1The third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. 2Jesus also was invited, with his disciples, to the wedding. 3When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.”
4Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.”
5His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”
6Now there were six water pots of stone set there after the Jews’ way of purifying, containing two or three metretes apiece. 7Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. 8He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the ruler of the feast.” So they took it. 9When the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and didn’t know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have drunk freely, then that which is worse. You have kept the good wine until now!” 11This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
12After this, he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they stayed there a few days.
13The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14He found in the temple those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting. 15He made a whip of cords and drove all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money and overthrew their tables. 16To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will eat me up.”
18The Jews therefore answered him, “What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?”
19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20The Jews therefore said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! Will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he spoke of the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
23Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs which he did. 24But Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them, because he knew everyone, 25and because he didn’t need for anyone to testify concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man.
Capernaum is about 2.5 miles from where the Jordan River enters the Sea of Galilee on the northwest shore of the lake. It was a busy fishing center, was the home of the local Roman garrison, and was a toll stop on the road from Damascus to the Mediterranean [1]. It is almost universally accepted that Jesus made Capernaum the headquarters of His Galilean ministry. It was also the home of Peter. The text of Mat 4:13 seems to indicate that after the rejection he encountered in his hometown of Nazareth (Lk 4:16-30, but not in Mat 4:13), Capernaum became His new hometown, from which he ministered throughout the Galilee (Lk 4:44).
Excavations were conducted at Capernaum several different times, starting in 1838 and going on sporadically until 1982. Among the finds at the site are a large public building, a jetty with a pier on the lakeshore, and several first-century houses of the Roman insulae style.[2] Perhaps the most interesting finds are the fourth-century synagogue built on top of the foundations of a first-century synagogue and what is widely believed to be Peter’s House nearby.
[1] Merrill F. Unger, Archaeology and the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1962), 126.
[2] Jack Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church (ebook), (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), 98.