Miracles of Jesus: Feeding the 4000 men and their families (Matthew 15:29-39, Mark 8:1-10)

During a time when Jesus was in the region of Galilee, large crowds of people gathered before him, bringing people who suffered from a variety of ailments, including being mute, invalid or blind. Jesus miraculously healed them. At one point, there was a large crowd of about 4000 men and their families who had nothing to eat. Jesus miraculously fed them. As explained in the Gospel of Matthew:

Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."

His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"

"How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked.

"Seven," they replied, "and a few small fish."

He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.

Miracles of Jesus: Healing a deaf man with a speech impediment (Mark 7:31-37

After Jesus left the region of Tyre, some people brought to him a man who was deaf and had difficulty speaking. Jesus miraculously healed the man of both ailments. As explained in the Gospel of Mark:

Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means "Be opened!"). At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

Miracles of Jesus: Healing a demon-possessed girl (Matthew 15:21-28, Mark 7:24-30)

When Jesus was in the area of Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile woman approached Jesus and asked him to heal her daughter who was possessed by a demon. After speaking with the woman, he praised her for her faith and told her that her daughter was healed. As explained in the Gospel of Matthew:

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly."

Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.

He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs."

"Yes it is, Lord," she said. "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."

Then Jesus said to her, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed at that moment.

- Matthew 15:21-28, NIV translation.

Whereas Jesus died for the sins of all people, and while any person who has faith in Jesus as the Son of God (as explained in John 3:16-18) will have forgiveness and eternal salvation, Jesus' public ministry was directed primarily at the people of Israel.

The woman referred to Jesus as the "Son of David," perhaps because she realized he is the Messiah. The prophets of the Old Testament had previously revealed that the Messiah would be a descendant of King David, who lived about a thousand years before the time of Jesus. As explained in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus was a descendant of King David.

Miracles of Jesus: Healing of many in Gennesaret (Matthew 14:34-36; Mark 6:53-56)

After Jesus performed the miracle of walking on water, on the Sea of Galilee, he and his disciples anchored their boat on the shore at the town of Gennesaret. The residents there recognized Jesus and went to him to be miraculously healed of various ailments. Even the people who touched Jesus' clothing were healed.

As explained in the Gospel of Mark:

When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever 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 it were healed.

Miracles of Jesus: Jesus walks on water (Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52, John 6:16-21)

As explained in the Gospel of Matthew, which gives the most detailed account of the miracle in comparison to the Gospels of Mark and John:

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
"Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." 

Miracles of Jesus: Feeding 5000 men and their families (Matthew 14:16-21, Mark 6:35-44, Luke 9:12-17, John 6:5-14)

Each of the four Gospels describe the miracle in which Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 men and their families.

As explained in the Gospel of John:

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?" He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

Philip answered him, "It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"

Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"

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

When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.

Miracles of Jesus: Healing a man who was crippled for 38 years (John 5:1-17)

The Gospel of John described a miracle in which Jesus healed a man who had been crippled for 38 years. As explained in John 5:1-4, Jesus met the man, after traveling to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals, at the pool of Bethesda, a place that people went to in the hopes of being healed of their ailments.

As explained in the Gospel of John

One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

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.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "

So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"

The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working."

Miracles of Jesus: Healing a mute man possessed by a demon (Matthew 9:32-33)

After Matthew described a miracle in which Jesus healed two men of blindness (Matthew 9:27-31), Matthew recorded a miracle in which Jesus healed a mute man possessed by a demon:

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 mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."

Miracles of Jesus: Healing two blind men (Matthew 9:27-31)

The Gospel of Matthew recorded a miracle in which Jesus miraculously healed two blind men who followed him, asking for mercy.

As described in the Gospel of Matthew:

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling 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 said, "According to your faith let it be done to you"; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this." But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.