A wooden door at the Santa Sabina
Church in Rome shows Jesus with a “wand" performing miracles: (top to
bottom) Jesus raising Lazarus; Jesus multiplying loaves and fish; Jesus turning
water into wine. Image courtesy of Lee Jefferson, fair use doctrine,
Joel Kontinen
Ancient art throughout the
catacombs of Rome, painted on the walls and carved into stone coffins,
shows Jesus as he multiplies loaves
of bread, heals the sick and brings the dead back to life. These images are
unified by one surprising element: In each of them, Jesus appears to brandish a
wand. That led scholars to wonder: Did ancient Christians see Jesus as a
magician?
However, most evidence
suggests that early Christians did not see Jesus as a magician. For them, magic was a human pursuit that
could not raise the dead and do the things Jesus did with the power of God.
While many detractors of Christianity, like Celsus, a vocal critic
of Christianity saw that Jesus used magic. .Lee Jefferson and Felicity Harley-McGowan take the view that the wand that
this was false. Magic was forbidden in the Roman Empire.
They point to Jesus, who carried the wand like Moses, "He's kind of like a new Moses," Jefferson
said.
Source:
Whitcomb, Isobel. 2020. Was Jesus a magician? Live Science 18 October.
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