According to the Four Gospels, Jesus performed numerous miracles over the course of his life. He “went about all the cities and villages? healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matthew 9:35), he gave a paralytic the ability to walk, he gave two blind men sight, he
In Mark 7:32-3 , it says, “And they brought him [Jesus] someone who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. ? And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’ And immediately his ears were opened, the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke clearly.”
In Luke 8:5- , it says, “All were weeping and mourning her [a recently deceased child], but he [Jesus] said, ‘Don’t weep. She isn’t dead, but sleeping.’ They were ridiculing him, knowing that she was dead. But he put them all outside, and taking her by the hand, he called, saying, ‘Child, arise!’ Her spirit returned, and she rose up immediately.”
And in Luke 7:11-1 , it says, “?there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And many of the people of the city were with her. ? And he [Jesus] came and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, Arise.’ And he who was dead sat up and began to speak.”
The Four Gospels also add that reports of Jesus’s miracles spread throughout the region, making Jesus quite famous during the latter part of his life.*
But if Jesus did in fact perform the various miracles described in the Four Gospels, how come he remained the leader of a rather small relatively powerless religious sect during his life, and was ultimately executed not long after becoming a healer and religious leade?
And while he was being persecuted, put on trial, and executed, wouldn’t some of the people he healed have spoken up in his favor and said “This man brought me back to life” or “This man gave me sight.”
Could the miracle-working Jesus of the Four Gospels really have lived the life he did, and died the way he did?