Hastings: Beyond the Temple
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” — John 1:46 The Inclusive Bible
After the Temple visit, the young couple was surprised by a visit from scholars from the east who had followed a mysterious star to Bethlehem. The scholars were overjoyed to find the couple and their baby. They gave precious gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
But the scholars had asked directions from King Herod who directed them to reveal the child’s location when they found him. When the scholars found out Herod intended to kill the baby, they left in another direction. And an angel in a dream warned the couple to seek refuge in Egypt.
When it was safe, the couple returned to their hometown of Nazareth in Galilee in northern Israel. Nazareth was near a major trade route and across the Jezreel Valley from Megiddo. While Megiddo was fought over many times, Nazareth was considered one of the lowliest places on earth — not important enough to conquer. Nazareth’s off-the-beaten-path obscurity provided a measure of safety for the child.
But life in Nazareth was not without hierarchy, gossip and judgment. Since the child’s paternity was always in question, he was labeled a "mamzer," an outcast in religious society. As such, he was not allowed to attend the religious school. The young woman nurtured the child’s faith at home in the midst of everyday tasks like making bread, sweeping floors and sowing seeds. And the young man nurtured the child’s character and skills while working in stone masonry and construction.
Throughout his life the couple’s child would face exclusion from the religious establishment and put-downs for his rural upbringing in an out-of-the-way village. A would-be disciple would later ask, “Can any good come from Nazareth?”
Beyond the Temple, the child of whom angels and shepherds sang, whom scholars visited and Simeon and Anna blessed would not be celebrated in the faith or community into which he was born. He would be despised and rejected — especially by those who longed for a divine visitation but did not recognize it when it came.
The Rev. Celia M. Hastings has a master's degree in religious education from Western Theological Seminary in Holland. She is author of “The Wisdom Series” and “The Undertaker’s Wife.”
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Hastings: Beyond the Temple
