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I grew up in a small town. It was so small that back in the 50s, the two towns consolidated their schools to make one, Cord-Charlotte. And even then, it was still a small school.
My graduating class was 14.
It was small.
As kids, we would hear of relatives or friends who moved to bigger places and were blown away by how many kids were in their classes. I remember the first time I heard that a school had more than one kindergarten class. I just couldn’t believe it.
Not only were we small and rural, but most of our kids were from low-income families. Many had little education as their families had farmed or couldn’t send their children to school past the 8th grade.
And college, wow, that was a dream.
Cord-Charlotte had a reputation for all of these reasons. And, of course, it wasn’t too high of an opinion.
So, when a young lady from our school got into Duke University and was going to be a lawyer, there was quite a shock.
Out of Cord-Charlotte? No way!
A basketball star, a pretty girl, a doctor, an award-winning student, every time the response would be the same, “out of Cord-Charlotte? No way!”
But what most people don’t realize is location doesn’t determine who you are.
John 7:50-53
“Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)
51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
53 And every man went unto his own house.”
Out of Galilee? No way!
This city had a bad reputation. The Jews didn’t like it because of all of the gentiles and the typical practices of the people. How could anything good come out of Galilee? A prophet? No way!
It sounds a lot like Nathanael’s response to Philip, doesn’t it? “Nothing good can come from Nazareth” (John 1:46)
The Pharisees were being prejudiced towards Jesus by bringing up this town with a less-than-stellar reputation. This was a weak claim that Jesus wasn’t the Messiah. The men were grasping at straws. But their stereotype of this town was etched in their mind.
Even by ignoring the very scriptures they claimed they upheld.
Isaiah 9:1-2
“Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”
Hundreds of years before Jesus was even born, it was foretold by the prophets that He would preach in Galilee and be a light to the nation.
Yes, a prophet can come from Galilee and Nazareth and… you name it. And just like Philip told Nathaniel – “come and see.”
Don’t let your stereotype of someone prevent you from seeing their worth. God sure uses the weak more often than not, doesn’t He?
Take it from me: I’m just a girl from Cord-Charlotte.
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