John 6:28-32
Belief in and on the Evidence of Miracles
28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
30 So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"
32 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
John 14:11-12
11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
John 21:24-25
Jesus Did Other Miracles
24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
25 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 5:1-30
The Healing Power of Jesus
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him;not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
John 11:17-44
Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
As I read the Gospel According to John, I take away many things from this particular gospel...One intriguing thing is that John chooses to describe only seven signs or seven miracles that Jesus did as he wrote his gospel...Jesus did many more than seven...John said that his gospel is true and he testifies that these things are true, but Jesus did other things and signs that would fill up many, many books...In John's Gospel, I read about Jesus' authority...And much of His authority is explained through His miracles...When Jesus was comforting His disciples and He tells them that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, He tells us to believe in Him, or at last believe in the evidence of the miracles themselves, if and when we have a difficult time in believing in Him...
Jesus had this authority to do miracles...Jesus' Authority came from His Father, God...And two of the miracles above show His authority over different things, and shows us that He is Divine...I love this miracle because the disabled man at the Sheep Gate pool is by himself...He tells Jesus that he has no one to get him in the pool, when the water is stirred...Tradition had it, that an angel would stir the waters and the first one in the pool the stirred angel waters would be healed of any illness they might have...People believed they could be healed when the water was showing a stirring current...The lame man is alone at that time, and needs help just to get near and into the healing waters at Sheep Gate...I am sure there is a rush to get in the water, after it was stirred...The paralyzed man could not rush in, do to his condition...The man had been an invalid for thirty eight years...This paralyzed man had came here for years and no one would help him in the water -to be the first to be healed...
Jesus ask the paralyzed man, “Do you want to get well?”...This question makes one ask themselves, after we are ill for so long, do we get this strange comfort in our long-term illness, and maybe fear the change that will happen in the future...What might be in the future for one who is completely healed, in an instant of being paralyzed?...This man's life would certainly be different and very much changed after this...But I might think the man wanted to get well, but had no one to help him...The man, who was and felt alone, shows a desire and the faith to get well...And we know, Jesus' LOVE excludes no one...The man was always so close to the healing water...So close to getting healed...But someone would always be ahead of him into the stirred water...And though the paralyzed man does not know it, a Man that is above the angels is the One talking to him...And Jesus just says, “Get up!...Pick up your mat and walk.”...At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked...The man was healed immediately by Jesus' word...The people around the healed man, would now know there was something beside the stirred water that could miraculously heal them...Jesus has authority over healings and can miraculously heal...It is shown here...And Jesus had healed many others in the other Gospels, but John chooses to tell us about this one paralyzed man, to give us an idea of His authority...And though many sitting near the Sheep Gate have seen this great miracle, this miracle starts a conflict over Jesus, and this unusual authority He has, and exactly who He is (or the question Who is this Man?)...
Another powerful miracle, is the raising of Lazarus...Lazarus had died...Lazarus had died four days before Jesus arrived at his home, where his sisters Mary and Martha awaited for Him...Jesus comforts and reveals Himself to Mary...He tells Mary that He is the resurrection and the life...This miracle of Lazarus, shows us Jesus authority over death and life...He is the Light of this World that brings life...He can raise the dead...This is the seventh and last sign and miracle that John writes about...John foreshadows Jesus' own upcoming death...He too would die, and would resurrect...Lazarus' resurrection shows us of a resurrection to come...
Jesus had given the paralyzed man a new life...He had also given him eternal life with his faith in the One healing him...Jesus had also literally given Lazarus, a new life...And along with sisters Mary and Martha, Lazarus were on their way to eternal life...The most important historical fact in the history of mankind was now ready and going to happen...Jesus would resurrect from the dead, proving He has the authority from God to give us eternal life...The resurrection is mankind's most important fact...