The Miracles of Jesus
The Miracles of Jesus
The Gospels record Jesus turning water into wine, feeding thousands, walking on water, cleansing lepers, opening blind eyes, casting out demons, and raising the dead. John calls them signs: they are not mere wonders but windows into who Jesus is and into the Kingdom he brings. Below is a guide to each recorded miracle, grouped by kind, with the Gospel account in its own words, what it shows about Jesus, and honest answers to the questions people ask.
Signs, not just wonders
John never calls the miracles simply ‘wonders’. He calls them signs, because each one points beyond itself to who Jesus is and to the Kingdom he brings, where the sick are healed, the hungry are fed, and death itself is undone. They are acts of compassion as much as of power. Remarkably, even the Qur’an affirms that Jesus healed the blind and the leper and raised the dead, always by God’s permission (Qur’an 5:110); Christians see in the same works a window onto Jesus’ own divine identity.
Signs of provision
At a wedding in Cana of Galilee the wine ran out, and Jesus turned about a hundred and twenty gallons of water into wine so good the master of the feast marveled.
By the Lake of Gennesaret, Jesus taught the crowds from Simon's boat, then told the weary fisherman to launch into the deep and let down his nets.
This is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels.
This is a distinct, second feeding, separate from the five thousand.
In Capernaum the collectors of the temple tax asked whether Jesus paid it.
After the resurrection, seven disciples went fishing on the Sea of Tiberias and caught nothing all night.
Power over nature
After a long day of teaching in parables, Jesus and his disciples set out across the Sea of Galilee at evening.
After feeding the five thousand, Jesus sent his disciples ahead by boat and withdrew alone to pray.
Six days after promising his disciples would see the kingdom, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain.
During his final week, Jesus left Bethany hungry and saw a fig tree in leaf.
Healings
In John 4:46-54, a royal official from Capernaum came to Jesus in Cana because his son was dying.
In Mark 1:40-45, a man with leprosy came to Jesus, knelt, and said, 'If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
In Mark 2:1-12, a paralyzed man's four friends could not get through the crowd, so they dug open the roof and lowered him down in front of Jesus.
In Matthew 8:5-13, a Roman centurion came to Jesus in Capernaum because his servant lay paralyzed and in torment.
In Mark 5:25-34, a woman who had bled for twelve years, spent all she had on physicians, and only grown worse, pressed through the crowd to touch the edge of Jesus' clothes.
In the region of the Decapolis, east of the Sea of Galilee, people brought Jesus a man who was deaf and could barely speak, begging him to lay a hand on him.
At Bethsaida people brought Jesus a blind man and begged him to touch him.
In Jerusalem Jesus saw a man blind from birth.
On the way to Jerusalem, along the border of Samaria and Galilee, ten lepers met Jesus, standing far off as the law required, and cried for mercy.
As Jesus left Jericho on his last road to Jerusalem, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus sat by the highway.
At a pool in Jerusalem called Bethesda lay a man who had been ill for thirty and eight years, waiting for water he could never reach in time.
While teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath, Jesus saw a woman who had been bent double for eighteen years and could not straighten herself.
Jesus went to eat at the house of a chief Pharisee on the sabbath, and they watched him closely.
In a synagogue Jesus met a man with a withered hand, and his critics watched to see whether he would heal on the sabbath so they could accuse him.
As Judas led an armed crowd to arrest Jesus in Gethsemane, one of his followers drew a sword and cut off the right ear of the high priest's servant.
Deliverance
On the far, Gentile side of the Sea of Galilee, in the country of the Gadarenes, a man lived among the tombs, possessed by many unclean spirits.
In the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon, beyond Israel's borders, a Greek woman of Syrophoenician birth heard that Jesus was near and came and fell at his feet, begging him to free her daughter from an unclean spirit.
Coming down from the mountain of Transfiguration, Jesus found a crowd and an argument.
Raising the dead
At the town gate of Nain, Jesus met a funeral coming out.
By the Sea of Galilee, a synagogue ruler named Jairus fell at Jesus' feet and begged him to heal his little daughter, who was dying.
In Bethany near Jerusalem, Jesus' friend Lazarus fell sick and died.
Where to go from here
For the one-page overview, see the miracles of Jesus in the Jesus hub. To weigh the harder question honestly, read miracles and the laws of nature. To meet the One who did them, begin with Meet Jesus or read his words and acts. The greatest sign of all is his own resurrection.
Frequently asked questions
- How many miracles did Jesus perform?
- The Gospels record around three dozen individual miracles by name, including healings, exorcisms, power over nature, and raising the dead, while John notes that Jesus did many other signs not written down (John 20:30). They fall into healings, deliverances, nature miracles, and resurrections.
- What is the greatest miracle of Jesus?
- Christians hold that the greatest is his own resurrection from the dead, the sign on which the whole faith rests (1 Corinthians 15). Among his earlier works, the feeding of the five thousand is the only one recorded in all four Gospels.
- Why did Jesus perform miracles?
- Out of compassion, and as signs. John says they were written 'that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God' (John 20:31). They reveal his identity and preview the Kingdom of God, where sickness, hunger, and death are undone.
Come and see him for yourself
The miracles were never meant to end in wonder. The same Jesus who touched the leper and stilled the sea still draws near to everyone who comes to him with an open heart. Read his own words, watch what he does, and see. The Gospel of John is a gentle place to begin.
Meet JesusRead the Gospel of JohnThe resurrectionJesus Christ is Lord.