Meaning and etymology of miracle. The word miracle in English comes from the Latin word miraculum, which means something amazing, astonishing, extraordinary, and not explainable by natural means. Miracles are distinguished from natural events which are constant and predictable, because miracles are out of the natural order, out of ordinary happenings.

Greek word for miracle. The Greek word most used by the New Testament as miracle is semeion, which is found 77 times, 13 of them in Matthew, 7 in Mark, 10 in Luke and 17 in John. Another Greek word used in the New Testament is teras, which means wonder, as when Jesus said that the false christs show signs and wonders to deceive (Mark 13:22; Matthew 24:24). Related to the word miracle is the Greek verb thaumazo, which is found 43 times in the New Testament and means to be amazed, atonished, as when we read that all marveled about Jesus, because He cast out the demons at Gadara (Mark 5:20).

Synonyms of the word miracle. The New Testament uses other words as synonyms or equivalent to the word miracle; it calls it also sign or signal, in the sense that a miracle is a signal of something divine. It uses also wonder, as we said before, meaning the power behind the miracle; marvel, which represents the amazing side of the event, as happened with the healing of the paralytic: And they were all amazed, saying: We have seen strange things today (Luke 5:20). From all the words to express the meaning and supernatural content of a miraculous fact, the best one is miracle.

The miracles, patrimony of christianity. Miracles have been always a precious patrimony of christianity and, among all of them, the miracle of the resurrection which is the basis of Christian faith. However, all main religions of the world: Judaism, Islamism, Buddhism and Zintoism, they all claim to have miracles. Jesus Himself spoke about the possibility that some people, in His name, would do miraculous signs; Jesus said: False prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders... (Matthew 24:24).

Natural world and extranatural world. In order to understand and to evaluate the miracles which are in the gospels, we have to take into account that, at Jesus' time, the world was not divided —as is the custom today,— into natural world and extranatural or supernatural world; for them everything was "natural," and people were more predisposed to see and to accept "miracles" constantly, because they were ignorant about the extent to which the physical laws were constant, universal, stable, as we know today.

Jesus affirms that, with faith, everybody could do miracles. According to the teachings of Jesus, anybody having faith, could do miracles: Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, —Jesus said,— if you say to this mountain: Be removed and be cast into the sea, it will be done (Matthew 21:21; compare 17:20; Mark 11:23).

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The evangelists believed in miracles. The evangelists were not the exception regarding believing in miracles, because that was the mentality of the time; they saw also as a "normal" thing, that God might use holy and charismatic men, as Jesus was, to do miracles, and they saw miracles within the normal course of events. If magicians were able to do wonders, why not they; although the magicians were aware of the tricks they used.

Today's mentality is very different. It is not possible to analyze the miracles at the time of Jesus with today's criteria; we must see the miraculous events reported in the gospels within the context of its time, and what they meant for the observers then. What two thousand years ago could be seen as a miracle, perhaps could be explained today as a natural phenomenon, and this should not be a surprise for anybody. Miracles are one of the main obstacles many have to accept the gospels; if it would be accepted that some of the miraculous narratives of the gospels were simply natural phenomena, explainable by natural forces, the obstacle would be smaller.

Jesus' miracles. More than thirty miracles are reported in the gospels, and John says that Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book... if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books... (John 20:30 and 21:25). And, although the last phrase could be seen as an exaggeration, it does give us the knowledge that Jesus made many other miraculous signs which were not written.

Reaction of the contemporaries. Reading the gospel one can observe that, although Jesus made so many miracles, still people did not believe in Him. Why? Because people saw Jesus' miracles as something "normal," and not really as something amazing as they are shown in the gospels? At first glance one could think that, if God's emissary would have done all that is written about Jesus in the gospels, people would have followed Him without hesitation. That didn't happen; on the contrary, Jesus Himself marveled because of their unbelief (Mark 6:6); and He began to upbraid the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent (Matthew 11:20). To such a degree was their unbelief that they condemned Him to die.

Not many disciples and followers. It does not seem that there is a proportion between the miracles made by Jesus and the faith they aroused in Him. His disciples were few, they were never convinced, and at the end they left Him; it was only in face of the resurrection that they truly believed in Him, and not because of other miracles. He had a few more sympathizers, but we do not read that crowds of people recognized Him as the Messiah, much less the true Son of God. There were the demons, not the crowds, who said: What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? (Matthew 8:29; Mark 5:7). It was only after Jesus walked on the sea, that the disciples said: Truly, You are the Son of God (Matthew 14:33); although Mark, who refers to the same event, does not mention the confession of the apostles, which makes one think that this statement could have been Matthew's amplification. (Compare Mark 6:45-51).

Miracles did create some wonder. Some Jews, amazed in face of Jesus' miracles, wondered: Could this be the Son of David (Matthew 12:23); and some others said: When the Christ comes, will He do more signs that these which this Man has done? (John 7:31). But in spite of these positive, isolated signs, it can not be said that Jesus' miracles gave success to His evangelizing mission. His enemies, on their side, did not deny the miraculous facts, but they attributed them to the demons: This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons (Matthew 12:24).

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Miracles in front of science. Science teaches that natural laws are constant and are executed invariably. Ciceron said at his time: "If something happens it is because it is natural, not a miracle." Science says that miracles are explained by causes of which we are still unaware. As science progresses it is more difficult to prove events as really miraculous, because many phenomena can be explained by mere natural causes.

What the critics think. Many critics think that, as the gospels show little positive reaction to Jesus' miracles, that their narratives have been "inflated," exaggerated, or that they shouldn't be interpreted literally. Other narratives —some critics say,— could have been created by the evangelists, as a kind of allegory to present a teaching. Some of the healings could be explained as natural, psychosomatic reactions, as may be observed today. Regarding phenomena in nature it could be that the apostles had confounded illusion with reality, and some of them could be explained as a mere natural coincidence; that is, what happened was going to happen anyway.

The point of view of faith. From the point of view of faith miracles are possible because, whoever created the natural order, is able to suspend it; this means, therefore, that miracles are by definition an act of faith in a divine intervention. Without faith miracles can not be perceived, because a miracle is, essentially, a sign of God and a supernatural fact, which could not be explained by natural forces but only as an act of God.

Jesus demanded faith to make miracles. The requisite demanded by Jesus to make miracles was faith. Do not be afraid; only believe, —Jesus said to Jairus (Mark 5:36); and to the father of the son who had a mute spirit, Jesus said to him: If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23). Jesus also said to the apostles when they were unable to heal, that it was precisely because of their unbelief: If you have faith as a mustard seed... nothing will be impossible for you (Matthew 17:20).

Theological purpose of the miracle. Every true miracle has a theological aim, that is, has a supernatural motive and purpose. Moses' miracles before Pharaoh, for instance, were the credentials for Moses that he was speaking on behalf of God (Exodus 7 to 11); Jesus' miracles were the sign that He was the Messiah and that the kingdom of God had come, as Jesus said to the messengers of John the Baptist: Go and tell John the things which you hear and see (Matthew 11:4; Luke 7:22). God does not make miracles by caprice; when the Pharisees asked Jesus a sign from heaven, He didn't want to please them because they asked from curiosity, not by faith (Mark 8:11-12; Matthew 16:1).

Supernatural motive of the miracle. When God suspends the natural order He does so, for a supernatural motive, He does so for Himself; this is more important than the miraculous fact itself, that is, what is important in a miracle is what God wants to tell with the miracle. When John, for instance, refers to the miracles of Jesus, he says: These signs are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (John 20:31); and when Jesus wanted to heal the paralytic, He joined the spiritual healing with the physical, saying: Son, your sins are forgiven you (Mark 2:5), to show that the physical miracle was ordained to the spiritual healing.

Jesus does not want his miracles to be revealed. We read several times in the gospels that Jesus didn't want His miraculous deeds to be revealed: He healed them all, and He warned them not to make Him known (Matthew 12:15, 16; Mark 5:43). His wondrous deeds were not the important thing, but that they would believe that the kingdom of God had come and repent.

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Classification of the miracles of Jesus. Jesus' miracles could be classified as follows: a) miracles of healing; b) exorcisms; c) miracles in nature; and d) miracles over the dead. The miracles of Jesus are enumerated below according to the preceding classification, following Mark's order, and showing the parallel places of the other evangelists. The gospel of Mark is usually preferred for quotations from the gospels, because it was the first to be written and the least subjected to future interpolations.

The basis of christianity are not the miracles. We should emphasize that the credibility of christianity as a religion is not founded on the miracles reported in the gospels; this is absolutely secondary for the credibility of christianity. It has been said before that nobody is Christian because he or she believes that Jesus changed the water into wine, or walked on the sea, or resurrected Lazarus. It was said also that nobody stops being a Christian because he or she considers improbable one or several of the wonders written about Jesus.

The resurrection is the miracle that is at the origin of christianity. The basis of christianity or of being a Christian is the resurrection. This was the gospel that the early Christians heard, as we read in Paul to Corinthians (15:1-8), although Peter did mention the miracles, wonders and signs which God did through Him in his first preaching the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:22), and when he evangelized Cornelius (Acts 10:38).

-----------------------------------------------	------Mark------	-----Matthew-----	-----Luke-----	-----John-----
1. Miracles of healing
Peter's Mother-in-Law................	1:29-31	8:14-15	4:38-39
Cleansing of the Leper...............	1:40-45	8:2-4	5:12-14
Healing of the Paralytic............	2:1-12	9:1-8	5:17-26
Healing of the Withered hand..	3:1-6	12:10-14	6:6-11
Nobleman's Son healed.............				4:46-54
The paralytic of Bethesda.........				5:1-16
Healing of the Flow of Blood...	5:25-34	9:20-22	8:43-48
Healing of the Deaf Mute..........	7:31-37	15:29-31
Centurion's Servant...................		8:5-13	7:1-10
Blind Man at Bethsaida..............	8:22-26
The Man born Blind....................				9:1-41
Two blind Men healed...............		9:27-31
Blind Bartimaeus healed............	10:46-52	20:29-34	18:35-43
Woman with Spirit of infirmity			13:10-17
Man with Dropsy Healed.........		14:1-6
Ten Lepers cleansed..................			17:11-19
Marcus' strucken ear healed....			22:49-51	18:10-11
2. Exorcisms
Unclean spirit at the synagogue	1:21-28		4:33-37
Possessed Man at Gadara...........	5:1-20	8:28-34	8:26-37
Daughter of Syrophoenisian......	7:24-30	15:21-28
The tormented boy......................	9:14-29	17:14-21	9:37-42
The Mute man...............................		9:32-34
Blind Demon-Possessed.............		12:22	11:14
3. Miracles in nature
Water Turned into Wine.............				2:1-11
Wind and Wave Obey.................	4:35-41	8:23-27	8:22-25
Miraculous Fishing.....................		5:1-11
Five Thousand Feeding.............	6:35-44	14:13-21	9:10-17	6:5-13
The Walking on the Sea..............	6:47-52	14:22-32		6:16-21
Feeding of Four Thousand........	8:1-9	15:32-39
Fig Tree Withered.......................	11:12..26	21:19-21
Piece of money in the Fish.......		17:24-27
Other miraculous Fishing..........				21:6-8
4. Miracles over the dead
Jairus' Daughter.........................	5:22...43	9:18-26	8:41-56
Son of Naim's Widow................			7:11-17
Resurrection of Lazarus...........				11:1-44

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