Weekly Devotional: The Miracles of Jesus

“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” – John 20:30-31, NIV

In the Gospels, Jesus performed many miracles and signs, each one wondrous and a testament to his love and compassion for humanity. He used these miracles not only to help people but also that those who witnessed and heard of the miracles of Jesus would have faith in who he was, the Son of God and the Messiah.

Jesus performed many miracles, but here are a few of the miracles he performed. See how the miracles of Jesus apply to Christians today:

Jesus Provides

“When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.” – Luke 5:4-6, NIV

There are many miracles where Jesus provides for someone in a supernatural way. For example, in Luke 5:1-11, Jesus instructed his soon-to-be disciples to put their nets in the water after a poor night of fishing. After some hesitation, they did so and caught so many fish their nets started to break. This shows his amazing power. Some other examples of this are:

• Changing Water to Wine: John 2:1-11 details the first miracle of Jesus that we can read about in the Bible. This miracle takes place at a wedding where the wine for the guests had run out. Jesus solved the problem by changing water to wine. The master of the banquet called it the “choice wine” of the wedding.
• Stilling the Storm: In this miracle found in Mark 4:35-41, Jesus calmed a wild storm that was shaking the disciples when they were sailing across the Sea of Galilee. These verses describe how the disciples were panicking because of the storm, and Jesus provided reassurance.
• Feeding a Crowd: On multiple occasions recorded in multiple books, Jesus increased the amount of food in order to feed a hungry crowd with thousands of people. He ensured there was enough fish and bread to go around with leftovers.

What can we learn from these miracles of provision? Jesus provides for us in our hour of need. Does that mean he will turn our water to wine or calm a storm at the snap of his fingers? No, not necessarily, but it does mean that we can trust him even if we don’t understand how we can get through a hard time. It also means that we can cling to the hope of salvation that Jesus provides.

Jesus Heals

“As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’ When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.” – Luke 17:14, NIV

Jesus did a lot of healing during his ministry. Whether it was sickness, injury or any other physical ailment, Jesus did not hold back when it came to having compassion towards this group of people, even if it upset others. For instance, in Luke 17:11-19, he healed ten outcast men plagued with leprosy.

Here are some other miracles of healing that Jesus performed in the Gospels:

• Healing the Sick: During Jesus’ time on Earth, many of the modern medical discoveries had not been made yet, making it even scarier and more painful to be sick than it is today. While Jesus was on Earth, he took the time to heal many people from their sicknesses including an official’s sick son (John 4:43-54), Simon’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31), a man with abnormal swelling (Luke 14:1-4), lepers (Mark 1:40-45) and many more people.
• Restoring the Blind’s Sight: In multiple passages (Matthew 9:27-31, Mark 8:22-26 and John 9:1-38), accounts of Jesus healing the blind are found.
• Making the Paralyzed Walk: Walking was even more important in Jesus’ time than in today’s world, as those who were paralyzed were forced to beg in order to survive. In Matthew 9:1-8, Jesus heals and forgives a paralyzed man. In John 5:1-9, Jesus heals a disabled man on the Sabbath.
• Curing Other Ailments: There were also other ailments that Jesus cured such as bleeding (Mark 5:25-34), deafness and muteness (Mark 7:31-37) and the loss of an ear (Luke 22:51).

What does this healing look like today? Jesus still has the ability to physically heal the sick and hurting. However, an even greater gift is spiritual healing.

Isaiah 53:5 says, “by his wounds we are healed.” No matter how physically healthy or unhealthy we are, we are in need of the gift of redemption to heal our relationship and gain eternal life with Jesus.

Jesus Casts Out Demons

“While they were going out, a man who was demon possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.’” – Matthew 9:32-33, NIV

Jesus encountered many demon-possessed individuals during his ministry. Here are a few of these cases:

• Casting Demons Into Pigs: In this instance, Jesus cast demons from two men into pigs (Matthew 8:28-34).
• Helping a Possessed Boy: In Mark 9:14-29, the disciples tried to help a possessed boy but were unable to. Jesus commanded the spirit to leave him and the spirit left.
• Rebuking an Impure Spirit: Mark 1:23-28 details how a man possessed by a spirit was crying out. Jesus amazed the people around by casting the spirit out.

We may not see as many people walking around possessed by demons as Jesus did, but we can still find hope in these miracles that Jesus casts out demons and that he is all-powerful.

Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is good to know that nothing, not even demons, can separate us from Jesus and his love for us.

Jesus Brings People Back to Life

“They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, ‘My child, get up!’ Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.” – Luke 8:53-55, NIV

Bringing people back from the dead is impossible with human abilities alone. However, Jesus has the power to do things people could never dream of doing by themselves.

You may be wondering, “who did Jesus bring back to life?” Three people that he brought back to life include:

• Widow’s Son: In this instance, Jesus came across a widowed woman crying at the loss of her only son who had died and was being carried out. Jesus’ “heart went out to her”. He told the young man to get up and he woke up and began to talk (Luke 7:11-17).
• 12-year-old daughter of Jairus: Mark 5:21-43 tells of a synagogue leader named Jairus who came to Jesus and begged him to heal his sick child. However, before they reached the girl, she was already dead. Jesus told the little girl to get up and she started walking around.
• Lazurus: Perhaps the most well-known of these three miracles is in John 11:1-44. Lazurus was a close friend of Jesus, and when he became sick, Jesus did not rush back as one might have expected. Instead, he returned to the family after Lazurus had already been dead for days. Fortunately, Jesus does not have the same time limitations as we do and he was able to bring Lazurus back.

Christians today can find hope in the power of Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

We were once dead, just like the widow’s son, the 12-year-old girl and Lazarus. However, because of Christ’s sacrifice for us, we can be made alive through him.

Jesus Rises from the Dead

“‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.’” – Mark 16:6, NIV

If raising other people from the dead was not mind-blowing enough, Jesus took his miracles even further. He himself was raised from the dead. He was crucified and died for our sins, only to rise again three days later, his greatest miracle.

This miracle of Jesus is what makes the Christian faith. Jesus died and rose, so that one day we can die and live with him. We can have a relationship with God through Christ Jesus.

Our sins, which we could never handle on our own, were taken by Jesus, the perfect sacrifice. There is no greater miracle than that.

“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 21:25, NIV

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