The cities of Jesus’ life
December 17, 2010 (Friday)
It’s Christmas time, a season of the year in which we celebrate the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was born at Bethlehem. When I reminded myself of that, I started thinking about the principal cities of Jesus’ life. They are Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum, and Jerusalem. Other cities could be included in the list, but Jesus’ connections with these four cities tell us much about Him.
1. Bethlehem, the “city of David,” so named because the King, David, was born and raised there. Both Mary and Joseph were descendants of King David, and therefore had to register at Bethlehem, for the worldwide census taking place when Jesus was born. For 800 years before Jesus’ birth, the Scriptures had been declaring that the Messiah would be born at Bethlehem.
2. Nazareth, the home town of Mary and Joseph, where Jesus was raised as a proper Jewish boy. Since Joseph was a carpenter, he became known as “the carpenter’s son.” When Jesus announced his divine mission while worshiping at the synagogue there, a riot developed and Jesus was accused of blasphemy. Jesus noted that “a prophet is not without honor save in his own country.”
3. Capernaum, a beautiful city on the Sea of Galilee, became Jesus’ headquarters for His ministry in Galilee, the province in which Nazareth and Capernaum were located.
4. Jerusalem, the holy city, where the Temple stood and where Jews from all over the world gathered for the special times of celebration and worship. Jesus wept over this city because the people there had a history of rejecting the prophets and their message. He was saddened because He knew they would reject Him also. Because they remained unrepentant, their holy city would be destroyed in 70 A.D. It was there that Jesus was crucified, was buried and rose from the dead. Later it was there that the Holy Spirit fell upon the young church and the gospel began to spread around the world.
Other cities could be mentioned, because Jesus did great things in those places, and they were important to Him, but these four cities, described in the paragraphs above, were central in the ministry of Jesus. At Easter, Jerusalem occupies our minds, but at this season of the year, Bethlehem is prominent in our thinking.
We must always remember, however, that God’s love is expressed in Christ for every person in every city and throughout the countryside of every nation in this wide world (John 3:16).