Jesus Could Do No Mighty Work

I may have commented on this before but as I read it I am again struck by what it says to me.

Mark 6:4-6(NKJV)

4But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” 

5Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 

6And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

We've all heard the first part before and if you've been fairly successful in life you have probably experienced it as well.  Those who have experienced it know what I mean.

You are one of the people at the top of your profession.  An expert.  And yet the people that watched you grow up don't understand any of that.  They just remember you as little Jimmy from down the street who always used to do this or that.

Well imagine what that was like for Jesus.  Talk about being at the top.  Jesus is turning water into wine.  He is walking on water.  He is healing the sick and raising the dead.  But when He comes home all He gets is "Hey, isn't that Joe and Mary's kid? "

What strikes me about this though is the effect that it had on Jesus.  First it says "He marveled at their unbelief".  I find that odd.  It's like another part of Scripture that says something like God was surprised.  How can you be surprised when you are prescient? 

But the issue that I find more interesting is the faith issue.  Jesus could do no mighty work there.  Really?  What was limiting Him?

First of all, lets talk about what it means that Jesus "could do no" mighty work.  I believe that Jesus is capable of doing anything He wants to do at any time He wants to do it as long as God is in agreement with Him; which is pretty much always.  So I don't think it is so much that He can't as He chooses not to.

But back to the limiting factor.  It is faith or more specifically lack of faith.  Their lack of faith I believe is the limiting factor.  Without the faith, Jesus just isn't going to bother putting ore effort into it than the people themselves are.

Jesus can do amazing things in each of our lives if we'll let Him.  All it takes is faith!