Describe how Jesus was presented as a worker of Miracles, giving examples from Lukes Gospel.

Jesus did not raise many people from the dead but those he did do it to some people. In Jairus’s daughter (Luke 8:49-56), Jesus raises her from the dead. Jairus through himself down at Jesus’ feet and begged him to go to his house for his daughter was dying. During the journey a messenger came and announced that unfortunately Jairus’ daughter was dead. Jesus says to Jairus ‘don’t be afraid; only believe and she will live.’ Jesus goes into the room and many are crying but Jesus says ‘Don’t cry for she isn’t dead but sleeping.’ Everyone knew this wasn’t true but Jesus said ‘Get up child!’ and the girls lie returned at once and she got up. Jesus in this story knew that Jairus had true faith as he had come to him to ask for help and so when it was announced that she was dead Jesus shows that he can help all and bring back to life. Back then this miracle would have been just as astounding as it seems today, the fact that Jesus then and there was able to bring a young girl back to life would have stunned everyone. Christians today all though not anyone will be brought back to life but this passage can teach Christians to show faith and those closest to you can be helped by God because it was the father of the young girl who came to Jesus for help.

 Jesus helped those who were outcasts because they had been taken over by the devil, when Jesus casts out the devil like in ‘The man with demons at Gadara’ (Luke 8:27-35) it shows us that Gods love reaches out to everyone, including those who have been taken over by the devil. All though the man at Gadara has lost his faith because he has been taken over by the devil Jesus uses his strong faith to cure and cast out the demons in the man. At Jesus’ time many people were outcasts because people believed they had been taken over by the devil. Outcasts were different from everyone else and no one wanted to know them. Jesus helped them and welcomed them, this was new for people and they would have been shocked the way he was acting. It also showed others of that time he had power over the devil because it knew he was the son of God. Christians today can learn from this that God helps anyone whether outcasts from society or not and this can also be a lesson about prejudices and how treating someone differently is not right because God treats us all the same and loves us equally then so should we.

God showed his presence on earth through Jesus by taking control of nature. God can have power over all things. In ‘Jesus calms the storm’ (Luke 8:22-25) Jesus was out in a boat with his disciples and Jesus fell asleep. Meanwhile a storm began and they were in great danger as the boat got swamped. The disciples woke Jesus and they were worried and thought they were going to drown but Jesus got up and rebuked the winds and rain and suddenly the storm ceased and everything was calm. ‘Where is your faith?’ he asked. The winds on lakes are unpredictable and the disciples are worried but Jesus can use Gods power to save by making the storm subside. This would have made people see that Jesus not only was able to have power over other humans and had cures but he also had the power to change nature. The significance this miracle has for Christians today is that it shows us that we must have faith that God can save us from anything not just illness and disease but natural disasters too.

As a result of all of these miracles many people would start to ask questions and therefore the works of Jesus would have become much more popular. When people got proof they would have come to Jesus and asked for his help. Jesus as a miracle maker would only have chosen to help those who had true faith. Therefore faith played an important role in all these miracles and most of the other miracles talked about in Luke’s gospel. In each of the stories I believe that the miracles would not have taken place if the people witnessing them had not had faith in God. In these miracle stories it shows that Jesus as a miracle worker helped many especially those who were rejected by society such as; outcasts, woman, tax collectors and many others. Also it shows that God can overcome death and is able to control nature and he can pass this onto Jesus to be able to perform such miracles and make the impossible, possible.

From Luke’s Gospel it is clear that Jesus is presented as a worker of miracles because many of the miracles that Jesus performs are written about in Luke’s Gospel. He writes about each type of miracle and how faith is able to determine a miracle. Faith plays a very strong part in all of Jesus’ miracles and Luke writes about over 20 of them. Luke would not have written about so many of these miracles if he did not believe they were important in the ministry and life of Jesus. Jesus uses Gods power to save and heal on earth. This proves that he is God’s son and therefore it is very important. I believe Jesus is a worker of miracles because so many stories and tales are known around the world about the things Jesus did and many of those stories that were passed on from generation to generation were the miracles of Jesus.