Note 2 at Lk. 7:13: This example of the widow's son being raised from the dead is often used to demonstrate that Jesus produced many miracles without any faith from those receiving the miracle but by His faith alone. However, Mark 6:5-6 shows that Jesus could not (not would not) do many mighty works in His hometown because of the people's unbelief. Many scriptures reveal that faith must be present to receive from God (Mk. 11:23-24: Jas. 1:5-7).

So what faith was present in this instance? First, the mother of the boy responded to Jesus in faith. For this woman to allow Jesus to interrupt the funeral procession and tell her to stop weeping has to be viewed as a positive response. These people were no different from mourners at funerals today. If this woman had rebelled at Jesus' intrusion, the crowd would have sided with her because of pity, but none of these reactions are recorded. Jesus was in command.

Second, it cannot be proven that a dead person has no choice in what happens. From our viewpoint, that may be taken for granted but the scriptures don't state that. A person doesn't cease to exist at death; he simply leaves his body. The person is still very much alive (see note 14 at Jn. 5:28, p. 101). Many people who have been raised from the dead have mentioned that they had a choice in whether to enter their bodies again or not. Although that principle cannot be verified by scripture, it cannot be ruled out by scripture either.

In any case, to be consistent with the rest of scripture, some degree of faith had to be present in either the person receiving the miracle or an intercessor (in this case, the mother). Many people have missed their miracles because they had no power working in them. (Eph. 3:20).