I – seemingly against the grain – really, genuinely, love Oldham. I love living here, I love the people, I think it is brilliant. I can say that both honestly and evidentially. I am not from Oldham originally but I have chosen to live here. And I genuinely wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

I suspect there are some people in Oldham who are also proud of being from Oldham. I have definitely heard those voices kicking about. But that doesn’t seem to be the majority view, even amongst those who have lived here all their lives. Whenever Oldham is in the news, or the council report they are going to do anything positive at all, you can guarantee Facebook and Twitter will be awash with Oldhammers pouring scorn on the whole thing reminding everyone just what a God-forsaken a place our town is (in their view). This seems to be the view of so many people who live here!

Given that, just imagine what people who don’t live here think. The BBC tend to use Oldham as their go-to place for any bad news about deprivation. Cost of living new stories tend to lead to some reporter trotting along to interview people so that the country can truly understand what destitution looks like. If the rest of the country thinks of Oldham at all (and I suspect half of them don’t even know where it is) it is rarely with positive vibes and a sense that those of us who live here have a charmed existence. One thing seems clear: the world – and even many of its own residents – look down on Oldham.

Which is why I am always pleased to read about Jesus being from Nazareth. It, too, was a forgotten town that people didn’t think a great deal about and, when they did, it wasn’t usually anything positive. When Jesus called his first disciples even they poured scorn on the place. Invited to come and meet Jesus – even being encouraged to do so as he is the one prophesied in the Law of Moses – Nathanael replied, ‘can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ (John 1:46). The implications is clear, I’m wouldn’t get out of bed to talk to someone from that dump!

Nazareth isn’t mentioned in the Old Testament either. In fact, the first mention of it in the Bible is that scornful comment from Nathanael in John 1. It wasn’t a place of note, nobody important came from there, it wasn’t a significant town for trade, it was just… well, nothing. Nobody came from it, nobody ever went to it and it wasn’t the kind of place you’d want anyone to particularly find out your were from either.

Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, had a bit of heritage about it. King David – the king with whom God made his covenant – came from Bethlehem. Jesus had to go back there because of Joseph’s family and the census that was taking place. But after Bethlehem, his family returned back to their hometown of Nazareth (Matthew 2:23). They also took Jesus to be dedicated at the temple in Jerusalem, but returned back to Nazareth after that too (Luke 2:39). After Jesus visited the temple in Jerusalem aged 12, we are told ‘Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth’. Not just geographically down, but socially down.

Outside of what we read in the New Testament, we don’t know much about Nazareth. It was so unimportant that nobody thought to say anything much about it at all. Although its reputation amongst people in Israel was pretty poor, people outside Israel had never heard of Nazareth. That is why the gospel writers have to keep explaining where it is and what it was called e.g. ‘a town in Galilee called Nazareth’ (cf. Matthew 2:23; Mark 1:9; Luke 1:26). Jesus spent the majority of his first 30 years of life in such a town, working with his carpenter father, being obedient to his parents, living in relative obscurity and social lowliness.

Though Jesus didn’t particularly identify himself as ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, that was how a number of people referred to him. It wasn’t meant to be a compliment. Typically, it was crowds unfamiliar with him (Matthew 21:11; 26:71; Mark 10:47; Luke 18:37). But it also came from demons (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34), false witnesses (Acts 6:14), and Roman soldiers (John 18:5, 7). Those who called Jesus “the nazarene” were generally trying to dismiss him. Minimally, these comments are intended to be derogatory. Why would anyone listen to a Nazarene? Even the people of Nazareth didn’t think one of their own would, or could, be anything of note (cf. Matthew 13:55, Luke 4:22, John 6:42). The final blow came from Pontius Pilate, who had the words “Jesus of Nazareth: King of the Jews” inscribed on the cross of Christ. A sleight both to Jesus – a nobody he was now putting to death – and the Jews who would be horrified at the suggestion any king of theirs would come from a backwater like Nazareth.

But that same Jesus of Nazareth was later announced by an angel as risen (Mark 16:6). The place of dishonour was now associated with the one God raised from the dead. Peter highlights “Jesus of Nazareth” as the one Israel despised and put to death but whom God raised up in power (Acts 2:22). He went on to heal in the name of “Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 3:6). Throughout Acts, we get the great deeds that are done pronounced in the name of “Jesus of Nazareth”. Even Jesus himself gets in on the reclamation of that once despised town, announcing himself to Saul of Tarsus as “Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 22:8).

Jesus grew up in a forgotten, despised town. Jesus left the glory of Heaven to enter a broken world, and didn’t just go to any bit of it, but went to a looked down upon nation and associated himself with one of the most despised parts of that country. He then turned the tables and the town of Nazareth – once looked down upon as a God-forsaken backwater – became the place where God himself had come, grown up and now associates with the risen Lord Jesus who came into the world to save God’s people.

Here, then, is good news for towns like Oldham. Jesus cares. Indeed, he cares enough to associate himself particularly with the lowly, the despised and the rejected. Jesus has a particular affinity for the poor, the downtrodden and the left behind. Jesus, I think, particularly resonates with towns like ours. Jesus sees the poor, the deprived, those who face injustices, those who suffer and says, ‘I see you. I associate with you. I have come for you.’ Jesus expressly came and said his coming is good news for the poor!

Just as with his own hometown of Nazareth, he has come to turn the tables. Those who may be rejected, will be associated with the victory of Jesus. Those who may be despised will, in Christ, never be put to shame. It turns out that something very good did indeed come from Nazareth and that good thing extends to all forgotten places – places like Oldham – and to the whole world. This Jesus, who came into the world, came for the poor, the lowly, the despised, the rejected. He came to a forgotten town and it is now a place none of us can forget. He came to associate with such places, which is good news for towns like mine.