Do you long to see miracles in your life—and in the lives of those you love?
I do. And as I meditated on Matthew’s gospel this past month, I was deeply encouraged by the miracles Jesus performed in people’s lives.
- He healed those suffering from every kind of disease and cast out demons.
- He reinstated outcasts and raised the dead.
- He forgave sins and calmed storms.
- He stretched limited resources to meet overwhelming needs.
- And the list goes on…
These accounts are hope-giving. They teach us that no situation is beyond the miracle-working reach of our Savior. And yet, in the midst of all these encouraging, miraculous accounts, there is one challenging account that should stop us in our tracks.
Matthew 13:54-58 says this:
“He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.”
(NASB 1995)
I don’t know about you, but I do not want my life to be a Nazareth—a place lacking in faith and therefore, lacking in the miraculous work of God.
Thankfully, this very passage teaches us two things that can help us choose a more faith-filled path.
The purpose of miracles:
While Jesus didn’t do many miracles in Nazareth, we know He did some. After all, the people said, “Where did this man get … these miraculous powers?” They had seen Christ’s power displayed.
And, no doubt, Jesus did these miracles in Nazareth for the reasons he did them in other towns. He did them out of compassion for people’s immediate needs, but even more, so out of compassion for their spiritual need. They needed a Savior—and Jesus’ miracles revealed Himself as the One they’d been waiting for. With each miraculous act they witnessed, the people of Nazareth were being invited to put their faith in Him.
But look at how they responded: “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”
Two things stand out about their response to Jesus’ works:
- They processed what He’d done with human reasoning. It’s understandable that they had questions. But instead of taking their questions to Jesus Himself, or comparing what He did and said with Scripture, they just reasoned through things in the closed system of their own minds.
- They clung to their preconceived notions of who Jesus was. To them, He wasn’t Messiah, but merely a man. He wasn’t the Son of God, but the son of a carpenter. That’s who they had grown up thinking He was—and they wouldn’t be swayed now.
They interpreted Jesus’ works through the lens of their preconceptions, rather than re-evaluating their idea of Him based on what He did and said.
It’s sad, isn’t it? Because they responded this way, they missed out on the most miraculous part of the miracles—the Miracle Worker, Himself; their Messiah.
Miracles are never an end to themselves. They are meant to build our faith in the goodness and power of the wonder-working God.
And honestly, this is convicting.
No matter what our stories may be, we, too, have seen miracles before.
- The miracle of a baby’s birth.
- The miracle of a second chance.
- The miracle of an answered prayer—even a small one.
- The miracle of a personally meaningful blessing on an otherwise bad day.
We’ve already seen miracles in our lives—and those miracles were meant to reveal who our God is and to build our faith in Him. Yet, don’t we sometimes respond like the people of Nazareth?
Jesus shows up in our lives, but we reason it away, saying:
- “An answer to prayer? Nah. It probably would have happened anyway.”
- “It was good turn of events, but it wasn’t supernatural in any way. Stuff like that happens every day.”
- “Coincidence.”
Or, we recognize the miracle, but miss the point of it:
- We thank God for the blessing, but overlook what it teaches us about God Himself—that He’s powerful, available, compassionate. We walk away with the same small, and sometimes errant, view that we started with. We don’t let God’s kindness correct faulty thoughts like “God doesn’t hear” or “God doesn’t care.”
This passage urges us to look for the little miracles God is already doing around us—not just the big ones we long to see. And yet, it urges us to do more than just look for miracles. It urges us to learn from them—to recognize what they teach us about God and then place even more trust in Him, as a result.
The possibilities of faith:
You know, when verse 58 says that Jesus “did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief,” it makes me wonder: What miracles might Jesus have done there if they had believed—if they had let Jesus’ previous miracles lead them to put faith and trust in Him?
There’s no way of knowing exactly, but I imagine their faith would have opened up beautiful possibilities. And I believe the same is true for us.
When we recognize and put faith in who Jesus has proven Himself to be (on the cross, in scripture and in our lives), our future is flooded with possibilities and hope.
It’s not that having faith guarantees we’ll always get the miracles we want, but it guarantees we will see miracles—many miracles. And they will be hand-crafted to reveal the goodness of our miracle-working God.
May it be said of our lives, “and Jesus did many miracles there because they believed in Him.”
This devotion is based on one of the Scriptures from my 2025 reading plan: “A Year in the Gospels” To receive a copy of the reading plan (and future reading plans), sign up for the email list below. Hope you’ll follow along! You can also learn more about my Scripture over Screentime experiment here.
©2024 Paige K. Burhans
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation. www.lockman.org