Nazarene

Matthew says this about Jesus: ‘And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.’ 

The first detail to note is that Matthew says this description was not made by one prophet. There is not a specific prophecy that connects Jesus with Nazareth. Rather, Matthew says that when Jesus went to Nazareth it was a general fulfilment of what the prophets said about him. What can that mean?

Nazareth was not a prominent place and we know that Jesus was identified with the lowly in life. Such a place like Nazareth was suitable for one who wanted to live humbly.

Moreover, Nazareth was a despised place, and there are many prophecies that indicate Jesus would be despised. When someone wanted to dismiss Jesus by saying he was of no significance, he would just say, ‘He is a Nazarene.’ After all, Nathaniel, the man in whom Jesus said that there was no guile, asked, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’

Nazareth was a small community founded by Jews after the return from the exile. A question would be, ‘why call it Nazareth?’ One answer is that the name is connected to nazar, the Hebrew word for branch found in Isaiah 11:1: ‘There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.’ Small beginnings, but they had confidence in the promised Messiah. So the name ‘Nazarene’ points to hope, and Jesus fulfilled that anticipation.

Later on, Luke tells us in the Book of Acts that ‘Nazarenes’ was a term used to describe Christians. Paul was accused of belonging to the sect of the Nazarenes (Acts 22:5). It was used as a slur, but it is a reminder that the followers of Jesus should be like their Master – humble, even despised, but with a message of hope.