Jesus was raised in the town of Nazareth. Nazareth has been the topic of some controversy over the last 50ish years, with some archeologists arguing that the town itself didn’t exist in the early first century. The reason for this argument was that there was no archeological evidence for it until recently. As it turns out, Nazareth was really small. It was so small, it went undiscovered for many years. Jesus was raised in a town so small that it wouldn’t likely have a name on a modern map of Montana. After his childhood years, he moved to Capernaum, which was a town of around 1,500 people in the first century. Not a bustling metropolis by any definition. The reason Capernaum existed was as a stop on a trade route. Finally, it’s important to understand that Israel was considered to be a bit of a backwater country. King Herod spent vast sums of money trying to change that perception, but it was still looked down on as an overly rural and out of the way place. God’s son lived and worked in small towns. He never traveled more than 100 miles from the small towns he called home either. Jesus, lived, worked, taught, healed, died, and rose again in the middle of nowhere in particular. No other man has had a greater impact on history than Jesus, despite his rural, small town life. The reason behind this is the fact that God planned for Jesus to live where he lived. The work he did in those rural towns was vital because it was God’s work. I often encounter folks who look down on small town life or who are living for the day they can move to somewhere bigger. Pastors are often guilty of this tendency, looking for bigger towns to minister in with the assumption that bigger communities are better. Rural churches often struggle to find pastors that are willing to stay for long periods of time because pastors are often unwilling to work in small towns. We can easily fall into the trap of believing that bigger communities, with their constant motion, are inevitably better or more important. Assuming that God sees a handful of people in a small town as less important or precious than a large metropolis isn’t accurate. God loves small towns in the same way he loves big cities. The reality is that this way of viewing the world is inconsistent with the example that Jesus gave us. The most important community in the world is the one where God has placed you to live and work. It’s important to recognize that the small things in God’s plan play a role just as important as the large things. Billy Graham is the most successful preacher in history, in terms of sheer volume of people ministered to. No other man in history has been heard by more people than Rev. Graham. That success began with a small country church, with a small town pastor, who helped guide and shape him in his early years. He committed himself to following Jesus in that small country church. That small church may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but the impact it had on the world by playing its part in God’s plan is enormous. I believe it all comes down to mindset. We assume that God wants what we want. What we want is flashy, busy, and big. So, God must want us to be in those places and doing big things. However, this is not necessarily the case. God’s desire and plan are dictated by his will, not our wants. Ideally, as we mature spiritually we reach a point where we grow to want what God wants. For many, this begins with dealing with our prejudices regarding small towns in general.
