12 The Role and Impact of Miracles in Jesus’s Ministry

Dr. Doug Bookman

A. Regarding the Role of Miracles

Scripture: Mark 1:40-45; Mark 3:7-12; Luke 4:31-37; and Luke 4:40-41

Notes: Each of these passages emphasizes the role of miracles, some in a general description of Jesus’s ministry and others in the telling of a specific miracle story. Notice especially the reaction Jesus’s miracles produced in the multitudes.

Questions/Observations:

  1. Why do you think Jesus reacted as He did to the declaration of His identity by demons?
  2. Notice the instruction Jesus gave to the healed leper in Mark 1:44. Why do you think He made this demand of the man?
  3. Notice as well that in the next pericope (section) Jewish leaders from far away were there to catch Him in His words (cf. Luke 5:17). Might there be a connection between this story and that one?

B. Regarding the Purpose of Miracles

Scripture: John 3:2; John 5:17-22, John 5:36; Acts 2:22; and Acts 10:38

Notes: Notice what these verses suggest concerning the purpose of God in the miracles done by Jesus.

Questions/Observations: In this regard, it is important to distinguish between purpose and consequence. I would suggest that there were many consequences or results of Jesus’s miracle, but as far as the testimony of Scripture is concerned, only one purpose. In the attempt to understand Jesus’s ministry, it is very important to comprehend what that purpose is.

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

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