Download: Miracles and Misunderstanding

After feeding the 5,000, Jesus sends the disciples ahead by boat while he prays alone. During the night, he walks on the water toward them, calms their fear, and joins them in the boat, astonishing them.

At Gennesaret, people bring the sick to Jesus, believing that even touching his cloak can heal them — and many are healed.

This episode underlines the spread of Jesus’ fame and the popular, almost superstitious, expectations around him. It’s a bridge scene showing how the crowds respond to his power.

God’s healing power works through Jesus, emphasizing his compassion. But it also raises questions about the crowd’s faith — are they seeking God or just the miraculous?

The Pharisees criticize Jesus’ disciples for eating with unwashed hands. Jesus rebukes them for focusing on human traditions while neglecting God’s commands. He teaches that defilement comes from within the heart, not through external things.

Jesus redefines purity, focusing on inner moral corruption rather than ritual observance. This prepares the way for the inclusion of Gentiles and a shift from old covenant practices to the new covenant, heart-centered righteousness.

A Gentile woman begs Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter. At first, Jesus seems to refuse, speaking of Israel’s priority. But her persistent faith leads him to heal her child.

This episode challenges traditional Jewish-Gentile boundaries and anticipates the expansion of the good news and the power of God’s kingdom beyond Israel.

Faith, not ethnicity or genealogy, opens the door to God’s blessings. Jesus’ initial refusal tests the woman’s persistence, and her attitude and reply hints at the forthcoming inclusion of believing Gentiles as God’s people too.

In the Decapolis, Jesus heals a man who cannot hear or speak by touching the man and using a single word (“Ephphatha,” meaning “Be opened!”), leading to amazement among the people.

This healing reflects Isaiah’s prophecies (e.g., Isa. 35:5–6) about the coming Messianic Age when the deaf hear and the mute speak. It’s another sign pointing to Jesus’ messianic role and the power of God’s kingdom that is working through him.

Jesus fulfills messianic hopes and prophecies, showing the restorative power of God’s kingdom.

A large crowd gathers, and Jesus, moved with compassion, multiplies seven loaves and a few fish to feed them all, with leftovers.

This second feeding miracle (after the feeding of 5,000) emphasizes Jesus’ care for Gentile crowds (in the Decapolis region). It mirrors God’s provision in the wilderness for Israel during the time of the exodus from Egypt.

Jesus provides abundantly for all people (not just Israelites), foreshadowing the inclusion of Gentiles in God’s plan. It also reinforces Jesus’ identity as the new Moses, providing “bread” for God’s people.

Pharisees demand a sign from heaven to test Jesus. He refuses, sighing deeply at their lack of faith, and then just departs and leaves them.

The Jewish religious leaders demand proof from heaven, but all the while when Jesus is teaching and doing miracles, they are remaining spiritually blind. This reflects the opposition Jesus faces and sets up the growing tension with the religious authorities.

True faith does not come from signs but from humility to perceive what God is doing. Jesus critiques their hardened hearts that demand miracles while ignoring God’s clear work right in front of them.

In the boat, Jesus warns the disciples about the “yeast of the Pharisees and Herod” — their corrupting influence. The disciples misunderstand Jesus; they think he’s talking about bread, revealing their spiritual dullness too.

This scene functions as a metaphorical teaching moment. “Yeast” (or “leaven”) symbolizes the spreading, corrupting influence of unbelief and hypocrisy, which the Pharisees and Herod exemplify.

Thus, Jesus calls his followers to spiritual alertness. Even his own disciples are slow to understand, showing that insight comes not automatically, but by truly listening and seeing what God is doing through Jesus’ teaching and ministry.

In Bethsaida, Jesus heals a blind man in two stages: in the first stage, the man receives partial sight; then in the second stage, full sight.

This is the only two-stage miracle in the Gospels. It acts as a living parable of the disciples’ gradual spiritual understanding. It symbolizes that spiritual vision comes in stages. Just as the man moves from partial to full sight, so the disciples are slowly moving toward recognizing Jesus’ true identity — climaxing in Peter’s confession which follows this episode.