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Describe, in your own words, the miracles involving Gentiles discussed in this lesson. Why were these miracles important? What implications might there have been if Jesus had not performed any miracles among the Gentiles?
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Jesus healed the woman’s daughter, fed the 4000, and the blind man. In all cases, this points to the fact that Jesus came to nth the Jews and the Gentiles.
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Jesus healed the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter. When Jesus spoke of feeding the children first, meaning the nation of Israel, she was willing to capture the crumbs like a small pet dog would have. He healed the deaf and mute man in Decapolis and then fed the four thousand Gentiles in that same area. He fed them, just as He did the five thousand outside of Galilee, with seven baskets of food left over. These miracles are important because Jesus showed compassion to those that were not of the Jewish family. These miracles among the Gentiles showed that Jesus came for ALL people, which includes ME!
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In doing miracles for both Jews and Gentiles, Jesus was inviting all people to be a part of the Kingdom of God. He was showing that Jewish people were not the only people who were meant to hear the message of Christ. Jesus came to save all sinners who would put their faith in him and believe. Prior to Jesus making this point Jews and Gentiles did not very peacefully co-exist. Jesus’s action invited all people even gentiles to join into God’s kingdom. Had Jesus not included gentiles in his miracles Jews of that day probably would have believed that Jesus’s message was only for them and not for all people.
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I see the many miracles of Jesus’ as a beautiful, powerful connection to the Godly miracles from the Old Testament, manna, quail, water from a rock, parting of the Red Sea; all these to be seen I believe as a proof, a Truth, that Jesus is in fact God. The Gentiles would not have been aware of these details, but once they experienced the quoted miracles, to Gentiles as well, they would have been all the more convinced, convicted and stunned to know, God actually cares “for us all!”
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These miracles were important to show that Jesus came for all people and not just the Jewish people. The implication of no miracles among the Gentiles would imply that Jesus did not come for anyone except the Jewish people and that salvation is not available to the Gentiles.