Because of their unbelief

Matthew 13:58

And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Jesus, when He was on this earth, did many mighty works. Everywhere He went, people were healed from chronic diseases, lepers were cleansed, the lame walked, the blind heard, and the deaf saw. And the poor had the gospel preached to them. Even the dead were raised again! He did these miracles often and copiously. Many were helped. Demoniacs and lunatics were changed and transformed into gentle and sound children of God. Only the Son of God could do such wonderful works. Everyone could tell—the crowds knew who He must have been. But then…but then. There were those who felt differently. There were those who could not believe, yea, would not believe. There were those that, despite all the miracles and all the supernatural works, still remained hard and unrelenting in their unbelief.

Here, in our passage, Christ comes into His own country to minister where He grew up. He comes to His hometown, where things were familiar and people were familiar. But Jesus did not receive the warmhearted reception that He did in other places. They were stiff and cold and questioning towards Him. “Who is this?” they would say. “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” They were essentially asking, “What is special about this man?” “How does He have this wisdom and these mighty works?” “We know Him, how could this be?” They could not believe the miracles that were before them, and Jesus remarked that a prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house. Therefore, Jesus could not do many mighty works. He could not! Why not? Because of their unbelief. They were not ready to receive it. They did not show themselves worthy of any miracles. For their hearts remained faithless, hard, and unbelieving.

Now, dear friends, why is it that the Lord sometimes cannot do many mighty works? What is inhibiting Him? What is staying His hand? What is stemming the flow of His works? What is preventing His miracles? Only one thing is the hindrance. A single reason stands in the way, and interposes between us and the miraculous. And that is unbelief. We do not believe! We are firmly settled in our skepticism and staunchly planted in our cynicism. How could God do this? How could this happen? We’ve never seen this before. And therefore, the Lord cannot do many mighty works. May the Lord of Heaven and Earth deliver us from such unbelief. Will you pray and ask God to increase your faith today and help your unbelief?

“Dear Lord, as we read of the unbelief of Your own people, we ask that You would deliver us from faithlessness and incredulity concerning what You can do. May we not be entrenched and entangled in our own unbelief, but help us to be freed and liberated by our faith in You. Increase, and strengthen, and enlarge, and fortify our faith this day, so that we may believe You for the unbelievable and trust You for the impossible. Please forgive any and all unbelief and replace it with faith, for without faith it is impossible to please You. And all these things we ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.”