The Three Messianic Miracles

In the year 63 B.C., the Romans conquered the nation of Israel. This conquest fulfilled an important and necessary precondition prophesized in chapter 2 of the Book of Daniel concerning the timing of the arrival of the Messiah. That prophecy stipulated that the Messiah would make his appearance during the fourth kingdom to rule over Israel. Prior to the Roman conquest, Israel had been ruled in succession, by the Babylonians, the Persians, and the Greeks.

This prophecy of Daniel was well known throughout Israel, especially by the rabbis or “teachers” of the law. When the Romans occupied Israel, the rabbis knew the arrival of the Messiah could occur at any time. Fearful that a false messiah would come forward and make an appearance to mislead the Jewish people, they searched the scriptures for any signs that would confirm his arrival. They found these signs written in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah:

Say to the fearful of heart, be strong, do not fear! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then the eyes of the blind will see, and the ears of the deaf be opened; then the lame shall leap like a stag, and the mute tongue sing for joy (Isa 35: 4-6).

This passage clearly states that the Messiah, when made manifest to his people, will perform a series of very specific miracles! Upon reflection of this passage, the rabbis were still quite concerned that these miracles could somehow be performed by someone claiming to be the Messiah. And that would be far more damaging to the faithful than were the false prophets who had previously come forth centuries before.

So they devised three very specific miracles which they felt only the Messiah could perform, that encompassed the miracles referred to in this passage.

The first of these messianic miracles was the curing of a leper in an advanced stage of the disease. Such a person with advanced leprosy would not be able to walk as a result of the ravages of the disease. Leprosy is a progressive disease that no one ever recuperates from. No Israelite had been cured of leprosy since the Israelites entered the Promised Land, some thirteen hundred years before. This messianic miracle would fulfill “the lame shall leap like a stag” in the passage from Isaiah above.

The second of these messianic miracles was the casting out of a demon that was mute. The significance of this miracle is that an exorcist (then as well as today) must first obtain the name of the demon possessing the person before the exorcist can cast that demon out. A mute spirit cannot speak and thus cannot reveal its name; hence no exorcist except the Messiah could cast out such a demon. This messianic miracle would fulfill “and the mute tongue sing for joy” in the passage from Isaiah above.

The third and final messianic miracle was providing sight to a person born blind. While there had been instances where someone had regained their sight after temporarily losing it, no one had ever obtained their sight after they had been born blind. This messianic miracle would fulfill “the eyes of the blind will see” in the passage from Isaiah above.

These three messianic miracles were not only taught to the people by the rabbis prior to Jesus’ manifestation but were also documented, in all likelihood, in the Mishnah. The Mishnah was a collection of famous rabbinic commentaries written on the Hebrew scriptures, and for Jews was second only in authority and importance to those scriptures. The rabbinic writings that pertained to the three messianic miracles further established what the Jewish authorities were to do when these messianic miracles were claimed to have been performed.

Now armed with this knowledge, the Jewish people awaited the arrival of the Messiah. Jesus would commence his public ministry, some ninety years after the Roman conquest of Israel.

Jesus performed the first of these messianic miracles in front of a large crowd of people. A man full of leprosy approached Jesus and said:

Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it. Be made clean.” His leprosy was cleansed immediately. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them (Mt 8: 2-4).

What did Jesus mean when he said, “That will be proof for them?” Jesus, by virtue of performing the first messianic miracle in front of a large crowd, is officially claiming that he is the longed-for Messiah! The reference to “them” refers to the Jewish authorities, especially the members of the Sanhedrin, which was at that time the governing body of the Jewish people.

Imagine the reaction of the priests on duty in the Temple when the man approached them claiming that he had been cured of leprosy. This after no one for thirteen hundred years had done so! Drawings of the layout of Solomon’s Temple which survive to the present day even have a room referred to as the “cleansing the leper room”. There is also the prescribed ritual the priest was to perform when a person healed of leprosy came to the Temple seeking a spiritual cleansing, which covers the entirety of chapter 14 of the Book of Leviticus.

In addition to the actual ritual, it included a thorough investigation to ascertain whether the person truly had leprosy, how and by whom they were cured, and an examination of the body to ensure that the leprosy was no longer present. This investigation yielded proof that the man had indeed been cured of leprosy by Jesus of Nazareth.

As prescribed, a messianic matter was to be brought to the attention of the Sanhedrin. There, the messianic claim by Jesus was discussed and deemed worthy of further investigation. This resulted in the commencement of the period referred to as the “stage of observation.” During this stage a select group of Pharisees and rabbis would closely observe Jesus’ every word and action. In addition, these representatives of the Sanhedrin were not permitted to ask Jesus any questions.

A gospel account detailing this “stage of observation” is recorded in Luke’s Gospel under the heading “The healing of the paralytic.” In the opening verse of that passage, it states:

One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing (Lk 5:17).

Why do you suppose these men, from all over Israel, were in attendance that day? Simply put, they were the select group of Pharisees and rabbis who were to observe Jesus. The place where this took place was overflowing as a result. The four friends of the paralytic had to cut a hole in the roof in order to lower him down in front of Jesus!

Recall that in this gospel account, Jesus first forgives the paralytic man his sins. The reaction of the Pharisees and teachers was introspective as they asked themselves “Who is this who speaks blasphemies?” The text then goes on to state “that Jesus knew their thoughts.” Jesus would go on to prove he had the power to forgive sins by curing the man’s paralysis. The circumstances in this gospel account of the healing of the paralytic substantiate that it occurred during the “stage of observation.”

After a sufficient period of observation had been conducted, this select group would have returned to Jerusalem and reported their observations to the members of the Sanhedrin. This ultimately led the Sanhedrin to declare that this messianic claim by Jesus was significant and a second period, called the “stage of interrogation”, ensued. During this stage, Jesus would be thoroughly interrogated with a barrage of questions concerning his teachings and his claim of Messiahship.

The second messianic miracle, the casting out of a mute spirit from a possessed person, is well documented in chapter 11 of Luke’s Gospel.

He was driving out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute person spoke, and the crowds were amazed. Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives them out (Lk 11:14-15)

The Pharisees and rabbis were so shocked and off-kilter at the sight of this miracle that they blurt out a ridiculous charge. Jesus’ response to this charge was to plainly expose its illogical nature when Jesus said;

Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? (Lk 11:17,19).

At this point, it was clear to Jesus that any hopes he had that the authorities would proclaim him to be the Messiah were dashed. From this point on Jesus taught principally in parables as prophesized by Isaiah;

This is why I speak to them in parables, because ‘they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.’ Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them (Mt 13: 13-14).

This leads us to the third and final messianic miracle, the providing of sight to the man born blind. This miracle is explained in the entirety of chapter 9 of John’s Gospel. The miracle is performed on the Sabbath, which the gospel tells us coincided with the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.

This feast was one of the three great annual feasts (along with Passover and Pentecost) that every male of adult age had to journey to Jerusalem to appear before the Lord in his Holy Temple. And this, regardless of where they lived! The first-century Jewish historian, Josephus wrote that the year-round population of Jerusalem was approximately 400,000 inhabitants. But during the celebration of each of these three high feasts, the city would have had upwards of 2,500,000 occupants as a result.

You may wonder why this Feast is significant to the third messianic miracle. John’s Gospel states, that after mixing clay with his saliva, Jesus smeared the clay on the blind man’s eyes and said to him “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam.” Now it’s important to note that the Pool of Siloam was used during part of the Jewish ritual observed for the Feast of Tabernacles. As a result, it would have drawn a large crowd of people who wished to partake in that part of the ritual.

Imagine the excitement among this large crowd when the man gained his sight before their very eyes! And how that excitement would have intensified upon learning that he had been blind from birth! Surely the Jews would have already heard that  Jesus had previously performed the first two messianic miracles!

The man who once was blind was promptly brought before the Pharisees. What ensued was a strenuous effort on the part of the Pharisees to discredit this miracle. First by claiming it was unlawful because it was performed on the Sabbath, secondly, to deny that the man had previously been blind, and lastly, going so far as to have the man’s parents testify that this man was their son and that he indeed had been born blind. Intimidation under the threat of expulsion from the synagogue was also used upon both the man and his parents to falsify their testimony. Why were the Pharisees so vigorous in their efforts to undermine the validity of this miracle?

In fact, in all of Jesus’ documented miracles, even in the raising of Lazurus, none comes close to demonstrating the level of viciousness and desperation of the Pharisees and rabbis that they expressed at the fulfillment of the second and third messianic miracles.

The irony in this is truly astounding! Think about it for a moment. The very ones who established the criteria of the three messianic miracles in the first place are the ones who vigorously oppose the one who fulfills each of them in turn! And their desperation grows with each passing messianic miracle performed.

Why then were the authorities so hellbent on denying that Jesus was the Messiah? There were several reasons but each of them had at their root cause, the belief that Jesus did not conform to the image of who they felt the Messiah should be. Said another way their pride blinded them to the reality of who stood before them!

Take, for instance, one of their objections to Jesus’ messianic claim was that he held himself out to be the Son of God. And yet, the passage above from Isaiah, which they themselves used in deriving the three messianic miracles, categorically states that “God comes with vindication; with divine recompense, he comes to save you.” In this verse from Isaiah the very meaning of Jesus’ name is revealed. The name Jesus means “God who saves.”

So how did the people, who were taught by the rabbis about these three messianic miracles, deny the messianic claim of Jesus when they knew he had performed all three of the miracles? It’s referred to as the leadership complex. A leadership complex is a sociological phenomenon whereby the people of a given society generally follow their leadership’s decisions. They do so assuming that those in positions of authority have greater knowledge and abilities than they themselves have and further, have the people’s best interests in mind. Sound Familiar?

And so when the Jewish authorities charged Jesus with blasphemy for holding himself out to be God, the majority of the people accepted their leaders’ decision to condemn Jesus to death. This despite their reservations to the contrary.

To be clear, the three messianic miracles were formulated by man, and imposed upon God to fulfill, as a precondition for the Jews to believe in his Messiahship. Jesus could have refused to comply but, to save as many as possible chose to fulfill the three messianic miracles. And despite witnessing these miracles they put him to death! What more could he have done? Oh, the hardness of man’s heart and the tenderness of his Sacred Heart!

I owe a great debt of gratitude to Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum for his extensive work on this subject. His work is the basis for most of the information contained in this article. I found that after having read his work, my understanding of the four gospels changed by virtue of an entirely new perspective. As a result, a new context was opened to me to better enable me to view the life and works of Jesus as expressed in the four gospels. I like many Catholics had never heard of this until I came across his work. One can read his book entitled “Footsteps of the Messiah”, or for a more condensed version read his article entitled “The Three Messianic Miracles” which can be found on the internet, or by contacting him at Ariel Ministries.