JESUS OF NAZARETH

People were often referred to by the locality from which they came. In being known as Jesus of Nazareth, our Lord was distinguished from others who bore that name. Saul of Tarsus hated the Nazarene, and oppressed and hounded His followers with all the zeal of the foremost defender of Judaism, Acts 9.1; 26. 9.

What a shattering discovery, therefore, to realize that the Lord who spoke from heaven on the Damascus road was none other than ‘Jesus of Nazareth’. He had been so designated by the title on His cross; for Pilate this was a deliberate insult to the Jewish leadership. Now, the glorified Lord is revealed as the One who was called a ‘Nazarene’, Matt. 2. 23.

How instructive that the Lord of glory stooped to inhabit that lowly place on earth of which the guileless Israelite could ask, ‘Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?’, John 1.46. It was there that He was ‘brought up’ and practised consistent attendance at worship in the local synagogue, Luke 4. 16 - a salutary example to His people. How completely our Lord fulfilled every obligation laid upon Him as born under the law, Gal. 4. 4!

It was at Nazareth too, no doubt, that He suffered adversity during those long years of preparation, when, as the polished shaft hid within the quiver, He awaited the time of the Father’s appointment for His manifestation to Israel, Isa. 49.2. Amidst the unbelief, hardship, and opposition of Nazareth, John 7. 5, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered, thus fulfilling the comprehensive experiences required for Him to become His people’s high priest.

What lessons are there for us in this? To this day, people often blame their environment for personal shortcomings. In the developed world many lives are consumed by the desire to move upmarket to a ‘better neighbourhood’. Let us reflect on the fact that ‘our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory’, Jas. 2. 1, deigned to inhabit Nazareth in gentile Galilee, yet acquired nothing of its taint, for He ever was holy, harmless, and undefiled. Let us beware of succumbing to share the false values of the world, but rather seek to serve God, even in the most humble of environments.