Was Jesus a Miracle Worker or Magician?
The Raising of Lazarus, sarcophagus ca. 340, Musei Vaticani, Rome. Image accessed from Quora.
The word “magic” has long been associated with negative or demonic practice in western Christianity. The 1486 publication of the “Malleus Maleficarum” (The Hammer of the Witches), preceded a European Christianity wave of up to 80,000 people, overwhelmingly women, being executed between 1500 and 1660 for being witches (History). We still see examples of pastors in the United States leading book burnings over witchcraft and magic. Biblical verses, such as Exodus 22:17, Leviticus 19:26, and Leviticus 20:6, were used as the foundation for persecution of anyone accused of witchcraft.
Jesus the Magician
Jesus’s reputation as a healer and exorcist was a source of interest for critics of Jesus in the centuries following movements that began in his name, which eventually led to the religion called Christianity. Origen (ca.185 – 254 CE, Britannica) wrote several books addressing criticism of Jesus and Christ followers from a man named Celsus. Celsus’s criticism has only survived in Origen’s response, but they probably give a partially reliable account as to what Celsus wrote. According to Origen, Celsus argued that Jesus spent a significant amount of time in Egypt learning magical arts. Through the acquisition of these powers, he performed miraculous deeds that he used to proclaim himself a god. Origen says the accusation of magic is a means of discrediting Jesus’s miracles as not coming from divine power (Against Celsus, Book I, Chapter XXXVIII).
Tertullian (ca. 155 – 220, Britannica), another Jesus apologist from the same era as Origen, claims the Jewish people of Jesus’s day viewed him as a magician, which empowered him to expel demons and heal ailments (Tertullian, Apology I: Chapter XXI). Tertullian is possibly appealing to the gospel tradition of Jesus driving out demons by the power of Beelzebul (Mark 3:21-23), though it may have been an accusation he heard in his day. Later Talmudic tradition told the story of Ben Stada, believed by some to be Jesus, who brought spells from Egypt through a cut in his flesh (Van Voorst, 109). A more direct passage refers to Jesus the Nazarene as one who practiced magic and led Israel astray (Van Voorst, 112).
These authors portray magic as something negative, which we will discuss in a moment, but ancient Christian art provides a fascinating detail. On several Christian stone coffins (sarcophagi) we see art where Jesus has a wand that he uses to perform miracles. When Jesus is raising Lazarus, turning water into wine, multiplying loaves, or performing other miraculous deeds, he holds a wand in his hand. Attempts have been made to explain the wand as a staff, but Jesus only uses the wand when performing a miraculous deed. When Jesus is portrayed as a figure of authority, he is seated in power and holds the gospel in his hand, never a staff (Mathews, 54). The use of a wand to perform miracles is fascinating.
Jesus with a wand on the Marcus Claudianus sarcophagus. Image from Elpidio Valdes.
Miracle vs. Magic
What is the difference between miracle and magic? Perspective. One person’s magician is another person’s miracle worker. In the case of Jesus, and others like him through history, the difference between being labeled a miracle worker or a magician is largely whether individuals or groups judged the source of power to be good or evil. Even if the results are the same, such as the disease healed or the demon exorcised, the perceived source of power is the difference between approval (miracle worker) or condemnation (magician). People around the world still believe in miracles and magic in an age of science. Certain groups of Christians are likely to consider the miracles credited to a non-Christian something magical (commonly labeled demonic) or fraudulent, since that person is not Christian. Jesus was subject to the same type of criticism. Was Jesus a magician or miracle worker? That was a matter of perspective, and the way writers of the past answered that question told us more about them than about Jesus.
References
Chadwick, Henry, “Origen: Christian Theologian”, Brittanica. Accessed from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Origen.
History.com, “History of Witches”. Accessed from https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/history-of-witches.
Mathews, Thomas. The Clash of Gods. Princeton University Press, 2003 ed.
Origen, “Origen Against Celsus”. Trans. F. Crombie. Fathers of the Third Century. 1885.
Van Voorst, Robert, Jesus Outside of the New Testament. W.B. Eerdman’s, 2005.
Wilken, Robert, “Tertullian: Christian Theologian, Brittanica. Accessed from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tertullian.