Mark is speculated to be written during the Jewish revolt against Rome and potentially after the destruction of the temple (White 264).  People of the time were looking for a political Messiah and not realizing that Jesus was going to be associated with suffering and death.  This might be a reason why Mark portrays Jesus as a misunderstood character and emphasizes this through the interactions that the disciples have with Jesus (White 266).  His miracles are veiled in secrecy (Mk 3:12) and are complexly described, which makes for very perplexed and confused disciples in Mark’s miracle stories (Mk 6:52). However, the author of Mark also uses an element of irony with this portrayal because he is writing to an audience who already knows the story of Jesus and how he is ultimately revealed as the Messiah.  The miracle stories in Mark serve as a sort of “commentary on the narrative”, which make the characters in the stories ‘examples’ to the reader (White 273).  A case of this is seen in Mark 6:45-52 where Jesus walks on water.  The disciples are “terrified” at first because they think Jesus is a ghost, and by the end of the story, they are “astounded” and have hearts that are “hardened”.  The audience of Mark is able to see Jesus’ significance, while the disciples are depicted as confused and unable to understand Jesus.

By contrast, Matthew has significantly shortened the miracle stories and has made them much more clear, which demonstrates the lesson of faith that they contain, while also portraying the disciples as men who understand the lesson, although do not always have a strong faith in Jesus’ capabilities (White 182).  A clear example of this is seen in Matthew 14:22-33 when Jesus walks on water and calms the waves.  Matthew is seen omitting language that is used in Mark that makes Jesus seem misunderstood by the disciples (Mk 6:52) and replaces it with language that confirms Jesus’ identity as the Son of God (Mt 14:33).  Matthew’s author also adds in the story of Peter, which falls in line with Matthew’s reoccurring portrayal as Jesus’ disciples having “little faith” (Mt 14:31).

Matthew’s depiction of Jesus traveling and healing multitudes in 12:15-21 has an element of the messianic secret that Mark depicts in 3:7-12.  The difference between the two of these stories is that Matthew attributes this secrecy to fulfillment of prophecy by quoting Isiah 42:1-4.  By quoting this scripture, Matthew is able to explain this need for secrecy, which also contributes to the clearer and more straight-forward depiction of Jesus.  These miracle stories, coupled with the emphasis Matthew places on the sermons of Jesus, bolsters the image of Jesus as a teacher that the author of Matthew has crafted throughout his gospel.

The gospel writers were most likely portraying Jesus as a miracle worker due to the “magical worldview” seen during ancient times (White 165).  Miracle stories were a standard in oral tradition during the times the gospels were written and the structure for these stories is clearly seen in each of the miracles depicted in the gospels (White 175).  Miracles of Jesus served as a testimonial by having close similarities to miracles performed by prophets in the Hebrew Bible.  By having these similarities, the authors were able to reinforce the idea of Jesus being seen as a prophet (White 165).  Ultimately, the gospel writers worked miracle stories into their respective gospels in order to emphasize the specific portrayal of Jesus that they were trying to convey to their audience, whether that be a misunderstood man, or a righteous teacher.