1. A text by Saint Augustine offers us the key to interpreting Christ's miracles as signs of his saving power: "Becoming man for us has benefited our salvation far more than the miracles he performed among us; and it is more important than healing the diseases of the body destined to die" (St Augustine, In Io. Ev. Tr., 17, 1). For the sake of this salvation of the soul and the redemption of the whole world, Jesus also performed miracles of a physical nature. The theme of this catechesis is therefore the following: through the "miracles, wonders and signs" he performed, Jesus Christ manifested his power to save man from the evil that threatens the immortal soul and its vocation to union with God.
2. This is revealed in a special way in the healing of the paralytic in Capernaum. The people who brought him, unable to enter through the door of the house where Jesus was teaching, lowered the sick man through an opening in the roof, so that the poor man found himself at the feet of the Master. "Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" These words aroused suspicion of blasphemy in some of those present: "This man is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" As if in response to those who had thought this, Jesus addressed those present with the words: "Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your bed and walk'? Now, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, I say to you," he said to the paralytic, "get up, take your bed and go home. The man got up, took his bed and went away in the presence of everyone" (cf. Mk 2:1-12 and also Mt 9:1-8; Lk 5:18-26; Lk 5:25).
Jesus himself explains in this case that the miracle of healing the paralytic is a sign of the saving power by which he forgives sins. Jesus performs this sign to show that he has come as the Saviour of the world, whose main task is to free man from spiritual evil, the evil that separates man from God and prevents salvation in God, which is precisely sin.
3. The same key can be used to explain that special category of Christ's miracles which is 'casting out demons'. 'Come out of this man, unclean spirit!' Jesus commands, according to the Gospel of Mark, when he encounters a demon-possessed man in the country of the Gerasenes (Mk 5:8). In that circumstance, we witness an unusual conversation. When the 'unclean spirit' feels threatened by Christ, he cries out against him: 'What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, in the name of God, do not torment me!'. In turn, Jesus 'asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many" (cf. Mk 5:7-9). We are therefore on the edge of a dark world, where physical and psychological factors are at play that undoubtedly have their weight in causing the pathological conditions in which that demonic reality is inserted, represented and described in various ways in human language, but radically hostile to God and therefore to man and to Christ who came to free him from that evil power. But despite itself, even the "unclean spirit," in that clash with the other presence, bursts out in that admission coming from a perverse but lucid intelligence: "Son of the Most High God!"
4. In Mark's Gospel, we also find a description of the event usually described as the healing of the epileptic. In fact, the symptoms reported by the evangelist are also characteristic of this disease ("foaming at the mouth, grinding his teeth and stiffening"). However, the epileptic's father presents his son to Jesus as possessed by an evil spirit, which shakes him with convulsions, causes him to fall to the ground and roll around foaming at the mouth. It is quite possible that in a state of infirmity such as this, the evil one infiltrates and works, but even if we admit that this is a case of epilepsy, from which Jesus heals the boy considered possessed by his father, it is nevertheless significant that he performs this healing by commanding the "deaf and mute spirit": "Come out of him and never enter him again" (cf. Mk 9:17-27). It is a reaffirmation of his mission and his power to free man from the evil of the soul down to its roots.
5. Jesus makes clear his mission to free man from evil and, first and foremost, from sin, which is spiritual evil. It is a mission that involves and explains his struggle with the evil spirit, who is the first author of evil in human history. As we read in the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly declares that this is the meaning of his work and that of his apostles. Thus in Luke: "I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you power over all the enemy's power; nothing will harm you" (Lk 10:18-19). And according to Mark, after appointing the Twelve, Jesus sent them out "to preach and to have authority to drive out demons" (Mk 3:14-15). According to Luke, the seventy-two disciples, after returning from their first mission, also report to Jesus: "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name" (Lk 10:17).
Thus is manifested the power of the Son of Man over sin and the author of sin. The name of Jesus, in whom even demons are subjugated, means Saviour. However, his saving power will have its definitive fulfilment in the sacrifice of the cross. The cross will mark the total victory over Satan and sin, because this is the plan of the Father, which his only Son carries out by becoming man: to conquer in weakness and attain the glory of the resurrection and life through the humiliation of the cross. Even in this paradoxical fact, his divine power shines forth, which can rightly be called the "power of the cross."
6. Part of this power, and belonging to the mission of the Saviour of the world manifested in "miracles, wonders and signs", is also the victory over death, the dramatic consequence of sin. The victory over sin and death marks the path of the messianic mission of Jesus of Nazareth to Calvary. Among the "signs" that particularly indicate his path towards victory over death are above all the resurrections: "the dead are raised" (Mt 11:5), Jesus replies to the question about his messianic identity posed to him by John the Baptist's messengers (cf. Mt 11:3). Among the various "dead" raised by Jesus, Lazarus of Bethany deserves special attention, because his resurrection is like a "prelude" to the cross and resurrection of Christ, in which the definitive victory over sin and death is accomplished.
7. The evangelist John has left us a detailed description of the event. It suffices for us to refer to the final moment. Jesus asks for the stone covering the tomb to be removed ("Take away the stone"). Martha, Lazarus' sister, observes that her brother has been in the tomb for four days and that his body has certainly begun to decompose. However, Jesus cries out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" "And the dead man came out," attests the evangelist (cf. Jn 11:38-43). This event arouses faith in many of those present. Others, however, go to the representatives of the Sanhedrin to report what has happened. The chief priests and Pharisees are concerned, thinking of a possible reaction from the Roman occupiers ("the Romans will come and destroy our holy place and our nation" (cf. Jn 11:45-48). It was then that Caiaphas uttered his famous words to the Sanhedrin: "You know nothing at all, and you do not consider how it is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to perish." And the evangelist notes: "He did not say this of his own accord, but as high priest he prophesied." What prophecy is this? Here, John gives us the Christian interpretation of those words, which are of immense significance: "Jesus had to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather together the children of God who were scattered abroad" (cf. Jn 11:49-52).
8. As we can see, the description of Lazarus also contains essential indications concerning the salvific meaning of this miracle. These are definitive indications, because it is precisely then that the Sanhedrin takes the decision on Jesus' death (cf. Jn 11:53). And it will be the redemptive death "for the nation" and "to gather together the children of God who were scattered": for the salvation of the world. But Jesus has already said that this death will also be the definitive victory over death. On the occasion of Lazarus' resurrection, he assured Martha: "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live; whoever lives and believes in me will never die" (Jn 11:25-26).
9. At the end of our catechesis, let us return once more to the text of St Augustine: "If we now consider the deeds wrought by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we see that the eyes of the blind, miraculously opened, were closed by death, and the limbs of the paralysed, loosened by a miracle, were again immobilised by death: everything that was temporally healed in the mortal body was ultimately undone; but the soul that believed passed into eternal life. With this sick man, the Lord wanted to give a great sign to the soul that would believe, for whose remission of sins he had come, and to heal whose weaknesses he had humbled himself" (St. Augustine, In Io. Ev. Tr., 17, 1).
Yes, all the "miracles, wonders and signs" of Christ are at the service of his revelation as Messiah, as Son of God: of him who alone has the power to free man from sin and death. Of him who truly is the Saviour of the world.
[John Paul II, General Audience, 11 November 1987]
1. "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (Jn 11:21). Martha's words sum up the universal longing for a presence that will defeat this implacable enemy, before whom every attempt to make man absolute inevitably collapses: death.
Today, dear brothers and sisters, we pray for the dead: in these days we visit cemeteries as prayerful pilgrims to implore eternal peace for our loved ones. Before those tombs, the aspiration to conquer death is affirmed within us, and the breath of eternity that dwells in our hearts takes shape.
We decorate, adorn and beautify those tombs because our hearts tell us that a body wrapped in the cold immobility of death is not, cannot be, the last word of a life. An immense web of plans, of potential only partially expressed, the hopes for a more just and humane world, the warmth of affection, the effort of daily fidelity, all this treasure of goodness cannot be walled up in the implacable silence of nothingness.
2. That is why the whole of humanity rejoiced when a stone was rolled away from the new tomb in a garden in Jerusalem, and a word announced one day and awaited for millennia of history became reality: "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die" (Jn 11:25-26).
The glorious Lord who throws open the gates of life finally gives meaning to this need for eternity, fulfilment and fullness that each of us feels pulsing within us: the faithful God, who raises his Son in solidarity with humanity even unto death, instils in us the consoling certainty of immortality.
Today, death continues to reap its victims; suffering and pain wound the battered body of humanity every day. Yet, amid the darkness of physical and moral evil, the light of a sure promise shines in the eyes of believers: "I am the resurrection and the life." These words make our waiting firm, our patience constant, our hope certain.
3. Over such an immense multitude of the dead, the Church today pronounces her act of faith in life, in the name of the One who is life. Over those who died almost imperceptibly in a wise old age, such as children welcomed into the bosom of the Father before their eyes were opened to the light; over those whom sickness consumed, associating them with the sacrifice of the Lamb, such as those pierced by murderous violence; over all of them, the voice of hope rises decisively: "As all die in Adam, so all will receive life in Christ" (1 Cor 15:22).
We are certain of this: Christ, who loves us, has gone to prepare a place for us. He will return and take us with him in an eternal embrace. For this reason, today the prayer of the Church, sister and mother, witness of the Risen One, rises unceasingly for all the deceased, whatever time or people they belong to, so that from the grain of wheat that fell into the earth, a hope rich in immortality may sprout.
On this day, we wish to remember in a special way all the victims of hatred and violence, imploring the Lord to grant humanity the peace for which it so longs.
[Pope John Paul II, Angelus, 2 November 1986]
