Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching. Mark 6:1-6

There was no need for crowd control in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. He teaches in the synagogue and all that many could talk about was who he was and from whence he came.

Rather than to soak it all in, the people—and we find out his own family—stumbled over his lack of pedigree. He’s just a carpenter from that family! And they were offended, meaning they “tripped over” his humanity and heritage rather than to discern who this man really was, the Son of God.

As a result, they did not bring their sick to him. What a difference from other cities on the tour!

In all this, the human side of Jesus was perplexed at their unbelief. Imagine that, you would think, in his hometown of all places!

I cringe at the thought of the Lord wagging his head in amazement over my disbelief!

So he toured around—literally circling his own city—sharing news of the close proximity of the Kingdom of God with all who’d listen, undoubtedly with a steady line of patients to be seen.

Here’s the point. A scary one at that. When we reduce Jesus to just a historical figure and doubt he was much more than a teacher or tradesman, he’ll eventually leave his miracles in his bag and move on.