"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

John 1:46

            The character of Nazareth was proverbially bad. To be a Galilean or a Nazarene was an expression of decided contempt. Nathanael asked therefore, whether it was possible that the Messiah should come from a place proverbially wicked. This was a not an uncommon mode of judging. It is not by examining evidence, but by prejudice. Many persons suffer their minds to be filled with prejudice against the Truth or a person professing the Truth, and then pronounce judgment at once without examination.  It matters not from where a teacher comes, provided he be authorized of God by speaking His Truth, and qualified for his work.

            I have often considered this verse as I make efforts to preach the Gospel. Although never attempting to literally compare myself to the Son of God, I can empathize with how He must have felt.  Jesus was doubted and criticized simply because of where he was raised and the reputation of the neighborhood and its inhabitants.

            I grew up in a neighborhood in Cleveland, TN called Rollingbrook. There were about 200 homes there.  I had a great childhood.  Yes, we had hard times like everyone else, but we were always fortunate to have food and a nice home.  Rollingbrook wasn’t the nicest neighborhood in town, but having not chosen to be born and live there, I had to make the best of it.  My dad was a painter and he helped build most of the homes in the subdivision. There was trouble there many nights, and you had to be tough to stay out past dark.  Wouldn’t it be a shame to have efforts to spread the Gospel hindered based on simply where one is from?   As sad as that seems, that is exactly what our Savior had to endure.

            “What good can come out of Rollingbrook?” you ask?  Well, when I was 12, my neighbors invited me to Eastside church of Christ.  Six months later I was baptized and obeyed the Gospel.  Thank God for Rollingbrook, and the Jackson’s, my evangelistic and hospitable neighbors.