Jesus Rejected in His Hometown

To the people of Nazareth, hearing that the hometown boy was the Messiah, is the equivalent of us hearing that the Messiah had been found in Gastonia! It should not surprise us that the people who had known Jesus His whole life were the most skeptical. What is surprising is that their lack of faith seemed to limit His ability to do miracles. The text in Mark reads "And because of their unbelief, He couldn't do any miracles there except to place His hands on a few sick people and heal them"' while Matthew's account reads "And so He did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief".

To think that Jesus' ability to work miracles is dependent on our faith, is at odds with the concept of an all-powerful God. He does not need anything from us in order to accomplish His plans, thank goodness, yet many teach that miracles and healings do not occur because of a lack of faith in the one seeking the miracle. But the passages in today's reading do not support this false doctrine. The people of Nazareth had no lack of faith in Jesus' ability to work miracles. The problem was that that faith did not transfer into a faith in Jesus as Messiah. Jesus could see this attitude in the throngs following Him for selfish reasons. And though He did perform some healings, He chose to limit His miracles because of the lack of true, saving faith present in his hometown. That Jesus "could not" do any miracles is better understood that He "would not". He had the ability but not the will.

In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus says "do not give to dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs". In other words, Jesus knew His audiences and knew when He was in the presence of true seekers...and when He wasn't. He chose to spend His time and energy on people who had "ears to hear" and hearts open to the gospel. And just as He had instructed His disciples to "shake the dust off their feet" when encountering a town that would not receive them, Jesus refused to work miracles in Nazareth.

tomorrow's reading: Luke 9:7-19; Mark 6:14-56; Matt. 14:1-36