Touring Nazareth
Dr. Beeke is presently in Israel with a tour group. Here are some devotional thoughts about locations he is visiting.
Though the name of the town Nazareth is well known to us today as the hometown of Jesus, it was an obscure village in the ancient world. It was located a few miles off the main road to the south, and a few miles from Sepphoris, a Roman city, to the north. When Philip told Nathanael that the promised Christ came from Nazareth, Nathanael exclaimed, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). It did not have much of a reputation.
Yet it was in Nazareth that the angel Gabriel appeared to a young woman named Mary to announce the conception and coming birth of Jesus, the Son of David and the Son of God (Luke 1:26). After their registration in Bethlehem and sojourn in Egypt, Joseph and Mary returned to Nazareth and raised their family here (Matt. 2:23). This little village, of perhaps a hundred people, was the hometown of our Lord until He began his public ministry (Mark 1:9; Luke 2:51). Thus to His dying day (and beyond), Christ was known as “Jesus of Nazareth” (Luke 18:37; Acts 2:22), and even called Himself such when He appeared to Saul of Tarsus as the Lord of glory (Acts 22:8). Early Christians were even sometimes mockingly called “Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5).
It is exceedingly precious to us to know that the King of kings and Lord of Lords would become Jesus of Nazareth. He could have chosen to live anywhere. His hometown of choice speaks of His humiliation for our sins. Paul wrote, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). The God of all the earth decided to live most of His life in a poor village that few knew, and that those who did know despised. What amazing mercy!
Man’s pride does not welcome such mercy. Ironically, the very people of Jesus’ hometown rejected Him when He announced in their synagogue that Isaiah’s ancient prophecies were fulfilled in Him (Luke 4:16–30). People do not want a humble Savior who ministers to those who are broken over their sins. We are too committed to our pride and righteousness.
Are we willing to become Nazarenes in order to follow Christ? Will we lower ourselves, yes, admit that we deserve to be lower than the lowest on earth? If we will follow Jesus, we must follow Him on the path downward in humility. We must accept rejection by this world, sometimes by our own families. Yet if we do so, then we may glory in the name, Jesus of Nazareth.
