CFS-WB-CH08

UNIT 3 CHAPTER 8 

The Historicity 

of Jesus’ Miracles 

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Chapter 8 Overview 

Were Jesus’ miracles actual historical events? Or are they just made-up stories designed to amaze the gullible 

masses? Far from being a sideshow, Jesus’ miracles were quite central to His earthly mission. They always 

had a clear purpose — to deliver people from suffering and evil, and to introduce God’s Kingdom. In this chapter 

we will examine the historical evidence for Jesus’ miracles. As with the Resurrection, the evidence is more 

extensive than you might first think. 

In this chapter you will learn that … 

■ Jesus’ miracles were central to His earthly mission of initiating God’s Kingdom in the world. 

■ Jesus performed His miracles by His own authority, revealing His divinity. 

■ Jesus’ miracles not only showed His glory, but they also delivered people from suffering and evil, and 

actualized the coming of the Kingdom of God. 

■ After Jesus’ Ascension, His Apostles continued to heal and perform miracles in His name through the 

power and gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

■ The various visible gifts of the Spirit experienced in the life of the early Church were not an end in 

themselves, but a gratuitous gift from God meant to inspire deep conversion of heart and lead people to 

embrace the interior gifts of the Spirit.. 

Bible Basics 

[Jesus] cried with a loud voice, “Laz′arus, 

come out.” The dead man came out, his hands 

and feet bound with bandages, and his face 

wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 

“Unbind him, and let him go.” 

—John 11:43–44 

Connections to the Catechism 

■ CCC 156 

■ CCC 434 

■ CCC 547–549 

■ CCC 2003 

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same 

Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the 

same Lord; and there are varieties of working, 

but it is the same God who inspires them all in 

every one. To each is given the manifestation of 

the Spirit for the common good. 

—1 Corinthians 12:4–7 

© Sophia Institute for Teachers 

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Chapter 8 

Jesus’ Miracles 

Jesus performed His first 

public miracle at a wedding 

feast. 

Can Jesus’ miracles be examined historically? Doesn’t everyone assume 

they were made up, just embellishments that people added to 

stories back then to impress readers? Wouldn’t it be easier to focus on 

Jesus’ moral teachings and not worry about having to believe in literal 

wonder-working (miracle-working)? 

In fact, far from being a sideshow, Jesus’ miracles were quite central 

to His earthly mission. As acts of healing and deliverance, they were part 

of His mission to initiate God’s Kingdom in the world. And by performing 

these miracles by His own power (unlike the earlier prophets who 

invoked the power of God), Jesus demonstrated His divine authority 

and validated His claim as Emmanuel (“God with us”). 

Since this claim is the very question we are exploring in this unit, we 

must investigate the historical evidence for Jesus’ miracles. As with the 

Resurrection, the evidence is more extensive than one might initially 

assume. 

The Marriage at Cana, by Gerard David. 

150 Apologetics I: The Catholic Faith and Science 

© Magis Center

The Distinctiveness of Jesus’ Miracles 

The first point to note is that Jesus’ miracle-working was acknowledged 

by His contemporaries — several non-Christian sources reference 

it (Flavius Josephus and the Babylonian Talmud), as we saw in 

the previous chapter, and even His enemies did not deny it. Instead, 

they accused Jesus of performing those miracles by demonic power 

— an accusation that is reported not only in the Scriptures, but also 

in the Babylonian Talmud (a non-Christian source). Jesus’ miracles are 

documented extensively in the New Testament, with specific verifiable 

references to public places and times, and are mentioned in the earliest 

kerygmas of the Church. These documented miracles have several 

unique distinctions: 

Aa 

VOCABULARY 

Exorcism: The miraculous 

casting out of demons and 

freeing a person or place 

from the bondage of Satan. 

Jesus performed exorcisms, 

and gave to His Apostles the 

authority to cast out demons 

in His name. 

1. Jesus performed miracles by His own authority and power, 

while all Old Testament prophets prayed to God asking to be 

an intercessor of His power. See for example when Jesus raised 

Jairus’ daughter from the dead, He said, “Little girl, I say to you, 

arise.” (Mark 5:41, emphasis added). Again, when Jesus raised 

the son of the widow of Nain from the dead, He said, “Young 

man, I say to you, arise” (Luke 7:14, emphasis added). Thus, Jesus 

showed that the divine power to heal and raise the dead came 

from Himself alone. This claim not only differentiates Jesus from 

the Old Testament prophets, but also implies His divinity. 

2. Jesus’ miracles have the purpose not only of showing His glory, 

but of actualizing the coming of the Kingdom and the vanquishing 

of evil. Jesus’ miracles always freed someone from the affliction 

of evil, and in some cases — like exorcisms — they freed people 

explicitly from the bondage of Satan. 

3. Jesus was not a wonderworker or magician in either the pagan 

or Jewish sense. A magician, then, as now, is focused on doing 

amazing feats simply to astonish, not to effect change in the 

world, as Jesus did. 

4. Jesus combined teaching with His miracles. Lessons on faith, 

forgiveness of sins, giving thanks to God, and so forth were often 

integrated into the performing of miracles. 

5. The faith/freedom of the recipient of the miracle was integral to 

the miraculous deed. Before working a miracle, Jesus frequently 

asked the recipient if they believed He could heal them. He 

involved their free participation in seeking healing, just as their 

free participation was needed to receive God’s deeper healing 

of salvation. 


Unit 3, Chapter 8: The Historicity of Jesus’ Miracles 

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Jesus’ miracles always have 

the purpose of freeing 

people from suffering, and of 

introducing God’s Kingdom. 

Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee, by Rembrandt van Rijn. 

The unique sense of purpose in Jesus’ miracles is reflected in how 

the Gospels report on them. As we mentioned in the last chapter, the 

Gospels show marked restraint in reporting miracles — there are no inflated 

exaggerations, or frivolous or punitive miracles. This approach 

is unlike pagan accounts of miracles during the same period and unlike 

the Gnostic Gospels, which, for example, show a young Jesus bringing 

clay sparrows to life and striking down a child that bumped into Him. 

Jesus’ miracles have a clear purpose — to deliver people from suffering 

and evil and to introduce God’s Kingdom. 


© Magis Center

The Historicity of Jesus’ Exorcisms and Healings 

Exorcisms and Healings — two kinds of miracles Jesus performed — are 

complementary aspects of Jesus’ mission. Jesus’ exorcisms emphasize 

the vanquishing of evil, while His healings emphasize the presence of 

God’s redeeming love. Both kinds of miracles actualize God’s Kingdom 

in the world. 

Exorcism 

Exorcisms are frequently cited across the Gospels (seven individual 

cases are narrated, in addition to several summary mentions of exorcisms 

in Jesus’ ministry) indicating that they formed a significant part 

of Jesus’ ministry. The accounts are consistent and restrained, featuring 

Jesus’ unique use of His own power, as He Himself commands the 

demons to come out of the people they are afflicting. 

Healing 

References to healing are even more frequent in the Gospels. Fifteen 

unique cases are described, in addition to dozens of references in other 

contexts, including the accusations of the Scribes that Jesus performed 

miracles by the power of demons and the account of Jesus 

conferring the power of healing on His disciples. Again, the accounts of 

these miracles illustrate Jesus exercising His own power. Miracles occur 

typically in response to someone’s petition to help them with a need, 

so the miracle is worked through the faith of the petitioner. It is often 

further linked to a relevant spiritual teaching. Notably, these stories frequently 

contain place names, personal names, and unusual details that 

would be easy for a contemporary reader to verify or refute. We can 

see all these characteristics in perhaps the most dramatic miracles of 

healing Jesus performed — the raising of the dead. 

RAISING THE DEAD 

Raising the dead is rarer in the Gospel accounts than other kinds of 

miracles — there are three specific stories that are reported in three 

different narrative traditions (Mark, Luke, and John), all of which have 

Palestinian origins (showing composition near the time of Jesus) and 

proper names of people, towns, and local details (all of which were verifiable 

when the narratives were circulated). The miraculous raising of 

the dead in these accounts should be distinguished from Jesus’ own 

Resurrection. They are not a transformation like the Resurrection, but 

simply a restoration of the person’s former corporeal state. They are 

Miracles occur 

typically in 

response to 

someone’s 

petition to 

help them 

with a need, so 

the miracle is 

worked through 

the faith of the 

petitioner. 



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also temporary, where spiritual resurrection is eternal. Despite these 

differences, the incidents of raising the dead are significant in demonstrating 

Jesus’ power over life and death (and thus illustrating His divinity, 

since this power is reserved to God alone). 

THE RAISING OF JAIRUS’ DAUGHTER (MARK 5:21–43) 

Jairus, a synagogue leader, asked Jesus to heal his sick daughter. On 

their way, news came that the daughter had died and Jairus should not 

waste Jesus’ time. Jesus persuaded Jairus to continue, however, and 

He brought the daughter to life. The historicity of this story is supported 

by its local and verifiable details, such as including a high-ranking official 

by name. As with other Gospel stories, the strict reporting does not 

shy away from embarrassing and disturbing elements — when Jesus arrived 

at the house full of mourners and announced His intent to raise 

the girl, they laughed Him to scorn and He had them removed from the 

house. Why would this detail be reported by a Christian author if it were 

not true? Furthermore, the narratives have several Semitisms (Hebrew 

or Aramaic expressions), such as “Talitha koum,” that show an ancient 

Palestinian origin (indicative of Jesus’ time, but not the time when the 

Gospels were written). 

THE SON OF THE WIDOW OF NAIN (LUKE 7:11–17) 

Jesus encountered a funeral procession in the small village of Nain — a 

widow was burying her only son. Jesus was moved with compassion for 

her and, stopping the procession, told the young man to rise. Again, details 

of the story favor its being historical rather than invented. Many idiosyncratic 

terms in the story are not found elsewhere in the Gospel and 

are thus unlikely to have been invented by the writer. How would the 

writer know and include specific details of this remote village, such as its 

gate (a fact which has recently been confirmed by archaeology)? Also, 

one must question why a writer would single out such a small obscure 

village by name for a made-up miracle. At that size, everyone in town 

would know whether such an unusual miracle had happened, and if it 

had not happened, undoubtedly refuted it. This would have led to loss 

of credibility and reputation on the part of the Apostles, which evidently 

did not happen. 

LAZARUS (JOHN 11:1–44) 

The raising of Lazarus is perhaps the most well-known account of Jesus 

raising the dead. This narrative recounts Jesus raising a man four days 

after his death. Like the other accounts, it contains verifiable local 


© Magis Center

Raising of Jairus Daughter, Fresco in the Church Saint Augustine’s, Kilburn. 

details — naming both Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary, and 

the region, Bethany, where the story takes place. And like the other accounts, 

it demonstrates Jesus raising the dead through the power of 

His own command, calling Lazarus to “come out” from the tomb. 

As we said at the outset, the question of Jesus’ miracles is significant 

both because it demonstrates His identity as Emmanuel (“God 

with us”), and because it forms an active part of His mission to establish 

the Kingdom of God on earth. How did Jesus continue that mission 

after He had ascended to Heaven? We turn now to the unique gift that 

Jesus conferred on the early Church — the gift of His Holy Spirit. 

Mark’s account of the raising 

of Jairus’s daughter includes 

local, verifiable details. 

Jesus’ Gift of the Holy Spirit 

We have discussed how the early Church was spurred to action by the 

Resurrection, filled with enthusiasm and outreach right at the point 

when other messianic movements would normally have disbanded. But 

the Early Church grew into a worldwide movement because it also animated 

others, in part by continuing Jesus’ mission of healing and miracles. 

Whereas Jesus had performed miracles through His own power, 

His disciples now performed miracles in Jesus’ name. Jesus had 



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Charismata: St. Paul’s term 

for the visible gifts of the Holy 

Spirit; a term that refers to a 

gratuitous gift for the good of 

another. 

promised to send the Holy Spirit upon His disciples, and it was the power 

of the Holy Spirit to which they attributed their new ability to work 

miracles. 

Looking through the account of the early years of Christianity, as 

laid out in the New Testament’s Acts of the Apostles, we find there 

were three kinds of powerful experiences in the early Church that the 

disciples attributed to the power of God: healing and miracles, prophesy, 

and ecstatic experiences (such as glossolalia [speaking in tongues] 

and visions). 

St. Paul also discusses these experiences in some of his letters in 

the New Testament. The term he uses for these visible gifts of the Spirit 

is “charismata,” (1 Corinthians 12:4–6) a term that refers to a gratuitous 

gift for the good of another — in this case, God’s gratuitous gift of salvation. 

Paul makes it clear that these wonders are always done through 

the power of God (in the name of Jesus) and are intended to lead people 

to conversion. These experiences illustrate that the early Church 

St. Paul emphasized that the 

Holy Spirit’s gifts build up 

the Church and strengthen 

personal conversion. 

The Apostle Paul, by Rembrandt van Rijn. 


© Magis Center

saw the charisms as explicit manifestations of God’s power through His 

Spirit, and that the Risen Jesus is seen to be the source of this power/ 

Spirit (because the Spirit works through His name). 

Paul emphasizes that the visible gifts of the Spirit are not an end in 

themselves but should lead people to the interior gifts of the Spirit that 

produce deep conversion of heart. The Holy Spirit is not just a force that 

can create powerful healings and miracles, but also leads us to personal 

conversion revealed in the experience of the Spirit’s gifts: prayer, hope, 

trust, love, zeal, peace, and joy. These gifts are less dramatic than the 

miraculous visible gifts, but are ultimately more important for building 

the Church and strengthening our own personal conversion, the lasting 

legacy that Christ’s gift of the Holy Spirit is intended to bring us. 

Conclusion 

Thus far, in Unit 3, we have encountered four significant clues in our 

investigation of the evidence for Jesus as the unconditionally loving 

“God with us” (Emmanuel): 

1. His unconditional love — He preached about the unconditional 

love of God, His Father (Abba), and He demonstrated this 

special agapē love in His willingness to sacrifice Himself totally 

for all humankind. 

The Holy 

Spirit leads us 

to personal 

conversion 

revealed in the 

experience of 

the Spirit’s gifts: 

prayer, hope, 

trust, love, zeal, 

peace, and joy. 

2. His Resurrection in a glorious spiritual body. 

3. The miraculous exorcisms, healings, and raising of the dead done 

by His own authority and Power. 

4. His gift of the Holy Spirit, enabling the apostolic church to 

perform miracles in His name. Recall the question that the 

early Church converts would have asked themselves before 

converting, “If the Apostles were lying about Jesus’ Resurrection 

and divinity, why would God work miracles through their hands 

by the power of His Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus?” It would 

certainly be against God’s best interests to have done so if the 

Apostles were lying. However, the miracles were quite powerful 

and real, and so early converts believed that the Apostles were 

telling the truth about the Resurrection and glory and the divinity 

of Jesus.. 

These various forms of complementary evidence give strong reasons 

to conclude that Jesus is the unconditionally loving Emmanuel, 

“God with us.” But, in the next two chapters, we must consider a few 

additional pieces of evidence for Christ. 



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Focus and Reflection Questions 

1 What was the purpose of Jesus’ miracles? How were His miracles different from those of earlier 

prophets? 

2 How is Jesus different from a magician or wonderworker? 

3 What was integral for the recipients of Jesus’ miracles? How did Jesus show this when He spoke to 

them? 

4 How do the Gnostic accounts of miracles differ from the Gospel accounts? 

5 What are two complementary actions of Jesus’ mission and what do they emphasize? 

6 How does Jesus show His power over demons? 

7 How many unique instances of miraculous healing are mentioned in the Gospels? How do we know 

that there were more? 

8 What is an example from the Gospels of Jesus raising another person from the dead? What detail in 

the Gospel account supports it being an authentic occurrence? 

9 How are the stories of Jesus raising people from the dead different from His own Resurrection? 

10 How did Christ choose to continue His mission after the Resurrection? What gift did He give to 

accomplish this? 

11 How did the disciples perform miracles and healings? 

12 What were the three powerful experiences in the Early Church that the disciples attributed to the 

power of God? 

13 What is the true purpose of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit? 


© Magis Center

Straight to the Source 

ADDITIONAL READINGS FROM PRIMARY SOURCES 

Catechism of the Catholic Church 547–550 

547 Jesus accompanies his words with many “mighty works and wonders and signs”, which manifest 

that the kingdom is present in him and attest that he was the promised Messiah. 

548 The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has sent him. They invite belief in him. To those 

who turn to him in faith, he grants what they ask. So miracles strengthen faith in the One who does his 

Father’s works; they bear witness that he is the Son of God. But his miracles can also be occasions for 

“offense”; they are not intended to satisfy people’s curiosity or desire for magic. Despite his evident 

miracles some people reject Jesus; he is even accused of acting by the power of demons. 

549 By freeing some individuals from the earthly evils of hunger, injustice, illness and death, Jesus performed 

messianic signs. Nevertheless he did not come to abolish all evils here below, but to free men 

from the gravest slavery, sin, which thwarts them in their vocation as God’s sons and causes all forms of 

human bondage. 

550 The coming of God’s kingdom means the defeat of Satan’s: “If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast 

out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Jesus’ exorcisms free some individuals 

from the domination of demons. They anticipate Jesus’ great victory over “the ruler of this world”. The 

kingdom of God will be definitively established through Christ’s cross: “God reigned from the wood.” 

1 What did Jesus reveal about Himself through His words, works, signs, and wonders? 

2 If Jesus has saved us, why, according to the Catechism, are there still evils here on earth? 

3 How will the Kingdom of God be “definitively established”? 

Angelus, July 8, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I would like to reflect briefly on this Sunday’s Gospel passage. It is taken from 

the text that has the famous saying “Nemo propheta in patria”. In other words no prophet is properly 

accepted among his own people who watched him grow up (cf. Mk 6:4). Indeed after Jesus, when he 

was about 30 years old, had left Nazareth and had already been traveling about preaching and working 

miracles of healing elsewhere, he once returned to his birthplace and started teaching in the synagogue. 

His fellow citizens “were astonished” by his wisdom, and knowing him as “the son of Mary”, as the carpenter 

who had lived in their midst, instead of welcoming him with faith were shocked and took offense 

(cf. Mk 6:2-3). This reaction is understandable because familiarity at the human level makes it difficult 

to go beyond this in order to be open to the divine dimension. That this son of a carpenter was the Son 

of God was hard for them to believe. Jesus actually takes as an example the experience of the prophets 



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of Israel, who in their own homeland were an object of contempt and identifies himself with them. Due 

to this spiritual closure Jesus “could do no mighty work there [Nazareth], except that he laid his hands 

upon a few sick people and healed them” (Mk 6:5). In fact, Christ’s miracles are not a display of power 

but signs of the love of God that is brought into being wherever it encounters reciprocated human faith. 

Origen writes: “as in the case of material things there exists in some things a natural attraction towards 

some other thing, as in the magnet for iron ... so there is an attraction in such faith towards the divine 

power” (Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, 10, 19). It would therefore seem that Jesus—as is said— 

is making sense of the negative welcome he received in Nazareth. Instead, at the end of the account, we 

find a remark that says precisely the opposite. The Evangelist writes that Jesus “marveled because of 

their unbelief” (Mk 6:6). The astonishment of Jesus’ fellow townspeople is matched by his own surprise. 

In a certain sense he too is shocked! Although he knows that no prophet is well accepted in his homeland, 

the closed heart of his people was nevertheless obscure and impenetrable to him: how could they 

fail to recognize the light of the Truth? Why did they not open themselves to the goodness of God who 

deigned to share in our humanity? Effectively Jesus of Nazareth the man is the transparency of God, in 

him God dwells fully. And while we are constantly seeking other signs, other miracles, we do not realize 

that he is the true Sign, God made flesh, he is the greatest miracle in the world: the whole of God’s love 

contained in a human heart, in a man’s face. The One who fully understood this reality was the Virgin 

Mary, who is blessed because she believed (cf. Lk 1:45). Mary was not shocked by her Son: her wonder 

for him was full of faith, full of love and joy, in seeing him so human and at the same time so divine. Let 

us therefore learn from her, our Mother in faith, to recognize in the humanity of Christ the perfect revelation 

of God. 

1 How does Pope Benedict explain the fact that Jesus was not accepted in His own birthplace? 

2 What are Christ’s miracles truly a display of? 

3 What does Pope Benedict say is the greatest miracle of all? Why? 


© Magis Center

Summa Theologica, III, Q. 43, Art. 4, St. Thomas Aquinas, ca. 1225–1274 

I answer that, The miracles which Christ worked were a sufficient proof of His Godhead in three respects. 

First, as to the very nature of the works, which surpassed the entire capability of created power, 

and therefore could not be done save by Divine power. For this reason, the blind man, after his sight 

had been restored, said (Jn 9:32,33): “From the beginning of the world it has not been heard, that any 

man hath opened the eyes of one born blind. Unless this man were of God, he could not do anything.” 

Secondly, as to the way in which He worked miracles–namely, because He worked miracles as though 

of His own power, and not by praying, as others do. Wherefore it is written (Lk 6:19) that “virtue went 

out from Him and healed all.” Whereby it is proved, as Cyril says (Comment. in Lucam) that “He did not 

receive power from another, but being God by nature, He showed His own power over the sick. And this 

is how He worked countless miracles.” Hence on Mt 8:16: “He cast out spirits with His word, and all that 

were sick He healed,” Chrysostom says: “Mark how great a multitude of persons healed, the Evangelists 

pass quickly over, not mentioning one by one ... but in one word traversing an unspeakable sea of miracles.” 

And thus, it was shown that His power was co-equal with that of God the Father, according to Jn 

5:19: “What things soever” the Father “doth, these the Son doth also in like manner”; and, again (Jn 5:21): 

“As the Father raiseth up the dead and giveth life, so the Son also giveth life to whom He will.” Thirdly, 

from the very fact that He taught that He was God; for unless this were true it would not be confirmed 

by miracles worked by Divine power. Hence it was said (Mk 1:27): “What is this new doctrine? For with 

power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” 

1 According to St. Thomas, in what three respects do Christ’s miracles prove that He is God? 

2 Choose one of St. Thomas’s proofs and put it into your own words, as if you were explaining it to a 

friend or family member. 

3 Which of these arguments was most striking to you? Why? 



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