Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Draft of Fishes on stained glass, Canterbury Cathedral

PD Photo: The Miraculous Draft of Fishes (first miracle), stained glass (detail), Ministry of Jesus window, Canterbury Cathedral, one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site in Kent.

There are several categories of miracles performed by Jesus Christ, such as healing people, controlling nature, exorcisms, resurrection of the dead, and the transfiguration of Jesus himself.

The canonical Gospels report cases of Jesus healing the blind. Jesus curing a leper appears in Matthew (8:1-4), Mark (1:40-45) and Luke (5:12-16). Healing the paralytic at Capernaum appears in Matthew (9:1-8), Mark (2:1-12) and Luke (5:17-26). Curing a bleeding woman appears in Mark (5:21-43), Matthew (9:18-26) and Luke (8:40-56). Jesus healing an infirm woman appears in Luke (13:10-17).

Healing a man with dropsy is described in Luke (14:1-6) and healing the deaf mute of Decapolis miracle appears in the Gospel of Mark (7:31-37). Healing the Centurion's servant is in Matthew (8:5-13) and Luke (7:1-10). Jesus healing in the land of Gennesaret appears in Matthew (14:34-36) and Mark (6:53-56).

According to the three Synoptic Gospels, Jesus performed many exorcisms (not mentioned in the Gospel of John). The major exorcism accounts detailed include exorcising at the Synagogue in Capernaum, exorcising the Gerasenes demonic, exorcising the Canaanite woman's daughter, exorcising a blind and mute man, exorcising a boy possessed by a demon, etc.

All four canonical Gospels report Jesus' own resurrection from the dead but the Gospels also relate three other occasions on which Jesus calls a dead person back to life: daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:21-43), the young man from Nain (Luke 7:11-17), and the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-44).

The Gospels include accounts concerning Jesus' power over nature such as turning water into wine, the miracle of draught of fishes, walking on water, calming the storm, finding a coin in the fish's mouth, cursing a fig tree (it withered on Jesus’ curse). There are two miracles on feeding multitudes of people: The Feeding of the 5000 (also known as ‘the miracle of the five loaves and two fish’), and The Feeding of the 4000 (also known as ‘the miracle of the seven loaves and fishes’).

These are just a short account of some of the miracles, and if all the miracles of Jesus are detailed, there wont be space anywhere on earth to store them, some writers claim. There are also many debates about the genuineness of these miracles, and these were going on for centuries, and will go on as long as religion and faith exist on earth.

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