Jesus preached and brought the Kingdom of God. He called the people of God to repentance and did many signs and wonders. Although Jesus did many mighty works, He could do many mighty works in His hometown. But why couldn’t Jesus do many mighty works in Nazareth? Was it because of their unbelief?
Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth
And when He was come into His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and His brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this Man all these things? And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief (Mat 13:54-58)
And He went out from thence, and came into His own country; and His disciples follow Him. And when the sabbath day was come, He began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And He could there do no mighty work, save that He laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And He marvelled because of their unbelief. And He went round about the villages, teaching (Mar 6:1-6)
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias.
And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down.
And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.
And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? And He said unto them, Ye will surely say unto Me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And He said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust Him out of the city, and led Him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong. But He passing through the midst of them went His way (Luk 4 16-30)
Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Savior of the world
When Jesus returned to His hometown, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbat and taught the people from the Book of Isaiah. The people were astonished at His wisdom and His mighty works and wondered what the source of His wisdom and miracles was.
They knew Jesus as (son of) the carpenter and son of Maria. They knew His brothers and sisters.
Therefore they didn’t see Him as the Son of God, as the Christ, the Savior of the world, as Jesus read from the book of Isaiah. They saw Him as the son of Joseph and Maria.
Maybe they knew Him, from when He was young and their children played with Him and saw Him grow up into adolescence as a carpenter, which made it hard for them to see Him as Son of God, Prophet, and Savior.
Instead of being happy and joyful about the fact that the scriptures were fulfilled and that God had sent His Messiah to the earth and that the Son of God was in their midst, they became angry and were filled with wrath and were offended at Him. They saw in Him that of which they disapproved and that which hindered them from acknowledging His authority.
Jesus cast out the synagogue and His hometown
Those, who needed help didn’t go to this carpenter. They didn’t go to Him for healing, nor did they bring to Him those, who needed healing and deliverance from evil spirits.
No, instead that they believed and were joyful, they were filled with a rage, which boiled over in a sudden and angry outburst upon hearing these things. Their anger led them to kill Jesus.
Therefore they stood up and cast Jesus not only out of the synagogue but also out of His hometown.
They led Jesus to an out-jutting cliff of the mountain upon which their city was built so that they might hurl Him headlong down the precipice. But since it wasn’t Jesus’ time yet, Jesus passed through the midst of them and proceeded on His way.
Why Jesus couldn’t do many mighty works
Was Jesus not able to do many mighty works, due to the unbelief of the people that caused the power of Jesus to be blocked? In other words, did their lack of faith limited the power of Jesus and therefore was their unbelief stronger than His power? The answer is no!
Jesus had all authority and all the power, He needed to help the people and make them whole, despite the faith or unbelief of the people.
However, it was the people, who didn’t believe in Him, but saw His natural identity and therefore they didn’t go to Him for help. That was the unbelief, Jesus was referring to.
It had nothing to do with the fact that their lack of faith created a wrong atmosphere and limited the power of God, so that the power of God could not manifest.
It had everything to do with the fact that they didn’t go to Him for help, but were offended at Him, because they saw Him as a normal human being, a carpenter.
The few sick people, Jesus healed in His hometown
Their unbelief didn’t limit the authority of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. Before they were offended at Jesus and threw Him out of the synagogue and the city, Jesus had already healed a few sick people, by the laying on of hands.
Since, they were astonished in the synagogue about His miraculous power, by the laying on of hands. How else could they be astonished at His miraculous power if nothing had taken place? Exactly!
Apparently, before Jesus taught the people, these sick people came to Him for healing, before Jesus’ natural identity was revealed and the rumor about Jezus of Nazareth and who He was had spread in the synagogue. But Jesus had healed and made them whole by the laying on of hands, despite the other people’s unbelief.
Jesus knew in Who sent Him, who He was, what He possessed, and whose Name He represented. He knew His authority and His power and walked in it. Nothing could limit and stop His authority and His power, even not the unbelief of people.
The unbelief of the people only withheld themselves from their redemption, since they did not believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Saviour. Therefore they didn’t turn to Him for redemption, healing, and deliverance but instead rejected Him.
‘Be the salt of the earth’
