Mark 6:1-6
I never cease to be amazed at the things God will do for and through those that believe Him.
In the past few weeks I’ve had the privilege of leading three people to faith in Jesus Christ. The only way to describe that experience is to remember how you felt when you personally met Jesus. And, it never ceases to amaze me how God can take a person that is dead in trespasses and sins and make him alive in Jesus Christ. It’s a marvel to me how a person can be the child of Hell one moment and instantaneously become the child of God the next moment.
I’m regularly amazed at how God is at work in people’s lives, doing things they would never imagine possible apart from His divine enablement. Whether it’s delivering someone from a sinful habit, repairing a broken relationship, enabling someone to get on mission with Him, helping a person find his/her purpose in life, bringing meaning out of personal chaos, etc., etc., God does amazing things in the lives of those who trust Him. And, if you’ll watch for Him carefully, you’ll see Him doing amazing things in your life, too.
I am also amazed at the things our great God has done and is doing through the work of our church…from a relatively small town in West Virginia. Whether it’s through our nearly 100 missionary partners planting churches stateside and internationally, the hundreds we help every year through our Life Bridge ministry, our Encounter Bible studies that are used all across the state, our TV broadcast that reaches into homes where we probably could never make a personal visit, our ministry of care for the hurting and sick...showing them that God sees and loves them, our outreach through partnerships with local agencies mending broken lives, our Celebrate Recovery Group helping people find freedom in Christ, our Life Groups that reached a new high attendance of more than 1100 participants seeking Christ as Lord, our OCC outreach that packed 1269 shoebox gifts added to the grand total of 22,742 shoeboxes that left our facilities this week to bring happiness and Jesus to children in remote places on this earth, the more than 125 people that have come to faith in Christ through the ministries of our church this past year, etc. etc., God just does amazing things! I never cease to marvel at what God can and will do with people that make themselves available to Him.
It’s little wonder that we are all amazed at the mighty works of God. After all, He is an amazing God that is all-powerful and can do more than we can even imagine!!
But, I was wondering recently if there was anything in scripture that tells about things that “amaze” God…and to my wonder I found two. There are only two times in the Bible when we are specifically told that God (i.e., Jesus Christ) is amazed (“marveled”) at something and both of them have to do with opposite sides of the same subject matter.
The first of these two is found in a story dealing with the servant of a Roman Centurion. Apparently, this Roman soldier had a tender heart for God and for the things of God (Luke 7:1-9) because he had helped the Jewish people in Capernaum and endeared himself to them. As a consequence, they became his mouthpiece to ask Jesus for help in healing his servant girl. When Jesus agreed to assist, he came near to the Centurion’s home. Before he could enter, though, the Centurion sent word to Jesus that he need only speak the word and the girl would be made well. In other words, this Roman soldier expressed faith in Jesus and in the power of His words to do exactly what He said. When Jesus heard this, the text tells us that He “marveled” (was amazed) and said He hadn’t seen such great faith even in His own people in Israel.
The other occasion where Jesus “marveled” (Mark 6:1-6) was when He came to His own hometown for a second time (cf. Luke 4:16-30) and was met with strident disbelief and a hostile reception. These were the people that had seen Him growing up and watched Him learn the trade of carpentry from His stepfather, Joseph. It was these people that knew His half brothers and sisters, some of which still lived in town.
The people of Nazareth could not explain how Jesus was able to do such miraculous works, nor were they able to explain the wisdom with which He spoke. After all, they knew He hadn’t studied under any Jewish Rabbi while growing up among them. So, what they were doing In essence was rejecting Jesus’ words and works and attributing them to something/someone other than God Himself.
It’s in His hometown and this environment of skepticism that the Bible tells us Jesus was amazed (“marveled”)…this time at their “unbelief” (Mark 6:6). As a result, Jesus didn’t do many miraculous works there and as far as we know, this was the last time He visited Nazareth.
It’s important to note that the text says, “He could not do mighty works,” meaning that HE CHOSE (cf. Matthew 13:53-58) not to do them in the face of such hostile dispositions and strident disbelief. Jesus never lacked the power to do any miracle He chose to do in any setting He chose to do it. However, He would not force Himself on anybody that did not want Him or want the experience of His miraculous words and works.
Just to confirm Jesus’ power you need only look back through the opening chapters of the Gospel of Mark alone to see His power.
Jesus…
1. Healed Peter’s mother-in-law (1:29-31).
2. Healed many more in Capernaum (1:32-34).
3. Healed a leper (1:40-45).
4. Healed a paralyzed man (2:1-12).
5. Healed a man with a deformed hand (3:1-6).
6. Healed many with afflictions (3:7-12).
7. Calmed the storm and sea (4:35-41).
8. Set the demoniac free (5:1-20).
9. Healed the woman that bled for 12 years (5:25-34).
10. Raised Jairus’ daughter who had died (5:35-43).
It’s after reading all these miracles in Mark’s Gospel that he makes the pronouncement that in Nazareth Jesus only did a few miracles because of their unbelief. It’s as if we’ve been rolling along on a miraculous superhighway when suddenly we’re stopped dead in our tracks by a head-on collision with unbelief! How could it be that Jesus would do so few miracles in the place He knew the best growing up?
Still, there’s no mistaking it, throughout the Gospels we see Jesus had…
1. Power over infirmity (John 9:1ff).
2. Power over the laws of nature (John 6:19).
3. Power over material objects (John 2:1ff).
4. Power over demons (Matthew 12:22).
5. Power over death (John 11:43-44).
The reason Nazareth didn’t see Jesus’ miraculous works had nothing to do with His inability to perform them. Rather, it was directly the fault of their own disposition of unbelief toward Him. In fact, Jesus did some miracles in Nazareth (“a few sick people” – 6:5), but they missed out on all they could have seen because they rejected Him and were, “offended at Him” (6:3).
Scholar and author, D. Edmond Hiebert writes, “He felt it morally impossible to exercise His beneficent power in their behalf in the face of their unbelief…It closed the door against the operation of His power. He refused to force Himself upon those who did not want His power.” (The Gospel of Mark, p. 156)
Author and commentator, James Brooks, writes, “God and his Son could do anything, but they have chosen to limit themselves in accordance with human response…The statement clarifies that Jesus was not the kind of miracle worker whose primary purpose was to impress his viewers.” (Mark, The New American Commentary, p. 100)
Pastor and author, Timothy Keller writes, “Jesus’ miracles were not ‘magic tricks’ designed to prove how powerful he was, but ‘signs of the kingdom’ to show how his redemptive power operates. His miracles always healed and restored and delivered people in ways that revealed how we are to find him by faith and have our lives transformed by him...” (The Gospel of Mark, p.62)
Jesus was not merely a travelling sideshow, “performing” at the whim of the people. His miraculous works always had a purpose, which ultimately was to show Him to be the long-awaited Messiah. They were intended to lead people to the truth about Him.
Jesus did not heal everybody that was sick, feed everybody that was hungry, or raise everybody that was dead, during His 3½ years of ministry. Each of His miracles had meaning that furthered His divine mission of showing Himself as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the Savior of all Mankind!
But Nazareth missed out on seeing what Jesus could have done because they refused to believe Him or the words/works that He did.
That brings me to ask myself, as well as you, the question, “How many miracles does God want to do for us today, but we don’t see them because of our lack of faith?”
Let’s be clear about what constitutes a miracle…1. God may want to move Heaven and earth to do something supernatural that alters the course of your life. 2. God may want to do the miraculous by steadying your heart and mind in the midst of the storm until it passes over. 2. As is always the case, God wants to use the trial to make you more like Jesus and prepare you for greater usefulness in His service (cf. James 1:2-3).
All of these are accomplished only by the power of God and all require hearts that are willing to trust His providential care and omniscient plan.
But, if you’re like me, faith is sometimes easier than at other times. Sometimes I can believe God in the face of the most insurmountable obstacles and other times I crumble into shameful disbelief at the remotest troubles that plague me. How about you?
- What’s going on in your life right now that has you in turmoil?
- What has you disturbed in heart and mind so that you can’t sleep at night?
- What have you been thinking about doing for God, but you can’t escape the fear that’s holding you back?
- What venture lies ahead of you, but you’re not bold enough in yourself to take the first step?
Reach out to God and tell Him you’re going to trust Him…no matter what!!
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
There is a story found in Mark 9 that expresses how I have to pray more times than I like to admit.
There was a man whose son was possessed with a demon that made him ill and caused him to do bizarre things, even endangering his life physically (cf. Mark 9:14-29). When he brought his son to the disciples they were powerless to help him and only ended up in an argument with the Scribes. After Jesus is told about the boy’s condition, He spoke to the father and told him that if he believed, “all things are possible,” even the healing of his son. When the father heard those words from Jesus he cried out with tears…“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (9:24)
This father recognized that not only did his son need help…SO DID HE!!
AND, SO DO EVERY ONE OF US!! There’s a little skeptic in all of us, asking questions that are hard to answer, making us fearful and unbelieving. It’s in those moments that we desperately need to declare our faith in God and ask Him to help our “unbelief.”
Listen again to D. Edmond Hiebert, who writes, “A faith which declares itself openly and at the same time recognizes its weakness and pleads for help is a growing faith.”
Maybe you need to express the prayer of the father with the demon-possessed son or maybe you need to “climb on the wings” of another person’s faith and let him or her help you soar to new heights of trust. That’s one of the reasons the body of Christ is so important in your life! When your faith gets weak, God uses the faith of others to help you keep going.
One of our dearest friends was diagnosed with cancer several years ago and wasn’t supposed to live very long with the disease. On more than one occasion she faced some painfully difficult times, but always expressed strong faith in her Savior. As the battle continued for months on end, she grew increasingly more tired and weak.
I’ll never forget trying to encourage her on an especially difficult day and her asking me, “Can I climb on your wings of faith and rest for awhile while you trust God for me?” I knew exactly what she meant! I’ve felt that way myself at times!
Sometimes we need to say, “Lord I believe; help my unbelief.”
And, other times we need to hear someone say, “Come ride with me for awhile and soar high on my wings of faith as we trust God together!”
Listen to the words of an old chorus:
Only believe, only believe;
All things are possible, only believe.
Only believe, only believe;
All things are possible, only believe.
Lord, I believe; Lord, I believe;
All things are possible; Lord, I believe;
Lord, I believe; Lord, I believe;
All things are possible; Lord, I believe.
They say that Christmas is the season of miracles. Maybe this season will be the season for your miracle from God, if you only believe!
