Was Jesus a Magician or a Miracle-Worker? 

Differentiating Between “Magician” and “Miracle-Worker”…

How do we define “magician” and “miracle-worker”?

The tough part of delving into things such as these is having to parse through the complexities of time, culture, languages, and various other discrepancies bounced off several differing opinions.

(Don’t worry, I’m not going to do that here today. Instead, I’m going to try and simplify it all together and allow for discussion in the comment section.)

The label “magician” then, didn’t necessarily mean what so many of us have come to define it as today.

Today, when we think of magicians we usually think of those who have or possess an exceptional skill obtained through years of disciplined practice, misdirection and/or sleight of hand; whereas, during Jesus’ time, especially considering the miracles in which he performed, this term magician was loaded with more stigmatizing negative spiritual connotations…

“The distinction between magic and miracle is said merely to be a matter of labels in which we have the power of definition of society or dominant circles in it: ‘magic’ is the miracle which it repudiates; ‘miracle’ is the magic that it accepts.” – Gerd Theissen

In other words, calling Jesus a “magician” during the first century would be comparable to a modern-day detractor reducing him to Harry Potter.

Whereas, calling Jesus a “Miracle-worker” would be like the Pope acknowledging another human to be God the incarnate (i.e. exactly who Christians believe Jesus to be today – the Son of God).

And, ironically, for many of the same reasons in which the church wouldn’t do that today, neither did the religious leaders then, want to validate Christ.

Suffice to say, it was an attack on his ministry, his life, credibility, and overall character; while labeling him a miracle-worker would not just validate his ministry but have more of a positive spiritual connotation, giving His movement, an already historically unstoppable force, even more momentum.

The call for equality is rarely in favor of those in power…

Maybe the sleight of hand here isn’t having to do anything with Jesus, maybe it’s seen within the calculated misdirection from various scholars…