Capernaum

Greetings! 

It is so good to be back home.  What a wonderful and blessed time it was, traveling in the Holy Land!!!  It was a whirlwind trip.  We left the hotel at 7:30am most days, and arrived back at around 5 or 6pm, just in time for dinner.  Each day was filled with new sights and new spiritual sensations.

At one of our stops, our guide told us a little bit about Nazareth, the town where Jesus grew up.  It's population was never more than 200 people!  Can you imagine that?  The Lord of the universe growing up in such a small, insignificant town?  No wonder Nathanael wondered, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

Capernaum was not far away, and this is where Jesus established his missional headquarters.  It was a town of about 2,000 people.  The curious thing about these towns is that almost everybody in every town knew everybody in all the other nearby towns!  The people of Nazareth knew the people in Capernaum; the people in Capernaum knew the people in Nazareth.  This was so because the people of each town needed stuff from the people of the other towns.  It is enough to make one wonder how well Jesus and the Twelve knew each other BEFORE Jesus called them to follow him.

Standing in the synagogue in Capernaum (see picture below) was an awesome experience!  This is where Jesus taught.  It is not some traditional site where scholars think Jesus MIGHT have taught, as some of the other sites we visited were; this is the very place where Jesus DID teach!  He stood and read from the sacred scrolls.  He sat on stone benches and taught. 

And I stood in that place!  I sat on a stone bench in this place.  I listened while others read from the sacred texts.  I could almost feel Jesus' presence in that place.

And then I realized something that is even more awesome.  Jesus doesn't need Capernaum anymore; his spiritual headquarters is in your heart and mine.  He doesn't need a synagogue in which to teach; he teaches us through the presence of the Holy Spirit, wherever we may be.  I am Jesus' spiritual headquarters now!  I am the place and instrument of his teaching now!

And so are you!

Be blessed.
Pastor Mark

The Synagogue at Capernaum