Biblical Places Spiritual Spaces Capernaum

Capernaum - Jesus' Ministry Home

 

 

Notice this Google Earth map with the location of the Dead Sea in the south and the Sea of Galilee in the middle, with the modern road system.

 

 

In Biblical times, the main road was along the coast connecting Egypt and Phoenicia. To go inland to Damascus, the easiest way was to cut northeast south of Haifa, through any of the three valleys that cut the Mt Carmel ridgeline that runs southeast from the coast, walk through the Jezreel Valley, and downhill to the largest lake in this part of Western Asia.

The road followed the northwest curve of the lake, passing through a small community named Capernaum, where the Romans had tax station, collecting taxes from the caravans travelling this important commercial route. Think of it as a toll booth on a major turnpike.

 Here the caravans would have to offload their cargo for inspection, and pay the appropriate tax. From there they would follow the road up to the Golan Heights, and then down to Damascus. The outskirts of Damascus are barely visible from the military lookout on the modern day border.

This is where Jesus chose to launch the Jesus Christ Messiah Savior ministry- at the toll booth on the major inland highway from Egypt to Syria. It was a strategic location where many would encounter Jesus.

Aerial view of the site of Capernaum, from a guide book cover 

 

The town from the synagogue to Peter's house / church

 

Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum.

 When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach. ²² The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.
²³ Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, ²⁴ “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
²⁵ But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. ²⁶ At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.
²⁷ Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. “What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly. “It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!”

 ²⁸ The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.

²⁹ After Jesus left the synagogue with James and John, they went to Simon and Andrew’s home. ³⁰ Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. ³¹ So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand, and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her, and she prepared a meal for them.
³² That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. ³³ The whole town gathered at the door to watch. ³⁴ So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak. Mark 1:21-34

 

Capernaum Synagogue

 

Capernaum Synagogue 1997 (with Lukas)

and in 2018 below.

 

 

 

"Insula" style home

 

 

The first is with a ‘royal official’, part of King Herod Agrippa’s government.

He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see  signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”

⁴⁹ The royal official *said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” ⁵⁰ Jesus *said to him, “Go; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off.

⁵¹ As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. ⁵² So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” ⁵³ So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and he himself believed and his whole household. ⁵⁴ This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.            John 4:46-54.

                                                                                                                                        

The road up from Capernaum to Cana passing by Mt Arbel

 

From Capernaum it is an 8 hour walk up from the lake to the site of ancient Cana, just north of Nazareth, climbing about 800 feet or more. Here is the route by Mt Arbel. Walking back down only takes about 5 hours- downhill most of the way. The Bagby Family is standing above this road out of the lake shore area. 

The royal official left before dawn and got to Cana by noon. Jesus healed the boy at a distance about 1 pm. The father had time to walk back to Capernaum before sundown but chose to stay somewhere close to Cana for the night.

His faith was strong. He spent the rest of the day a Cana, probably with Jesus.

 

Capernaum 2006 Kandi, Mikaela, Craig, Arielle, Michael, Carly & Luke

 

Capernaum 1999  Dottie, Mikaela, Arielle, & Laura along with famous Bible scholars in the background.

 

Here is an encounter with a Roman legion officer in Capernaum.

And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, ⁶ and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” ⁷ Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; ¹² but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

 ¹³ And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment.     Matthew 8:5-13

The local Roman military commander asked Jesus to heal his servant. Jesus did.

How did that affect the Centurion?

Finally, an encounter with and ‘official of the synagogue.’

⁴⁰  And as Jesus returned, the people welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him. ⁴¹  And there came a man named Jairus, and he was an  official of the synagogue; and he fell at Jesus’ feet, and began to implore Him to come to his house; ⁴² for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. But as He went, the crowds were pressing against Him.

⁴³ And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, ⁴⁴ came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped.

Mark adds some details to the story:

²⁵ A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, ²⁶ and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse— ²⁷ after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. ²⁸ For she thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” ²⁹ Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 

 

Luke continues:

⁴⁵ And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched Me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.” ⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me.” ⁴⁷ When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. ⁴⁸ And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

Notice how Jesus paused and called her forth, and allowed her the opportunity to give her public testimony of the miracle. Personal testimonies are powerful and convincing.

⁴⁹ While He was still speaking, someone *came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; do not trouble the Teacher anymore.” ⁵⁰ But when Jesus heard this, He answered him, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.” ⁵¹ When He came to the house, He did not allow anyone to enter with Him, except Peter and John and James, and the girl’s father and mother.

 ⁵² Now they were all weeping and lamenting for her; but He said, “Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep.” ⁵³ And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died. ⁵⁴ He, however, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Child, arise!” ⁵⁵ And her spirit returned, and she got up immediately; and He gave orders for something to be given her to eat. ⁵⁶ Her parents were amazed; but He instructed them to tell no one what had happened.                           Luke 8:40-56

                               

The Royal Official, The Centurion, and the Leader of the Synagogue were all disciples of Jesus. 

The Civil, Military and Religious leaders were all Jesus’ friends.

This is why Capernaum was a safe place for Him.

Randy explaining the carving on the columns

 

Capernaum was a place where millstones were carved from the baslatic rock.

 

 

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ² And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, ³ and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; ⁶ but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.                                                                Matthew 18:1-6

Scattered around the site of ancient Capernaum are mill stones that were used for grinding grain. Because of the volcanic basaltic rock that is the bedrock of this entire northwestern corner of the Sea of Galilee, the manufacture of millstones was a local industry.

Obviously, this would be a good object lesson for the disciples who lived with Jesus in Capernaum.

 Basalt has excellent sound attenuation qualities.

 In the 1970’s a sound company set up microphones around the hillside where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. They found that a man speaking in a normal volume at the bottom of the hill could be clearly heard all the way at the top, over 500 years away! My friends Roy and Mary once stayed at a hotel at the top of that hill, but could not sleep because of the loud sound of trucks and cars coming up that hill! The sound was unusually loud.

 

  Mikaela, Arielle, Michael, Laura, Moselle & Lukas

 

Finally, another significant event happened in Capernaum, when Peter decided to go back fishing. 

On the night before his trial and death, Jesus shared an intimate meal with His disciples. He revealed that one of the band of 12 would betray Him, which led Peter to declare to Jesus:

 “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.”

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

“No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.”                                                                                             Matthew 26:33-35 NLT

Boastful words from a proud man! “No Jesus, you are wrong. Trust me, I can handle any pressure. I am the Rock after all! You said so yourself!” 

During Jesus’ trial before the High Priest, Peter remained outside. Let’s see how Peter “The Rock” responded to pressure.

 Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came over and said to him, “You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.”

⁷⁰ But Peter denied it in front of everyone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

⁷¹ Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷² Again Peter denied it, this time with an oath. “I don’t even know the man,” he said.

⁷³ A little later some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.”

⁷⁴ Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know the man!” And immediately the rooster crowed.

⁷⁵ Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he went away, weeping bitterly. Matthew 26:69-35 NLT

Obviously Peter was under some intense emotional distress as a result of realizing his weakness and sinfulness. He wasn’t “The Rock”.  He was just an ordinary man, just like the others. He was a failure; he was broken.

 After the Resurrection, Jesus met with the disciples in Jerusalem a few times.  Peter was very silent during these encounters. He is obviously wondering about his relationship with Jesus. He knew that he had failed Jesus. He had no excuse for his behavior except that he was afraid and cowardly. 

Frustrated by all this, he decides to return to Galilee to “go fishing”. 

This verb in the Greek language is in the present infinitive form, which indicates continuous or repeated action. It seems that Peter has decided to return to his old profession of fishing, forsaking the ministry of Jesus of being a “fisher of men”.  It is there on the shores of the lake that Jesus meets Peter again. It is worth reading all the details of this fishing trip.

 

Sea of Galilee

Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee.

 This is how it happened. ² Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin),* Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.

³ Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”

“We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.

⁴ At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. ⁵ He called out, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?”

“No,” they replied.

⁶ Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.

⁷ Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. ⁸ The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards* from shore. ⁹ When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.

¹⁰ “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. ¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn.

¹² “Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. ¹⁴ This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.

 

Dawn over the Sea of Galilee

 

¹⁵After breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”(the 153 large fish probably)

“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”

“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.

¹⁶Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”

“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.

¹⁷Once more he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was grieved that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know I love you.”

Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep. ¹⁸The truth is, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked and go wherever you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will direct you and take you where you don’t want to go.” ¹⁹Jesus said this to let him know what kind of death he would die to glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.”

²⁰Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who among us will betray you?” ²¹Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?”

²²Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow me.”                John 21:15-22 NLT

This is such a rich passage of Scripture that is loaded with insights into this process of discipleship. We will focus on four in particular:

First, it is a repeat of the first time Jesus called Peter with a miraculous catch.

Principle: Sometimes we need repetition to get the message! God is very gracious and gentle with us.

The second important point of this story in John 21 is that Jesus is waiting for Peter and the others with breakfast already prepared. 

In Middle Eastern culture, sharing a meal is a sign of friendship and intimacy. Even today, sharing a meal with a Middle Easterner makes a specific proclamation of the friendship.

When President Jimmy Carter brokered the Sinai Peace Accords with the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1979, a photo of their famous handshake appeared in the Washington Post. However in the Jerusalem Post there appeared a photo of them at a dinner together. The question among the Jews and Arabs was “Did they eat together?”

So even if Peter denied three times that he didn’t know him, Jesus is telling him in cultural language that they are still friends- good friends.

Principle: Even during our greatest failures, Jesus' friendship never ends.

This is the turning point in Peter’s life. He is a broken man, who suddenly receives the grace of God. Even though he apparently has decided abandon the Jesus ministry,

Jesus gently asks him “Do you love me more than these fish?”

Remember Peter’s reply when he first realized that Jesus was inviting him to be part of the Jesus Team as recorded in Luke 5?

“Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you” said Peter.

Jesus’s paraphrased reply at this second invitation was “I know who you are Peter, and I have something very special for you and I to accomplish together that will send many Echoes into Eternity”.

We know what that statement did for Peter. It was the core value that he carried with him throughout the next two decades of travel and ministry, ultimately dying in Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero. He understood the great love that Jesus had for him, in spite of his weakness and sinful behavior. The broken man was suddenly strengthened by the love of God!

The third significant element of this encounter by the Sea of Galilee is that the fisherman is being taught to be a shepherd.

Think of the difference between the two professions! Fishermen catch fish, throw them in a basket, and take them to the market and sell them.  Shepherds care for their sheep. They develop relationships with their sheep.  Their sheep follow them around all day by listening to their voice and the sound of their staff hitting the rocks.

Fishermen and shepherds have two different approached to their animals!

Principle: Fishing ans Shepherding are two essential skillls needed if we are to effectively make disciples.

Finally, the fourth significant point in this encounter is that Jesus is pointing out the two parts to discipleship to Peter and to us. Jesus commands him to do two specific things if indeed Peter does love Him:

 First:  “You Follow Me!”  Be A Disciple- Follow Jesus!

 Second:  “Feed My Sheep” &  “Tend My Lambs”; Do your part in making disciples- spiritually care and feed the members of God’s family that He places in your path:

Principle: If we become effective followers of Jesus, then He will give us our own disciples to help them grow spiritually.

We will explore each of these aspects of Discipleship.

 Sea of Galilee, wearing my 'Jesus walking on the Sea' shirt, 2018

 

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Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are by Michael Bagby with a few by study tour associates Ben Massenburg, Tim Walsh, Dottie Smith, Craig Englert, and Luke Broadhurst.