Capernaum. Place of miracles. It was a place where Jesus cast out an unclean spirit in the synagogue. . He looked up and saw a paralytic man coming through the ceiling of the house where he was teaching and then both forgave the man’s sins and healed him. He raised a little girl from the dead. He healed Jairus’ daughter. He stopped a bloody flow in the body of a woman who merely touched His garment. He healed Peter’s mother-in law. He healed two blind men. He gave a discourse in the synagogue about the Bread of Life. Capernaum is a place from which the miracles of the Lord just exploded and his fame spread abroad Matthew 4:23-25).
When the woman who was bleeding reached out to touch his garment, our Lord said he could feel that power had gone out from Him. Capernaum, in a larger sense, was a city from which great power from heaven emanated.
If these walls could talk! That’s how you feel when you walk through the ruins of the ancient Greek synagogue of Capernaum, likely built on the very same site as was the original synagogue in which Jesus did teach. You see the plausible site of Peter’s first century house. Whether this early Christian home was the exact one Peter inhabited is, of course, uncertain; but you do know that both he and the Lord walked this street and you know you are in the place where blind men saw and where that woman who had the issue of blood touched the garment of the Lord. Those of you who went with us in 2019 have not forgotten. Those of you who plan to go in 2022 are anticipating the thrill of being in the place of any miracles.
The little city was on the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee and, apparently, the Lord made this town, the home of Peter, Andrew, James and John, his home for a time after leaving Nazareth. Thus it became the meeting-place of the miraculous and mundane aspects of the everyday life of the Lord. This strategic location was along a major trade route, so it was a perfect location for the miracles of the Lord to be published and In spite of the amazing events that were readily available to evidence the deity of Jesus, in this little town, Jesus, amazingly said that Sodom, the city burned for its extreme wickedness in Genesis 19, would have repented and been spared if the residents had seen the mighty works done in Capernaum.
And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day (Matthew 11:23).
May we look to those mighty works and fear his judgment. May we never be so distracted by the unbelievers around us that we ignore the superhuman feats He has wrought so that we might have salvation. May we keep in mind that the Lord lived right in the middle of the worst of the world’s wickedness and yet his light from that dark place is still shining. And, even in the midst of the blackness caused by sin and disbelief, may we constantly remember His provision and blessings.
Passages about Capernaum:
Mark 2:1-12
Mark 5:35-43
Matthew 11:20-24
John 6:28-59
Luke 4:31-49
Matthew 9:20-22
Matthew 8:14-15
Matthew 17:24-27
Here’s a few folks from our 2019 Digger’s group resting in Capernaum. (If you’re a digger and you want to go in 2022, here’s where to go. Late October/early November. Reserve your spot now! https://thecolleyhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2022-Digging-Deep-Bible-Land-Passages-Tour-Brochure-Israel-and-Rome.pdf)