Interpretations of Jesus' Miracles

Jose Leon Padilla

3/1/17

Texts and Ideas Prompt #3

        Concealment and revelation of truth is an essential theme of the New Testament. Jesus himself spoke in parables that many people did not understand. When he was asked by the disciples why he did this he replied, “This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” (Matthew 13:13) If one can see and hear, but they are not able to see the full picture or understand whatever is in front of them, then there needs to be something blocking the view or sound, some form of barrier. Luke explores the meaning of the concealment and eventual revelation of the truth in his gospel of Jesus Christ. He mentions on multiple occasions how Jesus both presented the truth about his forthcoming death, and yet at the same time he hid it from them until after it was fulfilled. Luke seems to imply through his narrative that this is not the only truth that had been hidden from him and the reader. Luke considers Jesus as the single “revealer” of complete truth, and through his narrative, he prepares a persuasive argument for the reader to place his faith in Jesus in order to reach a higher level of understanding.

Luke begins his gospel with a brief salutation to Teophilus, the intended recipient of his letter, so that he “may know for certainty of the things [he has] been taught.” (Luke 1:1) It is evident from the start that the purpose of this letter will be to convince, with “historical” and chronological evidence, that a man named Jesus was chosen by God to be the Messiah.  To do this, Luke needed to provide evidence not only of Jesus as the predestined Messiah, but also of the unsuitability of any other potential “candidate”. As the letter progresses, Luke immediately attempts to do this by emphasizing Jesus’ superiority over another influential preacher of that same era: John the Baptist. As per Luke himself, there were people that “wondered in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah.” (Luke 3:15) He attempts to persuade the reader by proceeding to elevate Jesus over John before either of them was born. According to Luke, Mary the Virgin and Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s mother) met while both were pregnant, and John leaped for joy inside her womb when he felt the presence of Jesus. Elizabeth allegedly referred to Jesus as her “Lord” even before his birth, and John later acknowledges Jesus’ higher power after he baptizes him and God himself confirms Jesus is his “son”. This also provides evidence for the central argument of Luke’s letter: Jesus was destined to be the Messiah and his future was already established before his birth. Therefore, given Luke’s portrayal of Jesus as a savior figure that has a predestined fate, it is reasonable to believe that what Jesus was predicting his own death at the cross.

        To prove that Jesus was referring to his crucifixion when he claimed that he was going to be “given up” to the power of men, not only do we need to prove that his fate was already sealed, but also that he was aware of his destiny. We can see this awareness in Luke 22:15, as Jesus told his disciples during the Last Supper that he “Eagerly desired to eat this Passover with [the disciples] before [he] suffers.” Jesus even went on to correctly predict that he was about to be betrayed by one of his disciples, namely Judas. Furthermore, he also predicted that Peter would deny him three times before the rooster crowed. Every single one of his predictions turned out to as the story develops, and Luke considered it necessary to inform the reader that Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to him throughout the entire narrative. This gives Jesus a heroic dimension of a savior who already knew that he was going to be brutally executed but accepts his fate. Luke, in his bid to persuade Teophilus that Jesus was the Messiah, mentioned the numerous predictions that Jesus made probably as a tool to highlight his greatness, but at the same time, he also gives out evidence that the central character of his story has an imminent fate that only he is aware of.

Interestingly, whenever Jesus made these bold predictions it seemed that the disciples were left in the dark about their meaning or veracity. Luke 9:43 states that when Jesus made his prediction, “its meaning had been hidden from them.” While one could argue that they simply were unaware of what was going to happen to Jesus because they can’t see the future, Luke uses very specific language to suggest there is someone concealing the true meaning of Jesus’ words. Is there a language barrier? Are the disciples simply not at the same level of understanding of Jesus? Or is Jesus himself hiding the meaning? Luke gives us some insight with a remarkably similar prediction that Jesus made later. Jesus clearly said to his disciples: “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.” (Luke 18:31-33) This time, Jesus went a step further than merely claiming that he would be executed; he went in full detail and explained how exactly it would happen. Somehow, Luke claims that they still did not understand the meaning of his words. Luke 18:34 describes once again that the meaning “was hidden from them.” So, it seems to be as if Jesus not only predicts his future but also at the same time veils anyone else from realizing what was going to occur.

Why would Jesus do this? John, who provides a more reflexive account of Jesus’ life attempts to answer this question. While Jesus predicted Judas’ betrayal, he proclaimed, “I am telling [them] now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.” (John 13:19) According to this interpretation, Jesus is purposely concealing the truth for the disciples to look back at his prophecies after they occurred and were fulfilled and realize that he “warned” them all along. Luke, offering a more chronological version of the events also suggests a post-fulfillment “enlightenment” when he wrote about Jesus appearing to the disciples after his resurrection. Luke claims that Jesus told his disciples, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44) After saying this, Luke claims that Jesus “opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:45) Luke and John are not only implying that Jesus had a predetermined destiny that had to fulfilled, but they also believe that the disciples could now understand his original prophecy because Jesus decided to reveal it after it was completed. Both Luke and John believe that their acquirement of truth was achieved because Jesus Christ decided it, not because of their own understanding.