Capernaum

Capernaum has some of the coolest ruins I've seen. It is so well preserved that you really get a sense of what the place looked like back in the day. There was a church discovered in Capernaum that dates back to the first century. On top of the remains a modern church has been built that is suspended over the ancient building. If I was smart I'd figure out how to post a picture of it. It's funny to me how different religions are so anxious to lay claim on these ancient sites. I keep thinking if they knew that Christ's church lives today maybe the dead places of the past wouldn't seem so important. But I guess it's good because they do preserve those sites for us to see.

Here's a brief summary of Capernaum provided by our guide, Daniel Rona:

In recent times, excavations have uncovered the ruins of a once thriving city of Romans and Jews. Capernaum may have had ten thousand inhabitants. It was a Roman toll station (Matthew 17:24), and it was the home of Peter and other apostles (Mark 1:29). Jesus lived here for eighteen to twenty months of his three-year ministry.

The name Capernaum may come from the Hebrew word for "solace" or "consolation." Most of His miracles occurred at Capernaum or at nearby Chorazin or Bethsaida. Sadly, these three cities were cursed by Jesus and only their ruins are visible today (Matthew 11:20-24).

Jesus must have made many friends here, after all, thousands followed him. In an area nearby He fed them with loaves and fishes, five thousand at a time, not counting women or children (Luke 9:11-17). Of the children one recalls the account of a twelve-year-old girl who was ill. On the way to bless her, Jesus noted that a woman had touched is garment (Mark 5:21-43). Religious Jews today wear a garment of wool called a "tallith," the name is derieved from the Hebrew word for lamb, "taleh." The woman who touched the garment (probably the "tallith") was healed. However, by the time Jesus arrived to bless the girl, she had died. He sent all the mourners away, then with Peter, James, and John, "...he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel...and entereth in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unter her, Talitha cumi." The endearing term, Talitha, may have been Jesus' way of saying "my little lamb" or "curly locks" and "cumi" means get up. "and straightway the damsel arose, and walked."