Earlier, in Matthew 9, Jesus was actually able to do some miracles in His own town (apparently, Capernaum), but I notice that the reaction by the people was described as "fear" and amazement. He was also made fun of when He healed the "ruler's" daughter. Now, He's in His "hometown". This would have been Nazareth, which was 20 miles or so from Capernaum, which is far enough if your mode of transportation involves slowly wearing out your sandals. Anyway, He's not received very well at all here. I guess the difference is that where you grow up, people tend to see you different. My city is now Saskatoon. People here would see me differently than they would in Thunder Bay. Anyway, that's all beside the point.
In Jesus' home town, it says they took offense at Him. "Who's this man, thinks He's a prophet?" It's hard to tell if His response of "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown" is a lament, or if He's annoyed. But the big deal is the fact that "He did not do many miracles because of their unbelief".
First, it's interesting to think that we can limit God. But there it is right there. He didn't do many miracles because of their unbelief. According to my presuppositions, this gives a glimpse of our free will. Jesus didn't force miracles on people that didn't want them. I never see God as forcing us to do anything (sometimes I think I wish He would). He leaves us to our own devices, but calls us to Himself. Seriously, who wouldn't want Jesus to do a bunch of miracles, anyway? Seems kind of odd looking back on it from here.
Secondly, what are the implications for us? How many blessings have I missed because of my unbelief? I try to soothe my own guilt sometimes by thinking that there's some other reason why God doesn't do some of the things in my life that I would hope He would do. But, maybe it comes down to my unbelief. It scares me to think so, because all I can think to respond is, "Lord, help me with my unbelief". Often, I don't believe. I really don't think God's going to come through. Or not so much that as I'm not often very sure what God wants from me in specific situations, so as a result I'm not sure if He's gonna come through. Either way, my belief feels more like wishful thinking on my part (in those sorts of situations).
(A friend of mine had an interesting thought on this the other day. He said that "faith isn't believing things into being, but rather believing in what God has already promised". Now I'm not sure it's limited to that completely, but he tries to listen to what God wants him to pray about, rather than (always) coming to God with a laundry list of wants.)
The bright side of all of this is to realize that this is one isolated sort of incident in this gospel. The norm was that Jesus was able to do miracles quite readily, and I can't think of an instance where Jesus turned someone aside who came to Him with a request. That makes me feel better. Jesus is ready and willing to come through for us. I'm sure my unbelief plays a factor, but probably in the end, I don't need to stress out about it.
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