Three Miracles In Capernaum Pt. 2

Getting To Know The Characters

This is a continuation of the post 'Three Miracles In Capernaum: Looking First At The Setting' found here.

Watch video first:

I get this story. I mean, I really feel a part of it as though I was right there. And not just because I am a paralytic, either.

After leading a house church for over a decade, it is not hard for me to imagine a house bursting at the seams with people, the smells and sights of good food and drinks set out on the tables and counter tops, along with the loud noise of different characters of people all talking at once to one another in the same room.

If we take an imaginative look around we might see some of the people from our story in this first century home.

Jesus

They all heard that "he" was at home -- Jesus. After 20 something years, Jesus put roots down into the village of Capernaum and he calls it his home! Traditionally they have archaeological findings of a house they consider to be Peter's. And it is possible that Jesus might have been staying with him. But, Jesus could very well have even had his own home in Capernaum!

Being part of the community, he knew the people, probably by name. And he knew what they did in daily activities --fishing on the waters, working and shopping in the market place, eating and gathering in each others homes until late in the night as they entertained one another. He knew the social conversations that were going around and what issues were being talked about, and what stories were being told for fun with his neighbourhood friends.

Jesus loved this neighbourhood and was a part of its culture! It's logical that he might have even been part of helping to build his community. Being a carpenter, he might have helped build some of their homes, constructed their furniture, and shared his trade skills with them.

According to Mark, it was his home that they came to after hearing he was back. Jesus had taught in the local Synagogue many times and now he was hosting a house gathering to share more and grow closer with his neighbours.

Peter & Other Disciples

As I mentioned earlier, Simon Peter along with his brother Andrew were probably there with some of Jesus's other followers who lived in the area. Perhaps James and John brought some fish to share. Mary and Martha may have been preparing the food with Peter's wife in the kitchen while Mathew and others passed around dishes, cups, and made sure everyone had something to drink and a place to sit comfortably.

Scribes & Religious Leaders

Mark tells of the Scribes who were there and asking Jesus about what was happening. Scribes were meticulous as they had to be for their jobs. Everything had its place and everything had to be absolutely the same as it always was or they believed it would create havoc.

No doubt with the scribes would be other religious leaders from different theological values -- particularly the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Maybe even the Essenes and a few Zealots. There could have even been some Roman leaders there, too.

Hearing Jesus teach, they wanted to see how his values and understandings aligned with their own. Their questions:

"Why does this fellow speak in this way?"

"Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

These are questions about power and authority; the two things all of these political and religious leaders were competing for to maintain their sway and control of the people in Capernaum and Israel.

The Paralytic & His Friends

Then along comes a group of friends carrying a paralytic. Like the disabled man himself, they too were probably considered unclean as they looked after the needs of this man and perhaps other locally disabled people. They might have heard about Jesus and the miracles he had done. Or perhaps they just wanted their paralyzed friend to feel included and part of the house gathering that so many others in the neighbourhood were taking part in.

There was something deeper inside of them that drove them to literally change the structure of the house so they could make room for the paralytic to be part of the gathering. Maybe it was a sense of social justice, a tiredness of feeling excluded and diminished from the greater community and they had had enough. They would do anything to be a part of the gathering in Jesus's home. Or maybe, they just wanted the life of their paralytic friend to be restored -- they had seen so much loss, suffering, isolation, loneliness, and anguish in his life... and their hope was Jesus might bring some sort of change, some sort of healing, some sort of redemption to his life and theirs by extension. Jesus called it their faith.

It's A Full House

It's a full house poised with the miraculous. My friend Preston Pouteaux was quoted once saying:

“I’ve often felt that mountains are not the pinnacle of beauty in the world, that they are not the most meaningful source of spiritual awe and satisfaction. Neither are bees, or birds, or stars. I leave the mountains with renewed life, but I return to my neighbourhood and city to encounter the most stunning source of beauty in its most sublime form: people.”

The Bees of Rainbow Falls: Finding Faith, Imagination, and Delight in Your Neighbourhood by Preston Pouteaux

As Jesus returns to his home filled with people in Capernaum, I'd like to think he felt those same sentiments among his followers, the scribes, religious, and community leaders. And also the paralytic and his friends who cared so much for him. I'd like to think he saw a certain spirit of awe taking shape and building towards a miraculous beautiful event.

That is what I have been waiting to share with you and would like to look at next week -- The Three Miracles In Capernaum that Jesus performs in his overcrowded home!