If you were to go to Israel today and hire a boat on the Sea of Galilee, you might sail all round it, for it is not a very big piece of water, but you would not find any city called Capernaum; you would find instead a place called Tel Hum, where the ground is strewn with ruins. But even these ruins are full of interest, for maybe these stones mark the very spot where the synagogue stood at Capernaum into which Jesus entered one sabbath day soon after He called Simon and Andrew to follow Him.
The synagogue was the place where the Jews used to meet to worship God and hear the scriptures read and explained, but as they listened to Jesus that sabbath day they were astonished. His teaching was different from any they had ever heard before, because He taught them as One who had the right to teach, and His words were with power.
There was one poor man in that synagogue who could not listen to Jesus. He was altogether under the power of an unclean spirit, and instead of listening this unclean spirit made him cry out, “Let us alone; what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”
But Jesus could and would set even that poor man free. He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying, “Hold thy peace, and come out of him.” And when the unclean spirit had torn the man and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.
And so Simon and Andrew, and all in the synagogue, learn that not only did Jesus teach with authority, but His commands had such power that even unclean spirits had to obey Him.
When they came out of the synagogue Jesus went to the house of Simon and Andrew. As soon as He was in the house they told Him that Simon’s mother-in-law was very ill in bed with a fever, and He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up; and at once the fever left her, she became quite well, and got up and waited on them.
The news that Jesus was in Simon’s house soon spread through the city, and when evening came and the sun was setting, a strange crowd gathered round the door. There were all sorts of sick people there, many of them so ill they had to be carried, and there were others possessed with devils, they too were brought by their friends, and the whole city was gathered together at the door.
What happy homes and what rejoicings there were in Capernaum that night! Jesus cast out all the devils with a word, and healed all that were sick.
And yet it was of that same city Capernaum, where Jesus did such mighty works, that He afterwards said “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.”
Why did the Lord Jesus say such terribly sad and solemn words about Capernaum? It was just this — the people of Capernaum were willing to listen to Jesus, they were astonished at His teaching, they saw His mighty works, they even sought for Him, but they loved their sins and they would not repent.
When the people sought for Jesus the next morning, they did not find Him in Simon’s house, for He had gone out long before it was day to a desert place, a quiet, lonely spot where He could pray. Simon and those with him followed Jesus, and when they found Him they said to Him, “All men seek for Thee.”
But Jesus said, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for therefore came I forth.”