Inigo Montoya Series: Jesus Could Do No Miracles in Nazareth Because of Unbelief?

The Misuse of Mark 6:5 to Claim Jesus Is Hindered by Unbelief

Mark chapter 6 verse 5 says that Jesus could do no miracles in His hometown of Nazareth because of the unbelief of the residents there. And so, therefore, there are some things that Jesus cannot do. He cannot override our unbelief.

He is hindered when we don't believe in Him.

He's got very good arms.

He didn't fall?

Inconceivable!

You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.

You keep using that verse. I do not think it means what you think it means. Welcome to the program, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Justin Peters. I hope that this finds you and your family doing well today.

I want to thank you so much for joining me for this podcast. This is the next installment on my ongoing Inigo Montoya series where we look at commonly misinterpreted, misapplied, taken out of context verses in the Word of God.

There are a lot of them. I know it's been a while since I've done one of these. It's been a very, very busy stretch for me in the last year doing my daily Bible readings. That's taken up an enormous amount of time putting those together.

These videos have been a bit less frequent than they otherwise would have been, but Lord willing I should be able to pick up the pace a bit in the new year coming up. So, Mark chapter 6 verse 5. This is a verse undoubtedly you have heard of, you've read before, and maybe it's been a bit of a head scratcher.

Mark 6:4-5 in Context

So let's look at it. Mark chapter 6 verses 4 through 5. And Jesus was saying to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household. And he could do no miracle there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

And so that verse, verse 5, where it says he could do no miracle there. Many people, particularly in the charismatic movement, had taken that verse and extrapolated from that that Jesus is hindered in what he would like to do for us because of our unbelief, whether it's salvation or healing.

There are things that Jesus would just really like to do, but doggone it, our unbelief just keeps him from doing what he would like to do. In fact, watch this video. This is a short clip from Stephen Furtick.

Listen to what he says about this verse.

The power of God was in Jesus. The healing power of God. The restoring power of God. The same power that made demons flee was in Nazareth, but Jesus could not release it because it was trapped in their unbelief.

And there's one thing that even Jesus can't do. One thing that even the son of God can't do. Even Jesus cannot override your unbelief. I see y 'all looking at me like, is that true?

No, no, it's not true at all. But I digress.

Thought he could do anything. He said he could not. He wanted to. He was prepared to. He was able to. And he couldn't. The power of God was in Nazareth, but it was trapped in their perspective.

So what are we to do with this? I mean, the verse does say that Jesus could do no miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. So is Stephen Furtick right? Was Jesus' power hindered by the unbelief of those in Nazareth?

And therefore, by extrapolation, he is hindered by our own unbelief. There are things that Jesus simply cannot do. He cannot override our unbelief. Our unbelief to Jesus is like kryptonite to Superman.

Don't touch that.

I told you.

It's kryptonite, Superman.

What are we to do with this? Now, you clever folks may have already noticed that even in that very verse. Mark chapter 6, verse 5, there's an indication that Stephen Furtick is not right, but we will get to that in just a moment.

The Parallel Account in Matthew 13

Like many things that Jesus did and said in the New Testament, they are found in not only one gospel, but in multiple gospels, and this is one of those events. So there's a parallel passage that helps to shed a bit of light on this for us.

And it is in Matthew chapter 13, verses 57 through 58. Let's read this together. And they were taking offense at him, but Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.

And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Okay, same event, right? In verse 58, it says that he did not do many miracles there. So is there a contradiction? Mark's gospel said that Jesus could not.

Matthew's gospel, recording the same event, says that Jesus did not do many miracles there. So is this a contradiction? No, it's not. This is, dear friends, this is not a lack of Jesus' power. This is not a lack of his ability.

This is not saying that Jesus wanted to heal everyone there in Nazareth, but he was hindered from what he wanted to do because of their unbelief. It's not at all what this is saying. This is a lack of will, not ability.

Think of it this way. If someone were to come up to me and say, Justin, I want you to eat pineapple pizza. I'd say, I can't do that. That's wrong. Pineapple doesn't belong on pizza. It's an abomination.

I just can't do it. Now, could I do it? Well, of course. Do I have the ability to eat pineapple pizza? Yes, I do have the ability. I just do not have the will. I don't have the want to. If someone were to say, Justin, I want you to watch 12 straight hours of the view, what would my response be?

I can't do that.

Could I?

Do I have the ability? Yeah, I guess. You might have to tie me to a chair and prop my eyelids open with toothpicks, but yes, I do have the ability to watch 12 straight hours of the view, but I do not have the will.

I do not have the want to. I think I'd rather stick my face in a fan than watch 12 hours of the view. Speaking of sticking your face in the fan, what if someone said, Justin, I want you to stick your face in a fan?

No, I can't do that. I mean, I could, but it would be foolish for me to do it. I have no desire to do it. So Jesus had the ability. It was not a lack of ability. It was a lack of will. Jesus only healed a few sick people in Nazareth because that was the Father's will for him to do so.

It wasn't God's will for him to heal everyone there. Let's look at John 5, verse 19. Therefore, Jesus answered and was saying to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing from himself unless it is something he sees the Father doing.

For whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same manner. So why did Jesus not heal everyone in Nazareth? Because it wasn't God's will. It wasn't the Father's will. Whatever the Father's will is, that's what Jesus does.

That's what he did. So if it had been the Father's will for him to heal everyone in Nazareth, he would have healed everyone in Nazareth. In fact, I mentioned this, kind of alluded to it a second ago. A careful reading of verse 5 indicates that Jesus did have the ability to heal people because it says that he, in fact, did heal a few sick people in Nazareth.

So it wasn't that he didn't heal anybody. He did heal a few. Who did he heal? Well, he healed the ones that it was the Father's will for him to heal. That's who he healed. So he clearly had the ability because he did heal a few sick people, just not everyone.

It had nothing to do with people's lack of faith hindering him from doing what he wanted to do. In fact, to be fair, there are times in the New Testament when we read of Jesus and there was apparently a part, a place for the faith of a person, the recipient of Jesus' healing.

Their faith was an integral part of that. On occasions, that did happen. However, there are other occasions in which Jesus healed people and there was apparently no faith at all required on the part of the person who was being healed.

Jesus Healing Without Prior Faith

Jesus healed 10 lepers in Luke chapter 17, but only one of them expressed faith in him. Only one came back to thank him. Jesus asked, where are the other nine? They're not 10 healed.

Only one.

The crippled man at the pool of Bethesda in John chapter 5. When you read John chapter 5, it says that there was a multitude of the sick laying there at the pool of Bethesda. How many did Jesus heal? Only one.

One out of a multitude. And that man did not have the faintest idea as to who Jesus was. He didn't have any idea who he was. He didn't have any faith in Christ. The man born blind in John chapter 9, Jesus healed him and yet that man didn't have any faith in Christ.

He didn't know who he was either. What about all of the demoniacs delivered by Christ? What about all the people from whom Jesus cast out demons? Did they have faith in Jesus? No, of course not. They were demonized.

They were demoniacs. By the way, that's a real problem for these so-called deliverance ministries nowadays and there will be much more on that, Lord willing, coming in the near future. And then what about the multitudes of people that Jesus healed, particularly recorded in Matthew's gospel where Jesus would heal large groups of people.

And clearly they did not all have faith in Christ. They didn't know who he was. A great majority of them undoubtedly did not. So there were many people that Jesus healed and they had not even the faintest idea as to who he was.

So it's just not true to say that Jesus is hindered by our unbelief. That it is, as I said, the theological equivalent of Kryptonite to Superman. It's just not true. In fact, dear friends, Jesus makes it very clear that all authority under heaven and earth has been given to him.

He has all authority. Jesus is the one who spoke the universe into existence and not only did he speak the universe into existence, he upholds all things by the word of his power, says Hebrews 1 .3. Now think about this, dear ones.

Not only is Jesus the creator, he sustains all of his creation. You could go out to some distant, far-flung galaxy that we have not even yet discovered, go out on one of the spiral arms, find one star out of hundreds of billions in this galaxy, one star out of those, drill down into the middle of the star, find one little teeny tiny atom of hydrogen or helium.

Do you know why that atom is in the place that it is right now? Because right now it is being held in its proper place by the constant exertion of the power of Jesus Christ. Do you know what would happen if Jesus were to ever stop working even for a nanosecond?

The entire universe, you and me included, would vaporize. We would cease to exist instantly. That is an awesome thought. So you're going to tell me that this great God, Jesus Christ, who created the universe, who upholds all things by the word of his power, is hindered by our lack of faith?

There are things that he wants to do but just can't? No. Everything goes to him. All glory goes to him. Even our faith is in and of itself from him. You and I didn't muster up faith in Christ on our own.

We didn't gin it up within ourselves. Faith is in and of itself granted to us by Christ. He's the author and finisher, perfecter of our faith. Our faith in him comes from him. Philippians 1, verse 29,.

For to you it has been granted, not only to believe in Christ, but to suffer for his sake. Our faith is granted to us. So dear friends, don't let anybody ever tell you that your lack of faith somehow hinders Christ from doing what he wants to do.

That is just not true. And don't let anybody ever tell you that the reason that you haven't been healed is because of your lack of faith. If you have been saved, if you have been granted the faith to be saved, you have certainly got the faith to be healed.

Christ’s Authority, Providence, and the Gift of Faith

So dear friends, it is not a lack of power, it's not a lack of ability on the part of Christ that he did not perform many miracles there in Mark chapter 6 in his hometown of Nazareth. It was a lack of will.

It simply was not the Father's will and it was not his will to heal everyone in his hometown. Could he have done it?

Oh yeah.

But it wasn't his will. All right. Dear ones, I hope that this has been helpful for you. Thank you so much for watching. Until our next time together, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of his Holy Spirit be with you all.