Nazareth

The small town in Galilee where Jesus was raised and where the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive the Messiah—the event known as the Annunciation. Though insignificant in Jesus’ time, Nazareth became sacred to Christians as the place where God’s Son lived in obscurity for three decades before beginning his public ministry.

The angel Gabriel came to Mary in Nazareth with the startling announcement: “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28). When Mary expressed bewilderment at how she, a virgin, could bear a child, Gabriel explained: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Mary’s faithful response—“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38)—set in motion the Incarnation, God becoming flesh.

After Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem and the family’s flight to Egypt, Joseph brought Mary and Jesus back to Nazareth, where Jesus grew up learning carpentry and studying Scripture. The town was so obscure that when Philip told Nathanael about Jesus “of Nazareth,” Nathanael scoffed: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Matthew notes this fulfilled prophecy: “He shall be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2:23)—though no such specific prophecy exists in the Old Testament, suggesting Matthew saw Nazareth’s obscurity itself as fulfilling prophetic themes of the Messiah’s humble origins.

Jesus’ first public teaching in his hometown ended in violent rejection. Reading from Isaiah in the synagogue, he declared, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21), claiming to be the anointed one who would bring good news to the poor. The congregation’s initial amazement turned to murderous rage when he suggested God’s grace would extend to Gentiles. They drove him to a cliff intending to throw him off, “but passing through their midst, he went away” (Luke 4:30). Jesus later observed, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown” (Mark 6:4). Nazareth’s rejection foreshadowed Israel’s larger rejection of their Messiah, yet from this despised town came the Savior of the world.