"A City of Galilee named
Nazareth”
Luke 1:26-33
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God
to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose
name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.
28 And having come in, the angel said to her,
"Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among
women!" 29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and
considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring
forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His
father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His
kingdom there will be no end."
Only the Gospel of Luke gives us a detail account and
description of the angel appearing to the virgin Mary with the announcement of
her miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit of the Son of God. Neither Mark’s
or John’s Gospels mentioned it in their introductions to the life and ministry
of Jesus Christ. Matthew’s Gospel simply says, “Now the birth of Jesus
Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before
they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew
1:18).
In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, Gabriel
brought a second birth announcement, this time to a young virgin in Nazareth
named Mary. The people in Judah disdained the Jews in Galilee and claimed they
were not "kosher" because of their contacts with the Gentiles there
(Matt. 4:15). The fact that Herod had raised pagan temples and held pagan
sports activities in Galilee increased their scorn They especially despised the
people from Nazareth.
Nazareth was located where Greek merchants, Jewish priests
and Levites, troops of entertainers, and people from all parts of the great
Gentile world passed by. The population was probably some fifteen thousand. The
city of Nazaret had a reputation for corruption. Remember Nathanael’s question
when he was invited by Philip to come and meet “Jesus of Nazareth"?
He asked, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John
1:46). Nathanael came from nearby Cana, so he was in a position to know all
about Nazareth.
Galilee! The very word was one of scorn to the Jews in Jerusalem.
The whole region was overrun by Gentiles whose very accent grated on the ears
of the sophisticated Judeans. In Matthew’s Gospel, it is called “a place of
darkness”, and the “region and shadow of death…” (Matthew 4:17). But
God in His grace chose a girl from Nazareth in Galilee to be the mother of the
promised Messiah!
When it comes to Mary, people tend to go to one of two
extremes. They either magnify her so much that Jesus takes second place (Luke
1:32), or they ignore her and fail to give her the esteem she deserves (Luke
1:48). Elizabeth, filled with the Spirit, called her "the mother of my
Lord" (Luke 1:43); and that is reason enough to honor her.
What do we know about Mary? She was a Jewess of the tribe
of Judah, a descendant of David, and a virgin (Isa. 7:14). She was engaged to a
carpenter in Nazareth named Joseph (Matt 13:55), and apparently both of them
were poor (Lev. 12:8; Luke 2:24). Among the Jews at that time, engagement was
almost as binding as marriage and could be broken only by divorce. In fact, the
man and the woman were called "husband" and "wife" even
before the marriage took place (compare Matt. 1:19 and Luke 2:5). Since Jewish
girls married young, it is likely that Mary was a teenager when the angel
appeared to her.
Isn’t it amazing how our God choses the most unlikely
places and people to do the most awesome things! God is still at work in this
dark world, and who knows how He might use you in the place you are right now!
God bless!
