One thing almost everyone knows about Jesus, if they know anything about him at all: He performed miracles. He healed leprosy with a touch, made the blind see and the lame walk, cured every kind of disease, often with just a word–on one occasion, from a word spoken miles away. It was word of these spectacular events, even more than word of his singular teaching, that drew “great crowds” everywhere he went. But it may surprise you to know that the word miracle, or rather its Greek equivalent, is never used in connection with these supernatural happenings. Instead, the word used to designate them is sign.
Our reading this week will be all in the Gospel of Mark, and if you read carefully, you’ll notice that Jesus could not possibly have healed everyone, and not all the healings were accomplished with great fanfare. In fact, he continually told people not to tell how their blindness or lameness or illness had been cured. These “signs” were to testify to his authority, for those who personally witnessed them. Like the Kingdom of Heaven, they were super-powerful, yet semi-secret; motivated by compassion, but also by something else.
To see what that was, download this week’s printable challenge, with scripture passages, thought questions, key verse, and activities:
Bible Reading Challenge Week 38: Messiah – Signs and Wonders
(This is a continuation of a series of posts about the “whole story” of the Bible. I plan to run one every week, on Tuesdays, with a printable PDF. The printable includes a brief 2-3 paragraph introduction, Bible passages to read, a key verse, 5-7 thought/discussion questions, and 2-3 activities for the kids. Here’s the Overview of the entire Bible series.)
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