Jesus' Greatness Through Miracles: A Close Look at the Gospel of John

Reading John’s Gospel, I was struck by the repetition of two poignant themes through which John promotes Jesus as the Son of G-d: the theme of intrinsic greatness and the theme of Jesus’s apparent ability to perform miraculous signs. In this paper I delineate these two themes and then show how the greatness ascribed to Jesus at the start of the Gospel is mainly demonstrated over the course of the text via Jesus’ performance of miracles.

The theme of Jesus’ intrinsic greatness is first manifest when “John ... came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. [Jesus] was in the world and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him” (John 1.6-10). The use of the word “light,”a kind of power which implies radiating from within and shining outward; Jesus’ essential nature, to be “light [that] shines in the darkness,” is the mark of his greatness (John 1.5). Another instance in which Jesus’ greatness is shown to be inherent is through the baptism scene. While John was in Bethany across the Jordan baptizing the masses, Jesus came to be known as the “lamb of G-d who takes away sin” (John 1.29) only because “the Spirit descended from heaven like a dove, and remained on [Jesus],” not as a result of any performed miracles (John 1.32). His emergence as a great being is independent of any action.

However, a large component of the Gospel of John focuses on the importance of belief in the miracles performed by Jesus. The text indicates that Jesus’ followers believed in him, not because of his “light” but because of the miraculous signs he presented. Jesus confirms this notion when he tells the royal official in Capernaum regarding the healing of the royal official’s ill son: “unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe”