Matthew 13: 53 - 58
53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”
58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/prophet-without-honor/ says:
ReplyDeleteOnce more, as John Calvin comments, we find sinners unwilling to believe in what God has sent. “It is not mere ignorance that hinders men, but that, of their own accord, they search after grounds of offense, to prevent them from following the path to which God invites.”
Western society is blessed to be steeped in the teaching of Scripture and the person and work of Christ. However, we must take care that this blessing of familiarity does not motivate contempt in us for the things of God. Even if we do not consciously disregard the Lord, failing to marvel at the Father’s grace — because we hear of it every week — is a subtle and powerful form of contempt. Take time to meditate on the greatness of our God and His love for us.
http://www.keyway.ca/htm2005/20050609.htm says:
ReplyDeleteBut the often-times most amazing incidence of those who rejected Him were those who were closest to Him - a situation that may actually have gotten worse, at least until His resurrection, because while His miracles could have made them better believers, He didn't, or couldn't, do any miracles before them, not because of any lack of power on His part, but because of a lack of belief on their part.
John 7:3-5:
3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
It's also a well-known fact that "Jesus of Nazareth" grew up in Nazareth, but what many don't realize is that Jesus had to leave Nazareth because the people there not only rejected Him, but would have killed Him because He spoke the Truth to them:
Luke 4:16,24-30:
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, . . .
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy[b] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
Amazingly, as happened with Nazareth, the people of Capernaum also eventually began to resent and oppose Him. They saw the many great miracles, that were done for the believers, with their own two eyes, they heard His very words of truth and wisdom with their own two ears, but they refused to repent and believe.
https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/872-was-christs-power-limited-by-mans-faith addresses whether Jesus is limited by our lack of faith:
ReplyDeleteWas Christ’s ability to perform miracles predicated upon the faith of those he taught?
First, the scriptures clearly teach that Jesus Christ possessed the nature of deity – which means that he had the power to do anything consistent with the divine plan.His power could not be “restrained” by a mere human whim.
For some, however, there is a problem in Mark’s expression, “he could not.”It would be helpful to recognize that the terms “could not [Grk. – ouk edunato]” are used idiomatically at times in the New Testament to denote, in a forceful way, what one deliberately purposed not to do.Perhaps some examples would be helpful.
1. In one of Christ’s parables, he describes a man who is rejecting an invitation to a great supper.The rude guest says, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot [ou dunamai] come” (Lk. 14:20).It was not that it was impossible for him to attend; no, rather, he deliberately chose not to go.He had no interest in the kindly invitation that he had received.
2. The apostle John wrote: “Whosoever is begotten of God does not sin, because his [God’s] seed abides in him: and he cannot [ou dunatai] sin, because he is begotten of God” (1 Jn. 3:9).This passage teaches that God’s child, because of the “seed” (word of God — Lk. 8:11) that abides in him, chooses to refrain from a life wherein sin is practiced in an unrestrained fashion.Certainly there is the ability to sin.But we resist the temptations to do so.
So similarly, the Savior determined not to perform many mighty works in his own country because of the quality of unbelief that was characteristic of them.It was exceptionally hostile.Thus, the effectiveness of his ministry in that region was curtailed – Jesus could not do a “mighty work” in that atmosphere.
The fact is, Christ’s reticence to do many mighty works, in the face of such stubbornness (though he did some — Mk. 6:5), was an act of benevolence, because sustained rejection of the evidence hardens all the more (cf. Jn. 12:37-40).