November 27, 2011:

Ponderings of a Pilgrim PASTOR

“Christmas Places: Nazareth”

Is your hometown a famous place? Mine certainly isn’t. Most maps don’t even include Otsego, Michigan! But to misquote Daniel Webster: "Though it is a small place, there are those who love it."

My insignificant hometown helps me identify with Jesus. Mary and Joseph are traditionally believed to have traveled from Nazareth in northern Israel to Bethlehem many miles south, a few miles from Jerusalem. They then returned to Nazareth where Jesus grew up. Nazareth is located in hill country about fifteen miles from the Sea of Galilee. Apart from the New Testament, Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament or any Jewish literature of that period. Talk about being insignificant!

When the disciple Philip spoke to Nathaniel and told him Jesus was from Nazareth, Nathaniel replied: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:45-46) Some have found in this slighting comment more than Nazareth’s geographical and national obscurity. It may be that Nathaniel was demeaning Nazareth and its people in the same way people in twentieth century urban America would refer to "hillbillies."

Jesus’ life makes clear that good people can come from anyplace. Being born and raised in a town nobody knows or thinks much of is really not all that important. The important thing is not where we’re from but where we go in life that counts.

Love,
Dave