Hometown to a Savior

November 9

(Luke 1:26 NIV)  "In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee…”

(Luke 4:16-37 NIV) ““He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. {17} The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: {18} "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, {19} to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." {20} Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, {21} and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." {22} All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked. {23} Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'" {24} "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. {25} I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. {26} Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. {27} And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian." {28} All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. {29} They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. {30} But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. {31} Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. {32} They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority. {33} In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, {34} "Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!" {35} "Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. {36} All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!" {37} And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area."

(John 1:45-46 NIV) "Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." {46} "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip."

(John 19:19 NIV)  "Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS."

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but grew up in a small town called Nazareth. Many times, our Lord was referred to as “Jesus of Nazareth”. The demons called Him this, as well as those who came to arrest Him at Gethsemane. Pilate identified Jesus with Nazareth at His crucifixion, by hanging a sign on the cross. Nazareth did not have a good reputation. When told that Jesus was from Nazareth, Nathanael, a future disciple, asked sarcastically if anything good could come out of that town. The people of Nazareth even tried to kill Jesus when He returned home and preached a message they didn’t like. What this means is that Jesus began His life and ministry as “despised and rejected”. Isaiah’s prophetic words about Christ were fulfilled, even before the cross. This is what makes it so ironic that the most famous man ever to live was none other than Jesus of Nazareth. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day