Jesus is a real historical figure. There cannot be any reasonable doubt about it. His influence on our modern society is undeniable. What he said and what he did was totally out of the ordinary of his time. We can fill many books by discussing his extraordinary works, thoughts, and influences. However, I would like to discuss one aspect of his life in this post: his miracles.
Many people consider the Bible unreliable or even ridiculous because it describes a lot of miracles. Are miracles truly impossible?
Jesus performed many miracles while he preached according to the gospel. As we mentioned in a previous post, Jesus healed a lot of sick people with miracles. Do we have extra-biblical sources to verify it? A Christian named Quadratus wrote to the Roman Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 125. He mentioned the following:
“The deeds of our Savior were always before you, for they were true miracles; those that were healed, those that were raised from the dead, who were seen, not only when healed and when raised, but were always present. They remained living a long time, not only whilst our Lord was on earth, but likewise when he had left the earth. So that some of them have also lived to our own times”. There Quadratus mentioned to the emperor that some people miraculously healed by Jesus were still alive by then.
Another ancient document, the Babylonian Talmud which was written around the late first or second century A.D., wrote that: “On the eve of the Passover Yeshu (Jesus) was hanged... ‘He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostacy…”. Obviously, the writer of the passage in the Talmud was not a Christian. However, it admits that Jesus performed supernatural acts. It called these acts “sorcery”, while Christians call it “miracles” or “signs”.
There are also archeological findings that confirm the historical context in which Jesus’ miracles were performed as recorded in the Bible.
Are the above enough to convince a person that Jesus performed miracles? Perhaps not entirely, but I think they show that people at Jesus time agreed that Jesus did something that seemed to be supernatural.
Another thought regarding Jesus’ miracles: the Bible says there were always a large crowd of people that followed Jesus. I think there should not be much doubt about that. A short while after Jesus’ crucifixion, his disciples preached Jesus’ resurrection and thousands of people followed and be baptized very quickly. I think it is reasonable to assume that a lot of these new Christians were part of the crowds that followed Jesus while He was there. Only a large mass of believers can spread Christianity so quickly and persistently that we today can still hear the message of Christianity.
But what attract the crowd to follow Jesus? Jesus did not have much money. He was as ordinary as anyone else was. Worst, he was hated by the powerful people. Why did so many people follow him before his crucifixion? To hear some wise teaching? Or because Jesus was charismatic? These are not attractive enough. I think the gospel provides the most reasonable answer: Jesus healed them out of their desperate illness and perform extraordinary acts which we call miracles while other people call “sorcery.”
Next, we will discuss perhaps the most studied miracle in history: the resurrection of Jesus.
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