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| Heracleon Says that Jesus is Not Stated to Have Done Anything at Capernaum. But in the Other Gospels He Does Many Things There.
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9.
Heracleon Says that Jesus is Not Stated to Have Done Anything at
Capernaum. But in the Other Gospels He Does Many Things
There.
But Heracleon, dealing with the words, “After this
He went down to Capernaum,” declares that they indicate the
introduction of another transaction, and that the word “went
down” is not without significance. “Capernaum,”
he says, “means these farthest-out parts of the world, these
districts of matter, into which He descended, and because the place was
not suitable, he says, He is not reported either to have done anything
or said anything in it.” Now if the Lord had not been
reported in the other Gospels either as having done or said anything at
Capernaum, we might perhaps have hesitated whether this view ought or
ought not to be received. But that is far from being the
case. Matthew says our Lord left Nazareth and came and dwelt at
Capernaum on the seaside, and that from that time He began to preach,
saying, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand.” And Mark, starting in his narrative5015
from the temptation by the devil, relates
that after John was cast into prison, Jesus came into Galilee,
proclaiming the Gospel of God, and after the call of the four fishermen
to the Apostleship, “they enter into Capernaum; and straightway
on the Sabbath day He taught in the synagogue, and they were astonished
at His doctrine.” And Mark records an action of Jesus also
which took place at Capernaum, for he goes on to say, “In their
synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out,
saying, Ah! what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth?
Art Thou come to destroy us? We know Thee who Thou art, the Son
of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace and come
out of him; and the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying with a loud
voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed.”
And at Capernaum Simon’s mother-in-law is cured of her
fever. And Mark adds that when evening was come all those were
cured who were sick and who were possessed with demons.
Luke’s report is very like Mark’s about Capernaum.5016
He says, “And He came to
Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath
day, and they were astonished at His teachings, for His word was with
power. And in the synagogue there was a man having a spirit of an
unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, Ah! what have we to
do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? Hast Thou come to destroy
us? I know Thee who Thou art, the holy one of God. And
Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace and come out of him.
Then the demon having thrown him down in the midst, went out of him,
doing him no harm.” And then Luke reports how the Lord rose
up from the synagogue and went into the house of Simon, and rebuked the
fever in his mother-in-law, and cured her of her disease; and after
this cure, “when the sun was setting,” he says, “all,
as many as had persons sick with divers diseases, brought them to Him,
and He laid his hands on each one of them and cured them. And
demons also went out from many, crying and saying, Thou art the Son of
God, and He rebuked them and suffered them not to speak because they
knew that He was the Christ.” We have presented all these
statements as to the Saviour’s sayings and doings at Capernaum in
order to refute Heracleon’s interpretation of our passage, “Hence He is not said to have
done or to have spoken anything there.” He must either give
two meanings to Capernaum, and show us his reasons for them, or if he
cannot do this he must give up saying that the Saviour visited any
place to no purpose. We, for our part, should we come to passages
where even a comparison of the other Gospels fails to show that
Jesus’ visit to this place or that was not accompanied by any
results, will seek with the divine assistance to make it clear that His
coming was not in vain.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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