Parables & Miracles of Jesus
71 articles · Jun 2025
Long-form studies gathered under this theme, newest first. Each one links back to the passages it works from.
Showing 71 of 71 articles
- The Parable of the Sower and the Four Soils The sower's four soils — wayside, stony, thorny and good ground — in one of the few parables Jesus interprets Himself, where only the ground differs.
- The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares Matthew 13:24–30 with its own interpretation at verse 36: tares sown while men slept, servants told to let both grow, and a harvest that ends the field.
- The Parable of the Mustard Seed The least of seeds becoming greatest among herbs — the kingdom growing from a beginning that looked negligible, and what the birds in the branches signify.
- The Parable of the Leaven Leaven means corruption everywhere else in Scripture, and Matthew 13:33 is read that way here: three measures of meal, a woman hiding it, and a warning.
- The Parable of the Hidden Treasure Matthew 13:44 in a single verse — a man finds treasure in another man's field, hides it again, and for joy sells all he has to buy the ground it lies in.
- The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price A merchant seeking goodly pearls, not a man who stumbled on treasure: Matthew 13:45–46, and what the difference between these two brief parables carries.
- The Parable of the Dragnet The dragnet closes Matthew 13's seven kingdom parables — a net gathering of every kind, the sorting done on the shore, and the angels who are sent to do it.
- The Parable of the Lost Sheep Ninety and nine sheep left in the wilderness while one is sought until found — Luke 15's opening parable, the shoulders home, and joy in heaven over one sinner.
- The Parable of the Lost Coin The middle of Luke 15's three: one drachma of ten, a lit candle, a swept house, and a woman searching for the lost thing that cannot know it is lost.
- The Parable of the Prodigal Son (or the Loving Father) Luke 15's third lost thing is a son, and the parable is named for the wrong man — the father's running, the best robe, and the plea made outside the house.
- The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant Peter asked whether seven times was enough; the servant in the answer owed a debt no man could pay, then took a fellowservant by the throat over a hundred pence.
- The Parable of the Good Samaritan Asked who is my neighbour, Jesus reversed the question to who acted as one — the Jericho road, the oil and wine, the two pence, and Christ as the Samaritan.
- The Parable of the Friend at Midnight Luke 11:5–8, told straight after the model prayer: three loaves asked at midnight, and importunity, not friendship, is what finally opens the door.
- The Parable of the Rich Fool Prompted by a man wanting his share of an inheritance, the parable answers covetousness — larger barns, a soul required that night, and goods left behind.
- The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree The fig tree had three years without fruit and the dresser asked for one more — Luke 13:6–9, prompted by Pilate's Galileans and the tower in Siloam.
- The Parable of the Great Banquet Three excuses for the banquet — a piece of ground, five yoke of oxen, a wife — and Luke 14:15–24 sends the servant twice more, to the streets and the highways.
- The Parable of the Shrewd Manager Luke 16:1–13, the parable that appears to commend dishonesty: what the lord actually praised, and why Christ calls it the mammon of unrighteousness.
- The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Lazarus at the gate and the rich man in torment — Luke 16:19–31, the great gulf fixed, and the answer that they have Moses and the prophets already.
- The Parable of the Persistent Widow Luke 18:1 states the purpose before the parable begins: men ought always to pray and not faint. The unjust judge is the contrast to God, not the picture.
- The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector A Pharisee and a publican went up into the temple to pray — Luke 18:9–14, spoken to those that trusted in themselves, and only one went home justified.
- The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard Workers hired at dawn and at the eleventh hour receive the same penny — Matthew 20:1–16 answers Peter's question about reward, and the murmuring it drew.
- The Parable of the Two Sons Spoken against Pharisees murmuring that He received sinners — two sons, two ways of being lost, and a father who goes out of the house to each of them.
- The Parable of the Wicked Tenants The tenants beat the servants and killed the son — told in the temple to chief priests who perceived it was of them, and the vineyard let out to others.
- The Parable of the Ten Virgins Matthew 25:1–13 turns on oil, not lamps — all ten slumbered, five could not borrow at the cry, and the shut door was answered with I know you not.
- The Parable of the Talents (or Minas) Matthew 25:14–30 and Luke 19:11–27 are two parables, not one: differing sums, differing settings, and in both a servant who hid what he had been given.
- The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats Sheep parted from goats as a shepherd divides them — Matthew 25:31–46 closes the Olivet Discourse, and both sides ask when they saw Him an hungred.
- Why Did Jesus Teach in Parables? Parables both reveal and conceal, and Jesus said so in Matthew 13 citing Isaiah: the same story that opens truth to a seeker closes it against a scoffer.
- Turning Water into Wine at Cana Six waterpots of stone at Cana, set there for purifying — John 2:1–11 is called the beginning of miracles, and the governor tasted wine kept until last.
- Healing the Royal Official's Son A royal official's son lay dying at Capernaum while his father stood in Cana — John 4:46–54, and a fever that left at the very hour he was told to go his way.
- The First Miraculous Catch of Fish Luke 5:1–11 — nets let down in daylight after a night of nothing, a catch that broke them, and Peter asking Christ to depart from a sinful man.
- Casting a Demon out of a Man in the Synagogue Mark 1:21–28 in the Capernaum synagogue: the unclean spirit names Him the Holy One of God, is commanded to hold its peace, and His fame spreads abroad.
- Healing Peter's Mother-in-Law Peter's mother-in-law lay sick of a fever — Mark 1:29–31 with Matthew 8 and Luke 4: a hand taken, the fever rebuked, and a woman who rose and ministered.
- Healing the Leper Leviticus 13 required the leper to cry Unclean; Jesus put forth His hand and touched him, then sent him to the priest with the offering Moses commanded.
- Healing the Centurion's Servant A Roman officer reasoning from military authority that a word at a distance would serve — the faith Jesus said He had not found, no, not in Israel.
- Healing the Paralytic Lowered Through the Roof Mark 2:1–12 in Capernaum: four men uncover a roof, and forgiveness is pronounced first, the healing given as proof that the Son of man may forgive sins.
- Healing the Man with the Withered Hand A Sabbath question put to entrap Him, answered with a sheep fallen into a pit — the hand stretched forth and restored, and Pharisees taking counsel to destroy.
- Raising the Widow's Son at Nain Luke 7:11–17 — two crowds meet at a city gate, a bier is touched, and an only son is delivered to his mother, the first raising Luke's Gospel records.
- Calming the Storm on the Sea of Galilee Mark 4:35–41: asleep on a pillow in the hinder part of the ship, He rebukes wind and sea with Peace, be still, then asks where their faith had gone.
- Healing the Gerasene Demoniac (Legion) Mark 5 in the country of the Gadarenes — chains broken, a name given as Legion, two thousand swine, and a delivered man sent home to tell his friends.
- Healing the Woman with the Issue of Blood Twelve years, all her living spent on physicians, and a touch of the hem — Jesus stopping the press to ask who touched Him, and calling her daughter.
- Raising Jairus's Daughter from the Dead Mark 5 interrupts one healing with another: a ruler's daughter dying while a woman is healed, then Talitha cumi spoken in a room cleared of mourners.
- Healing Two Blind Men Matthew records two such healings — 9:27–31, where they follow Him into the house, and 20:29–34 near Jericho, where the crowd bids them hold their peace.
- Healing a Mute Man Matthew 9:32–33, Matthew 12, Mark 7 and Matthew 15 each record speech restored, and in most of them the muteness is bound to a spirit rather than a tongue.
- Healing the Man at the Pool of Bethesda Five porches at Bethesda and a man infirm thirty and eight years, with none to put him into the water — told to rise, take up his bed and walk on a Sabbath.
- Healing the Syrophoenician Woman's Daughter Jesus withdrew beyond Israel's border and could not be hid — the mother's cry, the silence that met it, the exchange about crumbs, and a daughter healed.
- Healing a Deaf and Mute Man Mark 7:31–37 in Decapolis: fingers in the ears, spittle, a look to heaven and one word, Ephphatha, followed by a charge to tell no man that went unkept.
- Feeding the 4,000 Feeding four thousand in Gentile Decapolis after three days — seven loaves, a few little fishes, seven baskets left, and why it is not the five thousand.
- Healing the Blind Man at Bethsaida Mark 8:22–26 is the only healing done in stages — men as trees walking, then a second touch, set beside disciples who saw and did not yet understand.
- Healing the Boy with a Demon (at the Transfiguration) Descending from the mount of Transfiguration into a dispute: disciples who could not cast it out, a father's Lord, I believe, and the answer about fasting.
- Finding a Coin in a Fish's Mouth Matthew 17:24–27, tribute money and a king's sons free — Peter sent to cast a hook, and the first fish carrying a piece of money enough for them both.
- Healing the Man Born Blind The man born blind in John 9 — clay and spittle, the pool of Siloam, parents afraid of the synagogue, and answers that grow bolder as the questions harden.
- Healing a Woman Crippled for 18 Years Luke 13:10–17 — bowed together eighteen years and loosed on a Sabbath, with a synagogue ruler answered by the ox and the ass every man leads to water.
- Healing a Man with Dropsy Luke 14:1–6, at a chief Pharisee's table on the Sabbath while they watched Him — a question they would not answer, and the ass fallen into a pit.
- Healing the Ten Lepers Ten lepers cleansed as they went to show themselves to the priests — Luke 17:11–19, and the one Samaritan who turned back was told his faith made him whole.
- Healing Blind Bartimaeus Mark 10:46–52 gives the man a name: a blind beggar at Jericho who would not hold his peace, cast away his garment, and asked to receive his sight.
- Healing the High Priest's Servant's Ear Malchus, struck by Peter's sword at the arrest — the last healing before the cross, and the words about twelve legions of angels that were spoken with it.
- The Second Miraculous Catch of Fish The second miraculous catch, after the resurrection: John 21's hundred fifty and three fishes, a net unbroken, a fire of coals, and three questions to Peter.
- The Nature Miracles of Jesus: What Do They Teach Us? The nature miracles set apart — storms stilled, water walked upon, loaves multiplied, a fig tree withered: works done on creation, and what each declares.
- The Healing Miracles of Jesus: More Than Just Physical Restoration Sight, cleansing, movement and life restored, read as claims rather than kindnesses: evidence of deity, proof of the messianic office, forgiveness pictured.
- The Exorcisms of Jesus: Authority Over Darkness Casting out devils was the kingdom advancing on held ground — the accounts in the Gospels, the spirits that knew Him by name, and the authority He delegated.
- The Resurrection Miracles of Jesus: Power Over Death Three raised before the cross — Jairus's daughter, the widow's son at Nain, Lazarus — then Christ's own rising, and the harvest the New Testament promises.
- Were the Miracles of Jesus Real? Historical Evidence Eyewitness testimony, the non-biblical sources that mention Him, and the point that His enemies disputed the source of His works rather than the works.
- The Purpose of Miracles in the New Testament Miracles in the New Testament carry assigned work: authenticating the Son, confirming the preached word, showing the kingdom present, and meeting real need.
- Comparing the Miracles of Jesus and the Prophets (e.g., Elisha) Elisha's miracles came by petition and borrowed power; Christ's were done on His own authority — the comparison, and what that difference establishes.
- The Miracle of the Incarnation God manifest in the flesh: the prophecies, the virgin birth, and the hypostatic union — truly God and truly man, one Person, neither nature diminished.
- The Miracle of the Resurrection: The Cornerstone of Faith If Christ be not risen, Paul writes, preaching and faith are alike vain — the prophecies, the historical case, and what 1 Corinthians 15 builds upon it.
- The Miracle of Conversion: The Transformed Life Conversion counted among the miracles — dead in trespasses made alive, the Spirit's agency and the Word's instrument, and the evidence a changed life gives.
- The Miracle of the Loaves: A Lesson in God's Abundance Five loaves, two fishes, five thousand men and twelve baskets over — the one miracle all four Gospels record, read for what the leftovers are meant to say.
- The Miracle of Calming the Storm: Peace in Life's Trials The storm on Galilee read for the disciples' fear rather than the wind — why Christ slept, what the rebuke settles about His authority, and where trust fails.
- The Miracle of Walking on Water: Keeping Your Eyes on Jesus Peter asked to be bidden onto the water and sank the moment he looked at the wind: the storm, the step, the doubt, and the hand that caught him.
- The Uniqueness of Jesus' Miracles Prophets and apostles worked wonders by God's power; Jesus worked by His own — the authority, the scope and the motive that set His miracles apart.
Nothing in this collection matches that. Clear the box to see all 71.