Dear friends, I’d like to share with you a small bit of my paper I recently completed examining Jesus’ miracles and what we learn about the Jewish NT worldview by looking at them. Here is the way I introduce the paper:
“Simon, you’ve gotta check this guy out! He’s amazing! I think he might be the One!” Out of breath, Andrew ran up to his brother who was just finishing cleaning his fishing nets after a long night. Simon looked up, searching his little brother’s face. He’d seen Andy get caught up with the latest fads and personalities before, following various religious leaders, but something about him seemed changed. Simon took the bait and asked, “Who are you talking about?”
Andrew just about jumped off the ground that his brother wanted to hear more. “Well, you’ve heard of the young Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth. He invited my buddy and me to be his disciples, and he said we’d see amazing miraculous things if we followed him. I’ve heard stories of those who do miracles, but I was always skeptical. But Jesus is different, in every way!” Andrew hesitated, wondering if he should continue. “During the night I had the most vivid dream of my life. You and I were together with Jesus, watching him as he healed people, cast out demons, calmed a storm on the sea and even raised people from the dead! I know it sounds crazy, and we’ve both heard the stories of other ‘miracle workers’ who turned out to be frauds, but some of the rabbis say these things really happen. In my dream, you and I even started doing some of these same miracles by Jesus’ power. This morning when I shared about my dream with Jesus, he acted like he knew all about it. Simon, I think we need to spend more time with him and find out who he really is. Will you come with me and see if Jesus is the One we’ve been waiting for, the Messiah?”
Friends, I extend to you this same offer. Join me on a journey, investigating Jesus’ miracles and how people of that time responded to them. Then we’ll consider what we can learn about first century Jewish worldview, and finally we’ll touch on a few implications for ministry today, particularly in the African context.
In an effort to clearly understand the flow of this paper, following the opening introduction, explanation of problem statement and some key terms, there will be a treatment analyzing the biblical record of the miracles Jesus did along with some investigation as to the meaning behind the miracles, primarily from looking at the Gospels of Mark and John. Interwoven with this will be some exploration into the responses of first century Jews to Jesus’ miracles and what people of the day thought of this “miracle worker.” This will lead us to consider and make some interpretive suggestions about their varied worldviews. The responses and worldview interpretations are the thrust of the paper, and while there will be thoughts interspersed throughout, more attention will be given near the end to worldview matters. Finally, I will offer some brief implications, based upon findings, to guide ministry, particularly in the context where I work in training African pastors.
If you are interested in reading the full paper, click here: miracles-and-worldview-paper-final.pdf
I must warn you that I just received the report from my professor who was not completely thrilled with the paper. Apparently I have much room to grow in writing publishable, academic papers, although I will say that this is not my goal in going through my program.