A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. Mark 2:1
Capernaum was now Jesus’ home. Matthew also mentions this, “Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum” (Matthew 4:13). Previously I had this idea that when Jesus began his public ministry he sort of wandered around the countryside for three years. I hadn’t really thought about Capernaum being Jesus’ home. Yet there are several Scriptures which confirm it. Furthermore, the crowds knew that Jesus lived in Capernaum and would look for him there (Mark 9:33, Matthew 17:24 and John 6:24).
Possibly the idea of Jesus being homeless comes from these verses, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:19-20).
Jesus was itinerant and in this discussion, he was pointing out the cost of discipleship. Following Jesus would involve sacrifice, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that his followers will be poor or without homes.
Jesus having a home makes the next few verses in Mark particularly interesting: “Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on” (Mark 2:4).
Possibly the roof that these men dug through was that of Jesus’ home! Yet Jesus doesn’t complain. He’s more impressed by their faith than worried about any inconvenience they may have caused. Jesus lived out the cost of discipleship and sacrificed his own comfort so others could experience God.
I wonder if there are times when we’re more concerned with being inconvenienced than we are with helping people having an encounter with God?
