Narrated in one gospel only, in the Gospel of Matthew
(Matthew 9:27-31) As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When He had gone indoors, the blind men came to Him, and He asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then He touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith it will be done to you”; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread the news about Him all over that region.
This healing was wrought by the Lord because of the express faith of the two blind men. They did not flinch when asked by the Lord whether they believed that He was able to heal them. They only had hearsay evidence for knowing that Jesus was able to heal the sick and the infirm. They had not yet seen any of the miracles that Jesus had done, but had put their faith in Him from what they had learned from others regarding His healing powers. And how wonderfully the Lord rewarded them for their faith. How true then the words of Jesus when He said, “Blessed are they who have not seen, yet believed.” (John 20:29b)
This is also another example of how the Lord Jesus healed people by touching them. Matthew writes, “He touched their eyes.” There are other instances in the Word where the Lord Jesus healed the blind without touching them, but here He chose to touch their eyes while healing them.
Matthew also states that Jesus forbid them from letting anyone know about the healing that He had wrought for them. One may wonder why? Perhaps Jesus didn’t want too much publicity so early in His ministry and bring about premature interference from the enemy.
Whatever it be, the once blind and now seeing men couldn’t keep their mouths shut because they considered their healing to be of major value and they went out and spread the news of their healing all over that region.
Come to think of it, they may have initially kept quiet obeying their healer, but many may have asked them, “Can you see now?” “How did you receive your healing?” and they couldn’t keep their healing a secret for long. And Matthew ends the story by writing that they went out and spread the news about Him all over that region.
Miracles Of Jesus In The Gospels - Bible Study 2 Narrated in one gospel only, in the Gospel of Matthew
(Matthew 9:32-34) 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.” But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that He drives out demons.”
This is another miracle recorded by Matthew and not read in the other 3 gospels. Here is a case of demon-possession. The demon’s main affliction here is making the man mute. Demons can afflict any part of the body and in this man’s case, his speech was obstructed. Perhaps the demon had his tongue bound and hence the man could not speak. Or the origin, transmission and production were all obstructed by the demon.
Sickness can be healed, but demons have to be driven out. And that is just what Jesus did. Secondly, here the man was not in a position to express his faith and Jesus did not expect it either. So in cases of demon-possession, it is the faith of the one praying for the person that is important. One should not tell a person who is demon-possessed that if he has more faith, then he can be delivered. Demon-possession cannot be cured by medicines. Demons have to be rebuked and driven out in Jesus’ Name.
Well, not all get excited when great things happen and we see the Pharisees giving their own explanation of the miracle. They are here condemning Jesus and accusing Him of using demon power to perform the miracle. They were “blind” as Jesus called them.
Ministers need discernment from God to know when people are brought for prayer, whether the person is suffering from a sickness or whether it is a case of demon affliction. Disease can be healed by prayer and medical-surgical interventions, but demons have to be driven out as Jesus very clearly demonstrates here.
Miracles Of Jesus In The Gospels - Bible Study 3
Narrated In one Gospel, in the Gospel Of Matthew
(Matthew 17:24-27) After Jesus and His disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?" "Yes, he does," he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" He asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes--from their own sons or from others?" "From others," Peter answered. "Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. "But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."
Peter, once a fisherman, now a catcher of men - in training, is asked by Jesus to do a task so unusual that his jaw must have dropped when he witnessed the miracle happening when he obeyed the master’s words.
This was an unusual way to find money for paying the 2 drachma tax. Well, actually 4 drachmas, 2 for Jesus and 2 for Peter. The knowledge and experience that Peter had acquired by being a fisherman for long may have questioned the validity of his teacher’s proclamation of finding a 4 drachma coin in the mouth of a fish, but nevertheless he must have been obedient to his teacher.
Imagine Peter carrying the fishing line and a few live worms to get this task done. He must have been thrilled of going back to the waters to catch fish. Actually it was a habit he found hard to give up in the initial part of his ministry, for we read in the gospel of John that when Jesus died and was buried and then resurrected, the disciples decided to go fishing again. Perhaps they missed the constant presence of Jesus and were getting impatient, so they decided to go fishing.
Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. (John 21:2, 3)
Coming back to imagining Peter walking towards the lake, line in hand, humming a few praises to God. People seeing him must have commented, “Good old Peter, back to fishing, seems like old times.”Yet he was here on a different mission, known only to him and his master.
There could have been a lot of “what if’s” going through the mind of Peter, yet he had reason to believe; he had seen enough miracles done by his master. And so he must have cast the line with confidence; confidence not in his prowess as a fisherman or the quality of the fishing line, but confidence in the words of his Lord and Master. That’s when the miracle must have happened, for we do not have verses which say that he found the 4 drachma coin in the fish’s mouth and paid the tax, but that is understood as far as those of us who believe in the mighty miracle working power of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are concerned.
Miracles Of Jesus In The Gospels - Bible Study 4 Narrated In one Gospel, in the Gospel Of Mark
(Mark 7:31-37) Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!"). At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Travelling on foot, by boat and whatever transportation available in that era, Jesus was always where the heavenly Father wanted him to be. Interestingly, in this passage, we see that God does not and need not perform things according to how we would want it to be but chooses to do things his own perfect way. The results however would be as we would have desired.
People brought to Jesus, a man who was deaf and dumb and wanted him to place his hand on him and heal him. But Jesus chose to act differently. He did not place his hand on the man; instead he took him aside, away from the crowd. Why, away from the crowd? Because he was going to do something unusual; things not many would have appreciated. Another thing we observe here is that Jesus was willing to do as the Father showed him because his desire was always to do his Father’s will and glorify Him. Jesus said,
“The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded Me.” (John 14:31)
Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears; not something that the ENT specialist would approve, then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. Then came the most important part of the whole miracle - The Command! Ephphatha, said Jesus, which meant “Be opened” and it was done!
The command of God has been effective since the 1st chapter of the Bible where he said, “Let there be light and there was light.” No questions asked, no arguments entertained.
His command is perfect and so is the end result. Here the deaf and dumb man heard and spoke immediately. The Bible says, “his tongue was loosened”; something was binding his tongue, something physical or spiritual, but all the bondages were broken at the single command- Ephphatha.
As usual, to avoid unnecessary publicity to his ministry (unusual, when we see what many preachers do now) Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the effect was just the opposite. The more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.
People were amazed. They just couldn’t believe what they had witnessed. They concluded by proclaiming,” He has done everything well,” "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Amazing! Just Amazing! This miracle working Saviour from Nazareth.
Miracles Of Jesus In The Gospels - Bible Study 5
Narrated In one Gospel in the Gospel Of Mark
They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When He had spit on the man's eyes and put His hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around." Once more Jesus put His hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village."(Mark 8:22-26)
Jesus healed the blind in many ways. Sometimes He just said a word to heal, at other times he touched their eyes. In the gospel of John Chapter 9 we read that, to cure a blind man, He spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes and then told him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam and the man went and washed, and came home seeing. Here, in the Gospel of Mark, we again see Him doing something unusual. Mark writes that “some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. ”Jesus acted here out of compassion and also seeing the faith of the people who brought the man. They must have wondered what Jesus was doing? Taking the blind man by the hand and leading him outside the village. Then He did the unimaginable. He spit on the man’s eyes. Most of the people following Him must have cringed at that, but soon they would be witnesses to yet another glorious miracle. He did not command anything here after spitting, but put His hands on the man’s eyes and asked him whether he saw anything. His sight was restored but not to perfection because the man replied, “I see people; they look like trees walking around."
What could that imply? Why wasn’t the man’s sight restored to perfection when Jesus put His hands on the man initially? Did he not have enough faith to do the miracle? Impossible, because giving sight to the blind or any other healing, deliverance or restoration was as simple for Him as the blinking of the eyes or like the respiration of a healthy person. No undue effort taken, just the natural. When God does a miracle, it’s a miracle for us; for Him it’s a simple thing. God who can call “light” out of nothingness by just saying, “Let there be light” can do anything that he wishes. And that too with perfection.
Perhaps Jesus wanted to see the reactions of the people who followed him when he did not stand up to their expectations, even if it was for just a moment. He knew what went on in the minds of everyone around and maybe he was just checking. Of course, many thought he had failed them, when he submitted to his opposers when his time had come to be crucified. Many may have asked themselves, “Why can’t he just destroy his foes for he is all powerful?” Just a word from him would have been enough to crush his enemies. But Jesus was on another mission which not many realized or understood.
Would the man have been happy with such imperfect vision? Depends! If he was one who had good vision earlier and then gone blind due to some sickness, he would have known what it was to see clearly and so would have desired perfect vision. Perhaps he would have then doubted the healing powers of this prophet from Nazareth. If he had been one who was born blind, he wouldn’t know what perfection was and would have settled for less.
To lay all doubts and arguments at rest, Jesus put His hands on the man's eyes again. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Another glorious miracle was witnessed by His followers.
God can choose to heal in any way that He desires. We don’t have to tell Him how to do it; just pray that He does it.
