February 13, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ” (Matthew 4.17)

“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. He went teaching in synagogues along the way. Everyone praised Him. News about Him spread through the whole countryside. He even went so far as Nazareth, where He had been brought up.” (Luke 4.14-16a)

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.” (Mark 1.14)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Because of the testimony of Luke, the travelling companion of the Apostle Paul and a friend a John Mark who was amanuensis of the Apostle Peter, we are privileged to learn of what “happened” in Nazareth. Without this “inside” story of “the event,” Jesus’ life in Nazareth would have not even warranted more than Matthew’s “…and they returned to their home in Nazareth to fulfill what the prophet’s said, ‘And He shall be called a Nazarene.’” (Matthew 2.23) Of course, there was a whole lot more to being a “Nazarene” than just being a resident from Nazareth. In Hebrew, “Nazarene” is rooted in the word netser meaning “branch” or “shoot/sprout.” In Isaiah 11.1 and Jeremiah 23.5, we here that the Messiah would be from the House of David an offshoot of Jesse (David’s father.”) There is a story recorded in the works of “The Early Church Fathers” which speaks of how Joseph was set apart to be the earthly father of Jesus. When it came time for a husband to be chosen for Mary, who had been delivered into the service of the Temple as a little girl, a miracle was said to have happened. As was the custom, when a girl who served the Temple became of marriageable age (around 12 years of age), eligible men were invited to come forward to claim a bride. It is said that a dove alit on Joseph’s staff and it bloomed. Joseph had been assigned to work on the Temple as a carpenter and stonemason. He was a master of his craft and had deferred the privilege of the rite of passage due to his age. However, when the miracle happened there was no other choice but to accept what God had determined. In that moment, the connection between Jesse, the father of David in the Old Testament, and Joseph, who was of the house of David the offshoot of Jesse, became another sign of a new covenant which was to be made in Jesus. It is from this story we get the Christmas hymn, “Lo, A Rose E’er Blooming.” Is it a coincidence that Jesus was from Nazareth and thus called a Nazarene? Is it a coincidence that Joseph, who was of the lineage of David and of the House of David centered at Bethlehem, but lived in the furthest reaches of Israel to the north in Nazareth and thus himself was a Nazarene? And while there is no Old Testament mention of the Messiah being called a Nazarene, the allusion to being a “branch” is without question applicable.

So, there is more to the story of Jesus being from Nazareth and thus identified, as would His followers for a time during and after His ministry, as a Nazarene. Luke gives us that story. As it is not mentioned in specificity in any of the other three gospels, there has to be a reason for such a detailed rendering. A reading of the actual event (Luke 4. 14-30) would give the informed listener the clues for “inclusion” where it would be “excluded” from the other gospels. Who else but Luke, a physician of Greek and perhaps Jewish lineage, would find the story necessary to the proclamation of the Gospel. His entire theme is about reconciliation and the recovering of what was lost. Those considered to be lost in the first century, as it pertained to Judaism, would be the lame, the sick, the outcast, the stranger, the enemy and most certainly Samaritans. These individuals were identified in the very scripture Jesus read in Nazareth’s synagogue on Sabbath (Luke 4.19; Isaiah 61.1-2). What is significant about that passage of scripture (as I have reflected on in past posts) is that it is the “Declaration of the Year of Jubilee.” The Jubilee Year is of significant importance in the literal and spiritual economy of Judaism. The significance is not in the application of the principle of “cancelling all debts and returning to your point of origin as a family.” Rather, the significance is the failure of applying the principle. As it speaks to the very heart of God’s call for the people of God (those who accept Him as the One True God and serve Him only) to honor and serve the neighbor, the stranger and the enemy for the purpose of bringing them to know the love of God and they themselves choose to become one of the people of God (see the story of Ruth and Boaz for the application), Jubilee at the time preceding the Babylonian Exile and in the years following up to the day of Jesus’ ministry in the First Century A.D. was simply persona non grata. Such a denial of God’s will and God’s command was indicative of the failure of Israel to be a “light to the nations” and “bread to the world.” Complicate this by the “four hundred years of silence from the rebuilding of the Temple until the days of Jesus in Israel” and you can see why there was a problem in Nazareth, or elsewhere in Israel. The expectation had grown to catastrophic proportions that God was simply a servant to the will of the people. He was to provide them with substance when they offered token efforts at any time to honor Him. Further, think about what hold they believed they had over Jesus, the “hometown boy done good,” because He was “the son of the carpenter, Joseph.” It wasn’t about Jesus being the Son of God and Messiah. It was all about “He is one of us, so He should do whatever we ask.”

Application of this teaching reflection? How do we approach Jesus in our own lives and with our own needs and expectations? We get all excited because Jesus brings us that sense of inclusion into the Kingdom of God. Are we also excited by a sense of entitlement we believe that such faith offers? Peter did when he asked to “walk on the water” like Jesus. James and John did believing that they should have honored positions in God’s Kingdom in Heaven as it should be on earth. Do we? Jesus said, “Today, in your hearing, the word has been fulfilled.” It was about social and economic justice that Jesus said this. It was about spiritual liberation from all the sins that so easily entangled God’s people and kept them from truly and fully being “the people of God.”

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.