What does the Bible mean when it says "Jesus could do no great works in His hometown"?

Let's review the text to which you refer:

Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, Where did this Man get these things?

And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us? And they were offended at Him.

But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house. Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.

And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.
(Mark 6:1-6 NKJ)

When Jesus went to preach in His hometown the people didn't receive Him as the Son of God or even as a prophet. They looked at Him as Jesus, the carpenter, the son of Mary. Because they didn't receive Him as the Son of God, or a man of God, Jesus couldn't do any mighty works in their midst.

One translation says He laid hands on a few people with minor ailments (like headaches or colds). In order for great miracles to be done, the man of God must be received as a man of God. Even Jesus couldn't perform great miracles when people didn't believe in Him.


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