Going even unto Capernaum: the Holy Land is close to us all
Matthew 4:13
“He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake.” [1]
Some time in the late fourth or early fifth century AD, a large Christian church was built in Capernaum, by the Sea of Galilee, in the shape of an octagon. It was built around and centred upon an earlier 1st century AD building, a quite modest house.
Why was this grand church built around a 1st century AD house in Capernaum?
The house in question was identified as the home of Saint Peter. Those who built the church in the 4th or 5th century knew what archeologists have recently confirmed: the home had been a place of Christian worship from the earliest years of Christianity.
Archeologists have discovered that the house had been renovated to become a place of Christian worship.
Pilgrims had been visiting it long before the 4th or 5th century church was built around it. The walls of that 1st century dwelling carried inscriptions from pilgrims - in Greek, in Syriac, in Hebrew, in Aramaic (the language of Jesus and the disciples), and Latin.
Capernaum features in all four Gospels.
It has particular importance as it is where, as we have heard in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus dwelt and called His first disciples - Peter, Andrew, James, and John.
Little wonder that Christians have, from earliest times, made pilgrimages to Capernaum, where people first heard our Lord’s call, ‘Follow me’. And tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims continue to visit Capernaum every year.
They do so because the Holy Land matters to Christians.
To stand in Capernaum is to stand where Jesus made His home and called His first disciples.
To visit Bethlehem is to stand where Our Lord was born. To stand on the shore of the Jordan is to be where He was baptised by John. In Jerusalem are the sites of His death and resurrection.
I know that some of you have been pilgrims to the Holy Land. And I know from speaking to you the effect it has had.
In his Christmas 2022 address, His Majesty the King said this:
“Some years ago, I was able to fulfil a life-long wish to visit Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity. There, I went down into the Chapel of the Manger and stood in silent reverence by the Silver Star that is inlaid on the floor and marks the place of our Lord Jesus Christ’s birth. It meant more to me than I can possibly express to stand on that spot where, as the Bible tells us, ‘The light that has come into the world’ was born”. [2]
Those are words which powerfully describe why the Holy Land matters to Christians.
But most of us here in our parish church this morning have not been pilgrims to the Holy Land and perhaps are unlikely to ever be. Most Christians across the globe will never visit the Holy Land.
And the vast majority of Christians across the centuries never sat foot in the Holy Land.
So how can the Holy Land have real meaning for us? Is it not far distant from us?
No, the Holy Land is close to us all. It is close to us all in three ways.
Firstly, we are in that time of the church’s year in which a spiritual pilgrimage is made.
It begins at Christmas. In the bidding prayer heard at the outset of the service of Nine Lessons and Carols, we are called “in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass”.
Our yearly pilgrimage, in heart and mind, begins there.
At Epiphany we adore the Christ Child in Bethlehem with the magi.
On the Sunday after the Epiphany we stand at the Jordan as our Lord is baptised.
Then we return with Him to Galilee, for the beginning of His public ministry.
Today we behold him in Capernaum, calling His first disciples.
Our Gospel reading today ends with us standing in the synagogues and villages of Galilee, as Jesus teaches and heals.
Soon we will enter into Lent, and with Jesus our faces turn towards Jerusalem.
We journey there on Palm Sunday, amidst the crowds and palm branches.
On Maundy Thursday, we are in a darkened upper room.
On Good Friday we stand at Golgotha, the place of the Cross.
And on Easter Day, outside of Jerusalem, we behold the empty tomb.
Fifty days later, on Pentecost, we are again in Jerusalem, as we rejoice in the Holy Spirit descending upon the first disciples.
Each year, in these months, as we make this spiritual pilgrimage, the Holy Land is close us, as we in heart and mind journey to the places where our Lord lived, taught, healed, died, and rose again.
Secondly, the Holy Land also has real meaning for us because of where you and I each year make that spiritual pilgrimage: here, in our parish church.
This parish church, like every other church, whether ordinary parish or grand cathedral, is a ‘little Holy Land’.
The font, where the Sacrament of Baptism is administered, is our Jordan, where the Lord received Baptism from John. [3]
The altar is the place of the Cross and Empty Tomb, for there, in the bread and wine of Holy Communion, we receive the Crucified and Risen Lord. [4]
When the Gospel is read in the midst of our parish church, Sunday by Sunday, we are brought in heart and mind to the places in which our Lord walked: Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Jordan, Capernaum, Galilee, Jerusalem.
Our parish church is our ‘little Holy Land’; it brings the Holy Land close to us.
Finally, there is a third way in which the Holy Land is close to us all.
As we gather in our parish church today, Christian communities also gather in the Holy Land, to do what we do: pray, hear the Scriptures read, and celebrate the Eucharist.
They are of various traditions: Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran - all one in Christ. [5]
In their care are the ancient sites of Christian pilgrimage, from Bethlehem to Capernaum, from Cana to Jerusalem. These Christians communities have, in the words of a recent statement by the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, "borne their sacred ministry across centuries with steadfast devotion". [6]
Our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Holy Land are a vital reminder to us that the Holy Land is close to all Christians.
We show our gratitude for the witness of the Christians of the Holy Land by praying for them, supporting them, and standing in solidarity with them, particularly when they face hostility, threats, or intimidation.
The Holy Land is close to us all.
Today we have, in heart and mind, gone even unto Capernaum, where Jesus dwelt and called His first disciples.
May our journey carry us onward with Him to the Cross and Empty Tomb, here in our parish church, our little Holy Land, and in communion with our fellow Christians in those sites of ancient Christian pilgrimage, journeying more deeply into life in Christ.
__________
[1] The appointed Gospel reading for Epiphany III, Year A is Matthew 4:12-23.
[2] His Majesty's 2022 Christmas address can be read here.
[3] The relationship between the Lord's Baptism and our Baptism is emphasised in BCP 2004 Order One and Order Two: "by the Baptism of thy well-beloved Son Jesus Christ, in the river Jordan, didst sanctify water to the mystical washing away of sin"; "In water your Son Jesus received the Baptism of John".
[4] BCP 2005 Holy Communion Order Two, Great Thanksgiving Prayer 1, "we remember his passion death, we celebrate his resurrection and ascension"; Prayer 2, "we proclaim his perfect sacrifice, made once for all upon the cross, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension".
[5] These are the churches represented by the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem.
[6] From the 17th January statement 'On Unity and Representation of the Christian Communities in the Holy Land', by the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem.
The first photograph is of the remains of the 4th/5th century Byzantine church, built around the house of Saint Peter, Capernaum. The second shows the Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem celebrating the Holy Mysteries in the Greek Orthodox Chapel of Abraham at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Holy Week 2003.
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