1When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 2Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”
3Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4Jesus said to him, “See that you tell nobody; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
5When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him for help, 6saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented.”
7Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel. 11I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, 12but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed.” His servant was healed in that hour.
14When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. 15He touched her hand, and the fever left her. So she got up and served him. 16When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
18Now when Jesus saw great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side.
19A scribe came and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
21Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.”
22But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
23When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him. 24Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves; but he was asleep. 25The disciples came to him and woke him up, saying, “Save us, Lord! We are dying!”
26He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27The men marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
28When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way. 29Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 30Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them. 31The demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs.”
32He said to them, “Go!”
They came out and went into the herd of pigs; and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea and died in the water. 33Those who fed them fled and went away into the city and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons. 34Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.
The Galilean town of Capernaum is widely know to be the place where Jesus lived, and from which he launched his ministry in the Galilee. What is less known is that it was also the location of Peter's house. East of the synagogue is a group of twelve houses that date to the first century B.C. to the first century A.D. Each of the houses were built of basalt stones, quite common in this area of the Galilee, with floors that were made of beaten earth, very common in this period. Most likely the roofs were covered with tree branches on which was placed straw and mud. A number of kitchen items, such as jars, pans, and cooking pots, as well as lamps.[1] Based on the type of dwellings, it is likely that they belonged to a poor class of laborers.
The largest house among this group is especially important for the New Testament and early Christian history. In this close to the Sea of Galilee was a house was found fish hooks,[2] indicating the inhabitant was probably a fisherman. Among items in the house was a Hellenistic and Herodian lamp, almost intact. In the largest room the walls were covered with plaster and decorated, quote different from the other houses in the complex, and also had a fall covered with beaten limestone. Consequently, the archaeologists believe that it is reasonable to conclude that this room was a venerated hall from the first century on, connected to the memory of Peter, the "house of the apostle."[3] After the first century the house continued to be considered sacred and a traditional octagonal Byzantine basilica was placed over the house that focused on the aforementioned room. Visitors to Capernaum today will discover a Roman Catholic church covering this house that allows the visitor to clear look down into the house.[4]
[1] Virgilio Corbo, House of Saint Peter (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1968) 68.
[2] Virgilio Corbo, New Memoirs of Saint Peter by the Sea (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1968) 30.
[3] Jack Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992) 109.