Because Jesus Was Nothing In Front of the World, He Is Everything For the World - Matthew 1-2

Matthew 2:23 (ESV)

And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

In the verses just before the above verse  we read that Joesph and Mary and baby Jesus had just returned from Egypt.  They went there because Herod, the king, was going to kill Jesus. Instead he killed every child two years and under.   When they heard that Herod died they came back to Israel. But then they discovered that Herod’s son was now king. That fear caused them to take Jesus to Nazareth.  

First, it should be noted that this will fulfill a prophecy of the prophets.  God uses their fear to fulfill His word.  It is important to remember that God’s word will always be fulfilled, even if it is our frailty and lack of faith that He uses. 

Second, it is important to know that to be called a Nazarene was to be despised and rejected by men.    Note:

John 1:45-46 (ESV)

45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Nathaniel probably didn’t realize it but his statement would bear out what the prophets said about the coming Messiah.  Because Nazareth was such a small and insignificant town and had little reputation for good, Nathaniel actually attributed Jesus reputation to what was said about the coming Messiah:  

Isaiah 53:2-3 (ESV)

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Psalms 22:6-7 (ESV)

6 But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

7 All who see me mock me;

they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;

Psalms 69:7-8 (ESV)

7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,

that dishonor has covered my face.

8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,

an alien to my mother’s sons.

Jesus did not have the status of a king.   He did not have the resume of a scholar.  He did not have a reputation as a warrior.  He did not have the social status of an aristocrat.   He did not have the power of a politician.  His own family and neighbors had little good to say about him:

Mark 6:3-4 (ESV)

3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”

All these truths about what He was not were actual evidence to who He is:  Messiah, the Son of God.  In the genealogy of Christ, in chapter one of Matthew, we read names of those who had assorted backgrounds and had little reputations.  Would it not be true that their Messiah would be equally despised, rejected and unassuming in HIs reputation?    Jesus came of lowly birth to be exalted as Sovereign King.