Nazareth

Biblical Text

Nazareth was the village in Galilee where Jesus Christ grew up. It does not appear in the Old Testament and is mentioned only in the New Testament.

• The Annunciation and Jesus' upbringing: In Luke 1:26-27, the angel Gabriel is sent to Mary, who lived in Nazareth. Luke 2:39 and 2:51 record that Jesus grew up there with Joseph and Mary. Matthew 2:22-23 states that Joseph settled in Nazareth after returning from the flight into Egypt.
• Rejection in his hometown: In Luke 4:16-30, Jesus reads Isaiah 61:1-2 in the Nazareth synagogue and declares that this scripture has been fulfilled that day. The people are enraged and try to throw him off the brow of the hill. Mark 6:1-6 records that the people of his hometown did not believe, asking, "Is not this the carpenter?" and that Jesus did not do many mighty works there.
• "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?": In John 1:45-46, when Philip tells him about Jesus, Nathanael responds with this question.
• Jesus of Nazareth: Jesus was commonly called "Jesus of Nazareth" (Mark 1:24; Acts 2:22). The title placed on the cross also read, "JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS" (John 19:19). In Acts 24:5, the man accusing Paul refers to the Christians as "the sect of the Nazarenes."

Background

Nazareth is thought to have been a small village in the hill country of southern Galilee. It lay near Sepphoris, a major city of Galilee in the Roman period. The near absence of its name from the Old Testament and from Jewish writings of the period is commonly taken as an indication that it was an obscure rural village. Many interpreters see Nathanael's remark as reflecting this situation. The etymology of the name is uncertain; one view connects it with the Hebrew word netzer, meaning "branch." A city of the same name exists today in northern Israel.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

Matthew 2:23 states that Jesus lived in Nazareth "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." The Old Testament, however, contains no such sentence verbatim. Several views have been proposed:

• That it refers to the "Branch" (netzer) of Isaiah 11:1
• That it is connected with the Nazirites
• That it refers broadly to the prophets' predictions of a despised Messiah

Because there was an expectation that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, Jesus' Galilean origin could be a stumbling block (John 7:41-42). Many interpreters connect this with the theme of a Messiah who came from humble origins.

Interpretation and Tradition

Luke places the rejection in Jesus' hometown at the beginning of his public ministry, whereas Mark and Matthew (13:53-58) place it later. Scholars differ on whether these accounts describe the same event or different events.

In Nazareth today, more than one site is presented as the place of the Annunciation. The Roman Catholic Church commemorates the Basilica of the Annunciation as the site, while the Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates the Church of St. Gabriel near the well. The locations of Joseph's workshop and of the cliff from which the crowd tried to throw Jesus are likewise later traditions; the biblical text does not identify these places.

In the Korean Church

John 1:46 is frequently used as a sermon text on the theme that God uses insignificant places and people. Luke 4:18-19 is regarded as a statement of Jesus' mission and is sometimes called the "Nazareth Manifesto." Acts 3:6, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk," is also widely quoted. The name of the Korea Nazarene Holiness Church, a Korean denomination in the Church of the Nazarene tradition, is reportedly derived from "Jesus of Nazareth."