1. The Terminology of Miracles in Sacred Scripture.

In the Old Testament, the terms most used to indicate God’s “miraculous” interventions are “sign” (Heb. 'ôt), “prodigious work” (Heb. môpet), and also “great deeds of God” (Heb. gedulôt). Less present, however, is the simple idea that wonder is something extraordinary that astonishes. There are numerous miracles in the Pentateuch and historical books (they appear much less in those of the prophets and are almost absent in the wisdom books except as a reference to past events), and they are principally in the context of the liberation of the people of Israel from Egypt (book of Exodus). Their narration remains frequent in the successive contexts of the battles which mark the era of the affirmation of David’s kingdom and then the division of the kingdom of Israel, up until the second exile (especially in Judges, in the two books of Samuel, and in the two books of Kings). The image of an “omnipotent” God emerges, one who is exercising His full Lordship over history, protecting Israel and leading it to the observance of the Law, correcting and instructing it in order that God’s people might remain faithful to the covenant and thus remain the heirs of a plan of salvation on behalf of all the other peoples. But the interventions of God in history are never restricted to demonstrations of His pure omnipotence. They are bound to a message, or a teaching, and to the establishment of a new relationship with God. It is indeed principally in this direction that the miraculous event disposes and seeks to guide. Any miracle is joined to faith as a condition of its recognition and is a manifestation of the adhesion of the human person to the salvific works of God. The author of the miracle is always God, even when the miracles are worked by human beings. Neither Moses nor the prophets work miracles in their own right or to further their own interests. It is God who works miracles through them (see Jn 6:32-33). Miracles take place in a climate of faith, prayer, and trust in the covenant.

In the books of the New Testament, miracles are principally denoted by the use of four recurring terms: “miraculous power” or “an act of divine power” (Gr. dynamis); “sign” (Gr. semeîon); “prodigy” (Gr. téras); or “miraculous deed” (Gr. érgon). In continuity with the Old Testament, miracles always remain a “sign” of God which refers to God Himself. In the New Testament, miracles are above all a “sign of Christ” that reveal His messianic mandate, as is well synthesized in the question put forth to Jesus by the disciples of John the Baptist: “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’ At that time he cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits; he also granted sight to many who were blind. And he said to them in reply, ‘Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense in me’” (Lk 7:20-23). The idea of a miracle as a sign is especially present in John who, in the first chapters of his Gospel, traces the miracles which accompanied the Exodus of the chosen people and links them to the miracles and discourses of Jesus, focusing to a great extent upon seven miracle-signs narrated in an ordered sequence, from the transformation of water into wine at Cana (Jn 2:1-11) to the resurrection of Lazarus (Jn 11:38-44). Matthew and John speak of the “works of Christ” and the “works of God,” in reference to the works Jesus performs in obedience to the Father, as works that the Father accomplishes in Him. Paul will focus more upon the works of the divine power, centered upon the gift of justification obtained in the redemption brought by Jesus Christ. More than had been the case in the Old Testament, the miracles of the New Testament are brought to fulfillment within the realm of faith. Faith that Jesus can accomplish such works is in reality faith in Jesus, i.e., in His divinity and in His origin in the Father. Even the miracles which the apostles work, narrated in the Acts of the Apostles, continue to be miracles of Jesus for which faith in Jesus is required: “Peter said to him, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed.’ He got up at once” (Acts 9:34; cf. Acts 3:6). The significance of the miracles of Jesus of Nazareth has been the subject of a number of General Audiences given by John Paul II from November 11, 1987 to January 13, 1988.

2. The Miracles of Jesus of Nazareth.

A comparative analysis of the four Gospels reveals no less than forty diverse accounts of miracles worked by Jesus (not including approximately ten apparitions of the Risen Lord). To this are added about thirty miracles related in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. Geisler, 1999, pp. 484-86). It is possible that at times the same events may have been reported by the different Evangelists with such variations as to make them appear to be diverse events. In this case, the over-all number would be reduced a bit. Nevertheless, the “weight” these narrations have within the material used by the Evangelists is so remarkable that they cannot be considered circumstantial. The Gospel of Mark demonstrates this clearly where the accounts of Jesus’ miracles take up 31% of the text. If one were to leave out the last six chapters of the Gospel of Mark regarding the passion of Christ, in the remaining text accounts concerning Jesus’ miracles would rise to 47% (cf. Latourelle, 1994). The narration of the miracles is so entwined with the comments on Jesus’ teachings and with the description of the reactions of those who are present—reactions which are themselves occasions for teaching—that it would be quite difficult to come up with some kind of separation between the “preaching of Jesus” and the “works of Jesus.” The theologian knows well that this strict correlation is an intrinsic characteristic of Revelation itself whose plan “is realized by deeds and words having an inner unity,” as expressed in Dei Verbum, 2. An illustrative example of this is the healing of a paralytic reported by the three synoptic Gospels (see Mt 9:2-7; Mk 2:3-12; Lk 5:18-26) in which the teaching of Christ regarding the divine power which He has to forgive sins (and the corresponding faith in such a power) is intentionally associated with the working of a miracle: “‘What are you thinking in your hearts? Which is easier, to say “Your sins are forgiven” or to say “Rise and walk”? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, He said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home’” (Lk 5:22-24).

The miracles of healing are by far the most numerous. Among them are numbered three resurrections of human beings who had died (the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow of Naim, and Lazarus of Bethany). However, miracles worked over the elements of nature are not lacking either: the transformation of a considerable quantity of water into wine; at least two separate multiplications of loaves on behalf of several thousand people; a miraculous catch of fish considering both the quantity of fish caught and the circumstances of the catch; and episodes in which Jesus intervenes to calm a storm, walk upon water, or instantly bring a boat ashore. Aside from a few rare cases in which “supplementary” actions are commanded to complement that which He has worked (see, for example, Jn 9:7), the healings always have an immediate character and concern a variety of illnesses: a sudden recovery from a grave fever; a stable recovery of sight, hearing, and the ability to speak; the ceasing of chronic hemorrhaging; an end to an epileptic crisis; an instantaneous healing of leprosy; a recuperation of motor functions after a paralysis or malformations from birth (for a more detailed analysis see Leone, 1997, pp. 43-133). Among the miracles of healing, the exorcisms of demons would also probably be listed (although it must be kept in mind that the mentality of the time probably considered certain illnesses, particularly epilepsy, to be caused by the invasive presence of evil spirits). Contemporary exegesis cannot ignore the possibility that some accounts of miracles are possibly “post-Paschal re-readings” of the divinity of Jesus Christ, the full awareness of which the disciples reached only after the Resurrection. In cases such as this, the narration of an extraordinary deed would aim to offer a literary context in which to transmit a particular teaching relative to the two natures, human and divine, of Christ. But even if this were so (a classic example would be the second miraculous catch of fish, added after the first conclusion of the Gospel of John, see Jn 21:1-14), the high number of miracles performed by Jesus and reported by the Evangelists, and the embedded narrative weave in which they are entwined with the rest of the Messiah’s life and actions, testify that the great majority of them had to be episodes which really happened and which the disciples witnessed historically.

3. The Historical Significance and Realism of the Miracles Reported by the Gospels.

In analyzing the historical actuality of miracles, it is possible to apply the same standards used for the Gospel narrations as a whole, particularly the criteria of multiple attestations and continuity and discontinuity (cf. Latourelle, 1988). Miracles are related in diverse sections of the New Testament and according to varying literary forms. The accounts of miracles range from detailed and extensive descriptions to concise and synthetic summaries and from being parenthetic citations within various events to narratives expressly dedicated to them. In the Acts, we find phrases which make it clear that—aside from the factions in favor of or against acknowledging Jesus as the risen Messiah—the fact that Jesus of Nazareth had passed several years in public working healings and miracles amidst the people was something well known to everyone (see Acts 2:22; Acts 10:38-39). The criterion of continuity—which attributes a greater value to the narrations that demonstrate a continuity with the historical-contextual surroundings in which they are believed to have occurred—seems to be verified in the case of miracles by the close connection between miracles and the “preaching of the kingdom,” which was considered by all to be the prophetic activity par excellence (exemplary in this regard is the passage in Mt 4:23-25, as well as the messianic self-proclamation of Lk 4:16-21). Miracles are quite often associated with the demand for an interior conversion, and they therefore stand out as a salvific work upon the body and the soul. They are followed by an invitation to proclaim the works of God, glorify Him, and bear witness to Him with one’s life. All of these are elements which place the activity of Jesus in continuity with that of the teachers of Israel (cf. Mt 11:20-24; Lk 10:13-15). At the same time, these miracles represent an eruption of something new which is breaking away from many of the usual Jewish expectations and dispositions, and they therefore cannot be interpreted as a simple literary construction that arose from the community in which Jesus lived and worked. In the miracles of Jesus there are elements of discontinuity with Jewish habits such as drawing near to lepers in order to cure them (Jews considered leprosy impure), the numerous healings worked on the Sabbath, and the authority by which Jesus accomplished such works (i.e., in His own name and by means of a power which belonged to Him alone).

In favor of their historical actuality, one could add to the preceding criteria other considerations referring to the “style of Jesus” in His miracle working. His works arise from a sensitivity toward human suffering rather than from the desire to perform flashy deeds. His activity is oriented toward the good of the person and not toward obtaining public recognition for himself. Even when the miracles are worked with the aim that those present will believe in His divine origin in the Father (as in the resurrection of Lazarus, Jn 11:42), their ultimate scope is not the human glory of Christ but rather the conversion of hearts toward the new logic of the Kingdom of God (see Mt 12:28). The narrations of miracles are for the most part sober and at times meager. Jesus acts according to His habitual personality without the necessity of transforming Himself (when He does transfigure himself, it is not to perform miracles, see Mt 17:1-8 and parallel texts). A significant example of Jesus’ tempered attitude to miracles is when He rebukes the peculiar “proposal” of some of the disciples to punish those cities which had not welcomed their preaching by sending a rain of fire from heaven (an image borrowed from the Old Testament) (Lk 9:54-55). Analogously, He reproaches the attitude of those who, in order to decide whether or not to believe, seek only signs and extraordinary events (Jn 4:48). “The restraint that marks the wonder-working activity of Jesus is in harmony with the context and religious meaning of His miracles. He shows no self-centeredness, attention to himself. He refuses flashy exhibitions and amusing prodigies which Herod looks for from him. He asks those who have been the beneficiaries of a miracle to remain silent about it, when the crowds become fired up, he slips away. After the multiplication of the loaves, he forces His disciples to depart in order that they may not be caught up in the messianic fever that is sweeping through the crowd (Jn 6:15)” (Latourelle, 1988, pp. 62-63). To those who ask Him for a “misplaced” sign—that is, to those who seek a sign as proof of the truth of His words—He responds by speaking of the sign par excellence, His Resurrection (Mt 12:38-39; Jn 2:18-22). This same attitude will be maintained through the supreme moment of His death: He who had worked miracles for others will not accept the challenge to work miracles for Himself by coming down from the cross (Mk 15:29-32).

Concerning the realism of the narratives and the relation between subjective experience and an objective event, it must be noted that those people who did not want to believe in Jesus, even when they were present at a miracle, were not unbelievers on account of a scanty conviction regarding the “truth” of the observed events. The healings are not considered “conjurer’s tricks,” nor is Jesus accused of fraud. The criticisms clearly go along other lines. This man, his adversaries affirm, “is not of God” because the power to cast out demons has been given to Him by the devil himself, or because He worked miracles on the Sabbath in transgression of the Law. It is not that those who “do not believe” deny His miracles. Rather, they do not go any further than them. They do not go beyond the amazing events, and they do not welcome that which the events reveal about the subject who works them and His salvific mission. A very particular realism is present in the episode of the man born blind, which is narrated in the Fourth Gospel (Jn 9:1-39). The man who was miraculously healed undergoes a meticulous identification. First, it is verified that this is a beggar known by all and not simply someone who looks like him. He is then questioned regarding precisely how the healing came about. Finally, his parents are called upon and questioned to obtain information about the congenital nature and permanency of his infirmity. Once the reality of the event is ascertained, the debate moves toward the identity of Jesus and how a sinner, who does not respect the Sabbath, could have worked such a miracle.

A further element of interest regarding the historical truthfulness of miracles is the fact that the primitive Church rejected several narrations of the life of Jesus, classifying them as “apocryphal” gospels, precisely due to an abnormal presence of prodigious deeds. The deeds related in the apocryphal gospels differ from the miracles narrated in the “canonical” Gospels above all because they do not reflect a salvific aim and call to conversion. Instead, the miracles in the apocryphal gospels emphasize marvelous actions performed solely to arouse awe, or at times they are performed without sufficient discernable motivations. The apocryphal miracles often have a forcefully symbolic and figurative meaning, or they focus on astonishing descriptions, thus distancing themselves from the sober and historical-narrative style proper to the Gospels that the Church had at that time already accepted.

Finally, it must be kept in mind that the essential nucleus of the apostolic kérygma (or “primitive proclamation”) was that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who died for our sins and is risen from the dead” (Acts 2:22-24; Acts 10:36-43; 1Cor 15:3-5). In this proclamation Jesus’ miracles take on the important role of testifying to the divine identity of the subject. Upon this depended, in the preaching of the apostles, the truth of redemption and its universal effects for the human race. If the Gospels were written in order to bear witness to the divinity of Jesus Christ (Mk 1:1; Lk 1:1-4; Jn 20:30-31), the accounts of miracles constituted an intrinsic part of such a witness. It does not seem possible, then, to disregard them without losing the whole content, credibility, and salvific importance of that which their authors intended to proclaim.

Source: http://inters.org/miracle