He will be called a Nazarene

In the beginning of Matthew, I have always seen Joseph as the main character of faith.  He starts off by showing his righteousness to divorce Mary (his wife) quietly, but the Angel steps in and tells him to holdfast to his wife.  Then when the Magi have left, Joseph has another dream and immediately takes the Son and the woman down to Egypt, showing his faithfulness.  He remains in Egypt until he receives another Dream to go back to Israel because those who seek his life are dead.

I always have kinda thought this is where Joseph screwed up.  Joseph was supposed to go back Judea and the town of Bethlehem.  But Joseph was afraid of Archelaus who was reigning in Judea.  Joseph did not fully heed the words of the Angel, "for the ones who were seeking the child's life have died."  He thought Archelaus would seek the child's life, so he heads north to Nazareth.

But the problem for me was always this prophetic statement of "He will be called a Nazarene."  But I think I have the solution to my problem.  He was called a Nazarene by the prophetic voice of his own time, not the prophecy given to the prophets of the Old Testament.  The people of Israel call him Jesus of Nazareth or the Nazarene.  The chief priests, scribes, and pharisees use this word to discard or disgrace him.  He is only a Nazarene.

Likewise they call the Apostles Galileans in order to mock them.  Jesus is called a Nazarene by prophets of his own day and even the writers of the New Testament.  But there is no direct Old Testament prophecy that connects with this phrase.  Even the change in pattern on how Matthew cites the Old Testament could indicate a difference in source other than Scripture.

Thus, one could even say that Jesus suffers mockery and torment during his life because of the lack of faith in His Guardian, Joseph, because he did not return to Judea.  Joseph does not trust in this third dream as much as the other two, because he does not trust that Archelaus will not seek the boys life.  Jesus is mocked as a lowly and pitiful Galilean but even worse a Nazarene.  "Can anything good really come from Nazareth?" Thank you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Set Theory on the Trinity

Many Theologians are not Mathematicians. But Theologies are really into Science. For some reason there is a greater cross over between Theology and Science than any other fields unless you Separate Math and Physic into different fields. But Set Theory at its basic is the idea of taking sets of numbers or things and showing relationships. We see this in Matrices or Venn-Diagrams. Now Theologians generally speaking would use a Venn-Diagram to describe the Trinity. A Theologian would usually talk about three circles one being the Father and another being the Holy Spirit and the Other being the Son. Thus, where these circles connect that is then called God. But this means that there is part of the Son which is not God. Part of the Holy Spirit which is not God. And part of the Father which is not God. This is not true. Rather you take a list of Sets. Take Set God which contains all the attributes of God. Then you take a Set called Holy Spirit it would contain all the attributes of God and y...
Read more

The Death of the Holy Innocents

Many people die for what they believe in. Some die for righteous people. But these chosen few die on behalf of the one who will save us all. These children have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. But these children die on account of the Christ Child. Many people have been martyred because they confessed the faith. These children did not stand or even get a chance to stand. They were cut down because they were seen as the threat to King Herod. Rachael mourns for her children. Rachael died giving life to Benjamin near Bethlehem. Rachael now weeps as all the children of this town are slaughtered. But just as Rachael died giving birth to life. These children die to protect the Christ Child who left the town and will die to give all of us life. St Peter once said that he would not allow Christ to go to the cross. St Peter drew his sword in the garden to die for Christ. But only these Children truly give their life for Jesus Christ to live. Their sacrifice should b...
Read more

Biblical Marriage

Marriage is defined in Genesis as a man clinging to his wife and the two becoming one flesh. This definition is standardized even in the New Testament by both Jesus and St Paul. Therefore, we have generally said Marriage is defined as one Man and one Woman being joined together in a life long union. Most people think that this Marriage union is created through a man dressed in black and woman dressed in white walking down an aisle to be joined together before some kind of altar. But this is only a ceremony of marriage. The Bride and bridegroom are actually joined together through what is known as consummation, or proper sexual relations.  Thus, St Paul can even talk in reference to a marriage bed. This concept may be overlooked by a culture that no longer views the bed as the place where a majority of sexual activity takes place. But he states this because the marriage bed is the location in which a man and woman are joined together. Just as it was Rachael or Leah's tent in which t...
Read more