Jesus Came From Galilee

What Did Jesus Do?

“Is the Christ to come from Galilee?”
John 7.41

Poor Jesus, he just couldn't help but create controversy. Even the matter of where he was from was cause for acrimonious debate (John 7.43). Some of us are very proud of our hometowns, while to others of us, who perhaps have moved about quite a bit, where we are from might not be such a big deal. But, for a people to whom the prophets had spoken, whose messianic expectations were inseparable from the prophecies, it was of supreme importance where any claimant to the title of “Christ” (Greek for “Messiah”) came from. As was widely known in his day, Jesus came from Galilee. The question was, could that “Podunk” of a province, home to those whom the Jerusalemites would have considered the hillbillies and yokels of Palestine, produce the Messiah?

The answer for many was clearly, “No!” According to the Hebrew Scripture, the Christ would be a descendant of David, and a native of Bethlehem, the village of David (John 7.42). And Bethlehem, a “suburb” of Jerusalem, was definitely not part of Galilee. There was no way that “Jesus of Nazareth” (in Galilee) could be the Christ foretold in what we know as the Old Testament. But, as we noted in our WDJD of 3/14/11, by virtue of the signs and works he did, Jesus certainly looked like the Christ. But appearances can be deceiving. The Christ had to have what we might call the “prophetic pedigree,” he must fulfill the words spoken by the classical prophets of Israel. Could Jesus, or any other Galilean, be the one of whom the prophets spoke?

The Davidic lineage and Bethlehem roots of the Messiah were incontrovertible. Where and how did Galilee become part of picture? Well, according to Matthew, that the Christ should live in Galilee, specifically in Nazareth, was in fact spoken of by the prophets (Matthew 2. 23). And, if the prophets said it, First Century contempt for Galilee, and especially for Nazareth (see John 1.46), could be swept away. But did the prophets say, “He shall be called a Nazarene”? Yes, but not in those exact words.

Isaiah foretold of the coming forth of a “shoot” from the stump of Jesse, from the seemingly cut off and dead royal descendants of David (Isaiah 11.1). The consonantal root of the Hebrew word for “shoot” is the same as that for “Nazareth.” In other words, from the relatively cut off backwater of Nazareth would come a shoot or branch from the cut off line of David. That the Christ would be the Branch whom God would raise up was attested by (“spoken by”) the prophets (see Jeremiah 23.5; 33.15; Zechariah 3.8). The many arguing against the Galilean background of the Christ bore out the observation of Jesus that his opponents knew “neither the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matthew 22.29).

The truth, of course, is that Jesus is from Bethlehem and Nazareth. But, of far greater importance than knowing where he was born and where he was raised, believers are shown by the Holy Spirit that Jesus is the Christ, the Son who was sent by the living Father (John 6.57). The possession of this Spirit imparted knowledge is the single great division among all of humanity. The proclamation of this singular truth is the Great Commission of the Church, and the calling of every believer.

Jesus did not ask his disciples “Where do people say I am from?” but “Who do people say that I am?” While the prophets (who were “flesh and blood”) foretold where the Christ would come from, the Father (who is Spirit) alone reveals to us who the Christ is (Matthew 16.17). To know that Jesus came from Galilee is good. To know and believe that he is the Christ is salvation.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4