It was most unfortunate for the people of Nazareth that they didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah. By rejecting him, and he didn't even have to go there to sense their attitudes, no one was healed, and no one could catch the vision of his Kingdom and have their selfish, mean little lives transformed. All they could picture was a dirt-poor, unemployed door-to-door salesman of snake-oil, phony miracles, and worthless ideas that helped no one. Con-artists and Gypsies were not welcome in their town.

Jesus had gained regional notoriety following the Temple Scene in which he expelled the real merchants of snake oil and worthless remedies. Many people were actually delighted to hear of his signal act of cleaning up the corruption on Temple Hill. These people were eager to meet the man who might be the Messiah, the man who could heal both Body and Spirit.

After reaching Kah-nah (Cana), Jesus knew there was a very sick little boy in Kaw-fawr Nakh-oom (Capernaum), and that his distressed father would come to him for help, for the Holy Spirit revealed the man's prayers to him. The boy's doctors had all given up on him and fully expected him to die. Jesus was the father's last hope, yet, when he first laid eyes on Jesus, all he saw was just another unremarkable person in the crowd, dressed in common peasant clothing, not the clean-pressed finery he expected the World-Famous Messiah would wear.

"How can this dusty, homeless wanderer possibly heal my son?" he thought.

Reading his thoughts and seeing his doubts, Jesus lamented that the Jewish people all wanted signs, while the Samaritan Dog-People, save one, needed to see no proof of his supernatural powers.

So today, many would like to see proof that God exists, but one sign might not be enough for them. The unbelievers would still demand more signs, just like the unbelieving Pharisees. Their Messiah would be the Ringleader of the Circus of Miracles. Free popcorn and soda to those who come to Temple Hill to see the Messiah perform Extraordinary Feats of the Miraculous. Just leave your money at the door to the Temple Treasury.

Signs are like crutches, they might help a person to believe if they immediately throw their crutches away and exercise their own faith. Maybe their faith always remains weak, and they hobble around on their crutches for the rest of their lives, not really believing or experiencing the Message of Jesus, always looking for yet another proof.

Those who possess the strongest faith need no sign. For those who have no faith, no sign will convince. Those who demand scientific proof of the existence of God are like the unbelieving Pharisees who wanted signs in order to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. They may use their little Cracker Jacks Toy scientific instruments to search for God and prove that there is no God, then declare that life arose and evolved only by chance.

They’re also like the 10 faithless spies in the days of Moses whose bodies fell in the desert, while the 2 spies who believed God’s word that they could possess the Promised Land rode on to glory and history. They’ll pick the Bible apart and say that some of it was pieced together from other cultures. They’ll claim that what we think the Bible says is not what its authors really meant.

Doubt is spawned by the Kingdom of Darkness. Those infected struggle with unbelief, and one by one, discard the basic beliefs of Biblical Christianity, leaving nothing but a gutless, lifeless, hopeless, empty religion.

There's no room in the Kingdom of God for faithless, unbelieving "Christians" , for belief/faith is the key to the Kingdom of the Stars. Jesus, who came from a place far beyond our solar system, tells us what to believe in, and how to have faith, that will save us from this World of Darkness.

Jesus actually had more to give the sick boy's father than the man could have imagined. First, though, he needed to see what he lacked. Like most of those who looked for the Messiah, he was interested in Jesus from selfish motives. Their faith was based on receiving some special benefit through his apparently supernatural powers. No miracle, then, no faith. No faith, then, no miracle.

Infected with selfishness, this class with selfish motives was unaware of their diseased condition.

Once he knew Jesus had read his thoughts, the boy's father, in faith and in desperation, appealed to him to restore his son. Jesus, of course, would not refuse such a desperate plea for help.

After Jesus spoke the words, the man's doubts were instantly swept away and replaced with a peace and joy he had never known before. By Jesus' order, the Holy Spirit repaired the boy's diseased condition on an intracellular level. Almost instantly, the disease-causing mechanisms were neutralized and the boy looked and felt healthy again, much to the wonder and relief of those tending him, unaware of the events taking place in Kah-nah.

No longer concerned about his son's health, the nobleman did not hurry home. For the first time in his life, he had experienced faith.

Upon holding his once nearly-dead son, his heart was filled with thankfulness to God.

From this point on, the nobleman listened to the teachings of Jesus, and as a result, he and his entire household became disciples. News of this healing spread throughout Kaw-far Nakh-oom, opening the way for Jesus' personal ministry.

Like this nobleman, we too pray in selfishness for self-centered things. If our prayers aren't answered, our faith weakens, maybe even dies. "God never answers my prayers," we might say.

Instead, Jesus has something far better than what we ask for. He wants us to renounce the selfishness that motivates us to seek him. This selfishness is a great barrier that prevents us from receiving many, many blessings. We have to learn what to pray for. We have to learn what we really need.

Perhaps it's not so important that someone sick is healed of body miraculously, and maybe they'll even die, but it's more important that we can help that person by personal effort, teaching them what Jesus taught, showing them that we are interested in their wellbeing.

It's self-sacrifice in love that will catch people's attention and point them to Jesus, not doctrine. This was at the heart of his mission in coming to Earth. This was at the heart of his teachings. This is at the heart of true religion.