Synagogues – What Does This Mean?

Encore Post: On the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, along the Roman road known as “the Way of the Sea,” the fishing village of Capernaum existed as a trading center during the 1st Century A.D. The apostles Simon and Andrew had moved there with their families to be near their fishing partners, Zebedee, James and John. The apostle Matthew also lived in town. His job as toll collector was likely practiced in a toll booth along the trade route.

The commander of the Roman army unit guarding the town, a centurion, lived in town as well. He was likely a God-fearer — a gentile who believed in the God of Israel, but who was not circumcised. He was the patron of the local synagogue, who paid for its construction and was well-loved by the residents of the village.

After Jesus began his ministry, he moved to Capernaum to make it a kind of headquarters for the Galilean phase of his earthly ministry. It was here he preached his first sermon, cast out demons and healed the sick, healed the servant of the beloved centurion and a paralytic lowered through the thatched roof of St. Peter’s house on his bed. Tradition places the Sermon on the Mount on the hillside near the village along the Sea of Galilee.

The ruins of the town were unearthed beginning early in the 20th Century. The floor of the synagogue in which Jesus preached and the likely location of the house of St. Peter have been uncovered and can be visited today.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Encore Post: Synagogues are like churches. They are places where the Jews gather on the Sabbath (Saturday) to hear a passage from the Old Testament read, to hear a sermon and to pray together. The Old Testament is read from a scroll, instead of a book. Someone would help the reader take it out of a storage box called an ark, unwrap it and roll the text to the place where he should start to read. Often the people would sing while they do this.

When the reading was finished, it was put away until the next Sabbath. When a boy reached the age of twelve, he got to read it for the first time in event called Bar Mitzvah, which means “Son of the Covenant.” If the reader was also a teacher, he would sit down and explain the reading.

This is what Jesus was doing when he returned to Nazareth. He read from Isaiah 61. This passage predicts the ministry of the Messiah to preach the Gospel and heal the sick. He announced that he was that Messiah.

The problem was his neighbors and friends had a hard time believing he was the Messiah. He grew up in such a normal way that there was hardly anything for the Gospels to report for the first thirty years of his life. The contractor down the block is the Messiah — please! They wanted results! What’s in it for them? Nothing! Their lack of faith in Jesus meant he could not perform miracles at home.

That day they tried to kill him, it failed. But it would not be long before Jesus would go to Jerusalem. There he suffered and died for their sins, ours and the sins of the whole world. When he rose from the dead, he set us all free. When he returns for us, then we will also be healed — not for a little while, but for forever.

Tag: Synagogues

Sunday School: Capernaum

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