Magic & Miracles
Today the search for the Historical Jesus is going strong. One bothersome aspect of this research for secular scholars is dealing with the miracles of Jesus. Morton Smith claimed "We should not expect the teaching that the gospels attribute to Jesus to be so consistently connected with magic as were the miracles. Like other magicians he was represented both as holy man and as incarnate god…" (Morton Smith, Jesus the Magician, Barnes & Noble, 1993: 129) Smith tried making aspects of magic of the time and areas which Jesus lived appear to demonstrate that Jesus was a magician. The bulk of scholars in this area have come down decided against this view. I wish to present one aspect which is important in relation to some miracles Jesus performed, to segregate his miracles from magical practices of his day.
Paula Fredriksen has noted in Jesus’ day the astrological influences, magical aspects of dealing with nature, malady, disease, etc. The astrologers were concerned with the influences of the heavenly bodies on our own earthly bodies and the forces the celestial influence had on man’s soul. This coincided with magic because it was very necessary for the soul to know the secret names of the cosmic forces and astral intelligences which intervened between men and God. They had to be able to pass by them, as well as use their power to help men while on earth. (Paula Fredriksen, From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the New Testament Images of Jesus, Yale University Press, 1998: 11-12). This is quite a prominent aspect of the Gnostic work The Books of 1 and 2 Jeu which has Jesus teaching his followers and disciples the many secret and powerful names of the various archons.
John P. Meier has also noted that novels talking about magic as well as tales of stories of biblical heroes such as Elijah and Elisha and Moses were related in synagogue celebrations with references to exorcisms and horoscopes at Qumran and some astrological influences in the Mishnah all give us plenty of reasons to realize the traditions about magic/miracles were alive and well among Palestinian Jews in Jesus’ day. (John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew, Doubleday, 1994, Vol. 2: 538).
John Dominic Crossan says the Jesus as a magician and a wonder worker of miracles was very problematic and controversial both for Jesus’ enemies as well as for his friends. (Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, HarperSanFrancisco, 1992: 311). And in this, I suspect he is quite likely correct. It would have been problematic for his followers to understand his incredible miracles he performed. Geza Vermes gives us, perhaps, some of the better reasons why it would been bothersome. "Jesus healing gifts were never attributed to the study of physical or mental disease, or to any acquired knowledge of cures, but to some mysterious power that emanated from him and was transmitted to the sick by contact with his person, or even with his clothes." (Vermes, "Jesus the Jew," in James H. Charlesworth, ed., Jesus’ Jewishness: Exploring the Place of Jesus in Early Judaism, Crossroads Publishing, Vol. 2, 1991:114).
In relation to contemporary documents of Jesus’ day, namely the so-called Greek Magical Papyri, it is most instructive to compare some of these papyri and their processes for admonishing favor as well as divine help with how Jesus performed miracles. It is the methodology, not the content I am emphasizing here.
Hans Dieter Betz noted the magical papyri date from the second century B.C. to approximately the fifth century A.D. (Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation: Including the Demotic Spells, University of Chicago Press, 2nd ed., 1992: xli).
One very elaborate and long spell (PGM IV. 475-829) is a call of prayer to Providence and Psyche where it is indicated that the power of having revelation from the great god Helios Mithras through the powerful archangel in order to ascend the heavens and behold the universe, etc. As David Ulansay has noted, this Mithraic spell at one point calls on the seven gods who are the "Pole-Lords of heaven" for a cosmological revelation and deeper understanding. (David Ulansey, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology & Salvation in the Ancient World, Oxford University Press, 1991: 105). The spell involves the use of many dozens of elaborate names, many prayers, much, much talking to the powers, invoking their power, a certain posturing of the body in relation to the cosmos, facing certain directions, etc. There are 7 days of purification prior to invoking the deities, pre-preparations of certain types of food stuffs, and the saying of formulaic prayers over them for 7 days, etc. It’s all a very elaborate, long and drawn out affair here. (see Betz, pp. 48-54).
In comparison to this as well as many other spells which invoke long, elaborate names, and involve days of rituals in preparations for something divine to happen, when we see Jesus heal, we note he places his fingers in the ears of a deaf man, and after spitting on his hands touches the man’s tongue. Mark says Jesus invoked one word, "Ephphatha (be opened)" (Mark 7:34). Thayer’s Lexicon notes:
effaqa ephphatha, Aramaic xtpt) (the ethpaal imperative of the verb xtp, Hebrew xtp, to open), be thou opened (i. e. receive the power of hearing; the ears of the deaf and the eyes of the blind being considered as closed): Mark 7:34.
Howard Clark Lee has a pertinent comment on this which is the entire point of my comparison. On Jesus’ healing in this manner Lee notes, ""Mark reports Jesus’ prayer consisting of a single word, "Ephphatha (be opened)" (7:34) – which stands in the sharpest possible contrast with the extended invocations and formulas of the magical texts. The man’s sight and hearing are reportedly restored instantly. The story in Mark 8:22-23 is similar, in that Jesus is asked by unnamed persons to heal a blind man, and Jesus effects healing in two stages: spitting on the man’s eyes, and placing his hands on them. As in the first story, there is no hint of elaborate invocation of angelic powers or of therapeutic procedure." (Lee, "Magic and Messiah," in Jacob Neusner, Ernest S. Frerichs, Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher, eds., Religion, Science, and Magic, Oxford University Press, 1st paperback, 1992: 136). He concludes noting that Jesus, as portrayed in the Gospels, is "…able to control demons by reliance on direct divine action, rather than by use of magical techniques or formulas." (p. 139).
Jesus’ miracles were not magic. They were the power of God working for the benefit of individuals stricken with maladies and problems they could not overcome themselves.