As I’ve mentioned before, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to where we traveled each day.
Trying to “live and experience in the moment,” I greeted each new spot with curiosity but not my usual “knowledge overkill.”
I didn’t realize where we were headed until I walked up to a sign that said, in mosaic, “Capernaum.”
What?
I took a photo of my friend.
Why is this Sea of Galilee village important?
That’s where Simon Peter and his fishing friends lived circa 30 AD.
It’s also where Jesus settled after leaving Nazareth and where He first announced His presence and ministry.
And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
Synagogue photo by Berthold Werner (Wikimedia Commons)
The fishing village on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee boasted about 1500 people when Jesus moved there.
Capernaum means “Nahum’s village.”
Some believe it was named for the minor prophet Nahum who may have lived in the town about 612 BC.
Since Nahum means “comfort,” the name could mean “village of comfort.”
Author Charles H. Dyer, who has led many trips to Israel, provided an interesting insight on the city:
The town had achieved a level of importance in Jesus’ day because of its strategic location near the border of the land of Galilee ruled by Herod Antipas.
Less than three miles away the Jordan River separated Herod Antipas’s kingdom from that ruled by Herod Philip. The Romans saw the strategic importance of the town. That why they posed a garrison of soldiers and establed a tax collection office there.
Jesus called a local tax collector in the town, Matthew to follow him.
Ministry in Campernaum
Jesus stood up in the Synagogue one day and announced who he was:
And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.
I admired the Roman-era synagogue built in the third century AD.
Our guide then explained archaeologists and Biblical scholars knew Jesus lived several hundred years earlier, so they dug down to find the foundation of the first century synagogue.
Or, the stones near which Jesus preached.
Jesus actually walked around here. He lived in this town. He could walk blindfolded from the synagogue to Peter’s house just south of the structure.
Helena, mother of Constantine, built a basilica over Peter’s stone house–which now has a modern Catholic church on top.
Modern Catholic Church. X marks the spot for the alleged location of Peter’s home. (Author photo)
The day of our visit, lovely singing came through the windows as pilgrims worshipped Jesus.
I sang along.
Reflections on visiting the town
When you read the Gospels, the town names can wash past you.
But when you walk the land, locations and events suddenly take on a solidity.
We weren’t very far from where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount.
That’s the Jordan River over there.
Jesus healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law among those stones.
People come from everywhere to honor Jesus, His ministry, and the New Testament.
Thoughts? Reactions? Lurker?