From Vicar Linneman

March Newsletter
Vicar Tyler Linneman

Capernaum - The Headquarters of Jesus’ Ministry

Capernaum was a small village on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Had Jesus not been associated with this village, it would have been lost to time like most other villages in the region.  But because it was connected with Jesus, archaeologists have dedicated significant time to digging up what has been buried there, but the exact location of the village is still unknown.  Archaeologists have found a fourth-century church building that had been built over a first-century house.  Graffiti (yes, ancient people painted graffiti too) indicates that the Christians of that time believed the house upon which the church was built belonged to St. Peter.  So it’s likely then that this village was the home of Peter, and then his brother Andrew, as well as James and John who were partners with Peter and Andrew in fishing.  We don’t know much about the background of the other apostles, but it’s very probable that several of them also lived in and around Capernaum as well.

But the most important part of Capernaum is that, after Jesus’ rejection by Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30), Jesus adopted it as “his own city” (Matthew 9:1). Nazareth was the city of Jesus’ childhood, but Capernaum became the city of his adulthood and ministry.  Jesus is recorded to have performed many of his most famous miracles in Capernaum, namely casting out the demon in Mark 1, healing Peter’s mother-in-law, cleaning the leper in Mark 1, healing the paralytic lowered through the roof, and healing the centurion’s servant (Mt 8:5).

And yet, even this city received a heavy curse from Jesus.  In Matthew 11:23-24, Jesus says, “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. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”  Even Capernaum, seeing what they saw, did not repent.

 Compare this then to the Samaritan village in John 4, which saw no great sign except for Jesus telling the women at the well “all that she ever did.”  It says of that village that “many more believed because of his word” (John 4:41).  How is it that Capernaum, unrepentant having seen such great wonders, and this village in Samaria comes to faith simply by hearing the Word?  And that’s just it; it depends on the Word.  And we can see Capernaum’s hardness of heart; they refused the Word of Christ, while the Samaritans believed it.

 All depends on the Word of God, which you possess.  If even the home of apostles and adopted home of the Christ himself can be condemned to judgment because of unbelief, and a Samaritan village comes to faith simply by the pure preaching of the Gospel, then know that your church possesses all that it needs.  You have the fullness of God’s gifts in the Word.  So don’t seek more worldly confirmations, Capernaum had these in abundance and still fell away.  Seek deeper faith in the Word of God through preaching and study, that your congregation may be found with faith, the highest and greatest honor that Christ bestows.