Jesus couldn't heal everyone in Nazareth?

At the outset let me challenge you to go find the scripture where it says Jesus laid His hands or ministered healing to someone and they didn't get healed.

Did you find it?

There is none! (Feel free to comment/email the reference if I missed it)

In this article we are going to be discussing about one of the most commonly held beliefs in the body of Christ concerning divine healing i.e., Jesus couldn't heal everyone in his own hometown. Not that He would not heal, but rather he could not!

The below are the primary implications of this idea:

1. Emphasis on minister: Jesus couldn't heal everyone because of their unbelief (in Nazareth) although Jesus tried to minister healing. Therefore, the ministers must not have an expectation that they can heal everyone.

2. Emphasis on minister: The sick one's unbelief stopped the healing - This is used as a cop-out when a minister prays for someone to be healed and they do not receive healing.

3. Emphasis on sick one: Not everyone can expect to be healed because even Jesus couldn't heal everyone.

Before you continue, I encourage you to take a moment and consider how you'll respond when faced with a contradiction between your personal experiences and the revelation of scripture. Are you going to exalt your experience above the scriptures? or are you going to humble yourself in obedience to the revelation? This decision is crucial for your spiritual growth.

One of the most prevalent and damaging excuses concerning divine healing is that "Jesus could not heal everyone in His own hometown of Nazareth". You may have heard it said that Jesus was not able to heal "because of the unbelief that was present in Nazareth". This is a cop-out doctrine that ministers have come up with to justify someone remaining sick after they prayed for healing.

Often, the blame is laid on the sick person that they are in unbelief - which neither Jesus, nor disciples did. The sick one came to you becasue they could not help themselves, if they had faith for healing, could they not have received healing themselves? why would they still need to come to you?

Jesus commended faith when He saw it, but never demanded it as a necessity for receiving healing. All the sick had to do was come to Him for healing.

On the contrary you actually see Jesus healing people who had no faith for healing e.g., the man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15). The same people use the scriptures that are in Mark 6 and Matthew 13 to justify their belief. You would be amazed to see that those scriptures bring forth a revelation that is completely contrary to that ideology.

I would like to encourage you to come with me on this journey because if you are able to see this in the scripture this is going to set you free and open up a new dimension in your life because it would make you more bold and surer of the will of God and the results will be forthcoming.

Jesus was the most exciting man in Israel. Signs, wonders and miracles were the norm around Jesus. Take a minute and try to imagine how it would be to be around Jesus.

What do we expect when Jesus Christ is in the house?

What would the atmosphere be like?

What kind of works can be expected when Jesus is in the house?

I believe, the scriptures answer these questions: Let us study a few passages to get a feel for how it's like to be around Jesus, whats the atmosphere like when Jesus is around.

Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Spirit

Mar 1:21-22  And they entered into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He went into the synagogue and began to teach. And they were completely astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching as One Who possessed authority, and not as the scribes. 

We see here that on the Sabbath day Jesus entered into the synagogue and taught. As he began teaching, they were astonished at his doctrine; astonished is the same word like amazed or in being in wonder at what he was teaching. because he taught them as one that had Authority and not as the scribes. And as Jesus taught, there manifested a demon:

Mar 1:23-25  Just at that time there was in their synagogue a man [who was in the power] of an unclean spirit; and now [immediately] he raised a deep and terrible cry from the depths of his throat, saying, What have You to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!  And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hush up (be muzzled, gagged), and come out of him! 

Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit for trying to make it sound like it was affirming Jesus' identity, He didn't need the validation from a demon. Did you notice how the rebuke was done? Jesus didn't says 'I rebuke you', a rebuke is issued by saying some thing. He said 'Hush up and come out of him' a simple translation would be shut up and come out of him right now. And it did come out.

Mar 1:26-28  And the unclean spirit, throwing the man into convulsions and screeching with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all so amazed and almost terrified that they kept questioning and demanding one of another, saying, What is this? What new (fresh) teaching! With authority He gives orders even to the unclean spirits and they obey Him! And immediately rumors concerning Him spread [everywhere] throughout all the region surrounding Galilee.

When they saw what happened, they were amazed. They were astonished twice now - first with His doctrine and now at the demonstration of power, He cast out demons by a simple command. They questioned among themselves saying what new doctrine is this, for with authority commands He even the unclean spirits and they do obey Him. So now observe this when demons come across Jesus what transpires.

Mar 3:11  And the spirits, the unclean ones, as often as they might see Him, fell down before Him and kept screaming out, You are the Son of God!

When Jesus is in the house the demons cannot be at peace because the life essence and holiness emanating from Jesus shifts the atmosphere. Demons feel tormented.

Jesus heals woman with spirit of infirmity

Luk 13:10  Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

Luk 13:11  And there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had an infirmity caused by a spirit (a demon of sickness). She was bent completely forward and utterly unable to straighten herself up or to look upward. 

Luk 13:12  And when Jesus saw her, He called [her to Him] and said to her, Woman, you are released from your infirmity! 

Luk 13:13  Then He laid [His] hands on her, and instantly she was made straight, and she recognized and thanked and praised God. 

Luk 13:14  But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, There are six days on which work ought to be done; so come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.

Luk 13:15  But the Lord replied to him, saying, You playactors (hypocrites)! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it out to water it? 

Luk 13:16  And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? 

Luk 13:17  Even as He said this, all His opponents were put to shame, and all the people were rejoicing over all the glorious things that were being done by Him.

Here again, Jesus was teaching, and demons were being cast out. Do you notice, nobody asked Jesus to heal her? Scipture reads, 'when Jesus saw her'.

By now, you should begin to see a pattern. When Jesus Christ is present, there are demonstrations of power, deliverance, healing and people are astonished by the gracious words of the doctrine, which come directly from heaven. Jesus, being from heaven, brings revelations from the heart of the Father to reveal them to mankind.

Now, with this background in mind and understanding that there is always a lively atmosphere when Jesus Christ is present, let's read on.

Jesus rejected at Nazareth - luke's account

Luke 4:16 So He came to Nazareth, [that Nazareth] where He had been brought up, and He entered the synagogue, as was His custom on the Sabbath day. And He stood up to read. 

Luk 4:17-18  And there was handed to Him [the roll of] the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened (unrolled) the book and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], 

Luke 4:19  To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound].

Luke 4:20  Then He rolled up the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were gazing [attentively] at Him. 

Luke 4:21  And He began to speak to them: Today this Scripture has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing. 

Notice here, after reading the scroll, Jesus began to teach. But hold on, did Jesus just say THIS scripture is fulfilled? What is He saying is fulfilled?

We need to slow down and unpack what is being said to be fulfilled that day in the presence and hearing of the people present that day.

1. to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor;

2. He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and

3. recovery of sight to the blind,

4. to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity]
   

In no uncertain words, the above contain healing and deliverance from demons as items of fulfillment for prophecy. If Jesus did not perform them, how could He claim the scripture is accomplised in their presence.

Luke 4:22  And all spoke well of Him and marveled at the words of grace that came forth from His mouth; and they said, Is not this Joseph's Son? 

They marvelled, in other words were astonished at His doctrine, the words of Grace he was speaking forth. It appears, their astonishement was not positive as was at other places, because the next verse Jesus begins to rebuke these people which upset them even more. They took offence and were unable to digest that a man that grew up with Him is claiming to be the Messiah and performing signs and wonders.

Luke 4:23  So He said to them, You will doubtless quote to Me this proverb: Physician, heal Yourself! What we have learned by hearsay that You did in Capernaum, do here also in Your [own] town. 

Luke 4:24  Then He said, Solemnly I say to you, no prophet is acceptable and welcome in his [own] town (country). 

Luke 4:25  But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were closed up for three years and six months, so that there came a great famine over all the land; 

Luke 4:26  And yet Elijah was not sent to a single one of them, but only to Zarephath in the country of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

Luke 4:27  And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and yet not one of them was cleansed [by being healed]--but only Naaman the Syrian.

Luke 4:28  When they heard these things, all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage. 

Luke 4:29  And rising up, they pushed and drove Him out of the town, and [laying hold of Him] they led Him to the [projecting] upper part of the hill on which their town was built, that they might hurl Him headlong down [over the cliff]. 

Luke 4:30  But passing through their midst, He went on His way. 

From this narration of Luke we do not have full information, so let us check the parallel verses from Mark and Matthew.

Jesus rejected at Nazareth - Matthew's account

Mat 13:53  When Jesus had finished these parables (these comparisons), He left there. 

Mat 13:54  And coming to His own country [Nazareth], He taught in their synagogue so that they were amazed with bewildered wonder, and said, Where did this Man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? 

From verse 54 we glean the following:

1. Jesus is TEACHING, recollect what happens when Jesus is in the house and teaching?

2. They were AMAZED

3. This WISDOM -- the doctrine he taught over flowed with the wisdom of God

4. THESE miracluous powers --- note they do not say THOSE as if they are talking about something they heard from someone.

For the people in that synangogue to acknowledge where did this Man get THESE miraculous powers some miracle shoud have taken place in their presence; reminding of Jesus declaring that the Messianic scripture was fulfilled that day (Luke 4:21). So they heard wisdom dripping from His mouth and miraclous powers being exhibited through His hand and then comes the offence.

Mat 13:55  Is not this the carpenter's Son? Is not His mother called Mary? And are not His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 

Mat 13:56  And do not all His sisters live here among us? Where then did this Man get all this? 

Mat 13:57  And they took offense at Him [they were repelled and hindered from acknowledging His authority, and caused to stumble]. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house. 

Mat 13:58  And He did not do many works of power there, because of their unbelief (their lack of faith in the divine mission of Jesus).

Verse 58 reports Jesus could not do MANY works of power; It's doesn't says Jesus did not do ANY works of power, meaning there were SOME 'works of power' that were definitely done. Hallelujah!

Also note, 'works of power' is referring to a category rather than individual instances of miracles since in Luke 4:23 they asked Jesus to do the other things he did at Capernaum.

The following are a list of miracles, which Jesus performed at Capernaum.

1. Providing the future disciples to catch a miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11)

2. Peter's Mother-in-Law Healed (Matthew 8:14-15

3. The Paralytic was Healed (Mark 2:1-12)

4. Woman with Issue of Blood Healed (Mark 5:25-34)

5. Jesus Raises a Girl from the Dead(Luke 8:40-56)

6. Jesus Heals Two Blind Men (Matthew 9:27-31)

7. Jesus Heals the Dumb Demoniac (Matthew 9:32-34)

8. Jesus Heals a Man with a Withered Hand (Matthew 12:9-13)

9. A Fish Gives Jesus His Tax Money (Matthew 17:24-27)

10. On the other side of the sea from Capernaum, Jesus fed thousands of people with five loaves of barley and two fish. (John 6:22-59)

As you can see the 'works at Caparenaum', were more than just healing and deliverance, they included mutliplying food and feeding multitudes, miracle money coming from fish and boat sinking load of fish coming to the disciples voluntarily. It seems like they want the other works of power to be done like multiplying food, providing miracle money etc.

To gain a well rounded understanding we can read the following parallel account from Mark and make well informed conclusions.

Jesus rejected at Nazareth - mark's account

Mar 6:1  JESUS WENT away from there and came to His [own] country and hometown [Nazareth], and His disciples followed [with] Him. 

Mar 6:2  And on the Sabbath He began to teach in the synagogue; and many who listened to Him were utterly astonished, saying, Where did this Man acquire all this? What is the wisdom [the broad and full intelligence which has been] given to Him? What mighty works and exhibitions of power are wrought by His hands! 

Mar 6:3  Is not this the Carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not His sisters here among us? And they took offense at Him and were hurt [that is, they disapproved of Him, and it hindered them from acknowledging His authority] and they were caused to stumble and fall. 

Mar 6:4  But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor (deference, reverence) except in his [own] country and among [his] relatives and in his [own] house. 

Mar 6:5  And He was not able to do even one work of power there, except that He laid His hands on a few sickly people [and] cured them. 

Mar 6:6  And He marveled because of their unbelief (their lack of faith in Him). And He went about among the surrounding villages and continued teaching.

Reading from verse 2, we see that they were commenting on something they saw and experienced - what 'mighty works and exhibitions of power are WROUGHT BY HIS HANDS'.

A lot of people read into the verse 5 and declare -- see Jesus did not do even ONE work of power due to their unbelief. That's a mis-reading of the text, it says 'He was not able to do one work of power there EXCEPT. In context if you read what it translates to - 'Jesus was not able to do even one work of power except ONE work of power. This shows us that the work of power is a category and one category of miraclous work was performed.

Now what is the work of power they are talking about?

Verse 6 reveals that this work of power was the healing of the sick. It is misleading when v6 in the Amplified Bible reads 'few sickly people' the original text read ' few infirm people'. So it's not that Jesus only healed a few headaches, body pains etc., as per verse 2 they were mighty works and exhibitions of power.

Putting the pieces together from the parallel account from the 3 Gospels we have

Luke 4:17-18, 21 - Jesus fulfilled the scripture which indicated preaching and healing

Matthew 13:58 - did some works of power

Mark 6:6 - reveals the work of power that was done was healing.

The devil has muddied the waters on this scripture because he didn't want the body of Christ that walking in 100% victory over the works of the devil (Acts 10:38, Luke 10:19) which was a scriptural precedent Jesus set for His disciples. Jesus expected the disciples to be able to heal everyone, hence the rebuke when they failed to heal the epileptic boy (Mat 17:20).

You might ask, what then are the works of power Jesus that couldn't do. Maybe it's best not to speculate what is not revealed, let us hold fast to what is revealed i.e., he healed.

You might again ask why did He only heal a few? Consider the atmosphere here, people were so offended, that they stumbled and fell because of the often and they rejected him as their Messiah and wanted to kill him by throwing him down headlong (Luke 4:29), it is obvious people were not queuing up in healing lines to receive healing.

They went to the extreme that they wanted to kill him, so there was persecution, there was rejection there, there was unbelief BUT in such an atmosphere, this is the worst atmosphere any minister would like to minister in -- in such a contrary atmosphere Jesus Christ lays hands on the sick and everyone he laid hands on got healed. Hallelujah!

The scripture doesn't record any instance where Jesus ministered to someone and they left sick and never got healed. This isn't commonly taught, but it's scriptural truth.

If you're ministering in a setting filled with unbelief and rejection, you can still achieve 100% divine healing. The power of God surpasses sin, unbelief, and demonic forces. Anyone can receive salvation, even in an unbelieving nation; similarly, divine healing is accessible because it stems from the same power of God that saves souls.

Contrary to some teachings, Jesus always had a 100% success rate in healing, as demonstrated in 17 instances across the Gospels where it states, "He healed them all." This power and authority, embodied by Jesus, is available to believers today. It's important to recognize and act on this truth, as the Spirit of God that enabled Jesus is also within you, empowering you to heal in His name (Acts 1:8, Rom 8:11). Be bold, knowing that God's power is unstoppable, and strive for a 100% success rate in your ministry, following Jesus' example.

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• Scripture quotations from Amplified Bible Classic Edition