14 February 1999
Mike Tueller
One of the advantages of studying a relatively small work, like the New Testament, is that you can sometimes have lessons that focus rather sharply on particular topics. Today's lesson, on miracles, is the first of a number of those more focused lessons (others coming up include lessons on parables and the Sabbath).
A lesson of this type allows us a little more opportunity to build the structure of the lesson ourselves in class, rather than following a structure laid out in the scriptures. (For that matter, since the main reading for today is in Mark, the term "structure" can be applied only somewhat loosely, the same way Ravel's Bolero can be said to have structure.)
Just one more note before we dive in: if you haven't already done the day's reading, or even if you have, I advise you to read the first four chapters of Mark straight through at one sitting in a different translation. You won't find any real differences in teaching, but you will find a difference in tone, one which is surely going to be closer to the rough-hewn writing of Mark himself. This will especially be the case if you read a translation specifically designed to preserve the style (as opposed to the actual words) of the original Greek. My favorite translation of Mark is the Beck translation (which, unfortunately, also simplifies books as complex as John, so it's not much good for anything besides Mark), but there are plenty of others out there. As you read, notice the breathless pacing, with Jesus continually on the run from ever-increasing crowds, giving stern warnings not to tell about His miracles, and finally escaping by sea. Mark is nothing if not exciting.
Let's begin!
1. Miracles: What do we think of them?
Assuming that we've done the reading (or at least that we have a basic familiarity with the miracles of Christ), what sort of miracles does He do? (Primarily, Jesus's miracles are mitzvahs--that is to say, they are designed to help other people. The great majority are healings, exorcisms, and resurrections, along with provision of food, which seems to fall in the same category. There are some which are just "wonders," like the cursing of the fig tree [Matt. 21:18-22; Mark 11:12-14, 20-26] and the provision of wine at Cana [John 2:1-11].)
What, then, is the purpose or purposes of these miracles? (I'll entertain any suggestions, but there seem to be just two primary reasons; see below.)
 | Help people (seems obvious)
| Prove divinity, leading to salvation for those who believe through them (as asserted by John 20:30-31; contrast Matt. 12:39)
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And what possible problems are there with performing miracles? What might be the adverse effects? (As answers are given, write them on the board. If answers are given which match the below answers, read the scripture listed there.)
| The "proof" of divinity might not make a long-lasting or deep impression (Read John 6:26--people follow Jesus hoping for a free handout of more loaves and fishes; the "miracle" portion is secondary.)| The assiduous pursuit of miracles by crowds may drown out the more important message of the gospel. | Two scriptural lines should be followed here:
Miracles might easily be attributed to forces of evil or to madness (in Jesus's day, the same thing), rather than to good. (We frequently do this ourselves in the case of speaking in tongues--see Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith pp. 162, 212.) Read Mark 3:21-22. In reading these verses, note two things: 1) "his friends" in verse 21 is probably better translated "his family"; and 2) footnote a in verse 21, "out of his senses" is more or less correct; the word is exestê, closely related to our word "ecstasy," and implying the bizarre rituals of mystery religions, or even demonic possession. The scribes didn't get the idea that Jesus had a demon on their own: His family thought so first.
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It is presumably for all these reasons that Jesus, in Matthew, pronounced a very sensible philosophy about miracles as performance:
Read Matt. 12:39.
2. The synoptic view: Jesus takes measures to avoid the problems.
Jesus's first miracle in Mark, the casting out of a demon, is done in a clearly public setting, the synagogue (Mark 1:21-28). As a result of this one miracle, people start talking about Him throughout Galilee, and the crowds begin already. Although Jesus continues to do miracles, He very soon begins to take some measures to avoid the problems we noted above. Let's look at them.
Jesus's next miracle is a healing of Simon's mother-in-law of a fever (Mark 1:29-31). This miracle is performed in a house, which automatically lends some more privacy to the event. (Write on board: "Perform miracles in private space.") Of course, Jesus couldn't always get those conditions.
Let's see what happens next:
Read Mark 1:32-34.
What steps is Jesus taking? (He doesn't allow the demons to proclaim who He is. [Write this on the board.])
Let's digress for just a moment here. Why, specifically, do you think doesn't Jesus allow this? (I have my own ideas, but would be happy to entertain more. Some possibilities are that faith is stronger when built by individuals rather than heard suddenly from some source which one feels compelled to believe. Another is that the testimony of a devil is a double-edged sword: it may lead to the idea that He "casteth out devils...by the prince of the devils" [Mark 3:22].)
OK, back to the topic at hand. Let's see what Jesus does next. Remember, He was in Simon's house, and the whole city appeared at His door the instant the Sabbath was over (the timing noted in Mark 1:32).
Read Mark 1:35.
What does Jesus do now? (He tries to get away before anyone notices and preach. [Write on the board: "Try to escape crowds."])
Jesus's measures to escape crowds become more extraordinary as time goes on:
Read Mark 3:7-9.
As you can see, Jesus here has begun to attract people from about a fifty mile radius. His solution is to always preach on the seashore, where He has a "getaway car" (OK, actually a boat) waiting for Him at all times.
Jesus's next miracle (i.e., after the healings at Simon's house) is to heal a leper (Mark 1:40-42). After this healing, we see for the first time something that would become characteristic of Jesus's healings:
Read Mark 1:43-44.
What does Jesus do now? (He tries to make sure the person healed won't tell anyone. [Write this on the board.])
Of course, as we read in Mark 1:45, Jesus's efforts in this area fail entirely.
We can understand better why Jesus does this by looking at the one exception to this behavior. In Mark 5, He crosses the Sea of Galilee and casts out a legion of demons from a man on the other side. This is pagan territory, where we would not expect to find Jesus anyway. Let's see what happens next:
Read Mark 5:17-20.
Why the difference? (It seems that Jesus wanted to build faith in better, more lasting ways, whenever He could. However, since He was being thrown out of town, never to return, He needed someone to spread the word, and this healed man was the only real candidate.)
Let's move to one of the last and most amazing episodes episodes in our reading for today, in Mark 5. A ruler of the synagogue comes up to Jesus, asking Him to heal his daughter (Mark 5:22-23). Jesus goes, but is hindered on His way by the crowds, one member of which is healed by touching Him (Mark 5:24-34). In the meantime, the child dies (Mark 5:35). Jesus then does not proclaim that He will raise the dead child, and He certainly does not take this crowd with Him to see Him do it. Let's see what He does.
Read Mark 5:37-43.
Here we see that Jesus took many measures to do this miracle in private:
| He sent away the crowds, taking only four disciples (v. 37).
| He does the miracle inside a house (v. 39).
| He gives a "cover story": she's only asleep (v. 39). (New element; write on the board: "Use a cover story."])
| He throws out the mourners, taking only His four disciples and the child's parents (v. 40).
| He orders them to tell no-one (v. 43).
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Just like we discussed, it seems that Jesus understands that miracles are a shaky basis for lasting faith. They create sensation rather than commitment, and He does everything He can to avoid the problems that accompany this sensation.
Before we pass on to the next point, I ought to ask a question: What implications does Jesus's behavior have for our own attitude toward modern-day miracles? (Many church members have seen miracles of healing. However, they tend to be restrained about them and not talk about them much. This attitude seems to come naturally and, from Jesus's model, it's appropriate: miracles are not the key to persuasion.)
3. John's view: What problems?
(Bart Ehrman's book, cited in full below, lies behind this section.)
Well, now that we've formulated an understanding of miracles from Mark (which is retained consistently in Matthew and Luke), I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that John's attitude is completely different.
John has one healing episode which is very much like the one with Jairus's daughter: Lazarus (John 11:1-45). Bart Ehrman, a New Testament scholar at Chapel Hill, noted the similarities:
In both [stories], a person is ill and a relative goes to Jesus for help. Jesus is delayed from coming right away, so that by the time he arrives the person has already died and is being mourned. Jesus speaks of the person as "sleeping" (a euphemism for death). Those present think that he has come too late and that now he can do nothing, but Jesus approaches the one who has died, speaks some words, and raises the person from the dead. Both accounts end with Jesus's instructions to care for the person's well-being.
Now that we've seen the many similarities, let's read a little to see the differences.
Read John 11:4.
What's going on here? (Jesus openly proclaims a different attitude toward miracles: they are done to glorify God. In the Jairus episode [see Mark 5:24], He keeps silent at this point.)
Read John 11:6.
What is Jesus doing? (He is intentionally waiting for Lazarus to die. His delay in the Jairus episode was totally unintentional.)
In the next few verses, He tells why He does this.
Read John 11:11-15.
Here Jesus speaks plainly; He uses no cover story: "Lazarus is dead." He even says He is glad that Lazarus has died, because now the miracle will be a bigger deal, so His disciples may believe (John 11:15).
Now let's see the actual performance of the miracle. Remember, in the Jairus episode, Jesus took a number of measures to make sure very few people would see it.
Read John 11:40-45.
This treatment is totally different. Jesus talks vocally to God, even explaining that He does so, not because He needs to, but because He wants everyone to hear Him (vv. 41-42). There are crowds present (v. 42, "the people which stand by"), and the result is, not accusations of madness or witchcraft, not shallow belief, as in the synoptic gospels, but rather, "many...believed on him" (v. 45).
I have selected only one episode for comparison, but John consistently treats miracles in this different way.
How can we explain the difference? (There are, I think, two ways. One is to confess that John is simply a different writer, who has a different understanding of the situation. For him, the miracles were convincing, and he doesn't see any problems with miracles as performance. He writes as he understands. This answer must be at least partly right because John refers to miracles as "signs" (sêmeia, e.g., John 11:47), i.e., indicators of His divinity, while the other gospel writers don't describe them in that way. A second way to explain the difference is that Jesus knew His audience: if people were already faithful and ready to believe, a miracle might help, and He would feel free to perform one among them. One could argue that this must be at least partially true, because some of Jesus's miracles in the synoptic gospels are also quite public.)
4. The grand scheme of things: Where miracles fit.
I've saved for the end an episode which helps us place miracles in the grand scheme of things. This episode is in the first few verses of Mark 2. Let me set the scene. Jesus is preaching in a house, and is interrupted by men letting down a paralytic man through the roof. Jesus's first response is unexpected:
Read Mark 2:5.
I don't think we can assume (as has sometimes been done) that this man's paralysis was due to sin. Why, do you think, did Jesus forgive this man's sins first? (Jesus makes forgiveness of sins a higher priority than healing. It is more injurious to the eternal soul [see Matt. 10:28], and was clearly this man's more pressing need.)
Jesus's action was also unexpected to the Pharisees. Let's read their reaction and Jesus's response to them:
Read Mark 2:6-9.
This is a strange conversation. In fact, it's a conversation where we can be sure that something is missing. There are two disconnects. First, the Pharisees would not have said that only God can forgive sins: many mortals had the power to proclaim sins to be forgiven, namely the priests. Jesus appears to be usurping the power of the priests, not the power of God (see Sanders, pp. 273-274). Second, the text says (v. 8) that Jesus understands their complaint: so why doesn't He respond to it? His initial response is not about who has the power to forgive sins (that comes second), but rather about what is "easier" (v. 9). I think now we can see what's missing (see McGarvey ad loc.): the Pharisees think that the only reason Jesus didn't heal this man is because He didn't really have the power. Remember, this is the first time in Mark that the Pharisees are watching. "Aha!" they say, "now that we're here observing, suddenly he only has power to do things, the effects of which we can't see: this is no Messiah!"
Let's now look more carefully at Jesus's question: "[which] is easier...?" Of course, He goes on to heal the man, which makes His point to the Pharisees, that He has the power, but I think a greater point for us is contained in that question: Really, which is easier?
As I look back on my life, there are times when I have been physically sick, and times when I have committed sins and been spiritually sick. I was fortunate enough to recover from both (not that I don't still have things to work on...). I'm sure the same is the case for everyone else. As you think back on your recovery from sickness or sin, which is more important? Which really seems more miraculous? I have to say that, for me, forgiveness of sin, when I feel it, is always a miracle, one I would give anything for. Healing of illness, as thankful as I am for it, doesn't hold a candle to forgiveness.
When you compare what Jesus had to do to heal people (not much it seems, just a laying on of hands [e.g., Mark 1:41] or a word [e.g., Mark 3:5]) to what He had to do to give us forgiveness (the entire atonement process--see D & C 18:16-19), we see what is really easier, and we can be more thankful for the greatest of His gifts to us. Miracles are good, but the "miracle of forgiveness" is the ultimate good.
Sources consulted for this lesson include:
Ehrman, Bart. 1997. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 138Ð141.
McGarvey, J. W. and Philip Y. Pendleton. 1914. The Fourfold Gospel.
http://ccel.wheaton.edu/m/mcgarvey/ffg/FFG000.HTM.
Sanders, E. P. 1985. Jesus and Judaism. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, pp. 273-274.
Last update: 2 February 1999
