Even though Jesus had miraculous and marvelous powers, there is recorded a time when Jesus was unable to do His miracles…. in His hometown of Nazareth. The story is found in Mark 6:1-6.
I discovered two reasons He could do no mighty works.
1. Familiarity.
Jesus was invited to speak at his hometown synagogue. This was not the first time He had taught in Nazareth. In Luke 4:14-30 the response was less than positive – in fact, the people tried to kill Him. The people of Nazareth are about to receive a second chance to believe.
As often happened when Jesus spoke, many who heard him were amazed (1:22; 7:37; 10:26; 11:18). They were amazed at His wisdom and miracles.
But when He began to speak, He was interrupted. They could not deny the wisdom of his words, nor the wonder of his works. So they attacked Him personally.
They knew 3 things about Him…
- Jesus was a carpenter, not a teacher. To them, He was just a common laborer.
- He was the son of Mary. Jewish men were never identified with their mother. So this may have been a derogatory remark about, what they thought, was an illegitimate birth.
- He had four brothers and at least two sisters. Though James & Jude would believe in Jesus after His resurrection, none believed in Him at this time.
Jesus had no respect among the people He grew up with. They just couldn’t believe somebody from their hometown could be who Jesus claimed to be.
There may be a reason for the saying ‘familiarity breeds contempt.’ When you get close to others, you see their inconsistencies, foibles, and contradictions. But not so with Jesus. The better people know Him, the more they experience a growing respect.
Though there is no danger of a familiarity with Christ which obscures His divinity and authority, there is a danger of familiarity dulling us to the deep spiritual demands of our faith. We can become desensitized to the personal demands of God. We can take Him for granted and become accustomed to what He has done. He will do no mighty works among those who take Him for granted.
2. Faith
Ultimately it was not respect but faith that Jesus sought in His hometown. Unbelief has consequences that are tragic and eternal.
That Jesus could not do any miracles in Nazareth does not mean a restriction on His power. Rather, Jesus could have done greater miracles in Nazareth, but He chose not to because of the people’s unbelief. The fact that the Bible says Jesus performed a few healings in Nazareth means He could. But He didn’t do many because of their lack of faith.
Faith is not always necessary for Jesus to do something. But most of the time Jesus works in response or in cooperation with faith. It was not impossible for Jesus to do miracles in Nazareth, but He wanted the person’s faith to be part of the process: “According to your faith will it be done to you.” (Matt. 9:29). Jesus does not throw miracles at random. But He becomes deeply involved in relationships and the miracle is performed within the context of the relationships, both corporate and individual. Jesus refused to force Himself on those who did not want Him.
Though the words and miracles ‘amazed’ the people Nazareth, it was their unbelief that ‘amazed’ Jesus. He had lived with them for 30 years and they still did not believe Him. The only other occurrence of Jesus’ amazement is with the reference to the Roman centurion and his faith (Matt. 8:10).
I don’t know what Jesus will do in our congregation. I don’t know what He will do in your own life or mine. But I know what will happen if we do not turn to Jesus with expectation that He can do great things: absolutely nothing. Right now I firmly believe that Jesus is looking at a lot of Christians and a lot of churches with amazement at the lack of faith. Jesus is powerful, but He will not work in a place that is lacking faith.
One summer, a drought threatened the crop in a small town. On a Sunday, the pastor told his congregation, “There isn’t anything that will save us except to believe in the power of Jesus and pray for rain. Go home, pray, believe, and come back next Sunday ready to thank God for sending rain.” The people did as they were told and returned to church the following Sunday. But as soon as the pastor saw them, he was furious. “We can’t worship today. You do not yet believe,” he said. “But,” they protested, “we prayed, and we do believe.” “Believe?” he responded. “Then where are your umbrellas?”