Miracles and Jesus

What miracles are performed in Luke chapter 7?

-Healing of the centurion’s servant- 7:10. The leaders of the Jews said this man was worthy of this. He loved the nation and built the synagogue.

7:15- the raising of the widow’s son.

7:21- Jesus healed sicknesses, diseases, evil spirits and gave sight to the blind.

7:22-Jesus list of what he did: the blind see, the lame walk, leporsy is cleansed the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

7:48-your sins are forgiven

Outline

Miracles Overview

Why are there so many miracles in the Bible?

Why are there so many miracles in the ministry of Jesus?

, a testcase.

I.

God has power to work miracles.

A miracle has been defined to be a suspension of the laws of nature. A universal suspension is manifestly not intended in this definition; but such a suspension only as relates to the particular event. According to the course of nature, a dead man remains dead, and his body gradually becomes decomposed. The laws of nature which determine these sequences become suspended or inoperative if the dead man is restored to life; and the restoration is therefore a miraculous event. A miracle exists whenever the laws of nature become inoperative, that is, whenever a sequence occurs which they do not determine.

this is an important point, because things that may appear miracolous if one is not acquainted with all the laws of nature. For instance, if one did not understand magnets, it may appear miracolous to someone if a piece of metal were attracted to the magnet.

The Evidences of Christianity Section IV. Attestation Given by These Miracles

I. Jesus Christ wrought miracles for the express purpose of establishing his divine mission and authority. When about to heal a paralytic, he explained the design with which he performed the miracle: “That ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy) I say unto thee, arise, take up thy bed, and go thy way unto thine house.” He frequently referred to his miracles for proof that he came from God, and operated by the power of God.

II. Miraculous powers were conferred by Christ on his apostles, for the purpose of confirming their testimony, and establishing the divine authority of their ministry.

III. The apostles appealed to their miracles for proof of their mission and apostolic authority. They themselves wrought miracles, and, by the laying on of their hands, conferred miraculous powers on others. Paul claimed that these signs of an apostle had been exhibited by him, and from them he argued the divine authority of the gospel which he preached.

IV. Miracles were a suitable attestation of the new religion. It had been predicted that the Messiah would perform miracles, and that they would accompany the revelation of gospel times. This fact rendered them particularly suitable; but besides this, there is a general suitableness in the proof which they furnish, that the power of God is manifested in the works. Miracles are a suspension of the laws of nature, and therefore require a power superior to these laws, a power which no one but the author of nature possesses. The manner in which miracles were wrought showed clearly that the supernatural power was not exerted accidentally, but such words preceded them as fully indicated the design of the operator, and his design could have effected nothing, if God had not co-operated with him. It is in this way precisely that the Scriptures explain the attestation which miracles gave to the ministry of the apostles. “The Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.”2 “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost?”

A miracle affixed a divine attestation to whatever it was intended to confirm. In the case of the paralytic before referred to, Christ did not work the miracle to prove that the sick man’s sins were forgiven, but to prove that the Son of man had power on earth to forgive sins.

It is worth noting that after the enlightenment, especially with the rise of modern liberalism and Friderich Schliermacher, many tried to hold onto Christianity while at the same time dismissing the miracolous in Scripture.

“Divine watchmaker”

The Evidences of Christianity Section I. Credibility of Miracles

Philosophy is guilty of something worse than arrogance if it affirms that miracles are impossible. To affirm that nature’s laws cannot be suspended is to deny the existence of nature’s God.

The Evidences of Christianity Section I. Credibility of Miracles

We the less readily believe in miracles because we have never witnessed them ourselves; but it does not accord with philosophy or common sense to disbelieve everything that lies beyond the range of our own personal experience.

The Evidences of Christianity Section I. Credibility of Miracles

The antiquity of the gospel miracles is no valid objection to their credibility. The facts were committed to record soon after they occurred, and while the proofs of them were fresh and accessible to all. This permanent record annihilates the interval of time, and carries is back to the first age, to study the facts and judge of he agency which produced them. If the facts make less impression on our minds, at this remote period, the disadvantage in this respect is more than compensated by the increased means which we possess to form a just judgment concerning them.

The Evidences of Christianity Section III. Miracles of Christ and His Apostles

The history contained in the four Gospels affirms that Christ wrought numerous works which were deemed miraculous, and particularly notices the following: 1. Water turned into wine at Cana. 2. A nobleman’s son healed at Capernaum.2 3. Miraculous draught of fishes. 4. A demoniac healed in the synagogue.4 5. Peter’s wife’s mother healed. 6. A leper healed.6 7. A paralytic healed. 8. An infirm man healed at the pool of Bethesda.8 9. A withered hand healed. 10. A centurion’s servant healed.10 11. A widow’s son raised. 12. A demoniac healed.12 13. Tempest stilled. 14. Two demoniacs of Gadara dispossessed.14 15. A diseased woman healed. 16. Jairus’ daughter raised.16 17. Two blind men healed. 18. A dumb spirit cast out. 19. Five thousand fed.2 20. Jesus walked on the water. 21. A Syro-Phœnician woman’s daughter healed.4 22. A deaf and dumb man healed. 23. Four thousand fed.6 24. A blind man healed. 25. A demoniac healed.8 26. Tribute-money miraculously provided. 27. Ten lepers cleansed.10 28. A man born blind healed. 29. Lazarus raised.12 30. An infirm woman healed. 31. Two blind men healed.14 32. Fig-tree cursed. 33. Miraculous draught of fishes.16

Besides these miracles which the evangelists have particularly noticed, they inform us that Christ wrought many others. Thus, on the same evening on which he healed Peter’s wife’s mother, it is said, “At even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. And all the city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.” On

-Refer to the list of miracles in

It is rather impossible to separate the life and ministry of Jesus, as well as a general reading of our Bible, from the attestation that miracles are taking place.

The Evidences of Christianity Section III. Miracles of Christ and His Apostles

The account of works deemed miraculous forms so large a part of the history, and is so interwoven with the rest, that the credibility of the whole must stand or fall together. Many of the discourses recorded grow out of the miracles, and many of the actions of both friends and foes are occasioned by them. Above all, if the miracle of the resurrection is not true, the preaching and faith of Christians, as Paul has decided, are vain, and the apostles were false witnesses. But if this one miracle be admitted, the admission involves the credibility of the other miracles

=There are aa few things I want to focus on in Luke 7l Miracles in the Bible, the recipients of the miracles and the types of miracles

I Miracles in the Bible

I grew up in a Christian family. I heard about Jesus from my earliest days and believed in him when I was a young boy. In my first years of college, however, I began to have some doubts about Jesus and the Bible. Was Jesus really who I thought he was? Was he the Lord of glory or just a good man?

Our own doubts can force us to dig for answers. I didn’t want the pat answers I had accepted up until then. I wanted tough answers that could stand up to the relentless questioning of a university professor or a secular culture.

Miracles are incredible, they are not the day to day norm, and it is all too easy to doubt God’s activity. I think it is interesting that in the midst of all the miracles we have happening in , we have the following words in 7:20-

II.

The recipients of the miracles

At least 40 miracles in the gospel of Luke

What do we see in this chapter? First a centurion. This was a gentile man who was over 100 soldiers.

My own doubts forced me to dig for answers. I didn’t want the pat answers I had accepted up until then. I wanted tough answers that could stand up to the relentless questioning of a university professor or a secular culture

Roman centurions were typically persons of economic means, and the use of their means for munera—public services and civic projects—played an important role in their appointment and promotion to the upper ranks of Roman military and political life.

We actually have several mentions in the New Testament of centurions.

Centurions were generally men of good reputation. Scripture has many good things to say about them. At Calvary, after Jesus had breathed his last, a centurion exclaims, “Surely, this was God’s Son” (; cf. ; ). The centurion also tells Pilate the truth about the body of Christ (that it was really dead, , ). Another centurion, Cornelius, is described as “devout and God-fearing, together with his entire family … held in high regard by all the Jews,” etc. (see , , , , ).

Listen to the irony contained in these verses: in verse 4 we have the Jews, the leaders in the synagogue saying “This man deserves to have you do this.”

In verse 6 we have the centurion saying, “I do no deserve to have you come under my roof.”

The Jewish leaders thought this man worthy. Worthy of what? This certainly sounds like human merit. Had they truly understood who Jesus was, they would have realized that none of us is worthy.

Immediately prior to this story Jesus bade people, “Come to me” (6:47). Like many seekers, both then and now, the centurion imagines himself as good as the next guy. Indeed, his credits (v. 5!) should put him in a pole position with Jesus, and he naturally makes his appeal on the basis of his worthiness. But as Jesus draws near to him, he must revise, indeed reverse, his outlook. He lowers the flag of self-satisfaction and lifts up his hands in contrition—and it is contrition, not status and influence, that evokes the powerfully warm response of Jesus.

“When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him” (v. 9). The verb for “amazed” or “astonished” (Gk. thaumazein) proliferates in the Gospels, almost always as a description of the amazement of others toward Jesus. Only here and in and is it used of Jesus. Jesus is amazed at the centurion. The core of this pericope follows the faith of the centurion more than the healing of his servant, for the centurion’s faith is celebrated beyond anything Jesus has experienced in Israel, whereas the healing of the servant is appended somewhat anticlimactically. Faith—the combination of humility (“Lord, I am not worthy”) and confidence (“Say the word and make my servant well”) exhibited by the centurion—is a greater miracle than even physical healing. Faith is found in unexpected quarters—in Gentile centurions, in alien Samaritans (17:18), in desolate widows (18:8). But wherever it is found, it results in the joy of the incarnation.

Luke Healing the Centurion’s Slave (7:1–10; Matthew 8:5–13; John 4:46–53)

The centurion himself never came in contact with Jesus; that fact is important to the story in at least two ways. First, the centurion anticipates all those believers yet to come who have not seen Jesus but who have believed his word as having the power of his presence (v. 7; John 20:29). Such faith is not disadvantaged as though it were secondhand or belief at a distance, a consideration of major importance to those of us who believe in Jesus Christ but who are of another time and another place.

It is also worth noting, when we think about the larger context of miracles, that they were not used here for personal gain.

So, here we have the centurion’s servant healed, which could certainly be a miracle, but we also have the miracle of faith. Next, we have a funeral procession that becomes a street party.

Widow’s Son

The New American Commentary: Luke Context

In the previous account Luke demonstrated Jesus’ divine authority and power to heal someone near death. Here Luke revealed the even greater power of Jesus to raise someone from the dead.

We therefore have a sequel that shows that shows the miracle of raising someone from the dead.

The cause of the funeral procession was the death of an “only son of his mother,” who was a “widow.” Luke further reports that “a large crowd … was with her” and that “[Jesus’] heart went out to her” (vv. 12–13). Each of the above descriptions focuses on the plight of the mother rather than the son, much as in the preceding story Luke focused on the centurion rather than his servant.

What can this teach us? God’s work in a person’s life is seen by those around the person, not just by the individual.

At the command “Be raised,” the dead boy “sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother” (v. 15). The final phrase seems irrelevant, for the boy already belonged to his mother. This phrase, which is verbatim with , links the narrative typologically with the prophet Elijah (see excursus on Elijah-Elisha at v. 17). The phrase is also implicitly christological, however, for those who are resurrected from the dead belong no longer to this world, but to the Lord of Life, who redeemed them. The first face the boy sees on awakening from death is the face of Jesus, a face with which he is unfamiliar, but to which he belongs.

“A great prophet has appeared among us. God has come to help his people” (v. 16). The Greek word for “come to help” (episkeptesthai) was the first (1:68) and last word (1:78) of Zechariah’s song in the infancy narrative. Its subject is God—not a distant and uninvolved God—but the God who visits, even intrudes into, his creation in grace in order to “redeem” (1:68) and raise up a “horn of salvation” (1:69) for his people “from heaven” (1:78). The exclamation of the people in v. 16 is a confession of faith that, in the raising of the boy in Nain, this prophet from Capernaum is the fulfillment of the longing of Israel for God’s eschatological intervention of salvation.

Here, in the midst of a miracle, we are pointed to Jesus as Savior. This is important. The miracles we find in the gospels and the book of Acts point to Jesus as Savior.

John the Baptist-v. 22 these miracles point to Jesus. They are often restorative. This is not the way the world is supposed to be.

v. 28- the least in the kingdom is greater than he (John). This points to where I want to make my emphasis tonight. God has saved us and called us in his time. We are these least of the kingdom. He has given us his word and his spirit.

Jesus and the Sinful Woman

Beginning at verse 36 we have the fourth encounter between Jesus and someone in .

The woman in these verses is not given a name, and her sin is not mentioned. Popular Western imagination may see her as a prostitute to further the perceived gap between her and the Pharisee, but this is not mentioned in the text. She is a woman of sin, and we are people of sin apaart from Christ. In fact the most common word for sinner in Luke’s gospel is a tax collector!

The beginning of this story focuses on the sinful woman, but with Jesus parable, the focus shifts to the self-righteous Simon.

47–50 Jesus receives the woman’s hospitality as an eloquent though unspoken confession of faith. “I tell you the truth, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown” (v. 47). Her sins are not overlooked or unannounced; indeed, Jesus calls them “many.” But in vv. 47–48 he twice declares her sins forgiven (on forgiveness of sins, see at 5:21). The Greek verb tense (perfect passive indicative, “have been forgiven”) indicates prior forgiveness, exactly as in the earlier declaration of forgiveness to the paralytic, “When Jesus saw their faith he said, ‘Man, your sins have been forgiven’ ” (5:20). The original Greek, which reads “because she loved much,” could imply that her forgiveness was the result of her love, which would make grace dependent on the quality of her love (e.g., ). This deduction runs counter to the summary story of Jesus—and to elements within this narrative. It is precisely the unwarranted free conferral of grace to “tax collectors and sinners” that forever scandalizes Pharisees, Simon included. Jesus’ foregoing parable in vv. 41–42 declares the gracious forgiveness of the two debtors irrespective of merit on their part. Likewise in v. 50 Jesus attributes the woman’s salvation to her faith, not to her love.

began with a man who was worthy to have his servant healed. Here at the end of the chapter, we have a woman who the Pharisees view as certainly not worthy. By their faith, Jesus heals and saves them both.

I think is the greatest miracle we see in this chapter. I have been thinking about it a lot this week. Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven.” What a miracle to have our guilt and stain washed away.

I do not doubt that God can still work in our world at times in unexplained ways, but the fact that he saved us out of love and calls us to adoption as sons is truly the greatest miracle of all.