Miracles of Jesus in Mark
What Are Miracles and Why Do They Matter in Mark?
Mark’s Gospel contains more miracle stories per chapter than any other Gospel. Miracles serve two purposes in Mark: they demonstrate Jesus’s divine authority, and they provoke responses of faith, confusion or hostility. Mark divides the miracles into two types: nature miracles and healing miracles. Each type reveals a different dimension of who Jesus is.
The Calming of the Storm (Mark 4:35–41)
In Mark 4:35–41, Jesus and his disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee when a violent squall erupts. The disciples panic; Jesus is asleep in the stern. They wake him crying, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Jesus stands up and commands the wind and waves: “Quiet! Be still!” The storm stops immediately. Jesus then turns to the disciples and asks: “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples are terrified and ask: “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
This question — “Who is this?” — is the central question of the whole Gospel. The miracle shows Jesus exercising power over creation in a way that, in the Hebrew scriptures, belongs to God alone. In the Old Testament, God is repeatedly described as the one who stills the seas and calms the storms (for example in the Psalms). For Mark’s readers, the implication is clear: Jesus possesses divine power over nature.
The Feeding of the Five Thousand (Mark 6:32–44)
In Mark 6:32–44, a crowd of around five thousand men (plus women and children) has followed Jesus into a remote place. The disciples suggest sending them away to find food. Jesus tells the disciples to feed them. They protest — they have only five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus takes the food, looks up to heaven, gives thanks and breaks the loaves. The disciples distribute them to the crowd; everyone eats and is satisfied. Twelve basketfuls of broken pieces are collected afterwards.
This miracle is packed with theological significance. It echoes Moses feeding the Israelites with manna in the wilderness. The action of taking, giving thanks, breaking and giving (the eucharistic actions) points forward to the Last Supper. The twelve baskets may represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Christians today see this as showing Jesus’s compassion for human physical need as well as his divine power.
Mark’s Gospel contains two feeding miracles. The feeding of the five thousand is in Mark 6:32–44. There is a separate feeding of four thousand in Mark 8:1–9. These are different events — don’t confuse them. The five thousand feeding has twelve baskets left over; the four thousand has seven. Only the feeding of the five thousand is specified in this part of the specification.
Walking on Water (Mark 6:45–52)
Immediately after the feeding, Jesus sends his disciples by boat to the other side of the lake and goes up a hillside to pray. In the night, he comes to them — walking on the water. The disciples are terrified, thinking he is a ghost. Jesus climbs in and the wind ceases. Mark adds the observation that “they were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.” Even after witnessing the feeding miracle, the disciples still do not fully comprehend who Jesus is.
The walking on water reinforces Jesus’s authority over the natural world. The phrase “he was about to pass by them” may echo the Old Testament idea of God “passing by” (as with Moses in Exodus 33 and Elijah in 1 Kings 19). Mark uses these Old Testament echoes consistently to suggest that Jesus is the presence of God himself on earth.
Healing Miracles: Legion (Mark 5:1–20)
In Mark 5:1–20, Jesus encounters a man in the region of the Gerasenes who is possessed by many unclean spirits. The man lives among the tombs, cannot be controlled, and cries out day and night. The demons name themselves “Legion” — a Roman military term for up to six thousand soldiers — emphasising both their number and, for Jewish readers, their association with Roman occupation. Jesus drives the demons into a herd of pigs that rush into the lake. The formerly possessed man is found sitting, clothed and in his right mind. The townspeople beg Jesus to leave the region, apparently frightened by what has happened.
This miracle demonstrates Jesus’s authority over the spiritual world as well as the natural world. The man’s restoration — sitting, clothed and in his right mind — is a vivid image of the wholeness that Jesus brings. Christians see healing miracles as showing Jesus’s compassion and his power to restore people excluded from community.
Healing Miracles: Jairus’s Daughter (Mark 5:21–43)
In Mark 5:21–43, Jairus, a synagogue ruler, falls at Jesus’s feet and begs him to come and heal his twelve-year-old daughter who is dying. While they are on the way, messengers arrive to say the girl has already died. Jesus responds: “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” He arrives, finds the mourners weeping, and declares the child is only sleeping. They laugh at him. Taking only Peter, James and John (his inner circle of disciples), Jesus enters the girl’s room. He takes her hand and says “Talitha koum!” — an Aramaic phrase meaning “Little girl, get up.” She immediately stands up and walks. Jesus tells the family to give her something to eat.
This miracle is sandwiched around the healing of a woman with bleeding (Mark 5:25–34) — a literary technique Mark uses, called a “Markan sandwich,” to reinforce meaning. Both involve a twelve-year period: the woman has been ill for twelve years; the girl is twelve years old. Both involve an act of courageous faith. The raising of Jairus’s daughter pushes Jesus’s power to its most dramatic — he appears to reverse death itself.
The five miracle passages for this lesson: calming the storm (Mark 4:35–41), feeding the five thousand (Mark 6:32–44), walking on water (Mark 6:45–52), healing of Legion (Mark 5:1–20), and raising of Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:21–43). Knowing which passage is which is essential — exam questions ask about specific miracles.
From a Humanist or atheist perspective, miracles are not evidence of divine power. They argue that the natural world operates according to scientific laws that do not have exceptions. What appeared miraculous in the first century can now be explained: mass psychological suggestion, misremembering, literary embellishment, or metaphor. The feeding of five thousand might symbolise the miracle of sharing rather than a multiplication of food. The storm calming may reflect the disciples’ experience of sudden peace rather than a physical intervention.
Christians respond in different ways. Some insist the miracles are literally true — God created the natural laws and can override them. Others argue the miracles are ‘signs’ whose deeper significance is theological, whether or not the physical events happened exactly as described. What matters, they argue, is what the miracles say about Jesus’s identity and mission.
Taken together, the miracles in Mark present Jesus as someone with authority over: the natural world (storm, feeding, water), the spirit world (Legion), disease (bleeding woman), and death (Jairus’s daughter). Each category escalates. For Mark, these miracles are not random acts of power but signs that the Kingdom of God is breaking into the world through Jesus. They also show his compassion: he is moved by a father’s grief, a sick woman’s desperation, a crowd’s hunger. The disciples’ persistent failure to understand (“their hearts were hardened”) serves as a warning to readers who might observe miracles and still not grasp who Jesus is.