JESUS IS BROUGHT UP IN NAZARETH

JOHN 1:35–51

When we are introduced to someone, we often ask, “Where are you from?” because our hometown says something about who we are. Whether we are from a large city or rural township, the mountain west or the eastern seaboard, our hometown creates flattering and sometimes not so flattering expectations. So where is Jesus from? Within the first two chapters, each of the four Gospel writers answer that question: Jesus is from Nazareth (Matt. 2:23; Mark 1:9; Luke 1:26; 4:16; John 1:45). That news immediately begins to shape expectations, which will show us that Jesus grew up in Nazareth for a reason.

The location and character of Nazareth are noteworthy in that both are so little worthy of note. Nazareth is located in the northern portion of the Promised Land within a region known as Lower Galilee. This small village was nestled into a sheltered ridge that overlooks the Jezreel Valley, far from the religious hustle and bustle of Jerusalem. Archaeological investigation of this site shows that Nazareth was occupied as early as the time of Abraham, yet it never became a large city like others in the region.27 Generally, little is known about this small village, apparently because there is little to know. It is most distinguished by the fact that it is remote and rather insignificant, unmentioned in any scriptural reference prior to the Gospels and absent from the writings of Josephus or the Mishnah (i.e., Jewish oral law).28 In the Gospels we hear Nathanael’s delivery of the local, first-century reputation of this village: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46).29

Grotto of the Annunciation at Nazareth.

The Church of Annunciation in the center of Nazareth.

Matthew answers his question with a profound yes. “So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: ‘He will be called a Nazarene’” (Matt. 2:23). But which prophecy does Matthew have in mind? Two options present themselves. Matthew may be linking the name of the village with the prophecy in Isaiah 11:1. Using picture-filled language, Isaiah promises that the Messiah will grow like a shoot (Hebrew, ntsr) from the stump of David’s dynasty. Perhaps Matthew knew that his Hebrew-savvy audience would hear the similarity in sound between Nazareth and ntsr, thus making the connection that Jesus of Nazareth is the ntsr, growing from the stump of Jesse promised by Isaiah. Certainly Bartimaeus made this connection: “When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (Mark 10:47).

Another explanation is also appealing; it draws on the character of Nazareth that, by association, is extended to Jesus. Nathanael makes it plain that people from Nazareth were considered insignificant; therefore Jesus was insignificant by association. And this fulfills another prophecy of Isaiah, which tells the world to expect a Messiah who is despised and not esteemed (Isa. 53:3). Ironically, the Messiah drew attention to himself by the very fact that he drew so little attention to himself, just like Nazareth. No one from Nazareth was ever expected to amount to anything, and so someone from Nazareth fits the prophecy of Isaiah. This low expectation is paraded at the time of Jesus’s execution as the Romans mocked the Jews and Jesus’s kingly aspirations by posting a notice on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19).

So where was Jesus from? All four Gospel writers answer in union: he is from Nazareth. While this lowers the expectation of the world, those who take Isaiah’s promises seriously lean in for a closer look, for someone from Nazareth might well be the Messiah. It was Jesus’s hometown for a reason.

Nazareth of the Lower Galilee

The ancient village of Nazareth is centrally located in the Nazareth Ridge.