[ p. 74 ]
BEGINNINGS AT CAPERNAUM
Mt. iv. 12-22 ; Mk. i. 14-20; Lk. iv. 14, 15, v. 1-11. Mk. i. 21, 22; Lk. iv. 31, 32 ; Mt. v. 17-30 (Lk. xii. 58, 59), 33-390, vi. 1-8, 16-18, vii. 28, 29. Mk. i. 23-34 ; Lk. iv. 33-41 ; Mt. viii. 14-17.
Presently Jesus appeared at Capernaum, the chosen headquarters of His earthly ministry. It is not a little surprising that the precise situation of a town so important in its day and so dear to the Christian heart is now unknown. It lay on the north-west of the Lake, but whether at Tell Hum some two and a half miles from the debouchure of the upper Jordan or at Khan Minyeh some two miles farther on is undetermined, though the balance of probability inclines perhaps to the latter site. The town seems to have stood somewhat back from the shore, but it was linked to the Lake by the fisher-folk’s quarter of Bethsaida or “Fisherton”—“Bethsaida of Galilee as it was designated to distinguish it from Bethsaida Julias near the head of the Lake on the eastern side of the Jordan. Known as the Sea of Chinnereth, and by and by, from the beautiful capital which Herod Antipas built himself on the western shore, as the Sea of Tiberias, it was called in our Lord’s day the Sea of Galilee or the Lake of Gennesaret (Cf. Jo. xii. 21; Cf. Num. xxxiv. 11; Josh. xiii. 27; Cf. Jo. vi. 1, xxi. 1; Cf. Lk. v. 1). Gennesaret, “Garden of Princes,” was a fertile plain skirting the north-western shore ; and it was on this pleasant champaign that Capernaum stood. [ p. 75 ] The Lake measured some thirteen miles by seven or eight, and its sweet water swarmed with fish of excellent quality. Fishing was the principal industry and brought Capernaum much of its prosperity, though not all of it. For the town stood on “The Way of the Sea,” (Mt. iv. 15; cf. Is. ix. 1) the busy route between Damascus and the ports of the Levant; and being the frontier-station of Galilee, it did a large business in the collection of customs and was occupied by a military garrison.
It was indeed an effective arena for the Lord’s ministry; and since His fame had preceded Him thither. He found an expectant audience. He discoursed to the crowds which followed Him, but preaching was not His sole nor His chief concern. From the outset He recognised that His time on earth would be short and His work would fall to the ground unless on His departure there were fit hands to take it up and carry it forward. And so His purpose was to gather about Him a band of devoted men who had evinced their aptitude for so sacred a trust and who would cast in their lot with Him and by continual fellowship with Him in the service of the Kingdom of Heaven gain an ever deeper initiation into its mysteries. There were four, all fishermen, whose suitability Fie had already ascertained. Three of them belonged to the company of disciples whom He had won at Bethabara—the brothers Simon and Andrew and their friend John; and the fourth was the latter’s elder brother James. And no sooner had He settled at Capernaum than He called them to their high service.
It was morning, and He sought them at the harbour where the fishermen beached their boats after the [ p. 76 ] night’s fishing. On the way thither He was beset by a throng of people who in their eagerness to hear Him so crowded about Him that He was in danger of being thrust into the Lake. Hard by two boats were standing by the margin, one belonging to Simon and Andrew and the other to James and John. They had just returned from the fishing ground; but it had been a clear night, which, as Pliny tells us, was bad for fishing, and they had come ashore with empty nets. And now they were preparing for the next night’s venture. Simon and Andrew were washing their nets, “tossing them in the sea" to rinse them clear of mud and weeds (Cf. Lk. v. 2; Mk. i. 16; Mt. iv. 18); while James and John with their father Zebedee were seated in their boat mending theirs. Simon’s boat was the nearest besides being unoccupied, and Jesus stepped over to it and, getting into it, requested the brothers to push it off a little way. And sitting in it He discoursed to the multitude on the beach.
When He had done discoursing, He bade Simon put out to deep water and shoot his nets. It seemed to the fishermen a useless attempt now that it was broad day; but it was the Master that spoke, and they obeyed, and to their astonishment no sooner were their nets out than they were filled. So heavy was the take that they could not draw the nets without tearing them. They signalled to James and John to put off to their assistance, and both the boats were loaded to the very gunwale.
The disciples had witnessed other miracles of Jesus more wonderful than this, but this specially appealed to them. It was so alien from all their experience. “Depart from me,” cried Simon, kneeling down before [ p. 77 ] Him, “for I am a sinful man, Lord.” It was more than wonder ; it was worship—the earliest recognition of the Lord’s more than human dignity. Simon’s thought was that the fellowship which had begun at Bethabara must now end, but Jesus reassured him. It was not the end of their fellowship but the beginning of a closer intimacy. Hitherto Simon’s work had been catching fish and catching them to die, but henceforth it would be catching men and catching them to live. “Fear not! From this day forth you will take men to preserve them alive.” “Nets,” says Bunyan, “are truly instruments of death, but the net of the gospel doth catch to draw from death. They are catched from death, and hell, catched to live with God in glory.” (R.V. marg.; cf. Num. xxxi. 15; Josh. vi. 25 LXX)
The laden boats returned to the harbour. “Come after Me,” said Jesus to Simon and Andrew, “and I will make you fishers of men.” They obeyed; and passing to the other boat, He addressed the same call to James and John. They too obeyed, and they all left their boats and nets and from that hour devoted themselves to the service of their Master and His Kingdom.
It seems that Jesus shared Simon’s home at Bethsaida. It was no poor hut but the decent house of a thriving fisherman ; and since it belonged also to his brother Andrew, it had probably been bequeathed to them by their father John (Cf. Mk. i. 29; Cf. Jo. i. 42, xxi. 15-17 R.V.; Mt. xvi. 27). They both inhabited it; nor were they its sole inmates, for Simon had a wife and her mother dwelt with them. It is surely an evidence of their common devotion to the Master that [ p. 78 ] they found room for Him beneath their hospitable roof.
The Sabbath Day came round, and Jesus in company with His two hosts and their neighbours James and John repaired to the synagogue in Capernaum. There were two meetings for public worship on the Sabbath, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon ; and, as the sequel proves, it was the latter that Jesus now attended. It was the custom that, when a qualified visitor appeared in a Jewish synagogue, he should be invited to address the congregation (Cf. Ac. xii. 15); and of course the customary invitation was extended to Jesus. The incident is recorded by St. Mark and St. Luke, but they have furnished no report of His sermon, merely noting the profound impression which it created (Mk. i. 22; Lk. iv. 32; cf. Mt. vii. 28,29). Happily, however, it is not lost. [1] The peculiar value of the Gospel according to St. Matthew is the fulness of its record of our Lord’s teaching ; and that extensive discourse which is commonly known as “the Sermon on the Mount” and which the Evangelist has placed at the beginning of his narrative as a sort of frontispiece illustrating the manner of the Heavenly Teacher, is in truth not a single discourse but, as appears by comparison with the other Gospels, a mosaic of discourses which the Lord delivered on diverse occasions. And it includes much of this His sermon in the synagogue of Capernaum.
In a Jewish synagogue the sermon followed the scripture lessons, “the Reading of the Law I5> and the Prophets.” (Ac. xiii. 15) Two passages were read as prescribed by the Lectionary, one from the Book [ p. 79 ] of the Law and the other from the Prophets ; and the preacher took his text from one or other of these. The sacred roll was handed to him, and he read over his text, standing the while in token of reverence for Holy Writ (Cf. Lk. iv. 16,17,20); then he returned the roll to the attendant, seated himself, and so discoursed to the congregation. “Think not,” Jesus began, " that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfil.” He was the Messiah, and He had come to achieve the salvation which the ordinances of the Law prefigured and establish the Kingdom of righteousness and peace which the Prophets had foretold; and He proceeded to illustrate the difference which He had made by quoting precept after precept from the ancient Law and showing the larger and deeper significance wherewith He invested each.
“You have heard that it was said to the men of old : ‘ Thou shalt do no murder 9 ; but I tell you, every one who hates his brother is a murderer.” (Ex. xx. 13) It is the evil thought that prompts the evil deed, and it is in the thought, though exempt from legal cognisance, that the guilt lies. Be merely angry with your brother, and in God’s sight you are even as the culprit who is arraigned before the local justiciary. Pass from anger to scorn, ejaculating raka, “faugh !” and in thus disdaining a brother made in His image you are, in God’s sight, even as the blasphemer arraigned before the Council of the Sanhedrin. Pass from scorn to abuse: call your brother “fool!” and in God’s sight you are even as those vile criminals who suffer the ignominious doom [ p. 80 ] of crucifixion and whose bodies are cast into Gehenna, “the Valley of Hinnom,” that loathsome en outside the southern wall of Jerusalem, the repository of the city’s refuse. (R. V. marg.)
Again, “you have heard that it was said to the men of old: ‘ Thou shalt not commit adultery’; (Ex. xx. 14) but I tell you that the thought, the look of lust is even as the deed.”
Again, “you have heard that it was said to the Lev xix men : ‘Thou s halt not swear falsely’ but ‘ shalt render to the Lord thine oaths ’; (Lev. xix. 12; Num. xxx. 2) but I tell you never to swear an oath at all.” Be true in heart, and your word is enough : it requires no attestation.
It is the thought that counts; and He proceeded to enforce this truth by a keen satire on the Pharisaism of His day, stigmatising it as “hypocrisy,” which signified properly “play-acting.” “Beware,” said He, “of doing your righteousness before men that you may be a spectacle to them.” And then He adduced three examples. First He spoke of Almsgiving, that gracious office so largely enjoined by the Scriptures, and depicted the manner of “the play-actors ”—how in proverbial phrase they “sounded a trumpet before them ” or, as the Greeks put it, “blew their own pipes,” (Cf. Lev. xix. 9,10; Dt. xv. 7-11; Ps. xli. 1-3; Pr. xxi. 13) ostentatiously dropping their coins into the poorbox in the synagogue or into the outstretched hands of the beggars in the street. Then He spoke of Prayer, and pictured them timing themselves to be abroad at the hour of prayer that they might strike the attitude of devotion at the street-comers. And finally He spoke of Fasting. Fasts were appointed on special [ p. 81 ] occasions, as times of war or pestilence or famine; but the Pharisees voluntarily fasted twice a week, each Monday and Thursday, and went about in penitential guise, barefoot, with ashes sprinkled on their heads and mournful countenances, “making their faces unsightly that they might be a sight to men in their fasting.” (Cf. Lk. xviii. 12)
The discourse startled the hearers. What chiefly impressed them was the note of “authority” which rang in every sentence. It was so unlike the manner of their Scribes, those servile traditionalists who prefaced their every doctrine with the formula “Rabbi So-and-so said.” They listened with breathless attention, but when He ceased, the stillness was broken by a wild shriek—“A-a-h !” It came from an unhappy creature known in those days as “a demoniac.” (Lk. iv. 34 R.V.) Every sort of malady, physical, mental, and moral—especially madness with its wild raving and epilepsy with its writhing and foaming— was then, among Jews and pagans alike, ascribed to the obsession of a malignant spirit. It was a natural consequence of the belief that, since the sufferers themselves entertained it, they exhibited a sort of dual personality, speaking now in their own proper character and now in that of the spirit wherewith they supposed themselves possessed. “This species of double consciousness makes wild work with the patient’s imagination, and, judiciously used, is perhaps a frequent means of restoring sanity of intellect. Exterior circumstances striking the senses often have a powerful effect in undermining or battering the airy castles which the disorder has created.”
It was thus that Jesus always dealt with the [ p. 82 ] demoniacs whom He encountered. This was a case of epilepsy—possession by “an unclean spirit.” The man fell foaming and writhing on the floor. He recognised Jesus as the Messiah, the enemy of the powers of evil, and, speaking in the person of the demon which possessed him, he deprecated His vengeance on the hellish race. " Why,” he raved, “are you troubling us, Jesus the Nazarene ? Have you come to destroy us ? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” Like a wise physician, Jesus “soothed him in these contraries, and, yielding to him, humoured well his frenzy.” “Be muzzled,” said He, addressing the supposed spirit as though it were a furious beast, “and come out of him.” The authority of His tone and bearing mastered the distraught mind, and after a violent paroxysm and a wild cry the man lay still. Persuaded that the spirit had quitted him, he was delivered from his hallucination. Nor was this all. Not only was his frenzy soothed but his malady was healed.
Leaving the synagogue, Jesus and His disciples returned to Bethsaida, and James and John went home with the others to Simon’s house for supper. On arriving they found that Simon’s mother-in-law had sickened of the malaria so prevalent in the sultry environs of the Lake, lying as it does in a hillgirt basin 682 feet below sea-level. It was a severe attack, and they appealed to Jesus. He approached the couch and, grasping the sufferer’s hand, raised her. Her recovery was instantaneous and complete. There was no lingering weakness, no protracted convalescence, and she immediately resumed her domestic offices and served the table.
[ p. 83 ]
Meanwhile the story of the miracle in the synagogue had gone abroad, and it enkindled hope in many an afflicted home. The Rabbinical law prohibited all manner of work on the Sabbath; but the sacred day ended, according to the Jewish reckoning, at six o’clock, and no sooner had the sun set than Simon’s house was besieged by an importunate crowd. All who had sick folk conveyed them thither, and their curious neighbours accompanied them, until “the whole city was assembled at the door." Jesus received them graciously and passed from sufferer to sufferer, laying His kind hand on each and healing them all.
Cf. The Days of His Flesh , pp. xx f. ↩︎