Miracles of Jesus: Healing Bartimaeus of blindness (Matthew 20:29-34, Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43)

When Jesus and his disciples had gone to the town of Jericho, a blind beggar called out to Jesus. Jesus miraculously cured him of his blindness. As explained in the Gospel of Mark:

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means "son of Timaeus"), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."

So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see."

"Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

-Mark 10:46-52, NIV translation.

The phrase "Son of David" was a way to refer to the Messiah who had been promised by the prophets of the Old Testament. The Messiah was to be a descendant of King David who had lived about a thousand years before Jesus. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke say that Jesus was a descendant of King David, in addition to proclaiming that he is the promised Messiah.

Matthew mentions that there was a second blind man who also was healed with Bartimaeus.

Next: Miracles of Jesus: The withering fig tree that produced no fruit

Miracles of Jesus: Bringing Lazarus back to life (John 11:1-44)

n John 11:1-44, Jesus miraculously brings a dead man back to life. The man was named Lazarus and he was the brother to two women who were involved with Jesus' ministry. The women were named Martha and Mary. There are many people named Mary in the Bible; this Mary is not the same person as Jesus' mother.

Lazarus had been dead in a tomb for four days before Jesus arrived in the town of Bethany, which was about two miles or three kilometers from Jerusalem. When Jesus arrived, some of the people who were mourning with the sisters questioned whether Jesus, who was able to heal a blind man, could have done something to have prevented Lazarus from dying (John 11:37).

Jesus then went to the tomb that held Lazarus' body:

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said.

"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."

Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew 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.

Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

Miracles of Jesus: Healing 10 men suffering from leprosy (Luke 17:11-19)

While traveling along the border of Samaria, Jesus met a group of people suffering from leprosy and miraculously healed them. One of the men, a Samaritan, returned and thanked Jesus for healing him:

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "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.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him-and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

Miracles of Jesus: Healing a man with dropsy (Luke 14:1-6)

The Gospel of Luke describes a miracle that Jesus performed on the Sabbath, healing a man who suffered from a condition that caused an abnormal swelling of his body:

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.

Then he asked them, "If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?" And they had nothing to say.

Miracles of Jesus: Healing a blind and mute man who was possessed by a demon (Matthew 12:22-23, Luke 11:14)

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke describe a miracle in which a man who was blind and mute was taken to Jesus and Jesus healed him. As explained in the book of Matthew:

Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"

-Matthew 12:22-23, NIV translation.

The phrase "Son of David" was a way to refer to the Messiah who had been promised by the prophets of the Old Testament. The Messiah was to be a descendant of King David who had lived about a thousand years before Jesus. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke say that Jesus was a descendant of King David, in addition to proclaiming that he is the promised Messiah.

Miracles of Jesus: Catching a fish with a coin in its mouth (Matthew 17:24-27)

During a time when Jesus and Peter were in the town of Capernaum, which is in the region of Galilee in the northern part of the Biblical land of Israel, tax collectors approached Peter and asked for taxes for the Temple.

Jesus told Peter to catch a fish and that the first fish he would catch would have enough money in its mouth to pay the taxes for Peter and Jesus. The first fish that he caught had a four-drachma coin in its mouth, enough to pay the taxes.

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?"As explained in the Gospel of Matthew:

"Yes, he does," he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes-from their own children or from others?"

"From others," Peter answered.

"Then the children are exempt," Jesus said to him. "But so that we may not cause offense, 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."