Chapter 15: Myth—God Heals Everyone

Page 36

Myth—God Heals Everyone

“And he did not do many miracles there because of their

unbelief.” Matthew 13:58 NASB

“And he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” Matthew 13:58 NJB

“He didn’t work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” Matthew 13:58 GW

Here is the full context from the NLT translation.

“ ‘He’s just a carpenter’s son, and we know Mary, his mother, and his brothers-James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. All his sisters live right here among us. What makes him so

great?’ And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, ‘A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.’ And so he did only a few miracles there because of

their unbelief.” Matthew 13:55-58 NLT

I heard a radio preacher illustrate this verse in which he proclaimed: “God refused to do miracles in his hometown because of their lack of faith.”

Note the confusion of who Jesus is. His teaching was that God chose not to do miracles in his hometown. The interpretation is an error. The correct reading should be that Jesus [not God] was unable to do even more miracles because of the lack of faith in his hometown. You can learn two things from

this verse. First of all, Jesus did not heal everyone. At least he did not in his own hometown, because that much is implicit. Secondly, our individual and even collective faith plays a role within our healing.

Jesus asks the poignant question: “Do you want to be healed?”

“When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, he said to him, ‘Do

you want to be made well?’ ” John 5:6