The most extraordinary deeds were attributed to Christ. The apostle John, in his account, called them 'signs': that is, authenticating signs, pointing to Christ's true identity. So, for instance, he is reported to have stilled a storm, leaving his followers dumbfounded. The Psalmist had written of God, 'He stills the storms and silences the waves'. Those in the boat with Jesus murmured among themselves, 'Who can this be that even the wind and waves obey him?'

When Jesus healed a man who had been paralysed, he explained that he had done this so that they would know that 'the Son of Man (a phrase he used to describe himself) has authority on earth to forgive sins'. Mark reports that they were all astounded to see the man walk and praised God saying, 'We have never seen anything like this'.

And that is exactly the point. No-one has ever seen deeds like that. They were unique to Christ and, it seems, his immediate band of followers. There are those who have tried to argue that these were either clever magician's tricks or the sort of psychosomatic healings that we see so often at the hands of 'alternative' therapists and faith healers today. But that is not the case. Many of the people Christ healed had incurable diseases that are still incurable to this day, such as congenital blindness, a fixed curvature of the spine or a wasted, paralysed limb. These conditions could not remit spontaneously and no other treatment was on offer. Yet we read that at the hands of Christ they were healed instantaneously, completely and at a mere word of command.