John 20:30-31. John tells us that Jesus performed many other signs (aka miracles) than John recorded, but John wrote of these so "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."

John speaks directly to his reader here. I don't remember noticing this before. I wonder if the other Gospel writers ever did this, or if John does it again elsewhere. I will look into that. I find it very intriguing. John's Gospel is not just a story of what happened (none of them are, they were all written with the intent to evangelize), but John is usually more subtle. I love John's Gospel because of his imagery and his literary skill, so this reading today struck me because John is breaking out of his usual rhythm to speak directly to us. He's kind of grabbing us by the lapels a bit.

This says to me  - Yes, there are layers and layers to these miracles, and you can read a lot into them and that is good, but don't forget that this actually happened! It's not just a well-crafted literary work about a somewhat mystical person, it is reality! Jesus got his hands dirty. He lived with and loved His people and performed many miracles for both their physical well-being and their salvation. He was really a person and His miracles show us that He was really God.