Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

The view of miracles presented here is favored above all, however, by the fact that it can take seriously the independence of nature and the human. This is immediately apparent in Jesus’ healing miracles: in the gospels they occur only when someone “believes.” Jesus says to the woman with the hemorrhage, “Daughter, your faith has made you well: go in peace, and be healed of your disease” (Mark 5:34). So it was her faith that healed the woman, her belief in Jesus as the savior. But it was her faith, and if she had not had such faith she would not have been healed of the “scourging blows” (thus the underlying Greek word) of her illness. Here we find a fully independent meaning of “faith” in the context of miracle stories. It appears nowhere else in antiquity. Ancient miracle stories were always about whether or not the witnesses or recipients of the action are persuaded of the reality of the miracle. Here, in contrast, the sick person herself must believe; otherwise, she will not be healed.

We find many similar passages in the gospels.²⁰ Again and again faith in God is demanded—in God, who is now acting in Jesus. This is about God’s creative power, but also about Jesus, who in every miracle stands in God’s stead. If that faith is not present, the miracle cannot happen. In Nazareth, Mark says quite explicitly, Jesus could not work any miracles because they did not believe in him there (Mark 6:5-6). So Jesus is elementally dependent on faith if he is to heal. In Mark 11:23 Jesus dares a radically pointed statement: “Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.” Human action in miracles cannot be more sharply emphasized: without faith, nothing happens. This is the proper context for the observation that Jesus healed only individuals. He did not perform any group healings. It was only the apocryphal Acts of apostles that began to tell of mass healings. This again shows that the inbreaking of the reign of God is not a spectacle. God’s action is tied to the faith of concrete people. The reign of God needs believers who freely open themselves to it.

What is true of people is also true of so-called nature. It too must “share” in the action, must participate, must play its part. Natural laws are not broken; they are put in service of a new and greater whole. No ordinary human action, certainly not one undertaken in freedom, puts the corresponding natural laws (such as the principle of inertia) out of effect. When a human being acts by free decision, then spirit, person, freedom, or whatever we call it interferes with the material world—but not as if human freedom eliminated natural laws; it does not abrogate but “elevates” them. In this connection we can speak of the “plasticity,” the “malleability,” of matter or nature.²¹ Analogously to the synergy between spirit and matter, God’s action, when it enters the world through the faith of a human being, does not destroy the laws of matter but raises them to a new level.

Therefore I have no problem, in the case of Jesus’ miracles, with taking into account all the “natural” forces that can otherwise be observed in great physicians and healers or experienced educators. As the acts of human freedom do not abrogate the physical laws but put them at their service, so in the case of Jesus his existence altogether in harmony with the will of God called upon the powers of the world, extending into a profound depth that is impenetrable to us even today. To set aside these natural abilities of Jesus would mean denying him his real humanity.

No one can define where the limits of “nature” in this sphere lie, unless one would lay claim to having an absolutely complete and comprehensive knowledge of all the powers at work in nature. Who would dare to make such an assertion? Professional medicine is aware that, for example, in some malignant carcinomas, there can be “spontaneous healings” that cannot be explained but may have to do with holistic phenomena such as “inner attitude” and “unconditional will to heal.” We also know about the so-called placebo effect, the observation that the expectation of being healed can activate the body’s powers of self-healing, even if the treatment has not involved the application of any effective pharmacological means. Apparently every person has powers of self-healing, but they require the kairos, the right moment, the right constellation, and often the right person to set them in motion—the person of the healer.