Our Faith Adds to God's Authority

 

Christianity holds that God is the ultimate power and authority in this world, and even this universe. Christianity also holds that God is the God of Love, and an expression of that love is that He made a way for us to be with Him in eternity, but He will not force Himself upon us; the choice is ours to make. God created humanity for relationship with Him. As such, He has given us free will to exercise whether or not we want that relationship. God does not force His will on us, though He does want the best for us.

It is on this basis that I want to look at Jesus' short time that was spent in Nazareth after His ministry began, and examine why it is that we read that He was unable to perform many miracles in their midst.

Realizing that eye witness accounts seldom line up perfectly, and never should, let's look at this story through the eyes of both Mark and Luke at the same time. While Luke's account indicates that Jesus went directly to Nazareth after His baptism and temptation, Mark indicates that Jesus was actually ministering on His way to Nazareth. This distinction becomes important as we study further.

Luke 4:14 tells us that that word of Jesus' healings and ministry while on His way to Nazareth preceded His arrival. As such the Nazarenes, Jesus' townspeople, were eager to see His miracles and see what Jesus was about. After all, they knew Jesus as a boy. They knew His earthly father and mother and His siblings. As far as they knew, Jesus was a kind man and He had likely spoken to the people in the synagogue on previous occasions, but this healing ministry was new to them.

We read that Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and read from the book of Isaiah, the 61st chapter, which tells of the coming Messiah. Afterwards, Luke tells us that Jesus proclaimed that the day that Isaiah had been talking about had arrived and that He was the fulfillment of the prophecy.

So now they had the man that they knew as a boy, whom they had heard was performing healings, sitting in their midst and proclaiming that He was the Messiah, which they could not accept. Mark 6:2b-3 indicates their thoughts; "Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?" Luke 4:22b says, "and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”" They were incredulous at Jesus' claims and rejected them. If Jesus had told them that He was a prophet, there might have been a few who were able to accept that explanation of His abilities. After all, prophets were merely men used by God. The Messiah was to be something completely different. They could not accept that this man that they knew from His youth was their Messiah.

Jesus challenges their very thoughts, by saying them out loud. "And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’" (Mark 4:23). As Jesus would experience throughout His ministry, people would only believe Him if they saw miracles performed by Him, otherwise His words were worth no more than the words of any other man. And Jesus responds to their thoughts by saying that "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household." (Mark 6:4).

This passage in Mark 6 about Jesus' time in Nazareth ends with the following statements; "And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He wondered at their unbelief." (vs. 5-6).

And today, people wonder at this. How is it that Jesus, as wholly man and wholly God, was unable to perform miracles other than healing a few people? Is God not all powerful? Can He not act in whatever ways that He wishes with nobody who can stand against Him?

Yes, God is all powerful and able to act against any and all opposition, but as I pointed out to start this article, God wants relationship with us, not to lord His power over us and use it as a bludgeon. Faith is to be a choice, and God will respond to those who make the choice to put their faith in Him.

Jesus touches on this in the account that we read in Luke 4. He says that during the famine of Elijah's time, Elijah was sent to only the one widow in Sidon and not to the widows of Israel. And Elisha cleansed only the leper Naaman of Syria and not the lepers of Israel. This filled the Nazarenes with rage and they sought to kill Jesus over these words. So let's figure out what Jesus was telling them that would drive them into a murderous rage.

The last line that I quoted is largely the key; "He wondered at their unbelief". Elijah did not help Israelite widows and Elisha did not heal Israelite lepers because they did not have belief that they could be helped and healed. Similarly, the Nazarenes did not experience much in the way of miracles performed at the hands of Jesus because they did not believe. A prophet is not accepted in his hometown; how much less the Messiah!

Matthew Henry points out in his commentary that the miracles of Jesus' healings were designed to cure people of their unbelief as much as, if not moreso, to heal them of their physical maladies. The people of Nazareth would not be healed of their unbelief that Jesus was their Messiah. That was just too far for their minds to reach. They desired the physical healing, but their unbelief would remain. They were not invested in Jesus as their Messiah, so His healing ministry was curtailed among them.

We see the opposite of this when we look at the stories of the Centurion's servant and the woman with the chronic bleeding.

Matthew 8 tells us of a Roman Centurion, a commander of a troop of a hundred soldiers, who goes to Jesus and pleads for the health of his ill servant. The Centurion states that he believes that Jesus just needs to state the words and the servant will be healed, and verses 10 and 13 tell us, "Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel." (v.10) "And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment." (v. 13). This is the faith in Him that Jesus works with. No doubt about His ability or desire. Just pure hope in Him alone.

We see this also with the woman who suffered from chronic bleeding in Mark 5:25-34 We read of her thoughts as she reached out just to touch the hem of Jesus' robe in pursuit of healing; "she thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” This was an act of pure faith, as well as reverence for Jesus and self-deprecation. She did not feel that she deserved the attention of the Messiah, yet she knew that healing was found in Him. We read that she was immediately healed, and Jesus stopped and asked, “Who touched My garments?” (v.30). The disciples exclaimed, "You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’", but verse 30 tells us that Jesus knew that healing power had left Him. It wasn't just a touch of unbelieving people following after someone famous; Jesus knew that there was a person of faith in that crowd. Of course, He knew who touched Him and why, but He desired the woman to come to Him for relationship and not just for healing. "And when she did, He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”" (v.34).

The faith of the Centurion and the bleeding woman are exactly contrary to the lack of faith found in Nazareth. While those in Nazareth were face to face with Jesus and desired healing, their lack of faith was a barrier, but the Centurion and this woman had faith enough that the Centurion believed that his servant would be healed even without Jesus' presence there, and the woman had faith that she would be healed by merely touching his robe. 

These contrary circumstances indicate that while God is powerful to act, it is His desire that we seek His favour in faith. He does not want to force His will onto anyone. He wants to work with us to accomplish His will in the earth.

We see this even in the Old Testament where we read of Isaiah's vision of Heaven in Isaiah 6. God asks the question of His Heavenly court, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?", and Isaiah answers God and says, "Here am I. Send me!" Then God instructs Isaiah to "Go, and tell this people..."

Again, in Jeremiah 1:9, "Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘I have put my words in your mouth.’" God could have delivered His words through a booming voice that those who heard would not be able to deny that the words came from God, but He instead chose to use Jeremiah as His mouthpiece, partnering with Jeremiah in his faith to accomplish His will.

In the New Testament we see this in the lives of the disciples, particularly after Jesus ascended to Heaven. Mark 16:20 says that "Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." Acts 1:8 gives us Jesus' words to the disciples, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…"; and Paul writes to the Corinthian church, sharing the work of spreading the gospel with Apollos while attributing the harvest to God; 1 Corinthians 3:6, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow."

So we see that our faith in God contributes to the effectiveness of His efforts, and our lack of faith can undermine His efforts, not due to any weakness on His part, but due to our own unbelief. So I want to encourage you to grow in faith towards God and to walk in His power to accomplish His will as He leads you. We are the hands and feet of Christ in this earth, and our duty is to demonstrate what faith in God can accomplish for Him.