Questions for Bible Study Groups

What happened when Jesus arrived in Nazareth, the town where he had grown up?
Why did the people of Nazareth take exception to Jesus?
How did Jesus respond?
Why was this story reassuring for the early Christians?

In brief: Jesus returned to Nazareth, the town of his youth. He spoke in the synagogue, but the townspeople did not like what he said. They hurried him unceremoniously out of the town.

Read the story in Luke's Gospel.

Returning Home

Nazareth would have looked something like this.

Nazareth is famous for one thing, and one thing only: it was the home town of Jesus. Here Jesus spent his boyhood living with his mother and father, and it was here that he faced the sceptical townsfolk of Nazareth.

The village seems to have been held in some contempt in 1st century Palestine – a nondescript dot on the map with not much to offer, overshadowed by nearby Sepphoris, the luxurious Greek-style capital recently built by Herod Antipas. It is beguiling to think that Joseph and Jesus, as builders, may have traipsed daily over to Sepphoris to work on the new city.

But time had passed. There was no mention of Joseph in the gospels at this point; it must be presumed that he had died (life expectancy was low) or was away working as an itinerant craftsman.

Mary may have been a widow; she seems to have been head of the family.

At first, a positive reaction
The adult Jesus must have returned to his village a number of times to see his family, but this time there was an incident recorded in all three Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke).

Nazareth Village Synagog

Nazareth could not boast many celebrities among its population so when Jesus, now a charismatic and famous teacher, returned home he was at first greeted warmly. He had left Nazareth as a private person; now he returned as a Rabbi, accompanied by scholars and disciples.

He went to the tiny synagogue. The usual service consisted of prayers, readings from the Law and the Prophets, and a sermon. Any competent man present could lead the service.

Jesus’ audience was at first impressed by what he said.

Nazareth rejects Jesus
But then things turned sour. People took exception to the Scripture passage he chose – it was Isaiah 61:1-2:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the oppressed; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour…

Having read through the passage, Jesus gave a discourse on what the words meant, and how they had now been fulfilled – in him. He made several points:

that Isaiah’s prophecy was now finally coming true
that the One anointed with the Spirit was Jesus himself
and that the time of God’s salvation had arrived.

Jesus preaching in the synagogue.

The people of Nazareth (and we may assume the synagogue was full) were startled at first, then hostile. They took exception to one of their own making such grandiose claims.

It may have been that, like many men whose birth was shadowed, Jesus had never been entirely accepted by the people he grew up with.

But someone in the congregation must have urged the others to give Jesus a chance. If he could show some tangible proof of his claims, then they would give more thought to the matter.

They had heard he cured the sick in nearby Capernaum. Let him do the same here in Nazareth.

The effects of their unbelief
But Jesus was not a magician doing tricks to amuse the crowd. His miracles were vitally related to the faith and the moral condition of the person. Jesus could not perform a miracle for someone who was sceptical about his power and his identity. His miracles relied on

the inter-related power of God
the saving presence of Jesus
unconditional faith on the part of the person who wished to be cured.

These were not present in the people of Nazareth, and the gospels record that Jesus ‘could do no mighty works’ at Nazareth.

The people of Nazareth turned on him and ran him out of town. One of the gospels says that, in the ensuing mêlée, the rougher element among the villagers tried to kill him.

The painting by Jeff Watkins (above) shows the tumult of the moment, as Jesus is hustled and jostled out of Nazareth. The artist has captured the energy of the moment: Jesus is trying to leave, but is hemmed in and urged forward by the vigorous, angry men who abuse him. Are these the people he grew up with?

"Family Walking with God", by Morgan Weistling

It was probably someone in this group who referred disparagingly to Jesus as ‘the son of Mary’ and ‘the carpenter’s son’. A Jewish man was normally referred to as ‘the son of (his father’s name)’, and we would expect Jesus to be called ‘the son of Joseph’. Calling him ‘the son of Mary’ implied Jesus could not even name his own father.

This particular gospel story was reassuring for the early Christians. They too were being rejected by their Jewish neighbours. They could take heart, as we can, from the fact that even Jesus was rejected by people he had known and trusted all his life.

The incident at Nazareth cannot have been a happy experience for anyone, especially Mary, who may have understood the villagers’ resentment but was forced to watch her son being vilified.

Extra information: the synagogue at nearby Capernaum

Excavated ruins of the synagogue at Capernaum

Jesus was based at Capernaum during his ministry to Galilee, but the synagogue pictured above is from a later century – Jesus did not teach in this building. However, the layout and floor-plan would have been the same:

a central space, in which the rabbi or commentator stood to read and speak
surrounding columns supporting the roof
aisle space behind the columns, lined with seats and benches.

This magnificent lime-stone synagogue was one of the largest and best-built of the Byzantine Period. Its walls, pavers and columns were made of white limestone from further west in Galilee, and contrasted sharply with the dark grey basalt stone of earlier buildings on this site. The main room was flanked by two tiers of seats on the eastern and western sides, divided by two rows of columns.

Note: Jews at that time, before synagogues became popular, met in other places – an open square, a large house’s courtyard, an affluent person’s residence. Nazareth, poor as it was, may only have been able to offer this sort of setting to Jesus when he returned to his home town. The word ‘synagogue’ refers primarily to a gathering of people, and only secondarily to a formal structure – something that Jesus would have understood.

Frontal view of the remains of the interior of the synagogue at Capernaum

Plan of the synagogue at Capernaum.
A synagogue at Nazareth would have been smaller and more modest in design.