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Miracles of Jesus : Signs of Divinity?
Self-discovery - Introduction
Throughout history, in times of distress, people have looked and longed for moments when the unthinkable could happen. For signs from God. For miracles. It's what everyone wants, for diseases to be cured, for the powers of nature to be controlled, even death overcome. Stories that such prayers can be answered give us hope that God exists and that through Him such miracles are possible.
2000 years ago, the belief in miracles was stronger than it is today. One man in particular was renowned for being able to perform miraculous deeds. Jesus.
He was said to be able to raise people from the dead, feed multitudes and even walk on water. Like every Muslim, I grew up knowing who Jesus was, not least because in Islam Jesus is considered to be a prophet. In Judaism and Hinduism he's regarded as one of the great moral teachers. But Islam doesn't emphasise his miracles because to do so is to suggest that he is divine, something Muslims believe is unacceptable.
But this is exactly what the Christian church teaches, that Jesus was God's only son, he was divine. His miracles go some way towards supporting it. But is this just wishful thinking? Or is it what Jesus himself really believed?
Did Jesus really believe that he was the Son of God?
In this programme, I'll be looking at whether it's possible to get into the mind of Jesus, to see who he really thought he was. I've already discovered that to the people of the first century, Jesus' miracles were far more than just spectacular acts. They were subversive signs giving vital clues to his identity. The Gospels claim the wonders he performed prompted the crowds to hail him as prophet, warrior king and even Messiah. But in this programme I'm going to be looking at the miracles in a very different way, not to find out who Jesus' contemporaries thought he was, but to try and understand who Jesus believed himself to be. I'm going back to the places he lived and examining the Bible accounts of the miracles he's said to have performed to try and get inside his mind. I want to know, did Jesus really believe that he was the Son of God?
Miracles of Jesus
Part 2 Signs of Divinity? 1
