Mrk. 6:5 ... "He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them."
Numerous times in the Old Testament and several times in the New Testament God is called "almighty." In our modern discussions of God we apply to Him the word "omnipotent." Both the Biblical word and our modern word signify the same idea, that the power of God is infinite. It has no limit. Anything which God wills to do He is able to do. There is no force in existence that can withstand His power. Paul declares of Christ that "in Him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily," (Col. 2:9). God's power was available to Jesus as He walked the earth and completed the mission upon which His Father had sent Him. He demonstrated that power day by day as He healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, raised the dead, cast out demons, stilled storms, and walked on water. So, what does this statement mean that "He could do no mighty work there?" In what way was the power of Jesus hindered on this particular occasion?
Jesus had just come to "His hometown," (v.1), that is, He had returned to Nazareth in Galilee to the people who had known Him from childhood. On this Sabbath Day He entered their synagogue to study the Scriptures and worship, just as He had done hundreds of times in the past. On this occasion, however, He was asked to read the assigned text and teach a lesson from it. But His countrymen were not prepared for what He told them. Jesus' teaching was so full of wisdom, perfect in application, and movingly presented that the people "were astonished, saying, 'Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him?'"* (v.2). They thought they knew Him as one from their own town and cited their familiarity with His family. When they put it all together, however, it was too much for them, and "they took offense at Him," (v.3). It was due to this climate of thought prevailing in Nazareth that Jesus "could do no mighty work there."
The explanation to this limitation of Jesus' power is revealed in the report that "He marveled because of their unbelief," (v.5). Although His power had no bounds, Jesus Himself made its demonstration conditional upon the faith of those who were to benefit from it. When the faith was there, He used His power to do whatever needed to be done. But if the faith was absent, He withheld His power and would not act to benefit people who could have used His help immeasurably. The Four Gospels contain many accounts of both situations occurring during Jesus' ministry. On one occasion (Mrk. 9:14-29) a man brought his son who was grievously afflicted mentally and physically by a demon within him. When the father came before Jesus, he made this remarkable request, "If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Imagine saying to Jesus, "If you can do anything." In other words, "Jesus, if You have enough power, would You do thus and so?" Jesus repeated the man's words, "If you can!" as an exclamation and very promptly replied, "All things are possible for one who believes."
Jesus' power is truly infinite, but He makes its application to our benefit conditional upon our faith. He once said to a man, "According to your faith be it done to you," (Mat. 9:29). When it appears that the power of God is not being exerted among us, it is never because His power is inadequate. It is rather because our faith has grown weak and thin, and the Lord will not demonstrate His power in the context of unbelief. God responds with power to our prayer appeals, but only when those requests rise from hearts full of faith, (see Jas. 1:5-7). Let no one think that the lack of demonstration of divine power signifies that God "has lost it." God, though He is the "Ancient of Days" (Dan. 7:13), is not an "Old Man," (as He is sometimes vulgarly called), who is now in a stage of senility. Totally to the contrary! We never need to look any further for an explanation than our own pathetic lack of faith.
* Contrary to my policy of capitalizing words referring to divinity, I did not here capital "man" and "him," which refer to Jesus. This is a direct quotation from the statements of the Nazarenes, who themselves did not believe Jesus was divine.
