Known as Jesus’ “own town” (Matt. 9:1). Jesus taught (Mark 1:21; John 6:59) and healed a man possessed by an evil spirit (Mark 1:23-27) in the same area where you can sit on the stone benches of the ancient synagogue, recalling these scriptures.
It was the synagogue on this very spot, whose foundations you can still see, which Luke says was built by the centurion whose servant Jesus later healed (Luke 7:3-5). Jesus also raised from the dead the daughter of this synagogue’s leader (Luke 8:49-53).
The ruins that surround you here, from homes with ordinary tools of daily life to intricately decorated stone carvings, are powerful reminders of Jesus’ prediction about this town (Matt. 11:23). Peter’s house, where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law (Matt. 8:14-15; Mark 1:29-31), was a simple dwelling, like many others in this small fishing and farming village.
In the mid-fourth century, a large church was built, whose mosaic floor you can still see, with Peter’s house as its centerpiece. Some years ago a modern church went up above the ruins.
