In Mark chapters 6 and 7 we read about four very different miracles… As we focus on these four miracle stories, we will learn what Jesus does that is unexpected, and what each of these miracles teach us…
Miracle 1 – Feeding the Five Thousand (Mark 6:30-44)
It is turbulent times:
- The Twelve have just been sent out for the first time to teach, preach, and heal.
- Then John the Baptist is beheaded.
- There is spiritual warfare raging…
The disciples return to Jesus… Uncertainty? Fear?
Jesus sees that their need rest for and refreshment, physically and spiritually… they can’t keep pouring out when they are empty… that is true of us too… Can we be guilt of trying to run on empty? I know I’ve been there before, quite literally:
Read an extraordinary and unexpected story here about running low on fuel: https://theadditionalneedsblogfather.com/2017/05/04/parents-out-of-fuel/
But back to the disciples and Jesus… the crowd have followed them… there is to be no peace for Jesus and the disciples right now… the crowd need reassurance, perhaps they had heard what had happened to John the Baptist and are afraid… And they are hungry..
They have five loaves and two fish… I love that in John’s Gospel it says that a young boy brought them. Children serving the congregation, their community… food for thought as well as for the stomach, isn’t it?! Children’s work is some of the most important work that God gives us to do… as Jesus himself said another time… “The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these…”
And through this small gift of a boy’s lunch, Jesus does something unexpected… He multiplies it to feed thousands. There were 5,000 men, but there was probably more than double that when the women and children are counted, and we know they were there because a child’s lunch fed them all!
What small gift do we have that God could multiply and use? We might think we have very little to give… the equivalent of the five loaves and two fishes… but it is the giving that counts, not how much we have to give. Whether that is the skills and knowledge God has given us, or the things we have that can be useful to others, or our time, or our money, it is how we give that matters, God does the multiplying. What can you give?
Miracle 2 – Walking on the Water (Mark 6:45-56)
After feeding everyone, Jesus sends the disciples off in the boat.
Jesus himself goes up a mountain to pray, something he did often. He had just emptied himself by performing the miracle of the loaves and fishes, and now he needed time with the father to top himself up again. A good lesson for us all… I like to go for a walk to the nearby river for times like this.
Read s story here about going for an unexpected and extraordinary walk to the river:
https://theadditionalneedsblogfather.com/2017/04/06/swept-away-but-saved/
Meanwhile, the disciples are struggling, they had been rowing for hours, they were already tired and the wind was against them.
Jesus sees them struggling and does something unexpected; he comes to them, walking across the water… He comes to us too… We may not always see it, but he doesn’t leave us to struggle alone.
The disciples are terrified, they see someone walking on the water, wouldn’t you be shocked? And we have the benefit of knowing this story! But Jesus says “Take courage, it is I, don’t be afraid.” He whispers those words to you too… do you hear him?
As Jesus climbed into the boat, the storm stilled, the wind died down. Jesus was there. When our life feels like a storm, Jesus brings his calm to us too.
The passage tells us that the disciples were amazed, that they had not understood about the loaves and their hearts were hardened… what does Mark mean there?
Perhaps he meant that, in the miracle of the loaves and fishes, Jesus had demonstrated his divine compassion, power over nature, and role as the provider for both physical and spiritual hunger. By multiplying five loaves and two fish to feed a massive crowd, Jesus showed that he is the true shepherd who satisfies our needs. He had just shown his power over nature once again by walking on the water and calming the storm… how many clues did the disciples need? How many do we need?
Well, Jesus gave them, and us, even more clues when they landed… people brought those who were ill to him and begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and they were healed… Remember that not long ago, a woman who had a condition that made her bleed had been healed by touching Jesus robe (Mark 5:25-34). Many witnessed that miracle, word would have spread, her faith was not only rewarded in her own healing, but in the subsequent healing of many more as well…
Miracle 3 – The Faith of a Syro-Phoenician Woman (Mark 7:24-30)
Jesus has just had a run in with the Pharisees and teachers of the law, who it seems had come looking for things to criticise Jesus and the disciples for and in their view had found them…
It gets quite heated, there is strong language used, and so in the next passage we are looking at Jesus has left that place and gone to Tyre, a Phoenician port city in what is modern day Lebanon. The passage says that he didn’t want anyone to know that he was there… perhaps he just wanted to regather himself after such a turbulent encounter…
But a local woman finds him, and she begs for his help concerning her daughter. The girl is said to have had an impure spirit or demon, although it is possible that there may have been another explanation. Another boy who Jesus heals, and who is described in a similar way, shows classic symptoms of Epilepsy, a condition not understood at the time.
The mother begs Jesus to help her daughter, but at first Jesus refuses… his answer about letting the children eat all they want referring to his ministry being first for the Jews. In fact, Jesus is quite rude in extending the metaphor to describe the Gentiles as ‘dogs’.
Undeterred, the mother shows great understanding and faith in replying that even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs…
And then something astonishing happens… Jesus does something unexpected, he changes his mind… the woman’s reply has changed the mind of God himself! He heals her daughter.
I’ve met many mothers and fathers of children with additional needs, and most of them have that same determination to fight for their child; so often the ‘system’ is against them, as, initially at least, even Jesus himself was. But they fight on, argue and struggle for their child, and often see a breakthrough, as the woman in this story did.
Read more about this extraordinary and unexpected encounter here:
https://theadditionalneedsblogfather.com/2025/09/03/lessons-from-when-jesus-heals-a-canaanite-womans-daughter/
Do you keep on going? Keep on asking? Keep on praying for breakthough? It’s all too easy to give up at the first hurdle isn’t it… This Bible passage teaches us to keep on keeping on… Keep on praying!
There is also something eternal that we can take from this story too, as it is hinting at the salvation that is to come to all people who believe in Jesus, wherever they are from. Just as Jesus changed his mind to heal a gentile’s daughter, so he also opened up salvation to all non-Jews who believe in him as well. This woman was a trailblazer for millions that followed! Are you one?
Miracle 4 – Jesus Heals a Deaf Man who Cannot Speak (Mark 7:31-37)
Jesus then returns to Galilee and to Decapolis, where a man is brought to Jesus who was Deaf and could hardly speak. What today we would call minimally-speaking.
You can imagine that the crowd would have gathered round, jostling for the best spot to see what Jesus was going to do… would he perform another of those amazing miracles? If it was happening today, everyone would have their phones out wouldn’t they… hoping theirs would be the video to go viral on YouTube or TikTok….
But then Jesus does something unexpected… Jesus takes the man away from the crowd to a quiet place before healing him, treating him with understanding, and dignity and respect. This wasn’t a freak show, entertaining the crowd wasn’t Jesus’ priority, but meeting the needs of the man was…
There is also something about the manner of the healing that is different to
Many others that Jesus did; it is much more intimate. He touched the man’s ears and spat and touched the man’s tongue.
Why did he do that? I believe Jesus that used sensory methods of communication to show the man that he was healing him, to help him to understand what was happening. I may be stretching things a little here, but I also wonder if Jesus took the inability to hear and speak from the man, into his own body, struggled with it, and then looking to heaven and sighing, in that moment of healing, he spoke.
And the first thing that the man ever heard wasn’t the noise of the crowd, but was that word spoken by Jesus himself… “Ephphatha!” (“Be opened!”)… Better, wasn’t it?
Imagine what it would have meant to this man to be treated with such understanding, dignity and respect. And think about what this encounter teaches us:
- How can we treat disabled people with better understanding, dignity, and respect?
- What can we learn from how Jesus used sensory ways to communicate, as well as his willingness to understand the man’s disability personally?
- How can we use sensory methods of communication more to engage with people with disabilities that we know, and to understand them better?
Learn more about this extraordinary and unexpected encounter here, as well as other encounters Jesus had with people who were disabled, unwell, or had other additional needs:
https://theadditionalneedsblogfather.com/2020/04/02/pjh3/
Conclusion
In each of the four miracle stories that we have explored this morning, we have seen Jesus do something unexpected, and we have seen him teach us things that are relevant for us today…
1. Jesus unexpectedly multiplied the gift of five loaves and two fishes to feed thousands… showing us that he can multiply whatever we bring to him and use it to help others… we are always enough if we give what we have to him.
2. Jesus unexpectedly came to the disciples on the lake when they were struggling… showing us that he will come to us too when things are hard. We should look to him and not be afraid.
3. Jesus unexpectedly changed his mind towards the Syro-Phonecian woman and her daughter… showing us never to give up in asking him to help us or those we love.
4. Jesus unexpectedly took the man who was Deaf and minimally-speaking to a quiet place… showing us how to give respect and dignity to disabled people.
And there is so much more that Jesus teaches us through these encounters and all of his ministry on Earth. The Gospels are rich with these learnings, if only we look for them. Explore them more, read them as if for the first time and see what God reveals to you through them.
Shalom,
Mark
All content © Mark Arnold / The Additional Needs Blogfather except specified. Images courtesy of Lumo Project Films – www.lumoproject.com
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