Small Town Boy

When they had completed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. – Luke 2:39 HCSB

The village of Nazareth sat inside a bowl-shaped depression on the top of the “Nazareth Ridge” some thirteen hundred feet above sea level. It was off these cliffs that the villagers would later try to toss Jesus to His death.[1] It was somewhat isolated, being sixteen miles west of the Sea of Galilee and four miles southeast of the more cosmopolitan city of Sepphoris.

The Nazareth Ridge was a small chalk ridge with a single water source that was a short walk away from the village. The village was unwalled and unprotected because there was nothing worth conquering or stealing. Many of the homes were simply small caves whose fronts had been walled up. It was so poor and unassuming that Nathaniel said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”[2]

Though Galilee, unlike Judea, usually got plenty of rainfall and always had good crops and plenty of pasture, Nazareth remained only a small agricultural village with a population of about 120-150. In fact, when Joseph returned with Mary and Jesus, there was probably a lot of rejoicing. Many of the people were related to Mary and not a lot of young people returned to Nazareth after leaving for “the big city.” Jesus described the villagers as “his own relatives…his own household.”[3]

Nazareth was already two thousand years old before Jesus moved there. From their doorsteps, the villagers could see Cana, Mount Tabor, the Hill of Moreh and Mount Carmel. They could point out the history of Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Elijah and Elisha to their children as they worked.

Though Tiglath-Pileser II had made Galilee’s population predominantly Gentile[4] after his 733 BC conquest, John Hyrcanus had forced many of the Gentiles to convert to Judaism. Throughout the ebb and flow, Nazareth remained stubbornly Jewish.

Later, Jesus returned to Nazareth as the home-town boy who’d become the renowned rabbi.[5] Some of the old biddies probably preferred to use the term “infamous” as they nodded meaningfully over their vegetables. Though many of his friends and family had witnessed His miracles elsewhere, Jesus sadly marveled at their unbelief.[6]

Their problem was not what He did but who He claimed to be. They could never wrap their minds around the fact that little Jesus, who used to be constantly underfoot, now claimed to be the Messiah, Israel’s Consolation, God Incarnate.

The unsaved families of tzaddikim often seem to prefer that we remain as we always were. They would rather we be drunk, high, philandering and worthless than tzedekah. It’s bad enough when we claim imputed holiness, but when we attempt practical holiness…well, now we’ve gone too far!

Our Master knows exactly what that’s like. He knows how hard it is to overcome our background, our relations and friends. Yet He calls us on; on to tzedekah and d’vekut. Will you remain in Nazareth?


[1] Luke 4:28-30
[2] John 1:46
[3] Mark 6:4
[4] Isaiah 9:1
[5] Matthew 13:54-58; Mark 6:1-6
[6] Mark 6:1