Whenever people asked the Lord for a sign, he walked out on them, telling them that to those who ask for a sign, no sign shall be given save one they don’t want. (Cf. Luke 21:11 [Luke 12:15]—28.) When the Jews pinned him down with the request for a specific demonstration, asking him, “What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?” he evaded them neatly with the challenge, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:18 [John 1:10]—19), that being a thing he knew they would never do—they brought this against him later as a serious charge, and of course missed the real significance of the remark. In the other passages cited by Lagrange we read (Acts 5:14 [Acts 3:4]—15): “And believers were the more added to the Lord. . . . Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets” to be healed, etc. Here they bring out their sick inasmuch as they believe: They believe first; the miracles follow. Does not the Lord in preparation for a miracle often ask the recipient whether he or she believes, this being a prerequisite to the miracle? In his own native district the Lord “did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58 [Matt. 7:14]). If the purpose of miracles was to convince the unbelieving, this should have been the very place where the Lord would perform his greatest ones, but the rule is very clear—no belief, no miracles: “Ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith” (Ether 12:6 [Eth. 5:2]—30). Lagrange again cites the case of Simon, who “wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done” (Acts 4:30 [Acts 2:7]; 8:13), but that was only after he had believed and was baptized. He was not converted as a result of those miracles, but they followed his belief. In the King James Bible, the twelfth chapter of 2 Corinthians is headed Paul’s Visions Are Apostolic Credentials. Yet he never reveals the content of those visions, least of all to unbelievers; what he does in this chapter is to remind the Corinthians, “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you . . . in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds” (2 Corinthians 12:12). The Corinthians had been treated to this after their conversion as Christians, not as pagans, but even these signs did not guarantee a lasting conversion, for Paul goes on to describe how these same Corinthians are falling away.
The Second Rejection at Nazareth
He comes home able to do anything, and does almost nothing, not because they failed to recognize him, but because they thought they already had.
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Note. The JST’s useful correction is in Mark: the King James “a prophet is not without honour, but in his own country” becomes “save in his own country,” which is what Matthew already said.
? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
53And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there. 54And when he had come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished and said, From where does this Jesus have this wisdom and these mighty works? 55Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas, 56and his sisters, are they not all with us? From where then does this man have all these things? 57And they were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. 58And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
1And he went out from there and came into his own country, and his disciples followed him. 2And when the Sabbath day came, he began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing were astonished at his words him were astonished, saying, From where does this man have these things? And what wisdom is this that is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? 3Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph, and of Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 4But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but save in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5And he could do no mighty works there, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folks and they were healed.
Because of Unbelief
Why the Multitude Received No Explanation
Writing to the elders about the parables of Matthew 13, Joseph Smith reaches the conclusion that governs the end of the same chapter: that what the crowd failed to receive, it failed to receive for one reason.
Letter “To the Elders of the Church of Latter Day Saints,” Messenger and Advocate, November–December 1835; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 95, 97 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗We understand from this saying, that those who had previously been looking for a Messiah to come, according to the testimony of the Prophets, and were then, at that time, looking for a Messiah, but had not sufficient light on the account of their unbelief, to discern him to be their Savior; and he being the true Messiah, consequently they must be disappointed and lose even all the knowledge, or have taken away from them, all the light, understanding and faith, which they had upon this subject: therefore he that will not receive the greater light, must have taken away from him, all the light which he hath. …
… We draw the conclusion then, that the very reason why the multitude, or the world, as they were designated by the Savior, did not receive an explanation upon his parables, was, because of unbelief. To you, he says, (speaking to his disciples) it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: and why? because of the faith and confidence which they had in him.
Are We Able to Receive It?
Six years later, Joseph Smith described being held to the same standard from the other side: a prophet who withholds because his hearers cannot receive, and hearers who conclude from the withholding that he is no prophet.
Discourse, 19 December 1841, the Old Homestead, Nauvoo, as reported by Wilford Woodruff (Words of Joseph Smith; cf. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 194–195, History of the Church 4:478–479) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗“Some say Joseph is a fallen Prophet because he does not bring forth more of the word of the Lord” “Why does he not do it” are we able to receive it No (says he) not one in this room, He then chastized us for our wickedness & unbelief knowing that whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth & scourgeth evry son & daughter whom He receiveth & if we do not receive chastizements then are we Bastards & not Sons.
On Revelation He said “A man would command his son to dig potatoes, saddle his horse but before he had done either tell him to do somthing els, this is all consider[ed] right “But as soon as the Lord gives a commandment & revokes that decree & commands somthing els then the prophet is considerd fallen &c”
Richard C. Galbraith’s Scriptural Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith keys Matthew 13:58 to the first entry, but Joseph is expounding the parables of Matthew 13, not the visit to Nazareth: it is the doctrine that matches, not the verse. The second is set here for the same reason. Neither entry names Nazareth.
No Belief, No Miracles
Nibley puts the sharpest possible point on verse 58. He was arguing against the view that miracles were given to prove Christianity true, and Nazareth is his evidence. If signs were meant to convince the unconvinced, then the town that doubted him most should have received the most; instead it received almost nothing, which tells you what miracles were actually for.
“But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity” (Luke 13:25 [Luke 9:1]— 27).
After the Lord is gone, men will gladly knock on the door, but it will not be opened. “In vain do they worship me,” he says (Matthew 15:9 [Matt. 8:8], Mark 7:7 [Mark 4:9]), speaking of times to come—not “in vain do they worship idols.” Once the Lord has departed this earth, men will number him among the prophets and march under the banner of his name, saying on every side, “Lo, here is Christ! and Lo, there!” And when that time comes, the Master warns, “if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not” (Matthew 24:23 [Matt. 11:6]). At the time when all shall be calling upon his name just as their predecessors painted the tombs of other prophets, he will refuse to recognize any of them.
Here we have something in the nature of a general principle. The rejection of living prophets and the veneration of dead ones is not a folly limited to one nation or to one generation. It meets us throughout the long history of Israel as a sort of standard procedure. Nor did it cease with the coming of Christ, who promised his disciples that they would be treated as badly and rejected as completely as he. The wise men of his time had a ready answer to Jesus: “Abraham is our father” (John 8:39 [John 6:15]), they protest. “We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God (John 8:41 [John 6:15]). “We are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is” (John 9:28 [John 6:21]—29).
God had visited the earth in remote times; he had spoken to Abraham and to Moses. Venerable traditions burdened with a magnificent weight of art, poetry, scholarship, and ritual attested the sincere devotion of the race to the memory of God’s visits to men in times past. But to ask men to believe that that same God had spoken in their own day, and to a plain man who walked their streets—that was simply too much to take! That was the test that Christ’s generation could not pass.
The second entry’s “a plain man who walked their streets” is as close as Nibley comes to glossing “Is not this the carpenter’s son?”, but the verses he cites there are from John, not Matthew 13 or Mark 6, so it is set here for the principle rather than as comment on this passage.