And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith. – Matthew 13:58

In the passage above from the end of the thirteenth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, we encounter something strange: Jesus is stymied in doing his healing work for the people of his hometown. Most of us think of the power of God as being uninterruptable, and although grace can always overcome, this passage clearly finds the Divine Flow seemingly blocked by the people’s “lack of faith.” A few verses before Jesus’ departure from Nazareth, we learn that this “lack of faith” of the townsfolk was manifested in their incredulous questioning: Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary? Put simply, this passage illustrates God’s work being hindered by the people’s absolute need to know. This is why contemplative practice is a practice of unknowing, because if we insist on restricting God only to that which can be grasped by our limited intellects, if we force God to play only in our mental sandbox, we limit divine freedom severely. The role of mental knowledge of things of God, while important, is only to provide a sufficiently solid foundation to allow us to trust God when our minds cease to be adequate to the task.