The Branch: A Nobody from Nowhere

Advent Day #22

And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. Matthew 2:23

Interestingly, there is no direct quote from the Old Testament of this prophecy Matthew cites, but there are dual meanings associated with his reference. One meaning associates the name Nazareth with the Hebrew word for “Branch”—Netzer, which comes from Isaiah 11:1. (BibleHub)

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse,
and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

In the Garden of Gethsemane, a 2,000+-year-old olive tree still grows, (pictured above) demonstrating how new olive trees sprout from the ancient roots. Jesus, as shown by Matthew and Luke’s detailed genealogies of Joseph and Mary, sprouted directly from David’s line, which was promised to David in 2 Samuel 7.

The dual meaning, however, associated Nazareth with a place no one desired to be from— “the wrong side of the tracks,” so to speak. Jesus wore the name Jesus of Nazareth all the way to the cross and even to Paul’s conversion. Early Christians were also known as Nazarenes, “and the term Nasara, meaning Nazarene, is still used today by Muslims to identify Christians,” according to GotQuestions.org.

Isaiah 53:2-3 also coincides with Matthew’s citation.

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of a dry ground:
he hath no form nor comeliness;
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
and we hid as it were our faces from him;
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Jesus literally took on human form as a “nobody from nowhere,” thoroughly identifying Himself with the lowest born. His humble beginnings caused Him to be rejected and despised simply because of where He came from. Jesus experienced every form of discrimination and mistreatment, but He does not hold the same rating scale humans like to manufacture.

Peter preached that God is no respecter of persons in Acts 10.

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. Acts 10:34

There is no one too lowly to claim the salvation Jesus came to offer. If you have been despised and rejected by people, take heart, Jesus was too. Jesus, as The Branch, makes everyone equal at the foot of His cross.