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Lesson OneThe Steady Ministry and the Fickle Response5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TwoThe Sermon on the Mount: How God's Kingdom Works5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson ThreeCan We Trust the New Testament Books?5 Activities1 Assessment
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Completion1 Activity1 Assessment
Discussion Questions
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Why do you think the Feeding of the Five Thousand is the only miracle of Jesus that appears in all four Gospels? Explain your thoughts.
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I believe it appears in all four Gospels because God desires to emphasize a critical lesson or concept. As any master teacher would, He repeats important stories and words again and again in order to help us both understand and remember. I also believe the repetition reveals the impact this event had on each of the authors of the four gospels. They all considered it important enough to include in their individual accounts of Jesus’ ministry. The miracle is a foundational lesson revealing God’s concern for our needs and his ability to meet them even beyond what is necessary. He is a compassionate and generous God.
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The feeding of the five thousand identifies Jesus as the “Bread of Life” by providing the people’s physical needs as well as He will be the spiritual sustenance for those who believe. The feeding of five thousand also takes care of the compassion need as well as showing the shepherd taking care of his flock.
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The Feeding of the Five Thousand shows Jesus’ compassion for human need. As Mark’s Gospel states, they were like sheep without a shepherd. The religious leaders should have been shepherding the flock of people of Israel. Jesus is our Good Shepherd. This miracle also reminded the Jews of the miracle of Moses providing manna in the wilderness. There were prophecies that the Messianic prophet would be one like unto Moses. This miracle was witnessed by a very large crowd of people, and every person got to partake of the food. Jesus was showing the people Who is was, the Messiah. It is mentioned in all four Gospels because it was witnessed by such a large crowd.
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I think it is mentioned in all four Gospels because it was done and witnessed on such a large scale. It impacted thousands of people and the disciples were all there and participating in the miracle.
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The display of this miracle in all four Gospels might be attributed to God’s love and power. It shows that God is the One who provides for everyone through Jesus.
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Describe, in your own words, the miracles involving Gentiles discussed in this lesson. Why were these miracles important? What implications might there have been if Jesus had not performed any miracles among the Gentiles?
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Jesus healed the woman’s daughter, fed the 4000, and the blind man. In all cases, this points to the fact that Jesus came to nth the Jews and the Gentiles.
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Jesus healed the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter. When Jesus spoke of feeding the children first, meaning the nation of Israel, she was willing to capture the crumbs like a small pet dog would have. He healed the deaf and mute man in Decapolis and then fed the four thousand Gentiles in that same area. He fed them, just as He did the five thousand outside of Galilee, with seven baskets of food left over. These miracles are important because Jesus showed compassion to those that were not of the Jewish family. These miracles among the Gentiles showed that Jesus came for ALL people, which includes ME!
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In doing miracles for both Jews and Gentiles, Jesus was inviting all people to be a part of the Kingdom of God. He was showing that Jewish people were not the only people who were meant to hear the message of Christ. Jesus came to save all sinners who would put their faith in him and believe. Prior to Jesus making this point Jews and Gentiles did not very peacefully co-exist. Jesus’s action invited all people even gentiles to join into God’s kingdom. Had Jesus not included gentiles in his miracles Jews of that day probably would have believed that Jesus’s message was only for them and not for all people.
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I see the many miracles of Jesus’ as a beautiful, powerful connection to the Godly miracles from the Old Testament, manna, quail, water from a rock, parting of the Red Sea; all these to be seen I believe as a proof, a Truth, that Jesus is in fact God. The Gentiles would not have been aware of these details, but once they experienced the quoted miracles, to Gentiles as well, they would have been all the more convinced, convicted and stunned to know, God actually cares “for us all!”
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These miracles were important to show that Jesus came for all people and not just the Jewish people. The implication of no miracles among the Gentiles would imply that Jesus did not come for anyone except the Jewish people and that salvation is not available to the Gentiles.
