Page 11 - GALIET MIRACLES IN THE WATERLESS REGIONS: Jesus IV++

12:35); these in turn are reminiscent of and as celestial as Plato’s doctrines on the good, the just and the beautiful.2
It should be no surprise to discover that, in the vast waterless regions, Jesus’ thaumaturgies will trigger past events, that will become living signs of the proclamation of his new message. Just as Moses liberated the Israelites from Egypt’s oppression (Ex 12.29,51), Jesus will deliver Jews from antiquated practices. Just as God rescued Israel when Moses drove the Red Sea back so that the Israelites might cross it, Jesus will still the tempest in the Sea of Galilee (Mk 4:35-41). Just as God made manna and quail rain down to feed the Israelites in the wilderness (Ex 16:1,36), Jesus will miraculously satiate the multitude of five thousand in the wilderness (Mt 14:13,21; Mk 6:34,44; 8:1,9; Lk 9.1-17). These subtle insinuations and allusions to exilic miracles suggest that new times, as instrumental as the Egyptian Exodus, are dawning, times when Jesus’ miraculous healings of the blind and the mute will remind the crowds of the oracle of Isaiah (Is 35:5). Hence, Jesus’ wondrous healings of the blind, deaf, mute and lame, will, thus, not only be symbolic of Isaiah’s prophecy, but also of God’s New Kingdom, where the blind will also see and the deaf will also hear (Mt 13:16); the mute will speak (Mt 9:32) and the paralytic will walk free of sin (Mk 2:1,12). The raising of Lazarus (Jn 11:1,57) and of Jairus’ daughter (Mt 9:18,26; Lk 8:40,56; Mk 21:5,43) will equally serve to exemplify Christ’s message. When Jesus tells Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter to awaken and to
2 Plato. Complete Works. Ed. Copper. The Republic and the Theathetus. Cambridge: Hackett Publishing, 1997. 157, 971
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