Section 69
Final visit to unbelieving Nazareth
Nazareth
Matthew 13:54-58
Mark 6:1-6a
54Then he went to his hometown and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?
1Then Jesus left that place and went to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? And what is this wisdom that has been given to him, that such miracles are done by his hands?
55Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother's name Mary, and are not his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56Are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
3Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4Then Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own household.” 5So he could do no miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6aAnd he was amazed at their unbelief.
Notes
Nazareth
The bustling city which seems to swarm like a beehive of activity around the Basilica of the Annunciation does not seem to fit our mental image of the insignificant village in which Jesus grew up.
One look from those hillsides of the Nazareth Ridge will erase a lifetime’s worth of impressions from sermons about the isolation of Nazareth. Here you have a panoramic view of the northeastern part of the Jezreel Valley. These hillsides witnessed the battles of Deborah and Barak against Sisera and the Canaanites from Hazor (Judges 4 5), Elijah’s raising of the widow’s son from the dead at Shunem (2 Kings 4:32-35), and Jesus’ similar raising of the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:11-15).
Nazareth is next to, but not directly on, the most important road through Israel. This is hardly the “out of the way” place that many people expect to see. In Jesus’ day, Nazareth was a village nestled in the “bowl” created by the higher hills surrounding it. The village could never sustain a large population, as it had only one good spring and the soil was not very fertile. The spring trickles from a limestone crypt; it would have been here that Mary drew water for her family.