The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
Week 8: Part Two, Chapter 7 — "Miracles: Snapshots of the Supernatural"
Read Chapter 7 of The Jesus I Never Knew. Key passages: John 9:1–41; Mark 2:1–12; John 11:1–44.
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Jesus's miracles were not mere demonstrations of supernatural power — they were windows into the nature of the kingdom of God and the heart of the God who rules it.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Yancey describes the miracles as "advance signs" of the kingdom — previews of what the world will look like when God fully restores it. How does this frame change the way you think about healing miracles, nature miracles, and resurrections? What do they collectively point toward?
2.Yancey notes that Jesus rarely performed miracles on demand (he refused the request in Matthew 12:38–39) but performed them freely in response to human need and faith. What does this pattern tell us about the relationship between miracles and genuine human encounter with Jesus?
3.The healing of the man born blind in John 9 opens with the disciples' question: "Who sinned, this man or his parents?" — a question Jesus refuses to answer in those terms. Where do you see a similar tendency today — to assume that suffering is punishment? How does Jesus's response reshape that assumption?
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