I.        INTRODUCTION

A.      Concerning the people of His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus had nothing good to say.

                                                             1.      In Luke 4:24, He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.”

                                                             2.      Similarly, in Mark 6:4, He said, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household” (see also Matt. 13:57 and John 4:43).

B.      Let us consider the town of Nazareth and why Jesus made these statements about His own people.

II.      THE TOWN OF NAZARETH

A.      Nazareth was a tiny village in the hills of Galilee.

                                                             1.      The town occupied only about sixty acres and was surrounded by high hills on three sides, giving it a sense of isolation.

                                                             2.      Nazareth was so insignificant that neither Josephus (who named 45 Galilean towns) nor the Talmud (which named 63 other Galilean sites) mentioned it at all.

                                                             3.      The general opinion of the Jews concerning Nazareth is captured in the words of Nathaniel, who said in John 1:46, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

B.      Nazareth was the home of Joseph and Mary.

                                                             1.      Both Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth before the birth of Jesus (Luke 1:26; 2:4).

                                                             2.      After Jesus was born at Bethlehem and the family fled from Herod to Egypt, they returned to settle at Nazareth again (Matt. 2:19-23).

                                                             3.      Jesus was raised by Joseph and Mary at Nazareth and lived there until the beginning of His ministry (Luke 2:51-52; Matt. 4:13).

C.      Jesus has been identified with Nazareth since He was first made known.

                                                             1.      Matthew says that the Lord’s residence at Nazareth fulfills the prophecy, “He shall be called a Nazarene” (Matt. 2:23).

a.       The origin of this prophecy is unknown.

b.       Some have speculated that this referred to Isaiah 11:1, where the word “branch” is translated from the Hebrew word netzer.  This seems unlikely.

c.        Others have suggested that this was referring to the concept of a Nazirite, which was a person who was consecrated to God’s service (Num. 6:1-21).

                                                             2.      Often the Lord was identified simply as “Jesus of Nazareth” (Mark 1:24; Luke 18:37; Acts 10:38).

                                                             3.      When Christ was crucified, Pilate placed an inscription upon His cross that read, “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews” (John 19:19).

                                                             4.      Years later, the Jewish opponents of Christianity still referred to the Lord’s church as the “sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5).

III.   THE PEOPLE OF NAZARETH REJECTED JESUS

A.      The first rejection of Jesus by Nazareth is recorded in Luke 4:16-30.

                                                             1.      This occasion occurred at the very beginning of Christ’s Galilean ministry.

a.       In the previous year, Jesus had been baptized by John and tempted by Satan in the wilderness.  The apostle John’s gospel records that Jesus had also performed His first miracle, cleansed the temple, taught Nicodemus, and taught the Samaritan woman.

b.       When Jesus returned to Galilee to begin His ministry there, He healed a nobleman’s son at Capernaum before He went to Nazareth (Jesus was actually in Cana when the boy was healed – see John 4:46-54).  This event became known to the Nazarenes (see below).

                                                             2.      After arriving at Nazareth, Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, read from the Scripture, and essentially declared Himself to be the Messiah (vv. 16-21).

a.       The passage He read was from Isaiah 61:1-2, which is a prophecy of the Messiah.

b.       After reading, Jesus boldly declared, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

                                                             3.      When the Nazarenes doubted Him, Jesus identified them with the unbelieving and godless Israelites from the days of Elijah and Elisha (vv. 22-27).

a.       The Nazarenes’ reaction was mixed.  They acknowledged that what He was saying was good, but they doubted Him because He was merely the Son of Joseph the carpenter whom they knew.

b.       Jesus perceived their doubt and anticipated their thinking.

i.         The proverb He quoted in verse 23 meant that the Nazarenes expected Him to present the evidence of His claim.

ii.        The event in Capernaum to which Jesus referred appears to have been the healing of the nobleman’s son that we noticed earlier (John 4:46-54).

c.        By comparing the Nazarenes to the ancient Israelites, Jesus was explaining to them why they would not receive the evidence they sought.

i.         Like Elijah and Elisha, Jesus received no honor from His own people.

ii.        Like Elijah and Elisha, Jesus would go to places other than His hometown to perform His miraculous works.

                                                             4.      Because of this, the Nazarenes became so enraged at Jesus that they tried to kill Him (vv. 28-30).

a.       The entire synagogue of Nazarenes sought to throw Him down from a cliff, but He escaped from them.

b.       Keep in mind that these were not the Pharisees or the Sadducees, but these were His fellow townspeople.  No other Galileans rejected Him this way.

                                                             5.      After this, Capernaum became the Lord’s new home in Galilee (Luke 4:31).

a.       Mark describes Capernaum as His home (Mark 2:1).  It seems likely that He stayed in the home of Peter and Andrew (see Mark 1:21, 29-31)

b.       By settling in Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 9:1-2 (Matt. 4:12-17).

B.      The second rejection of Jesus by Nazareth is recorded in Matthew 13:54-58 and Mark 6:1-6.

                                                             1.      This second rejection occurred approximately one and a half years after the first rejection.

                                                             2.      As with the first rejection, the Nazarenes did not deny the Lord’s wisdom or power, but they took offense at Him because they would not believe that this ordinary man that they had known could do these extraordinary things.

                                                             3.      Notice that Jesus acknowledged His own relatives’ unbelief, for not even His brothers believed in Him (see John 7:5).

                                                             4.      Because of the Nazarenes unbelief, Jesus did very few miracles at Nazareth.

IV.    LESSONS

A.      Familiarity breeds contempt.

                                                             1.      The behavior of the Nazarenes toward the Lord is an example of this strange tendency of men to become contemptuous of that with which they are familiar.

a.       This poor attitude is often present within families, whose members trade insults with one another and share no courtesy at all.

b.       Within our nation, this attitude is evident in the revisionist historians who seek to make villains of our national heroes.

                                                             2.      This attitude is very hazardous to our souls’ well-being.

a.       Those who become contemptuous of the church because of their familiarity with it will separate themselves from the church.  Of course, this also means that they will separate themselves from the Lord, for the church is His body (Eph. 1:22-23).

b.       Likewise, those who become contemptuous of the Bible because of their familiarity with it will deprive themselves of the words of life (John 6:68).

B.      We have a part in our own salvation.

                                                             1.      The Nazarenes had the same opportunity that the other Galileans had to believe in Christ, but they proved to be unworthy.

a.       The Nazarenes had the same evidence as the other Galileans, but they alone refused to accept Him.

b.       Because they rejected Jesus, who was the Prophet whom Moses foretold, they will have to answer to God (see Deut. 18:15-19).

                                                             2.      Likewise, we all have the same opportunity to obtain salvation, but our success depends on our own faith.

a.       We are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8).  Grace is God’s part, and faith is our part.  God has supplied His part is abundance, so it remains for us to supply our part.

b.       Without a person’s own faith, which consists of believing obedience in compliance with the directions of the gospel, salvation is incomplete for him.

***Don’t be like the Nazarenes – receive the Lord in faith and obtain the salvation of your sou!.***