Can anything good come from Nazareth?

In the first chapter of the John Gospel, Nathanial asks a question that is beyond understanding to anyone who does not have at least a small understanding of the village in Galilee in which Jesus grew up. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” The writers of the Mathew and Luke Gospels sidestep the issue by placing his birth in another village named Bethlehem in Judea. As a matter of history we will never know the birthplace of Jesus. There was no repository of such facts about children born in poverty. The Bible leaves us with a miracle story of Jesus’ birth that has no historical support.

Modern scholars are delving into the history of Jesus with research skills and tools. Scholars are insisting “the facts, just the facts, and nothing but the facts.” We have not one Jesus to understand, but two. In serious scholarship, dedicated, unprejudiced scholars are separating history from mythology. They are separating the Jesus of history from the Jesus of creeds, confessions and miracle stories. Serious Bible scholars are not necessarily attacking Christian theology; they are asking what we can know about the Jesus who lived and taught as an untrained teacher/rabbi in a poverty stricken area about 70 miles north of Jerusalem.

Jesus grew up in Nazareth in Galilee.

Jesus gathered followers and disciples.

Jesus made a trip to Jerusalem and created a disturbance in the Jewish temple.

Jesus was crucified by Roman officials as an insurrectionist.

The four Gospels are not of great help. The Gospel writers corrupted history with theology and theology with history. They were written by men who were not contemporaries of Jesus. Information about Jesus had been passed by oral tradition by uneducated peasants. Literacy rates were very low. Jesus’ native language was Aramaic. The first written records about the life of Jesus were written in Greek. The Gospel writers did not have access to eye witnesses or on-sight listeners. Paul, the first writer of New Testament material, never met Jesus and had no personal contact with him.

Scholars have turned to other non-Bible written resources. They are being very helpful. This is a snap shot of Palestine in the Jesus era

The society of Jesus’s time was “an advanced agrarian society.” The area was agricultural. Ownership of the land had been lost by those who worked the farms. Owners were either occupying Romans or wealthy Jews who operated in alliance with the Roman rulers. The farmers had been reduced to farm laborers who worked for less than living wages. Owners lived in opulence in cities removed from the everyday life of the peasant laborer. The gap between rich and poor was enormous.

There was no synagogue. There was no opportunity for education. Scholars estimate that illiteracy was probably about 97 percent.

Galilee had become the seedbed of resistance against wealthy owners, their managers and Roman rulers. The early forms of the zealot movement were taking root all over Galilee. Eventually the Zealots became organized and quite strong. Some 30 years after Jesus’ crucifixion, the Zealot rebellion was defeated and destroyed. During the lifetime of Jesus every man had become armed with large knives that could be concealed in their robes. Galilee became a violent area.

There is no doubt that Jesus was a zealot. So also was John the Baptizer. However, there was a vast variety within the zealot movement. Most zealots advocated rebellion with knives in hand. Both Jesus and John the Baptizer were proclaimers of The Kingdom of God. They both were apocalyptic and apparently expected the intervening hand of God. They both experienced execution by ruthless rulers. One of Jesus’ aphorisms is “put away your sword (knives).” Scholars argue about the authenticity of the saying. No one is questioning the zeal with which he said it.

Out of the search for the historical Jesus, a different image of Jesus from Nazareth is emerging. Jesus takes us into politics, economics and social justice. Something good emerged from Nazareth. Jesus from Nazareth speaks to us as prophet and teacher, and it comes from the mouth of the poorest artisan in Nazareth.

Can anything good come from Nazareth? More than you can imagine.

The End

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptists minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.