Why Did Jesus Perform Miracles?
Open Your Bible
Matthew 11:2-5, Isaiah 61:1-3, John 2:11, Matthew 12:28-42
BY Guest Writer
Scripture Reading: Matthew 11:2-5, Isaiah 61:1-3, John 2:11, Matthew 12:28-42
Most of us have been there. It’s not just painful, but confusingly painful.
Didn’t God hear?
Doesn’t He love me?
Did I not have enough faith?
Why wasn’t it a yes?
These are the questions we ask when the miracle doesn’t come.
Perhaps it was the cancer that wasn’t cured, the chronic illness that never healed, the marriage that couldn’t be saved, or the money that didn’t come through. In the absence of a miracle, these stories about Jesus can be tough to swallow. They can even feel cruel. Why are they here, if not to tease us?
God knows we feel this tension, which is perhaps why He included Matthew 11:2-5 in His perfect Word. Here, John the Baptist asks Jesus if He is, in fact, the “one who is to come”—the Messiah. Jesus answers with a clear allusion to Isaiah 61: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up” (Matthew 11:4-5). He’s essentially saying, “Yes. All the things that were foretold, I am fulfilling them.”
Jesus’ answer to John tells us a lot about the purpose of His miracles: They are a sign of the prophecies fulfilled, a sign that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. They are a sign of His authority, His power, and His glory. And they are a sign of God’s love for us, a sign that we can trust Him.
But here’s what we shouldn’t miss about Jesus’ answer, because John certainly wouldn’t have. Isaiah 61 also says this of the coming Messiah: He will “proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (v.1). It’s a message of hope for prisoners, which is exactly what John was; John received Jesus’ message while sitting in a prison cell. And yet, John the Baptist was never set free. Three chapters later, he’s beheaded. Scripture tells us that when Jesus got word of John the Baptist’s death, “he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself” (Matthew 14:13).
Our God is not indifferent to our pain.
Matthew 11:2-5 contains all the power and the glory and the complexity and confusion of Jesus’ miracles. It attests to Jesus’ divine identity, but it also attests to the reality that miracles don’t always come. In this tension, we learn more about what Jesus’ miracles mean.
Jesus’ miracles weren’t only about Him, but about the Kingdom to come. Tucked into every miracle we can almost hear God whisper, “This is what the Kingdom is like. It’s complete healing, total wholeness, freedom, awe, and joy.” Miracles provide a foretaste of this in-breaking Kingdom, but they were never meant to replace it.
We’ll never have the perfect peace and restoration we desire this side of eternity, but miracles point to the place where we will.
Whenever we read stories of miracles, and grapple with their surpassing mystery, we can do so knowing our God is not casual or removed from our pain. Jesus’ very presence on earth reminds us that He entered into it, experiencing the pain along with us. Jesus joined us in waiting for the Kingdom, longing for the day when the need for miracles will be no more.
Sharon Hodde Miller is a writer, speaker, pastor’s wife, and mom of two boys. She is a regular contributor to Christianity Today and recently completed her Ph.D, which focused on cultivating the gifts of women in the church.
134 thoughts on "Why Did Jesus Perform Miracles?"
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This is a new perspective in that miracles are showing us the kingdom. I’ve always seen miracles as a way for God to point us back to his glory, his sovereign nature, and love for us. And while it is all those things, the reminder that this world is temporal needs to be there. We operate daily as if the world is our forever home. Miracles done and not done, remind us that His glory is seen at His time and we see wholeness in said glory when it does occur. While I don’t proclaim to understand all the mysteries of God, I know that He behaves as a parent. And as a parent, I do not honor every good thing for my child. There are reasons that I have, as a parent think, “While this thing may appear good for my child, it’s not the time”. I am by no means dispensing miracles, but I often think healing and solving everything we ask for (although well intended) isn’t in line with God’s full plan.
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Thank you for this perspective, JB! It speaks to me on a parenting level most immediately, but what a great reminder for when I don’t see things as God sees them. I (as does God) desire to give my children good gifts, but for me there are sometimes physical limitations to the gifts I can give. Sometimes there is a lesson to be learned in the withholding. While I am nowhere near God in my reasoning, I appreciate (well, maybe not always…) that while I don’t understand His reasoning, I know the Lord is parenting me well, no matter what He gives me. Thank you again!
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This is a really helpful perspective, JB! It’s easy to get so attached to our every request that we forget about God’s perfect wisdom as our Heavenly Father.
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He still heals. Oh, the Kingdom of God… Psalm 33:9 … He spoke and it came to be !!
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My heart is overflowing with gratitude for this study. I’m already thanking Him tonite for small progresses in family relationships that before I might have not have acknowledged but today I am observing as a “miracle wink” ;) from God. I am also deeply moved by all your thoughtful comments on today’s readings. I am praying for everyone who needs special requests noted… and for all in this study. Blessings as we go into Day 3!
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This reading plan couldn’t be more perfectly timed. A few weeks ago now, I finally decided to trust in the Lord, and give my life back to Jesus. For the last 15 years or so, I lost my faith and let doubt and fear take over. I questioned whether God was even real, if the Bible was real, and for the reasons mentioned in today’s reading. If he IS real, why is there so much evil in this world? Why doesn’t he answer the most desperate of prayers? Why doesn’t he perform miracles when he could, and we feel like he should?
Today in my MOPS group, a women said something that got me thinking. After describing heart-wrenching loss of her first child, she explained how it caused her to question God, and his ability to perform miracles. What if he doesn’t intervene, because he knows we are faithful? He knows we can handle them, and that regardless of the outcome, we can trust in Him? He doesn’t rejoice in our pain, but he knows the ultimate plan. He sees much more than we do, he loves us and knows that if we trust in Him, we will have peace.
This sentiment has been resonating with me today as I try and process her interpretation. Obviously he has the ultimate control, he knows and sees all, but there is free will, we do live in a broken world, and we too are broken; all factors which can lead to negative experiences, situations, and outcomes. He doesn’t always step in and “fix” the problems that arise due to these variables, but he makes his presence known in the everyday, and I know if I let him, will get me through those times where I am questioning. Easier said than done, I know. But hearing this other person’s experience and interpretation has changed my perspective, and given me hope that I can overcome my doubt, and start this new chapter believing in Him; His goodness, grace, and wisdom.
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Thanks for your perspective- very insightful.
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“Our God is not indifferent to our pain.” Sometimes I just need this simple reminder. Praise to Him for his unconditional and never ending love!
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As I read this devotion today, I can’t fathom the negativity in this world. I am real bad to shut it all out and pretend it doesn’t go on nor happen, but then a little close to home event happens to remind me, yes indeed it is going on more than you want to believe or admit. We are surrounded by the devil…..he is creeping to steal. Steal lives, family, wholeness, faith, truth and commitment. I not only want to lift this world up, but gosh our uprising generations are being faced with such terrible peer pressure and the access that is given to them at such early ages is not helping. Where I live is facing a tremendous epidemic of drug overdosing right now. The heroine is absolutely horendous, but what’s worse is our children are being ultimately affected by this. (Scary) a guy my age today that I went to church with growing up was laid to rest at 34 due to a heroine OD. A father of 3 children, a boyfriend, a son, a brother, cousin, grandson, nephew, friend a guy who had a bright smile on his face. Handed a bad deck of cards for friends and hang out with the wrong crowds. Now gone. All too soon. Jesus, please intervene in this world. Grab a hold of us and shake us! Let us lead our children to fear you, yet love you so! And to have a heart of guilt, give them a concious to know right from wrong…..let us lead them to your word and may they desire to know more or you ! In your name I pray these words, Amen! Lifting up you and yours!
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Reading Isaiah 6:3 again reminds me that God will always bring glory to His name. HIS, not mine.
This is something He’s been teaching me for almost a year now. Last year I realized my boyfriend was battling depression. I immediately started praying about it, encouraging him, and trying to figure out where he could go to get some help. We found a place we both liked and I was relieved when he actually agreed to call… only for him to find out that a former classmate of his worked there. So he was no longer comfortable going there. I couldn’t believe this had fallen through when it had seemed like my prayers were going to be answered so quickly. I continued to pray and looked into other options, but then he lost his job and grew even more hopeless.
Shortly after that, I found out about another doctor and got his direct number. I gave it to my boyfriend and asked him to call, but he was apprehensive and kept putting it off. When he finally did call, he couldn’t get through. Leave a message, I said. But he didn’t want to. I continued to pray. A few weeks later, he finally left a message. I remember feeling so overwhelmed with emotion and thanking God, thinking “Yes, this is definitely it now.”
The doctor never called back. And so there we were, back to square one. I kept praying. Then, I found out that the classmate no longer worked at the place he originally wanted to go to. I felt like God had made a way and immediately told my boyfriend about it. But by this time, he wasn’t too keen on seeing anyone anymore. I remember reading about Jesus going through locked doors to visit His disciples when I did the She Reads Truth Advent study in December. That day as I read that, I felt God deliver a truth and a promise right to my heart – that He’s able to go straight through our closed off hearts and meet us where we are. From that day forward, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that healing would come. I just didn’t know when.
The depression seemed to be getting even worse and in January, my boyfriend told me he was doubting God and didn’t even know what he believed in anymore. I went to sleep that night crying out to God and shaking like a leaf. I felt so strongly that he was experiencing spiritual warfare. All these months, I had been trying so hard to help him, but I knew that God was the only one who could truly do that.
One night a few weeks later, I was caught completely off guard when he broke down during our phone call. He was sobbing and telling me that He needed Jesus, that he knew it was the devil trying to make him believe that he didn’t, and that he was calling this place to make an appointment. He had promised to before, but this time I knew it was different. And he did call.
I was so in awe of God that night because I knew I had witnessed a miracle. I smiled as I went to sleep because I knew it had to happen the way it did – when I least expected it. That’s how God works. He had to make sure it happened when I wasn’t trying to be the fixer because He wanted me to know that it was 100% Him and not me… that He deserved the glory.
I’m so thankful that I serve a God whose ways and thoughts are higher than my own. He doesn’t need my help to perform His miracles – He just needs my trust. If you managed to read all the way to the end of this, I hope it encouraged you to keep praying and trusting. Sometimes when we think God isn’t answering fast enough, He is actually making a way – the best way – for us. Sometimes when a perceived miracle doesn’t pan out, it’s because the best one is still to come. And through all of that, the true miracle happens: we learn to trust God and surrender our hearts to Him.
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Thank you for your beautiful testimony. As a fellow “fixer”, I know how hard it can be to wait for the Lord’s time. I love what you said about the timing being for His glory.
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Beautiful. Hugs and love, sis.
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Today I read my scriptures and the text with a very heavy heart. I learned this afternoon that there was a suicide at a school I used to teach at and hold very dear to my heart. I did not personally know the student, but I am still so close with so many staff members, and former students. Reading “our God is not casual or removed from our pain. Jesus’ very presence on earth reminds us that He entered into it, experiencing the pain along with us. Jesus joined us in waiting for the Kingdom, longing for the day when the need for miracles will be no more.” resigned with me, and will as a say my prayers and sleep tonight. I can’t help but wonder that this child was hoping for a miracle she never received, and was not able to see that miracles she is given daily. Or possibly felt alone, and not knowing she could find peace and refuge in God. My heart breaks at the death of such a young soul, and for the mourning of those around her.
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