Day 25: Jesus of Nazareth
- Rebecca Small
- Dec 25, 2025
- 12 min read
Day 24: Jesus of Nazareth
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, show us the humility of Jesus and teach us to walk in His ways. Amen.
Primary Scripture:
John 19:19: Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
This name of Jesus is used in the very first chapter of John's Gospel. John the Baptist had pointed his disciples to Jesus. Two of them followed Jesus and spent the day with Him. At least one of them, Andrew, became convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. He went and told his brother Simon, whom Jesus named Peter. The next day they followed Him to Galilee where Jesus called Philip to follow Him. Philip went to find Nathanael and told him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph" (John 1:45).
Nathanael responds with "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
"Come and see," Philip answers (John 1:46).
Because of his conversation with Jesus that day, Nathanael becomes the first one to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God and the King of Israel. But Nathanael's initial reaction to the fact that Jesus came out of Nazareth indicates that the town of Nazareth had a bad reputation. One of the ways a man was identified was by the town from which he came. Being labeled as coming from Nazareth cast an immediate slur of contempt on Jesus. Already one man, Judas of Galilee, has come from that region claiming to be the Messiah. Now here is another: Jesus of Nazareth.
When Joseph and Mary returned from Egypt after fleeing from Herod's slaughter of the babies in Bethlehem, they resettled in their hometown of Nazareth. Matthew records that this fulfilled what was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene." There is no specific Old Testament prophecy that mentions this. So what does Matthew mean? There are two possible explanations for the source of this prophetic quote:
1. Matthew could be citing an oral prophecy that wasn't written down or was in an unknown, lost source. Neither of these explanations is verifiable, nor are they very plausible since the people of Israel were very meticulous about writing things down and about preserving their prophetic texts.
2. Matthew is referring to some general Messianic prophecies and not any specific one. Matthew usually refers to a specific prophet and prophetic quotation, but in this case he uses the plural generality of "prophets."
From this second understanding of the source of the prophecy that Jesus would be called a Nazarene, there are three possible interpretations, all of which find their roots in various Messianic prophecies.
1. The Aramaic word Nazareth sounds very similar to the Hebrew word for branch, and they are comprised of similar letters. Matthew could be using this play on words to indicate that Jesus is the Branch, prophesied in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah, which would shoot up out of the stump of Jesse's lineage, the kingly line that had been cut off but would be restored under the Messiah.[1] (See additional Scripture verses below.)
2. Matthew could be using the name of the town of Nazareth to refer to Nazarite vows. A Nazarite was a person who consecrated themselves to God for a set period of time. Samson in the Old Testament was a Nazarite from birth. The word Nazarite means "to be separated." Though Jesus did not follow the prescribed rules for Nazarites, He was set apart to God from birth. In the New Testament, the idea of being separated to God is spoken of as being holy.[2]
3. Since Nazareth was a despised town, Matthew could be referring to the several prophecies in the Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel, and Micah, which all revealed that the Messiah would be despised and rejected by His own people.
As one of two major cities in the region of Galilee (Tiberias being the other), Nazareth was known for its impure or disreputable commerce. Archaeologists have more recently discovered that Nazareth was a Roman garrison town, a hub of Roman control, with a large Roman bathhouse.[3] Besides the Roman soldiers stationed there, Nazareth was also a partially Gentile city. To the Jewish people, Gentiles were unclean and despised. Rather than fulfilling their God commissioned role of bringing the light of the knowledge of the true God to the Gentiles, the Jews had cloistered themselves off as God's chosen people, refusing to have anything to do with Gentiles.
From this town God chose the mother and earthly father of His Son, Jesus. And this was the town in which Jesus grew up. The name Jesus in Hebrew and Aramaic is Yeshua, which means Yahweh is salvation. As Simeon so eloquently prayed, "My eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel" (Luke 2:30-32, emphasis added).
When Paul was arrested by the religious leaders and nearly killed, one of the accusations the Jews brought before Felix the governor against Paul was that he was "a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5). It was a derogatory accusation. The primary reason the Jews hated Paul was because He took the message of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. It is not without intention that Jesus came from the Jewish-Greek-Roman town of Nazareth. He came to save the world.
Twice in one verse Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be despised: “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him” (Isaiah 53:3). Isaiah goes on to say, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows’ yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4). The people of Israel could not reconcile this enigma with their idea of the Messiah. Surely they wouldn’t despise the One they had long waited for. But indeed, Isaiah’s prophesied was fulfilled precisely. They did despise Him, and they did believe He deserved from God the punishment of crucifixion.
Jesus, the One before whom millions of angels bowed in worship and cried out continually, "Holy, holy, holy" (Isaiah 6:1-3), the One who created the ends of the earth with all its teeming life and the far-flung universe, at whose Word all things sprang into being—this is the One they despised. The glory and majesty He shared with the Father, the magnificence of His wisdom and power, cannot adequately be described in human language. Yet at His birth, when He came to the world He made, there was no room for Him in the inn. He was born in the cold and dark and filth of a sheep cave and laid on straw. He grew up in the despised town of Nazareth. He was despised by His own people, and He suffered the ignominy (public shame, disgrace, dishonor, disrepute, infamy, suffering the loss of esteem and enduring reproach, implying humiliation and ostracization) of the cross. The extreme condescension is impossible for us to imagine.
Paul says it well in Philippians 2:6-8: though He was God, He didn’t hold onto His equality with God; He laid it aside for us, and “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” He bore all this that He might fulfill His purpose of saving us from our sins, just as the angel told Joseph before Jesus was born: “Call His name Jesus (the Greek form of Yeshua), for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). His humiliation has set us free from our deadly enslavement to sin.
Following Jesus of Nazareth is a call to take a low place. Jesus Himself told a would-be follower that He was without a place to call His own: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Luke 9:58). Yet it goes beyond not having a place to call our own. Following Jesus lifts our eyes and hearts to a wholly different focus, a shift away from this world and all it offers to a Kingdom that is not of this world. It requires a willingness to be despised by the world as He was. He calls us to deny ourselves and to take up our cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23, emphasis added).
During His last night with His disciples, Jesus said, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you . . . Because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world (separated/Nazarite), therefore the world hates you . . . If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you . . . They have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause'" (John 15:15-25).
Still today Christians are called Nasara or "Nazarenes." In the ISIS persecution in the Middle East, the doors of houses belonging to Christians were marked with the Arabic letter for N.[4] We must ask ourselves a hard question: Am I willing to follow Jesus of Nazareth? Willing to be despised, hated, even persecuted for the One who left glory and bore my sin and shame that I might receive His glory? John wrote in his Gospel: “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But [to] as many as receive Him, He [gives] the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). This is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: “though He was rich, yet for [our] sakes He became poor, that [we] through His poverty might become rich” (II Corinthians 8:9). The paradox of following Jesus is this: humiliation leads to glory, the cross leads to a crown, letting go of the world is taking hold of an eternal Kingdom. Come. Follow Jesus of Nazareth. You will never be disappointed.
Family Worship:
Review the 3 possible meanings of "He shall be called a Nazarene." Which one do you think is the most likely interpretation and why? Discuss the humility of Jesus.
Pray around, thanking God for some aspect of Jesus coming from Nazareth and what that must have meant for Him.
Discuss the worldwide extent of the salvation Jesus came to provide.
Pray around your family circle again, each praying for a missionary or a particular country for the salvation of Jesus to be known there.
Read aloud the following poem.
Father, where shall I work today?
"Father, where shall I work today?"
And my love flowed warm and free.
Then He pointed me out a tiny spot
And said, "Tend that for Me."
I answered quickly, "Oh, no, not that!
Why, no one would ever see,
No matter how well my work was done.
Not that little place for me."
And the word He spoke, it was not stern,
He answered me tenderly,
"Ah, little one, search that heart of thine.
Art thou working for them or Me?
Nazareth was a little place,
And so was Galilee."
author unknown
Jesus of Nazareth: the One who chose the lowest place, now exalted to the highest place.
The link below is an excellent article that focuses on II Corinthians 8:9: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”
Additional Scriptures:
Branch:
Isaiah 11:1-10: There shall come forth a Rod [shoot] from the stem [trunk] of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious.
Jeremiah 23:5: "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "that I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
Jeremiah 33:14-16: "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: 'In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.'"
Zechariah 6:12: Then speak to him, saying, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: 'Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall branch out, and He shall build the temple of the Lord; yes, He shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne; so He shall be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both [both offices].'"
Revelation 5:5: But one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.
Despised and rejected of men:
Psalm 22:6-8: But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, "He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!"
Psalm 69:8, 19-21: I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother's children . . . You know My reproach, My shame, and My dishonor; My adversaries are all before You. Reproach has broken My heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They also gave Me gall for My food; and for My thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Isaiah 49:6-10: Indeed He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones o Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should My salvation to the ends of the earth.” Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation abhors, to the Servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel; and He has chosen You." Thus says the Lord: "In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages; that You may say to the prisoners, 'Go forth,' to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.' They shall feed along the roads, and their pastures shall be on all desolate heights. They shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither heat nor sun shall strike them; for He who has mercy on them will lead them, even by the springs of water He will guide them."
Isaiah 53:2-3: For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Daniel 9:26: And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war, desolations are determined.
Luke 9:23-26: Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.”
Philippians 2:5-11: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
[1] http://www.crivoice.org/branch.html and https://www.gotquestions.org/Matthew-2-23-Jesus-Nazarene.html
[2] http://www.chaimbentorah.com/2015/01/word-study-nazarene-%D7%A0%D7%A6%D7%A8/ and http://ancientroadpublications.com/Studies/BiblicalStudies/Nazarene.html
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