Jesus says it was for the glory of God that the man was born blind. This man's blindness was to reveal God's glory because it was giving a clear display to the people that Jesus was God in the flesh.
There were many miracles that Jesus performed during His earthly life. The most well-known of these miracles is His resurrection. While many of us are familiar with the popular miracles highlighted in countless sermons and devotionals, many of His miracles are often overlooked. Even though they are often glossed over doesn't mean they are not important. All of Jesus' miracles are important, including the ones that we fail to note.
Here are four overlooked miracles in Jesus' earthly ministry:
1. The Healing of the Man with the Shriveled Hand (Matthew 12:9-14)
One overlooked miracle of Jesus was the healing of the man with the shriveled hand. Not many individuals, authors, or theologians tend to talk about this miracle. Since many don't connect it to something larger, this miracle is often skipped. In comparison to raising the dead or walking on water, many individuals don't find the healing of the man with a shriveled hand to be as exciting or eventful.
This miracle should not be overlooked because it is extremely important. It testifies to the healing power of Jesus. No one in all of history and no one even in the present day has the ability to heal someone. We have doctors and nurses, yet they cannot heal someone as Jesus could during His earthly ministry. Jesus simply told the man to stretch out his hand, the man obeyed, and his hand was healed! Jesus didn't even have to touch the man. All the man had to do was obey, and He was healed.
In the greater context of this passage of Scripture, the Pharisees were charging Jesus for doing what was "unlawful" on the Sabbath. The Pharisees had prided themselves in doing absolutely nothing on Sunday. They were trying to trap Jesus in not healing the man or to be disloyal to the Sabbath. The Lord corrects the Pharisees and tells them that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Drawing connection from pulling a mule out of a pit it fell in, Jesus said it was good to do good on the Sabbath. Just as a man would pull his mule, donkey, or ox out of a pit on the Sabbath, it was lawful for Him to heal a sickened man on the Sabbath.
To make His point clear, Jesus heals the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were appalled, yet we can learn much from this overlooked miracle. Jesus heals on the Sabbath and teaches us that there is not a point in doing nothing on the Sabbath. The Pharisees claimed to have zeal for God and for the teachings of the Old Testament, yet they only had zeal for their own sinful wants and desires.
Jesus used this miracle to stress the importance of loving God and others—not loving the rules.
2. The Lady with the Issue of Blood (Luke 8:43-48)
A second overlooked miracle of Jesus during His earthly ministry was the healing of the lady with the issue of blood. Since this is often a taboo subject, it is not commonly talked about. It might be mentioned in women's devotionals, but very rarely is this miracle taught in church. While these issues shouldn't be taboo, we do have to acknowledge that this miracle is often not talked about. This miracle again shows Jesus' amazing healing abilities as the woman tries to touch the end of His cloak and has faith she will be healed.
Jesus is in a large crowd when the woman with the issue of bleeding tries to touch Him. She touches Him, and He immediately knows that power has left Him. He calls out to ask who touched Him, and the woman with the issue of blood immediately confesses it was her and how she thought to herself if she could only but touch Him, she would be healed. The Lord isn't mad or upset with her. Rather, He praises her for her faith and tells her that her faith has made her well.
We can learn from this overlooked miracle how much Jesus appreciates our faith in Him. If the woman didn't have faith in the Lord, she might not have been healed. While we aren't typically healed today in the same way this woman was, we can have faith in Jesus and trust Him with the outcome of all things. The Lord wants us to have faith in Him and to live in accordance with this faith. We need to make sure we are always reaching out to the Lord and growing in His grace, no matter how taboo our season of learning or needs may be.
3. The Healing of the Man Born Blind (John 9:1-38)
A third overlooked miracle of Jesus' earthly life is the healing of the man born blind. This is a life-changing miracle for the man as he had never been able to see. The Pharisees asked Jesus who sinned that the man was born blind. Was it his parents who sinned, or was it the man who sinned? During this time, it was common for individuals to think sickness, such as being born blind, was the result of a curse placed upon them by God. In other words, they believed if you had a sickness, it was due to either your own sin or your parents' sin.
Rather than saying it was the man's or his parents' fault, the Lord says that it was neither of their faults. Instead, Jesus says it was for the glory of God that the man was born blind. This man's blindness was to reveal God's glory because it was giving a clear display to the people that Jesus was God in the flesh. He was healing people and restoring sight to the blind, which could only be done by God Himself. Through Jesus' healing of the man born blind, He was making the clear statement that He was God.
Of course, as we know, the Pharisees failed to accept Jesus as God. We, however, don't have to reject Christ. Through the miracles of the Bible, including the overlooked ones, we can read and see how Jesus is God. Only God Himself could do the things that Jesus was able to do during His earthly life. Each of these overlooked miracles deserves to be looked into because they can help us see more of the divinity of Jesus and His love for His people.
4. The Feeding of the Four Thousand (Matthew 15:32-39)
A fourth overlooked miracle of Jesus' earthly life is the feeding of the four thousand. Most of us think about the feeding of the five thousand when we think of Jesus feeding the multitudes. The feeding of the five thousand is talked about in numerous devotions, books, and Christian textbooks, but not much is said about the feeding of the four thousand. It could be this miracle isn't as spoken about because it is a lesser amount of people compared to the feeding of the five thousand. Sadly, many individuals, theologians, and scholars included, look more into numbers than actual miracles.
Simply because the feeding of the four thousand isn't talked about as much as the feeding of the five thousand doesn't make it any less important. In fact, it is just as important for us to know about this miracle as any other miracle performed by Jesus. The miracle of feeding the four thousand people was done by only seven loaves of bread and a few small fishes. This is an amazing miracle as it attests, once again, to the divinity and power of the Lord. No mere man could feed four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few small fishes.
Through Jesus' miracles, he was able to multiply the bread and the fish in order for everyone to have enough food to eat. If you live in a country where plenty of food is available, this might not be as impactful to you as someone who grew up in poverty and malnourishment. Similar to many countries today, there was poverty during Jesus' earthly ministry, and He was dedicated to helping everyone have enough food, including the poor. This miracle also shows us how much Jesus cares for all people, whether rich or poor.
Photo Credit: ©Pexels/Jonathan Petersson
