Nazareth: Part 1

Luke 4:16a

“16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. 

Have you ever returned to the place where you were raised and found that no one there knew you?  I mean, they knew the person you were before you left, but they did not know the person that you became after you left?  That can be a strange feeling.

Jesus returned to his hometown and, while there on the Sabbath, he went to the synagogue. Bible scholars tell us that the population of Nazareth back then was probably about 500. 

Everyone there in the synagogue that day probably knew Him as the carpenter’s son; the one who used to carry hammers and hold boards for His father.  No one knew Him as a teacher, a Rabi, and certainly not as the Messiah. 

But they were about to be surprised.  

God was going to introduce His Son to Nazareth.

“Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.” (1 Samuel 3:11)

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)