Signs and Miracles

1
Signs and Miracles

• Assessing the Historical Veracity of the Miracle
  Stories in Mark and John

2
Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 1863

• About that time there lived Jesus, a wise man . .
  . . For he was one who wrought surprising feats
  and was a teacher of such people as accept the
  truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of
  the Greeks . . . . When Pilate, upon hearing him
  accused by men of the highest standing amongst
  us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who
  had in the first place come to love him did not
  give up their affection for him . . . . And the
  tribe of Christians, so called after him, has
  still to this day not disappeared.

3
The Return of Elijah The First Sign

• For Behold, the day comes, burning like an oven,
  when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be
  destroyed. . . But for you who fear my name the
  sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in
  its/his wings . . . And you shall tread down the
  wicked . . . on the day when I act, says the Lord
  of hosts. . . . Behold, I will send you Elijah
  the prophet before the great and terrible day of
  the Lord comes.
  Malachi 4 1-5

4
Dead Sea Scrolls Fragment 4Q521

• . . . The heavens and the earth will listen to
  his Messiah . . . Over the poor His spirit will
  hover and will renew the faithful with his power
  . . . He who liberates the captives, restores
  sight to the blind, straightens the bent . . .
  And the Lord (Adonai) will accomplish glorious
  things which have never been accomplished . .
  For He will heal the wounded, revive the dead,
  and bring good news to the poor.

5
Galilee had a long tradition of wonder-working
charismatics

• The OT prophets Elijah and Elisha
• Hanina ben Dosa and Honi the Circle Drawer were
  contemporaries of Jesus.
• A son of God was anyone who was so holy that
  his prayers could heal others without going
  through the elaborate (and costly) Temple
  rituals.
• The Traditional Healing Formula the appeal of
  the supplicant the public prayer of the healer
  (missing from NT stories), and the test of faith.

6
Healing the Gerasene Demonic

• Mark 5 1 20 a man with an unclean spirit
  lived among the tombs . . . No one could bind
  him, even with a chain. What have you to do
  with me Jesus, Son of the Most High God? . . . My
  name is Legion, for we are many. And he begged
  him not to send him out of the country . . . Let
  us enter the herd of swine. The herd of 2,000
  pigs rushed down to the sea and were drowned.

7
Alternate Versions

• Luke 8 26-39 has a slightly abbreviated version
  of the same story, except that it says it took
  place in the land of the Gergasenes.
• Matthew 8 28-34 has an even more abbreviated
  version. Two fierce demoniacs lived amongst the
  tombs . . . What have you to do with us, O Son
  of God? Jesus said, Go to their request.

8
A Miracle or Apocalyptic Expectation?

• Was Jesus supposed to drive the Roman legion,
  those filthy swine, into the sea? The same word
  in Aramaic means to attack or enter into.
• Geographical as well as cultural problems
• Too many additional details in Marks version not
  found in Luke or Matthew.
• Mark uses exorcisms to advance his theological
  agenda. No OT parallels no demons in John
  unclean spirits in Luke.

9
Galilean Miracles in Mark

• Mark 1 29-31 Jesus heals Peters mother-in law
  of a fever.
• Marl 2 1-12 The paralytic man lowered through
  the roof. Were the healing words Your sins are
  forgiven or Rise, take up your pallet and go
  home?
• Mark 5 25-34 The hemorrhagic woman. Your
  faith has made you well.

10
Embarrassing Miracles in Mark

• Mark 8 22-26 Jesus led the blind man of
  Bethsaida outside the village, spat in his hands,
  and placed them on the blind mans eyes. I can
  see men, but they look like trees walking. It
  takes a second try to com-plete the cure. Dont
  enter the village.
• Mark 731-37 Jesus healed the deaf and dumb man
  of the Decapolis with a poultice of spittle.
  Eph-phatha Be Opened. See Isaiah 355.

11
Miracles from the Oral Tradition

• Mark 5 21-24 and 35-42 Jairus daughter is
  revived from death or coma. Tal-itha cu mi
  Little Lamb, arise.
• Mark 10 46-52 The blind beggar Bartimaeus of
  Jericho. Son of David, have mercy on me.
  Jesus rebuked him. Rabbi, let me have my
  sight. Go your way your faith has made you
  well.

12
Judging Marks Miracles

• When Mark is most confidant about his source he
  includes details about the indivi-dual, the
  location, witnesses, the healing agent, and the
  magic words (in Aramaic).
• Otherwise these details are missing, and the
  miracle story is given a theological bent.
  Problem sometimes a later scribe has invented
  additional details to add credibility to Marks
  story.

13
Transfiguration or Ascension?

• Compare Mark 9 2-8 to Acts 1 6-11. Has a
  resurrection story been recast as a miracle?
• Mark doesnt have any resurrection stories the
  text ends abruptly at the tomb.
• Both stories take place on a mountain with a
  handful of chosen disciples, two angels (Moses
  and Elijah?), an overshadowing cloud, a
  transformed Jesus, and an affirming message from
  Heaven

14
The Historical Test of Plausibility

• No specific symbolic or theological purpose
  i.e. an origin that is more Jewish than
  Christian.
• Historically factual, culturally correct,
  geographically accurate, and linguistically
  linked to Aramaic (not Greek).
• Independent attestation from other sources.
• The incident helps to advance the story line or
  explain future events.
• It might prove embarrassing to the early Church.
  

15
The Seven Signs in John

• John Dominic Crossan and some of the same
  scholars who doubt the overall veracity of the
  rest of John have theorized that the first half
  of it was based upon an early Christian source
  the hypothetical Book of Signs or Signs
  Gospel.
• The author of John uses these signs instead of
  accounts of divine origin, Davidic lineage, or
  angelic proclamation to help underscore his
  belief that Jesus was divinely inspired.

16
Changing Water into Wine (John 2 1-11)

• A Dionysian parallel or a Jewish precedent?
  Moses changed the waters of the Nile into blood
  as a sign of Gods vengeance Jesus changed water
  into wine in a celebration of love.
• Jesus contemporary, Hanina ben Dosa, was reputed
  to have changed vinegar into oil.
• Stone vessels were used for storing water for
  ritual cleansing because they retained their
  purity.
• O woman, what have you to do with me?
• Why use such a homely feat a secret miracle
  as the first Sign of Jesus power?

17
2. Healing the Son of a Capernaum Official (John
4 56-54)

• The second sign appears to be an earlier
  version of the same long distance healing found
  in Q (Luke 7 1-10 / Matthew 8 5-13). An
  un-named official appeals to Jesus because his
  sick son was at the point of death. Jesus
  said, Go, your son will live, and the man
  believed. As the man returned to his home, his
  servants greeted him with the news that his son
  had miraculously recovered at the same hour that
  Jesus had pronounced him healed. Miracle or
  coincidence?

18
Multiple Attestation of the Second Sign

• In John the fact that the official was a
  Gentile probably a Herodian is only implied.
  In Q, he was a Roman centurion.
• In Q, it was his slave, not his son who was at
  the point of death in Luke paralyzed in
  Matthew.
• In Luke, the synagogue elders vouch for him.
• The punch line in Q is Not even in Israel have I
  found such faith.
• Jewish tradition says Hanina ben Dosa healed the
  daughter of Gamaliel in a similar manner.

19
3. Healing the Paralytic at the Sheep Gate Pool
(John 5 1-18)

• A Jerusalem (not a Galilean) miracle at a pool
  with five porticos (Beth-zatha). The man had
  been waiting for a miracle for 38 years. Jesus
  Do you want to be healed? . . . Rise, take up
  your pallet, and walk.
• Archaeologists have recently discovered the
  structure, exactly as John described a
  five-sided building fed by a sluice gate from an
  upper pool of holy water from the Temple.

20
A Healing on the Sabbath

• The man is confronted in the Temple because he
  was carrying his pallet (a form of work). At
  first he didnt know who had healed him, later he
  told them it was Jesus.
• Jesus response to healing on the Sabbath My
  Father is working still, and I am working
  i.e., this was Gods work, not his, exactly as
  many Pharisees argued.

21
4. Feeding the Multitude with Loaves and Fishes
(John 6 1-14)

• Parallels the story in the synoptic gospels (Mark
  6 32-44 and 8 1-10) with only a few additional
  details a Passover feast, the role of Philip
  and Andrew, and barley bread.
• Parallels Moses manna from Heaven (Exodus 16
  31-35) and one of Elishas miracles (2 Kings 4
  42-44).
• I am the bread of life (switch chapter 5 6?).

22
5. Jesus Walks on or Beside the Sea (John 6
16-21)

• The same word (al) in Aramaic means both upon
  and beside.
• Compare Mark 6 45-52 and John 21 2-8. Was
  Marks miracle a resurrection story?
• Johns account has been so badly doctored it is
  hard to tell what the sign was.
• In the Aramaic version, the disciples wanted to
  receive Jesus into the boat, but found they had
  already reached shore. In Western texts, the
  boat was magically whisked to shore once Jesus
  stepped in.

23
Healing the Man Born Blind (John 9 1-12)

• The set up Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his
  parents . . . ?
• A poultice of clay and spittle. A classic test
  of faith Go and wash . . . . A Sabbath
  healing that was unprecedented.
• In the ensuing confrontation, the man declares
  He Jesus is a/the prophet.

24
7. Raising Lazarus from the Dead (John 11
1-44)

• Originally part of a female funereal lament?
  Refrains Lord, if you had been here . . . .
  he has fallen asleep and rise up.
• Parallels one of Elijahs miracles (1 Kings
  1721)
• Essential to the rest of the story in John
• I know that he will rise again in the
  resurrection of the last day a Jewish, not a
  Christian pronouncement. Jesus I am the
  resurrection.

25
Independent Attestation of the Miracle?

• The punch line to Luke16 19-31 If they the
  Jews do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither
  will they be convinced if someone should rise
  from the dead.
• The Secret Gospel of Mark from a letter by
  Clement of Alexandria quotes a passage after Mark
  10 34 that was deleted by the Alexandrian elders.

26

• And they came to Bethany. And a certain woman
  whose brother had died was there. And, coming,
  she prostrated herself before Jesus, and says
  sic to him, Son of David, have mercy on me.
  But the disciples rebuked her. And Jesus, being
  angered, went off with her into the garden where
  the tomb was, and straightaway a cry was heard
  from the tomb. And going near, Jesus rolled away
  the stone from the door of the tomb. And
  straightaway, going in where the youth was, he
  stretched forth his hand and raised him up,
  seizing his hand.

27

• But the youth, looking up him, loved and began
  to beseech him that he might be with him. And
  going out of the tomb, they came into the house
  of the youth, for he was rich. And after six
  days Jesus told him what to do, and in the
  evening the youth comes sic to him, wearing a
  linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained
  with him that night, for Jesus taught him the
  mystery of the kingdom of God. And thence,
  arising, he returned to the other side of the
  Jordan.
• After Mark 10 46 And the sister of the youth
  whom Jesus loved and his mother and Salome were
  there, and Jesus did not receive them.
• Still in Mark 14 51-52 the young man with the
  linen cloth in the Garden of Gethsemane

28
Assessing the Signs in John

• All are rich in details that make them both
  plausible and different from the synoptic
  gospels.
• The three Jerusalem signs and the wedding in
  Cana are told in such detail that they appear to
  come from an eye-witness.
• The three Galilean signs, although rich in
  authentic detail, appear to come instead from a
  secondary source perhaps they were already
  rooted in the oral tradition.
• All are far more Jewish than Christian.

29
Why These Signs and not others?

• Most have a strong Old testament parallel.
• Several appear similar to the healing acts of
  other Galilean holy men (sons of God).
• None are as miraculous as some of the miracles in
  the synoptic gospels.
• Both those present and the reader are almost
  invited to ask, Was this a set-up? a trick? Or
  really a sign of divine authority?
• For John they seem to track his own faith.

30
Do the Signs have a specific message?

• . . . The heavens and the earth will listen to
  his Messiah . . . Over the poor His spirit will
  hover and will renew the faithful with his power
  . . . He who liberates the captives, restores
  sight to the blind, straightens the bent . . .
  And the Lord (Adonai) will accomplish glorious
  things which have never been accomplished . .
  For He will heal the wounded, revive the dead,
  and bring good news to the poor. Dead Sea
  Scrolls Fragment 4Q521