Read: Matthew 2; Luke 2:39-52
In the Bible, a child’s birthday was his day of conception. John’s birthday would have been the feast of Tabernacles and Jesus birthday would have been Passover. He went to Jerusalem at 12 on his birthday and this particular birthday would have been his bar mitzvah - the year he became a man and was to follow in the occupation of his father. That is why he stayed behind in the temple and told them he must be about his father’s business. His father was God, and God’s business was in the temple. Mary and Joseph didn’t understand, so Jesus submitted to them and came home to be a carpenter. Passover was also the day Jesus died which means that Jesus died on his birthday.
Jesus grew up in Nazareth which means “a sprout”. Isaiah 53 says that the Messiah will grow up “a root out of a dry ground”. The Arabic meaning of Nazareth was “a watchtower”. A watchtower is a place where your vision is extended which is a picture of the prophet. I read in one commentary that Nazareth because Nazareth was on a cliff overlooking Lower Galilee it was held in scorn. Apparently, evil things went on in Lower Galilee. It was in Nazareth that Jesus would enter into his ministry (Matt. 13:54) and it was also here that they wanted to throw him off the pinnacle of the temple. (Luke 4:29) I wonder if Jesus thought of Satan’s temptation when they threatened him. Twice they threw him out of town. (Luke 4:16- 29; Matt. 13:54- 58). No wonder Jesus told them he couldn’t do many miracles here because of their unbelief.
Lord, let us not be like the people of Nazareth who refused to believe that God could bring a sprout out of a dry ground.
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