He Came from Nazareth
Mark 1:9 About that time Jesus came from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to the place where John was. John baptised Jesus in the Jordan River.
From time to time, it’s easy to start imagining that we’re not good enough for God and that whilst He may have sent Jesus for those others who seem so much more worthy, in all probability, we just don’t make the grade.
I was reading my Bible the other day and this one verse struck me:
Mark 1:9 About that time Jesus came from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to the place where John was. John baptised Jesus in the Jordan River.
Now chances are that you live in a different part of the world to me. But wherever we live, we can all think of a place, a town or a suburb that’s just the pits – the sort of place where you or I wouldn’t want to live. I’m sure you can think of that place, not all too far from your place.
Well, back in first century Israel … if you were one of the religious powerbrokers with a corner office at the temple in Jerusalem, that place was the town of Nazareth in the region of Galilee. You would have looked imperiously down your nose at its mere mention and asked, as someone else once did, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
And yet God chose for His Son, Jesus, to be born into a poor family, to be trained as a carpenter and to grow up in that place – not in Jerusalem, the centre of power, but in Nazareth, that unsavoury place several days’ walk up north somewhere.
Have you ever wondered – what does that say about God?
To me, the fact that the Creator and the Saviour, God Himself, entered this world in such profound humility says it all; it says that He came not just for the powerbrokers and the elite. He came for the ordinary people like you and me.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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