Daily Word: Hindering the Work of God

In Mark 6, Yeshua travels back to His home town of Nazareth. His hometown was very critical of Him. His neighbors could never accept the fact that He was the Messiah. The fact that a person from among their midst could really be Israel's Messiah was beyond their ability to comprehend. Notwithstanding some gnostic writings about Yeshua's childhood which detail the performance of miracles, it seems likely that His early life was unremarkable. There was nothing from His days in Nazareth that would have caused this small community to believe that Yeshua was the Messiah. This resulted in nonacceptance and unbelief concerning Him among the people of Nazareth. Mark 6: 2 reads: "And when the Sabbath had come, Yeshua began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were amazed, saying, "Where did this man get this type of wisdom? And what type of wisdom is this that is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!" First, notice that it was the Sabbath, not Sun-day, that Yeshua went to teach. Yeshua was a Torah observant Jew and on the Sabbath, He would be found in the synagogue.

Second, notice that the unbelief on the part of the local community affected the ministry of Yeshua. Whereas the woman with the issue of blood and Jarius walked in faith which resulted in the occurrence of the miraculous, the unbelief of those in Nazareth hampered Yeshua's work there. Verse 5 reads: "Now Yeshua could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them." Unbelief and fear is a deterrent to the work of God in a community as well as individually. The teachings over the last several days clearly reveal that we can have a role in the results when we seek Yeshua's assistance. He wants us to know that role and that role is to act in faith. Yeshua was not as concerned with what they believed mentally as He was concerned with what they did as a result of that belief. To the Hebrew, it is all about faith as an action.

Today, if Yeshua visited you, what would He say about what you are doing? How would He describe your faith? Notice that it was considered a rejection of Him to act in fear. Verse 4 reads: But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house." Now fill in the blank: "Now Yeshua came to the house of ________________ (insert your name), and He found great _____________ (insert "faith" or "fear") and as a result He was able to do ____________ (insert "many" or "few") miracles there."