Taking a Look at Miracles

It is possible to write on the life of Jesus from the information gathered from the bible. I will be dividing my essay into three parts. In the first part of the paper, I will talk about the nature of the gospels, John’s views vs. the Synoptic, discuss if the authors of the gospels are eyewitnesses and how they used written sources. Also I will talk about the Q source. Then I will elaborate on the topic of how Matthew and Luke were similar. Then I will continue on by discussing how the Old Testament uses Moses, Samuel and Elijah to interpret Jesus, and finally whether or not the Sermon on the Mount happened. In the second part of my paper, I will talk about Jesus’s birth and childhood, his miracles, his resurrection, and what Jesus did to cure people, spirits and how they are interpreted to the prophet, magician and the mad man compared to Saul and Elijah. The final part of the paper I will talk about what Jesus talked about as regards to the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of the Romans and what he intended by speaking of the end of the world. I will also speak of the reasons behind the Romans executing him. My sources for this paper will be the New Jerusalem Bible Readers edition as my primary source and lecture notes from Professor Trumbach.

3. For a person to see God, they must look at Jesus. Both are alike.

Nowadays, people in general tend to use the word miracle when referring to a surprising event, such as the Patriots coming back from a 25 point deficit to win Super Bowl LI, or the American hockey team winning at the 1980 hockey Olympics, dubbed a “miracle on ice”. However, these so called miracles do not portray the actual meaning of the word, which is defined as an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers therefore is ascribed to be a work of God. Although there has been some skepticism among people, Christians included, as to the existence of miracles, this paper will argue that true miracles do occur. Furthermore,

97-98- “He doesn 't work miracles in our lives so we can just hang out with Him.” Jesus does not work miracles so we can sit in amazement. Instead, he wants us to live in response to all He has done for us.

The solitary prayers that Jesus did, gave him metaphysical power and charismatic character, and in the New Testament it is evident that Jesus was doing the works he was meant to do and had the power to do.

In the Gospel of Matthew, the infancy narrative contributes a large sum of background information of Jesus that contributes to the development of Matthew’s Christology. In order to analyze how Matthew develops the Christology, we have to cut the infancy narrative into sections. This paper will discuss background information of the writing of this Gospel, literary elements of Jesus’ miraculous conception that reinforce his Jewishness, how Magi and literary devices help to understand Matthew’s Christology, what important biblical hero the infancy narrative parallels, and what foreshadowing is caused from this infancy narrative. Comparatively, the use of divine intervention in dreams to fulfill prophecy has been a key focus of the infancy narrative in order to create an unusual birth narrative and develop the unique Christology that Matthew envisioned specifically for the Jewish Messiah.

Throughout his life, Jesus performed many miracles. Examples of these miracles can be found in the Holy Bible in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). I would have to say that my favorite miracle performed by Jesus would have to be when Jesus fed the four thousand, in Mark 8:1-13. Jesus was surrounded by a large crowd and felt compassion for them. He wanted to provide food for everyone so they would be strong enough to travel back to their homes. They only had seven loaves of bread and a few fish, but after Jesus gave thanks and broke the bread, he told his disciples to pass out the food, and they did. When everyone was finished eating there was seven basketfuls of broken pieces left.

Salih asked that the rich stop oppressing the poor, and adopt a more virtuous behavior. A few more people accepted His words. Not surprisingly, most of them refused to heed His warning, and instead began to harass Him to cause a miracle as proof of the Power of God. Salih kept telling them to look around and remember the numerous miracles God had already bestowed upon them. He reminded His people of the countless castles and palaces they had built, and of their rich farm fields, and technical superiority. He also reminded them of the fate of the ‘Ad, and how they were destroyed for their similar, unrepentant sins.

The first thing that one needs to understand is the true meaning of the miracles Jesus performed, even though the Devil does not want us to understand the meaning. He loves when we speculate and question. In the Bible, miracles are often referred to as “signs.” Miracles are acts that only God can be responsible for, usually above and beyond natural laws. Baker’s Dictionary of the Bible defines a miracle as “Synthesizing the root connotations of these terms, we may define a miracle biblically as an observable phenomenon effected by the direct operation of God’s power, an arresting deviation from the ordinary sequences of nature, a deviation calculated to elicit faith-begetting awe, a divine inbreaking which authenticates a revelational

Throughout the New Testament are recounts of the miracles that Jesus performed to give proof that He was indeed the Son of God and the Messiah foretold of in the Old Testament. John chose to recount only seven of the many miracles that Jesus performed. He felt that these seven, more than any of the others, showed definitive proof that the Messiah, the Son of God, had come as promised.

There are many connections linking the Old Testament and the New Testament. These connections are formed to parallel Jesus Christ in the Gospels from the stories of the Old Testament. These examples are used to show the truth of the Old Testament and to present the fulfillment of Jesus Christ. A few of these examples are Moses and the Pharaoh and Jesus and King Herod, Lamb of God and Passover, Moses and the Burning Bush and “I AM” statements, and finally, the parting of the Red Sea and Jesus Christ’s baptism. All of these examples are shown in the Old and New Testament and are shown as miracles because these parallels happened years apart from each other. This is the fulfillment of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Most Christians are well acquainted with the identity of Jesus as presented in the biblical canonical Gospels. However, most are not well versed in the Jesus presented in Islam. Contemporary Christian understanding of Jesus, his miracles, and his identity as a prophet has been most often mutually exclusive from that of the contemporary Islamic community. It is well established that there are many points of dissimilarity between the character representations of Jesus. Yet, there are also notable similarities. Jesus’s miracles are discussed in both texts with varied stressed importance and purposes. With both traditions established in their respective religions, it is interesting to engage the concept that these pictures of Jesus could not be mutually exclusive. Examination of the Christology and miracles of Jesus in the Quran and Hadith allows contemporary Christian readers to view Jesus through a broader, historical lens.

Miracle can be defined as powerful deeds and signs that Jesus accomplished. In the bible there are very many miracles that occurred during the time of Jesus. Lohfink defines miracle as a challenging act, in contrast with the bible which views it as an unusual act that relieves a person of negative aspects in their his or her life. Lohfink further clarifies that with the modernism influence, the miracle concept is going through a strip stream, where through miracles God breaks natural laws to show his love for us (Lohfink

Many people believe that there is only one account of the Passion of Jesus Christ or they believe that each story is the same; whereas there are four separate Gospel accounts of the Passion of Our Lord. Each of these Gospel accounts supplements the others, however each gospel account of the crucifixion of Jesus is unique, not only in how the story is told but also in the events and features themselves. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John clearly present different portrayals of the death of Jesus Christ. By examining each account the reader discovers the evangelist's understanding of the death accounts of the crucifixion and death of Jesus. The reader must examine and compare all of the Gospel accounts to have a full and

John composed this book to show how glorious messiah by using the miraculous signs. It is believed that Jesus performed seven Gospel Signs to prove that he was the messiah. One of the signs that Jesus used happened in Cana in Galilee when he turned water into wine. Jesus was attending a wedding ceremony together with his mother and the twelve disciples. At some point the host announced that they were out of wine and Jesus offered to help by changing 180 gallons of water to vintage wine. This miracle signified that God was present in his life and accommodative. He made his disciples to believe in him (Harris,