when You speak to me...

entrance to Capernaum, Jesus' home away from Nazareth

site of synagogue the centurion helped to build in Capernaum

site of the home in Capernaum where Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law

column taken from synagogue with inscription

From the moment our Israeli tour bus stopped in Capernaum, attuning my senses to the sights, the sounds, even the smells, of this unique place where Jesus walked...my memories of Scriptures which mentioned Capernaum began to come alive...

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment. When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” (Matthew 8:5-17)

Capernaum was Jesus' home away from Nazareth, and the heart of Jesus' Galilean ministry. He spent some two years there, teaching and performing miracles. Situated on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum was the home of the two sets of fishing brothers whom Jesus called to be apostles—Peter and Andrew, and James and John, the sons of Zebedee.

One of the most impressive of Jesus' miracles performed in Capernaum was the healing—at a distance—of the Roman Centurion's servant. This man deserves to have you do this, the Jewish elders said to Jesus, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue. (Luke 7:4-5)

Imagine my excitement, then, at being able to visit what is the site of the very synagogue which the centurion had helped to build, where Jesus spoke and the centurion's servant was healed.

Virtually adjacent to the synagogue was another much-visited site in Capernaum--the home where Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law of her fever.

As we were leaving the synagogue area, we saw a row of columns taken from the synagogue. On one of the columns is an Aramaic inscription dedicated to "Alpheus the son of Zebedah, the son of John," who had contributed to the building of the second synagogue from the second or perhaps fourth century. Our tour guide told us that it is altogether possible that there is profound significance in the names "John" and "Zebedah." Given the location of Capernaum and the fact that family names were passed down for generations, these men may have been descendants of the apostle John, the son of Zebedee.

Each step walking where Jesus walked in Capernaum reinforces my faith, built upon the foundation of the apostles, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:20)

Take a few moments to reflect on When You Speak To Me by Twila Paris...

When You speak to me, when I take the time to listen, I am more than what I think I feel, when You speak to me, when I sit and still the motion, there is nothing left but what is real...there is an answer to every question, the answer is You...

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Linking up with Holley Gerth's Coffee for Your Heart as an encourager.