Gospel of John 09.vp

Sess ion 2: The Word Made F l esh, Glory and S igns , and the New Bi r th 37

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Note on Nazareth Nazareth is the town of Jesus’ youth located in Lower Galilee, just north of the valley of Jezreel. The Sea of Galilee lies some fifteen miles to the east, while the Mediterranean lies about twenty miles to the west. Matthew identified Nazareth in 2.23 and Luke tells us in 1.26; 2.4, 39) as small village where Mary and Joseph raised their family. Nazareth then is the place where Jesus grew up (cf. Luke 2.39, 51). It was in Nazareth where Jesus left to visit the towns and villages of Galilee to start his ministry of pro claiming the Kingdom of God (Mark 1.9). Luke actually mentioned the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4.16) where Jesus proclaimed himself to be the Servant of Yahweh, and the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. It was here in this synagogue that Jesus spoke as an adult and where his kingdom message of hope was rejected (4.28–30). As inferred from the Herodian tombs in Nazareth, the maximum extent of the Herodian and pre-Herodian village measured about 900 x 200 meters, for a total area just under sixty acres. Most archaeologists believe that most of this sixty acres would have been empty space in antiquity, and so the population of Jesus’ hometown would be considered to house a maximum of about 480 at the beginning of the first century A.D. As Jesus’ ministry grew and became known, it became clear to all who heard him that Jesus was from Nazareth (Matt. 21.11), and often it evoked a response of shock and debate. Obviously, Nazareth of Galilee was not the place where most thought Messiah would be coming from (cf. John 1.45–46).

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5. Jesus’ identification of Nathanael and the allusion to Jacob’s ladder, 1.47-51

a. Jesus recognizes Nathanael’s lack of guile and faith, 1.47-49.

b. Jesus’ assurance of greater things yet to behold, 1.50.