Daily devotion – The Nazarene
Mat 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
There is not a specific prophecy that called Jesus a “Nazarene.” The term “Nazarene” was one of reproach: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” – John 1:46
Many Old Testament prophecies mention the Messiah Jesus lowly life of rejection, and this may be what Matthew had in mind.
Jesus would grow up in Nazareth and was identified with that city most of His life. In fact, His enemies thought He had been born there, for they said that He had come from Galilee (John 7:50 – 52). But had they truly investigated the Temple records, they would have discovered that He had been born in Bethlehem.
Who had ever heard of a king being born in a stable, laid in a manger, in a humble village and growing up in a despised city?
The humility of the King, our King, is certainly something to admire and imitate.
Let our boast this Christmas season not be anything about ourselves, our achievements, but ever only as Paul declares- Gal 6:14 “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
There will be many a Christmas function where someone will be sure to air all their personal accomplishments and their listeners having to endure the rhetoric. But let is use such gatherings and opportunities at this time of the Christmas season to share about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
For He is the reason for the season!