Here we deal with the truth and credibility of the miracles performed by Jesus during his public ministry. It is a question discussed threadbare by many scholars and we shall not repeat those attempts here. Our focus shall be on the reasonableness of believing in miracles, especially in the present world imbued with scientific temper and outlook. Our task is made all the more difficult as there are many self-proclaimed miracle workers vigorously going about trying to attract as many followers as possible. Some who like to appear as scientific and modern find solace in thinking that miracles are actually metaphors without realizing that use of metaphors presupposes what they are metaphors of. The problem is only pushed back and does not offer any solution.
There are about 36 miracles of Jesus reported in the Gospels performed during his public ministry. They consist of 3 raisings from the dead, 2 multiplications of loaves, turning of water into wine, a number of healings, control of nature like walking on water and forbidding a raging storm, forcing the evil spirit out of the possessed, the miraculous catch of fish, catching a fish by Simon Peter at the behest of Jesus to take out a coin from its mouth for paying temple tax, cursing a fig tree that dries up instantly, transfiguration of his own self etc. culminating in his own resurrection from the dead. It is clear from the above list that not all the miracles have the same value and each has a particular lesson to communicate. Jesus never performed a miracle for his own glory and honor and always cautioned its beneficiaries and others not to publish the same. This special characteristic seen in the attitude of Jesus completely sets apart the miracles he performed from the ones performed by many others. Besides, the driving force of Jesus' miracles was always compassion, a specifically divine attribute, and the purpose was the integral good of the beneficiary including his or her salvation for which Jesus always demanded faith. The narratives in the Gospels, miracles included, were written down from the background of the liturgical and prayer life of believing communities from whom the present day concern of a scientific attitude was absent. The empirical sciences can deal only with the rationality of the material world and anything beyond it can be dealt with only by Philosophy and Theology. Basic rationality demands that one is always open to possibilities instead of closing in on one's own field of interest declaring it to be the beginning and of everything.
The traditional method of seeing the miracles of Jesus as exceptions to the laws of nature through divine intervention need not be the only way of understanding them. It evokes in us the feeling that we are under the tyranny of Nature, which may be overcome by God alone through his control over it God wants to share His power with us for obtaining which a transformation has to take place in us before we can effectively control Nature and its forces without reactionary side-effects. Jesus promised to empower his disciples to do not only what he did, but even greater things (John, 14:12). The transformation of our own selves, being the source of control over nature, is a greater miracle than any other. Thus the objection that the miracles of Jesus are not historical because they do not happen now in our scientific age is not valid on two counts. First, we are very reluctant to be empowered by the source of all miracles, that is, our self-transformation and second, the economy of salvation does not require that what happened at the time of Jesus should be happening even now. It is similar to the objection put forward by the anti-evolutionists who decline to accept the theory of evolution because it does not happen now the way it happened before. This economy sees to it that what is required in each generation for our well-being is given unreservedly at the right time and place. At an age when people were less developed , they needed more protection and divine intervention continuing which forever would hamper our true development. If all healings were managed through miracles, there would not be any need of medical research and control of diseases through the use of our intellect, a faculty specifically given to man by God to share His dominion over the entire universe. Similarly, if exorcism is always used as the only means of ejecting the evil spirits out of the possessed, the study of psychology would not have taken root. It does not mean to say that the evil spirit is only a figment of one's imagination, although many cases of so-called possessions may be seen as mere mental cases. Jesus through his miracles must have handled both the types of 'possessions' where the need to segregate them according to our modern view did not arise.
There are about 36 miracles of Jesus reported in the Gospels performed during his public ministry. They consist of 3 raisings from the dead, 2 multiplications of loaves, turning of water into wine, a number of healings, control of nature like walking on water and forbidding a raging storm, forcing the evil spirit out of the possessed, the miraculous catch of fish, catching a fish by Simon Peter at the behest of Jesus to take out a coin from its mouth for paying temple tax, cursing a fig tree that dries up instantly, transfiguration of his own self etc. culminating in his own resurrection from the dead. It is clear from the above list that not all the miracles have the same value and each has a particular lesson to communicate. Jesus never performed a miracle for his own glory and honor and always cautioned its beneficiaries and others not to publish the same. This special characteristic seen in the attitude of Jesus completely sets apart the miracles he performed from the ones performed by many others. Besides, the driving force of Jesus' miracles was always compassion, a specifically divine attribute, and the purpose was the integral good of the beneficiary including his or her salvation for which Jesus always demanded faith. The narratives in the Gospels, miracles included, were written down from the background of the liturgical and prayer life of believing communities from whom the present day concern of a scientific attitude was absent. The empirical sciences can deal only with the rationality of the material world and anything beyond it can be dealt with only by Philosophy and Theology. Basic rationality demands that one is always open to possibilities instead of closing in on one's own field of interest declaring it to be the beginning and of everything.
The traditional method of seeing the miracles of Jesus as exceptions to the laws of nature through divine intervention need not be the only way of understanding them. It evokes in us the feeling that we are under the tyranny of Nature, which may be overcome by God alone through his control over it God wants to share His power with us for obtaining which a transformation has to take place in us before we can effectively control Nature and its forces without reactionary side-effects. Jesus promised to empower his disciples to do not only what he did, but even greater things (John, 14:12). The transformation of our own selves, being the source of control over nature, is a greater miracle than any other. Thus the objection that the miracles of Jesus are not historical because they do not happen now in our scientific age is not valid on two counts. First, we are very reluctant to be empowered by the source of all miracles, that is, our self-transformation and second, the economy of salvation does not require that what happened at the time of Jesus should be happening even now. It is similar to the objection put forward by the anti-evolutionists who decline to accept the theory of evolution because it does not happen now the way it happened before. This economy sees to it that what is required in each generation for our well-being is given unreservedly at the right time and place. At an age when people were less developed , they needed more protection and divine intervention continuing which forever would hamper our true development. If all healings were managed through miracles, there would not be any need of medical research and control of diseases through the use of our intellect, a faculty specifically given to man by God to share His dominion over the entire universe. Similarly, if exorcism is always used as the only means of ejecting the evil spirits out of the possessed, the study of psychology would not have taken root. It does not mean to say that the evil spirit is only a figment of one's imagination, although many cases of so-called possessions may be seen as mere mental cases. Jesus through his miracles must have handled both the types of 'possessions' where the need to segregate them according to our modern view did not arise.
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