Peter carrying the fishing line and a few live worms to get this task done. He must have been thrilled of going back to the waters to catch fish. Actually it was a habit he found hard to give up in the initial part of his ministry, for we read in the gospel of John that when Jesus died and was buried and then resurrected, the disciples decided to go fishing again. Perhaps they missed the constant presence of Jesus and were getting impatient, so they decided to go fishing.

Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. (John 21:2, 3)

Coming back to imagining Peter walking towards the lake, line in hand, humming a few praises to God. People seeing him must have commented, “Good old Peter, back to fishing, seems like old times.”Yet he was here on a different mission, known only to him and his master. There could have been a lot of “what if’s” going through the mind of Peter, yet he had reason to believe; he had seen enough miracles done by his master. And so he must have cast the line with confidence; confidence not in his prowess as a fisherman or the quality of the fishing line, but confidence in the words of his Lord and Master. That’s when the miracle must have happened, for we do not have verses which say that he found the 4 drachma coin in the fish’s mouth and paid the tax, but that is understood as far as those of us who believe in the mighty miracle working power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are concerned.