A paralyzed man was carried on his mattress by his friends as they tried to get him through the crowd to see Jesus, they weren’t able and so they removed some tiles from the roof of a house that Jesus had been present in, They lowered the man down on his mattress through the ceiling so that Jesus would heal him. The friends believed that Jesus was able to help and heal the paralytic and this faith is what made Jesus command the man to get up and take with him the mattress in which he lied; the man did as he was told. This miracle teaches a great deal about the ministry of Jesus. It shows that miracles are done with the power if faith whether the person being healed or a relative, in this case friend was the one baring faith. This also shows the power of the forgiveness of sins, for Jesus had forgiven the man of his sins before he was able to walk. “Miracles are the expression in action of Jesus’ teaching.” As conveniently stated by Tyler.
As Jesus was making his way to heal the daughter of a synagogue ruler, he had been in the midst of a crowd when he felt power being derived from a touch. Jesus asked who had touched him in order to be healed and with much courage a woman who had been suffering from long term bleeding and in consequence lost all her money while trying to find treatment, admitted to touching Jesus’ cloak in hopes of healing her illness. Jesus refers to her as “Daughter” the only person in the bible whom Jesus makes such a compassionate reference to. Jesus tells the woman not to speak of the healing because he did not want people to believe in his ‘magic’ but rather in himself. In this miracle we see how Jesus’ power of compassion heals those who need it. Jesus knew no ‘pure/impure’ boundaries, he touched those who were claimed unclean by society and healed them. The message of this miracle shows that no one is excluded from the kingdom of God. “Jesus did not want people to believe in him as a wonder worker but as a savior” – Marshall.
The miracles were not essential to Jesus’ ministry for reasons such as; people should not need proof, his ministry is based on faith, Jesus would have still been the messiah and son of God whether he performed miracles or not. The miracles did not teach anything new or different from what Jesus was already teaching.
However, the miracles were in other ways essential in the sense that Jesus needed to fulfill the prophecy of the messiah from Isaiah 61-“the blind will see” in order to do so, he had to help the blind see, heal the lame, and etc. Miracles helped show the divinity of Jesus, which served as indirect proof. Miracles were a part of Jesus, they showed his divinity and compassion, they were his way of teaching in action.
“Jesus gave indirect proof of his divinity by the healing miracles.” – Marshal
These miracles were in fact essential due to the fact Jesus chose to do them. This shows that they were a significant part of a divine scheme. The miracles were a central aspect to Jesus’ teaching and ministry. His entire existence was a miracle. Extendedly, if it weren’t for miracles, there would be no Christianity.
