Matthew 2:19-23 — As we conclude our look at this passage today, we will look at why Matthew felt it important to point out the significance of Jesus and his family setting down in a town called Nazareth and why “it fulfilled what the prophets had said, ‘He will be called a Nazarene.’” When you look in the Old Testament you will not find that specific statement. Is this a biblical error on Matthew’s part? Nazareth was an insignificant town in the New Testament era and it certainly was more so in the Old Testament era. What was Matthew referring to when he writes this in his gospel? So let’s dig a little deeper as to why this was considered an important point to Matthew.
According to the footnote in my Chronological Life Application Study Bible, there is no specific statement in the Old Testament that says the Messiah will be called a Nazarene. It goes on to state that most scholars believe that Matthew is referring to Isaiah 11:1 where the Hebrew word for branch is similar to the Hebrew word for Nazareth. The Hebrew word for branch is “netzer” and in Isaiah 11:1 it says, “”Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” So, again, if this is the case, Matthew is tying Jesus’ lineage back to David. King David, the most beloved of Israel’s rulers, was the stem of Jesse, his father. And it was from David’s lineage that God said that a king from his line would rule on David’s throne forever. So, ever trying to point out Jesus’ royal roots and his Messianic fulfillment, Matthew sees the significance of Jesus being from a town called Nazareth. Though it did not seem like it to many, Jesus was the branch of which Isaiah spoke. He was the promised Messiah. Although he was not born to kings and was raised in a small, out of the way, town, Matthew sees that it could not be any other way and was pointing that out to people.
Their expectations of the Messiah had strayed far from Scripture and, certainly, most Jews thought that a prophet who died on the cross, was from Nazareth of all places, could not be the Messiah. It kind of reminds you of Ted Mosby on the television show, How I Met Your Mother. He was forever in the show looking for that perfect girl and would end a relationship with any girl because they did not meet his ideal of his perfect girl. So, it was with the Jews, with the Messiah having been right in their midst and lived out His life according to the prophecies for the Messiah, they would not see Him because He did not fit their idealized Messiah. Their Messiah was the one with the best horse, the best armor, the best superhero powers who would vanquish their Roman overlords and re-establish the political kingdom of Israel. The idealized Messiah was not the Messiah of Scripture any longer. They had morphed Him into what they wanted Him to be and not the suffering servant that was to save man from his sin as the Scriptures state. Matthew was pointing out to the Jews that, regardless of what their idealized Messiah was, Jesus held true to all the prophecies of the Messiah. Matthew might as well be pointing that out to us today. Don’t we often in modern society morph Jesus into what we want Him to be rather than what Scripture says? We need reminders from Matthew and the other authors in the Bible of who Jesus really was. Matthew was a stickler for Scripture. He knew it well. We should too so that we will not be led astray by people’s idealized Jesuses. We may not be making the Messiah into a war hero who was to vanquish and occupying force today but there are those who twist the Jesus of Scripture into something that He is not (1) because they do not know or read the Bible and (2) they want to confuse people and use Jesus to meet their own political or social agendas. Let us be like Matthew who studied Scripture and recognized that Jesus was the Messiah. Let us study Scripture so we do not miss the truth that lies within its pages. Let us study Scripture so that we do not lead ourselves or others astray about what the Bible says. Let us study Scripture so that we can defend our faith in the face of false teachers and in the face of hatred of our faith. Yesterday, we wanted to be like Joseph. Today, let’s add Matthew to that list.
I think the second thing that Matthew was trying to do here by saying that Jesus was a Nazarene was to make a commentary about the perceptions of the day of Nazareth. Nazareth was a small town in the back waters of Galilee. For us folk who live in Spartanburg County, SC who can identify with this statement, it would be like being from Gaffney! If they would have had the term “redneck” back in Jesus’ day, that’s the label he would have been given because He was from Nazareth. Nazareth was no cultural center. It was the regional crossroads town for farmers and shepherds. It was a farming town. In Nazareth, there was a lot of hard working folks so there wasn’t a lot of sitting around having theological discussions or discussions of the politics of the day. They were just trying to feed their families and have enough left over to sell at market. It didn’t have the best reputation because it was just a hick town. I imagine people from Nazareth might have been regarded much the same was as “rednecks” are today. For whatever reason, people looked down on them. In fact, scripture records in John 1:46, Nathanael said of Jesus “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” The book of Isaiah 53 says that the Messiah would be despised and would not be attractive to people. It was prophesied in this scripture that the Jewish people would reject Him. Jesus, thus, knew of what it is like to be from the wrong side of the tracks. He knew what it was like to be rejected just because of who you were. Being from Nazareth growing up, people probably judged him as a hick, country boy with no education and as one not to be highly regarded. Thus, Jesus had humble beginnings just as Micah had predicted in Micah 5:2. Jesus was born humbly, lived humbly, and died humbly. If you feel like you are not enough, Jesus knows you. If you feel like your background prevents you from being an honored child of God, Jesus says you are wrong. He says I was born with no silver spoon in my mouth. He says I know you. If you think that your past keeps you from being in the fellowship of believers, think again. Jesus knows what it is like to feel rejected by the hypocrites of His day. Jesus says I know you. There is not one of us that is excluded from Jesus’ family just because of our past, our history, or where we are from, He says I know you and I can identify with you and I love you. Come, sit at my table.
We thank the Apostle Matthew for showing us that Jesus is the real Messiah of Scripture and helps us to see that fact even when we try to make Jesus into something that is different from what the Word says. Thank you Matthew for showing us that Jesus can make even what we consider insignificant and unwanted by human standards into something beautiful and special. Jesus is different from what we know and how we judge things and how we categorize things. He does not hold our past against us. Jesus knows your beginnings. Jesus knows your past. He knows where you from and everything you’ve done. When you come to Him with a repentant heart, He will make you into something beautiful and clean.