APPENDIX A


SPECIFIC MIRACLES REPORTED IN THE FOUR GOSPEL ACCOUNTS



The information for each miracle will be presented as follows:



Miracle 1

Water to wine.
 
Text: Now six stone jars were standing there each holding between 75 and 115 liters. Jesus said to them,
“Fill the jars with water!”
and they filled them to the brim... When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine...(he) called the bridegroom and said to him...
“you have kept the good wine until now.”

   —John 2:6-7,9,10b.

Location: Cana
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: disciples and servants ?= 20
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: Maybe all the guests


Miracle 2

Jesus knew the past of a Samaritan woman at a public well.
 
Text: Jesus said to her,
“Go, call your husband, and come here.”
The woman answered him,
“I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her,
“You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; what you have just said is quite true.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.”

   —John 4:16-19.

Location: Samaria
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: 1


Miracle 3

Jesus heals the son of an official without seeing him.
 
Text: And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick... (he) went to (Jesus) and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. ...Jesus replied,
“You may go. Your son will live.”
The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and departed. While he was still on the way, his servant met him with the news that his boy was living...
“The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.”
Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” so he and all his house believed.

   —John 4:46b,47b,50-52b,53.

Location: Cana
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Household of official ?= 10
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: If short illness ?=30 family and friends


Miracle 4

The healing at the pool of a man who had been ill for 38 years.
 
Text: One man was there who had been ill thirty-eight years. ...Jesus asked him,
“Do you want to get well?”
The sick man answered him,
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool”...
Then Jesus said to him,
“Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
At once the man was cured. He picked up his mat and walked.

   —John 5:5,6b-7a,8-9.

Location: Jerusalem
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: The disciples
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: Long illness-many would know ?= 200


Miracle 5

Miraculous catch of fish.
 
Text: ...Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God... He got into one of the boats...and taught the people from the boat.

When he finished speaking he said to Simon,

“Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
...When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

   —Luke 5:1,3-4,6.

Location: City of Capernaum
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: 4 fishermen
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: Crowd ?= 100


Miracle 6

Jesus drives out an evil spirit.
 
Text: Just then a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out,
“What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
“Be quiet!”
said Jesus sternly.
“Come out of him!”
The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

   —Mark 1:23-26

Location: Capernaum
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Synagogue full ?= 200
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: Others in town ?= 200


Miracle 7

Peter's mother-in-law in bed with a fever.
Many healed in Capernaum.
 
Text: So he (Jesus) went to her, took her hand, and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

   —Mark 1:31

Location: Capernaum
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Some disciples and family ?= 10
 
Text: That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. he also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

   —Mark 1:32-34

Location: Capernaum - Roman troops there. City of ? 4000
Number cured: 1 in 10 of those who came were ill ?= 50
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: ? 500 who came with the ill people
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: ? = 4000 would know at least one ill person


Miracle 8

Jesus heals a leper.
 
Text: A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees,
“If you are willing you can make me clean.”
Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.
“I am willing,”
he said,
“Be clean!”
Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

   —Mark 1:40-42.

Location: Galilee
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: disciples
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: his family & friends ?= 200


Miracle 9

Jesus heals a paralytic as proof that he, the Son of Man, has power to forgive sins.
 
Text: Some men came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. ...When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
“Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,
“Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
...“but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”
he said to the paralytic,
“I say to you rise, take up your pallet and go home.”
And he rose...

   —Mark 2:3,5-7,10-12a.

Location: Capernaum
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: House and yard full ?= 150
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: ?= 200


Miracle 10

Jesus heals a man's shriveled hand on the Sabbath.
 
Text: And he (Jesus) said to the man who had the shriveled hand,
“Stand up in front of everyone.”
Then Jesus asked them,
“Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”
But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man,
“Stretch out your hand.”
He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

   —Mark 3:3-5.

Location: Capernaum
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Synagogue full ?= 100
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: long illness ?= 200

People were coming from as far as Tyre and Sidon to be healed.
 
Text: When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon... For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.

Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out,

“You are the Son of God.”

   —Mark 3:8,10-11.

Number cured: 1 of 10 ill ?= 200
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: ?= 2000 came
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: 100 people knew each healed person ?= 20,000


Miracle 11

Healing of the centurion's servant without seeing him.
 
Text: Now a centurion had a slave who was dear to him, who was sick and at the point of death. When he heard of Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews... And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him,
“Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof... But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and that one ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said,

“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith!”
Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant healed.

   —Luke 7:2-3a,6-10.

Location: Capernaum
Number cured: 1
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: Centurion's household ?= 10


Miracle 12

Jesus raises a widow's son from the dead.
 
Text: As he approached the town gate a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow... Then he went up and touched the coffin... He said,
“Young man, I say to you, get up!”
The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

   —Luke 7:12,14-15.

Location: Nain
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Poor widow, small funeral ?= 50
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: Other people ?= 50


Miracle 13

Jesus calms the storm.
 
Text: And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat...but he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion...He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,
“Peace, be still!”
and the wind ceased and there was a great calm. And they (the disciples) were terrified and asked each other,
“Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?”

   —Mark 4:37-38a,39,41.

Location: Sea of Galilee
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: His disciples


Miracle 14

Healing of a demon-possessed man.
 
Text: ...There met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit... He had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him... When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice,
“What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me”,
for Jesus was saying to him,
“Come out of this man, you evil spirit!”
...the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs... (which) rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

(The town people) saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

   —Mark 5:2b,4,6-8,13,15.

Location: Gerasa (Jordan)
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: The disciples
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: Whole area ?= 500


Miracle 15

Jairus' daughter raised from the dead.
 
Text: Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name...and pleaded earnestly with him,
“My little daughter is dying...”
So Jesus went with him. (Jesus) went in and said to them,
“Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”
But they laughed at him.

...(He) went in where the child was. He took her hand and said to her,

Talitha Koum!
which means, “Little girl, get up!”

Immediately the girl stood up and walked around. She was 12...

   —Mark 5:22-23a,24b,39-40,41-42b.

Location: Capernaum
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Disciples and parents
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: important person ?= 400


Miracle 16

A woman with a twelve year history of bleeding healed.
 
Text: A woman was there who had had a flow of blood for twelve years...she touched his cloak... Immediately her bleeding stopped... At once Jesus realized that power had gone out of him.

He said to her,

“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease!”

   —Mark 5:25,27b,29a,30a,34

Location: Capernaum
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: ? crowd of 50
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: poor woman ?= 100


Miracle 17

Two blind men are healed.
 
Text: And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him crying out,
“Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them,
“Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
“Yes, Lord,”
they replied. Then he touched their eyes... and their sight was restored.

   —Matthew 9:27-29a,30a.

Location: ?outside Capernaum.
Number cured: 2
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: House full ?= 20
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: ?100 x 2 = 200


Miracle 18

Jesus immediately afterward casts out a demon.
 
Text: While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus, and when the demon was driven out, the man who had been dumb spoke.

The crowd was amazed and said,

“Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

   —Matthew 9:32-33.

Location: Same village
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Crowd of ?= 100
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: whole village ?= 500


Miracle 19

Feeding 5000 people with five loaves and two fish.
 
Text: Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee... When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip,
“Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”

Philip answered him, “Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite.”

Another of his disciples... spoke up,

“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish...”

Jesus said,

“Have the people sit down.”
There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

..they gathered (the left over pieces) and filled twelve baskets...

After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say,

“Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

   —John 6:1,5,7-10,13-14

Then Jesus preached to them and said,

“I am the bread of life... For I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of Him who sent me.”

   —John 6:35,38

Location: Near Bethsaida in Jordan
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: 5000 were both witnesses and partakers of the miraculous food.


Miracle 20

Jesus walks on the water.
 
Text: When evening came, his disciples... got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum... When they had rowed five or six kilometers, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water, and they were terrified.

But he said to them,

“It is I; don't be afraid.”
Then they were willing to take him into the boat...

   —John 6:16,19-21a.

Location: Sea of Galilee.
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: His disciples

All who touched him were healed.
 
Text: When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret... People recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was, and everywhere he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces.

They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.


   —Mark 7:53-56.

Location: Region of Gennesaret
Number cured: 1 of 10 ?= 400
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: ?= 4000 from 20 villages
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: 400 x 100 friends ?= 40,000


Miracle 21

Jesus cures the daughter of a Greek woman.
 
Text: Jesus... went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret... A woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came... (she) was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter...

Then he told her,

“For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”
She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

   —Mark 7:24-26,29-30.

Location: In a house in Tyre.
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: House full ?= 20
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: ?200


Miracle 22

Healing of a deaf and dumb man.
 
Text: Then (Jesus) returned... through the region of the Decapolis, and they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech... and taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him,
Eph-phata!
that is “Be opened!”

And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.

   —Mark 7:31-32a,33-35

Location: Decapolis—large region of Jordan
Number cured: 1
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: ?=200
Great Crowds east of sea of Galilee.
 
Text: And Jesus... passed along the Sea of Galilee, and... up on the mountain, and sat down there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the dumb, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them... and they glorified God.

   —Matthew 15:29-30,31b.

Location: Decapolis
Number cured: 1 of 10 ?= 200
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Great crowd ?= 2000
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: each one x 100 ?= 20,000


Miracle 23

Feeding of the 4000.
 
Text: Again a great crowd had gathered... and he commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people... and they had a few small fish... and they ate and were satisfied, and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And they were about 4000 people.

   —Mark 8:1a,6-7a,8-9

Location: Decapolis
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Great crowd of 4000 witnessed and ate.


Miracle 24

A blind man healed.
 
Text: Some people brought to him a blind man...(he) led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands upon him, he asked him,
“Do you see anything?”
And he looked up and said,
“I see men; but they look like trees walking.”
Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes, and he looked intently and was restored, and saw everything clearly.

   —Mark 8:22,23b-25.

Location: Village of Bethsaida.
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: some people ?= 10
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: 100


Miracle 25

Casting out of an epileptic-like demon.
 
Text: (the other disciples) were surrounded by a great crowd... So they brought (the boy). When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion...He rebuked the evil spirit.
“You deaf and dumb spirit,”
he said,
“I command you come out of him and never enter him again!”
The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out...But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet and he stood up.

   —Mark 9:20,25b-26a,27.

Location: Region of Caesarea-Philippi toward Damascus
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Great crowd ?= 500-1000
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: 200


Miracle 26

Catching a special fish
 
Text: ...the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked,
“Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?”
“Yes he does”,
he replied. ...Jesus said to him,
“...go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch. Open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

   —Matthew 17:24b-25a,27.

Location: Capernaum
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: 1


Miracle 27

Healing of a man born blind.
 
Text: As he went along he saw a man blind from birth. (he said),
“While I am in the world I am the light of the world.”
Having said this,he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes.
“Go”,
he told him,
“wash in the pool of Siloam”...
So the man went and washed and came home seeing. ...Jesus said,
“For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see...”

   —John 9:1,5-7,39a.

Location: Jerusalem
Number cured: 1
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: Friends + those from whom he begged ?= 300
72 disciples traveling in pairs also did miracles.
 
Text: After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him...

The seventy-two returned with joy and said,

“Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

   —Luke 10:1,17.

Location: Whole country
Number cured: 36 pairs x 2 miracles = 72
Number of witnesses who saw the miracles: ? 72 x 100 = 7200


Miracle 28

Healing of a dumb man.
 
Text: Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been dumb spoke, and the crowd was amazed.

   —Luke 11:14.

Location: Region of Judea
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Crowd ?= 100
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: 200


Miracle 29

Crippled woman is healed.
 
Text: On a Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all...

Then he put his hands on her and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

   —Luke 13:11,13.

Location: Region of Judea
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Synagogue full ?= 100
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: 200


Miracle 30

Healing of a man with dropsy.
 
Text: One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee...there in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy... taking hold of the man he healed him and sent him away.

   —Luke 14:1-4

Location: Perea in middle Jordan
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Prominent household ?= 20
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: 200


Miracle 31

Raising of Lazarus who had been dead four days.
 
Text: When Martha [Lazurus' sister] heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him.
“Lord,”
Martha said to Jesus,
“if you had been here, my brother would not have died...”
Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise again.”
Martha answered,
“I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her,
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies...”
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb...
“Take away the stone,”
he said.
“But Lord,”
said Martha...
“by this time he smells, for he has been there four days.”
...Then Jesus looked up and said,
“Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

I know that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

   —John 11:20-25,38a,39,41b-44.

Location: Bethany near Jerusalem
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: the people standing ?= 50
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: 200


Miracle 32

Jesus heals 10 lepers.
 
Text: As (Jesus) was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out...
“Jesus, Master, have pity on us.”
When he saw them, he said,
“Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
And as they went, they were cleansed.

   —Luke 17:12-14

Location: Samaria
Number cured: 10
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: The disciples
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: 10 men x ?100 = 1000


Miracle 33

Two blind men are healed.
 
Text: As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the road side and...they shouted,
“Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

   —Matthew 20:29-30,34.

Location: Jericho
Number cured: 2
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Large Crowd ?= 500
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: 2 men x ?100 = 200


Miracle 34

The fig tree withers as a symbol.
 
Text: The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree,
“May no one ever eat fruit from you again!”
And his disciples heard him say it.

...In the morning as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus,

“Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

   —Mark 11:12-14,20.

Location: Jerusalem
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: The disciples


Miracle 35

Jesus prophesies that Peter will deny him three times.
 
Text: Peter declared,
“Even if all fall away, I will not.”
“I tell you the truth,”
Jesus answered,
“this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
And after a little while again the bystanders said to Peter,
“Certainly you are one of them; for you are a Galilean.”
But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear,
“I do not know this man of whom you speak.”
And immediately the cock crowed a second time. And Peter remembered...and he broke down and wept.

   —Mark 14:29-30,70b-72.

Location: Jerusalem
Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: The disciples


Miracle 36

Jesus heals Malchus, one of those who came to arrest him.
 
Text: While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them... But Jesus said to him,
“Judas, would you betray the Son of man with a kiss?”
And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said,
“No more of this!”
and he touched his ear and healed him.

   —Luke 22:47-48,50-51.

Location: Jerusalem
Number cured: 1
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: Disciples and crowd ?= 50


Miracle 37

Jesus reveals himself after his resurrection from the dead by a miraculous catch of fish.
 
Text: After this Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples... in this way. Simon Peter said to them (the other six disciples),
“I am going fishing.”
They said,
“We will go with you.”
They went out and got into the boat; but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them,
“Children, have you any fish?”
They answered him,
“No”.
He said to them,
“Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”
So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, for the quantity of fish. The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter,
“It is the Lord!”
When they finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
He said to him,
“Yes Lord, you know that I love you.”
(Jesus) said to him,
“Feed my lambs (the believers).”
...After this he said to him,
“Follow me!”

   —John 21:1,3-7a,15,19b.

Location: Lake of Galilee
Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: 7 disciples

In the above accounts there are 37 miracles describing in some detail the healing of 39 different people. There are four passages, plus the healings at the feeding of the five thousand, stating that Jesus healed all who came. By rough estimate, it is proposed that at least 1,000 people were healed in these mass healings.

In addition there were surely as many as 14,500 to 15,000 people who observed these healings, including the 5,000 on one occasion and the 4,000 on another, who actually ate of the multiplied bread as well as witnessing the miracle. Even if we assume that half of the witnesses saw two miracles, that would still leave 11,000 witnesses to the almost 1,000 miracles.

Thirdly there were probably at least another 86,000 people who knew these ill men and women when they were demon possessed or crippled and would be able to see that a healing had taken place, even though they had not been present. If two million people lived in Palestine at that time this would mean that one out of every 20 people had seen a miracle or knew someone who had been healed.

Thus the true believers at the time of Christ had an abundance of confirming signs that Jesus had indeed been sent by the great creator God, Yahweh Elohim.


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