“Journey to Bethlehem: Can Anything Good Come Out of Nazareth?”
Luke 1:26-38
Early in Jesus’ ministry, when Philip, one of Jesus’ first disciples told his friend Nathanial: “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth…”
Nathanial was astonished.
He looked at Philip and asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Nazareth is much more well known today than it ever was in Jesus’ day.
It was a little town with a population of between one hundred and four hundred people.
It wasn’t even mentioned in the Talmud nor by the historian Josephus.
It was most likely a town of farmers, shepherds, and laborers who walked an hour each way to sell their goods and services in Sepphoris, a much bigger town nearby with about 30,000 people living in it.
Far from living in luxury, many of the inhabitants of Nazareth built their homes inside caves.
This was a sign of poverty.
The name Nazareth is interesting and holds a clue to the Child Gabriel told Mary about in our lesson for this morning.
Nazareth is a Hebrew word that means a “branch” or “shoot.”
As many of you know, when a tree is chopped down, a shoot will grow out of the stump, allowing a new tree to spring up where the old one has died.
Much of the Old Testament was written predicting, or in response to, the destruction of Israel.
The prophets in speaking about the destruction and re-emergence of Israel used the metaphor of Israel being like a tree that had been cut down, but would sprout up once again.
Then, Israel would be led by a messianic figure called “the branch” or “the shoot.”
Isaiah 11:1-4 and verse 6 prophesy about this: “A shoot shall come up from the stump of Jesse,” Jesse was the name of King David’s father...
…the prophet continues, “and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest on him…
…His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;…
…[And in those days] the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.”
This prophesy was a promise of hope that the people of Israel had held onto year after year after year.
The people hoped for the coming of the “branch” that would lead the people—a messiah.
Jeremiah and Zechariah use this same imagery.
It was a sign that there are no hopeless situations with God.
Little did the humble, working-class folks living in Nazareth know that the “branch” foretold in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zachariah would be a child who would grow up in their own village!
Who would have dreamed of it?
Have you ever felt small and insignificant?
I think many of us have, at times.
Maybe you feel that way this morning.
Have you ever thought of yourself as so insignificant that God couldn’t possibly use you for God’s good purposes?
Certainly, if God needs something done, God will use someone with many more resources.
More talent.
Someone younger.
Someone older.
Someone richer.
Someone stronger.
I have felt like this as well.
You know, Red Bank United Methodist Church is a relatively small church in a relatively small town.
Most people in the rest of the world, America and Tennessee for that matter don’t even know we exist.
But look what God is doing through YOU!
We have one of the largest, if not THE LARGEST Food Pantry in the entire county.
People rely on this church.
We have a preschool that has 110 children enrolled…
…it’s only about 3 years old, but it has 110 kids and it has been nominated to win the award for Best of the Best by the in the Times Free Press for two years running.
On top of being one of the highest quality preschools, it is one of the most affordable.
These are ministries of this church.
And these ministries are making a huge difference in this community.
And YOU make up this Church—You are being used by God for God’s good purposes.
That is HUGE.
There is no greater privilege nor calling!!!
Perhaps there are people who, at one point or another, have written us off and said, “Red Bank United Methodist Church is a relic of the past. Their best days are behind them.”
I’m here to say that our best days are NOW and there are much, much better days to come.
And that is not because of us.
It is because we are Christ’s Church.
We are God’s Church.
His Son lives in our hearts.
We are His servants.
He has called us to bear much fruit.
And like Mary, we are saying to Him this morning, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled.”
Let’s all say this together and let’s say it like we mean it: “I am the Lord’s servant.
May your word to me be fulfilled.”
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Well, look around.
The Word made Flesh has come out of Nazareth!!!
The One through Whom and for Whom this world was created came out of Nazareth.
The One Who live, bled and died to save the world from certain destruction came out of Nazareth.
The One through Whom people come to know the love of God came out of Nazareth.
The HOPE of the world came out of Nazareth—YOUR hope and mine…
…and the future hope of those in our community who do not yet know Him.
In little, insignificant Nazareth there was a spring.
Mary would have grown up fetching water from that spring and then later, Jesus, Who spent 30 years of His life in Nazareth would have depended on that spring for drinking water.
In Jesus’ day, a spring, as opposed to stagnant water sitting in a well or a pond or something was referred to as “Living Water.”
It was water teeming with life, water that brought and sustained life.
Jesus, later in His ministry would meet a desperate, lonely, marginalized and seemingly insignificant Samaritan woman at a well.
He would offer her Living Water, welling up to eternal life, in this case He was using the term “Living Water” to refer to the Holy Spirit.
She partook of that water, of the Spirit, was born again and became the first evangelist recorded in the Gospels.
The whole town came to believe because God chose to use her as His vessel to bring life and hope to that community.
And God has chosen to use this Church—again, that is me and you—for this same purpose here in Red Bank.
I believe with all my heart that we are standing on the precipice of a great revival in this town.
And this Church is going to play a BIG PART.
So many people have given up on the church because they think it is too involved in politics or doesn’t put its money where its mouth is.
But that does not describe YOU!
The Lord is with you, Red Bank United Methodist Church, and He will use you to birth His Son into the lives of the lost and lonely people of this town.
Now this might sound far-fetched.
This might sound too good to be true.
But think about Mary, a thirteen-year-old girl, standing by the spring of Nazareth, listening to the sound of water bubbling up from a rock.
Think of her desperately trying to take in all that Gabriel said to her that day.
Would she really be the mother of the Messiah?
She was to be pregnant, but out of wedlock.
What would her family think?
What would Joseph do?
Several years ago, the Christian Century told the story of a children’s Christmas pageant.
Dozens of children had come for the chance to sing and dance and dress up as wise men and shepherds, as sheep, donkeys, and camels.
None of the boys were fighting over the chance to play Joseph, because he didn’t get any lines.
But then the director asked, “Now, who wants to be Mary?”
Hands shot up and eyes danced as all the little girls jumped up and down.
Every one of them wanted to be Mary.
She had the starring role!!!
Now, let’s think about this question.
Do you think Mary wanted to be Mary when the angel Gabriel came to visit her in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy?
What do you think?
Knowing the potential scandal and punishment for conceiving out of wedlock, knowing that her hopes and dreams for a traditional wedding would come to an end, do you think Mary wanted to be Mary?
Yet, with her heart pounding, with uncertainty, fear and confusion, Mary’s response was, “I am the Lord’s servant.
May your word to me be fulfilled.”
What a moment of decision that would change the entire course of the world.
And in Mary’s decision we see in her a witness and an example of how we are meant to live.
Following God’s call is sometimes difficult.
It may lead us to set aside our own plans.
It may mean taking risks.
Sometimes God asks us to be with people we don’t want to be with, to go to places we don’t want to go to, and to do things we don’t want to do.
I believe this is part of what we are to learn from Mary’s story.
Gabriel tells Mary twice that she is favored by God, and yet God’s favor meant, not a life of bliss, but a life of risk.
But it was a risk, when accepted and taken, led to the birth of the Savior of the world!
As we prepare our hearts for Christmas, may we remember the little town of Nazareth and God’s choice of a young woman from this humble village through whom He would do His greatest work.
This season reminds us that God has an invitation for us as well.
And this invitation is to offer ourselves wholly to God just as Mary did.
Christmas is not about how much we buy or what we eat or whom we visit.
It’s about our willingness to say, with Mary, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word be fulfilled.”
May this be the case for each one of us individually and for Red Bank United Methodist Church for the sake of those who are still in bed, for those who do not know the Hope of the world, for those who are depressed, suicidal, addicted lost and sad.
May they come to know Christ, and thus, be given eternal life through our willingness to say: “Yes, Lord. Use me!”
Amen.
