Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§9.9 The Historical Context
references to the 'tassels' of his garment suggest that he himself was a pious Jew
who took his religious obligations seriously. 301 Almost certainly he would have
encountered Pharisees and been familiar with their concerns to interpret the Torah
for their own time. He probably at least knew of Essenes and would hardly be
unaware of the history of tensions with the Samaritans.
d. Centre at Capernaum
That Jesus made Capernaum the hub of his mission is also clearly indicated in
the records. He 'left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum' (Matt. 4.13); he
was 'at home' (en oikö) in Capernaum; 302 it was 'his own town' (Matt. 9.1); 'he
used to teach' in the synagogue there (Mark 1.21/Luke 4.31). 303 The fact that the
Q material contains fierce denunciations of Capernaum (Matt. 11.23/Luke
10.15), Chorazin, and Bethsaida (Matt. 11.21/Luke 10.13) is also relevant. It
must mean that Jesus had concentrated his preaching efforts in these towns and
had been rebuffed in greater or less measure. 304 Chorazin and Bethsaida are the
two towns closest to Capernaum. 305
which may also have characterized Jesus as an observant Galilean Jew, would have been taken
for granted and so not mentioned because everybody knows that' (Keck, Who Is Jesus? 31).
301. Matt. 9.20/Luke 8.44; Mark 6.56/Matt. 14.36, with reference to the instructions of
Num. 15.38-39 and Deut. 22.12 (note also Zech. 8.23).
302. Mark 2.1; 3.20; 9.33; Matt. 13.1, 36. If Mark 2.15 existed as a tradition separate
from 2.13-14, then the 'house' mentioned there could conceivably have been Jesus' own
(Jeremias, Parables 227 n. 92; cf. Taylor, Mark 204). But if the archaeological evidence regarding
'Peter's house' in first-century Capernaum is anything to go by (see, e.g., Charlesworth, Jesus
109-15; Murphy-O'Connor, Holy Land 218-19), one can certainly envisage the episode in
Mark 2.2-12 taking place there, but hardly the hosting of a large meal.
303. See also Matt. 8.5/Luke 7.I/John 4.46; Matt. 17.24; Luke 4.23; John 2.12; 6.17, 24,
59. Crossan and Reed, Excavating Jesus 94-96, tendentiously dispute the data marshalled
above on the basis of Mark 1.38 ('I came out [of Capernaum]') to support the alternative reconstruction
of Jesus' mission as constantly itinerant ('this covenantal kingdom could not have a
dominant place to which all must come, but only a moving center that went out alike to all').
304. Studies of Q deduce, with good form-critical logic, that the Q people must themselves
have experienced rejection by these three Galilean towns (cf., e.g., Kloppenborg Verbin,
Excavating Q 147-48, 171-74, 256). But even if the passages are designated as Q 2 , it remains
the case that they recall Jesus as making the denunciations. No activity of Jesus in Chorazin is
reported in the Jesus tradition; but visits to Bethsaida are (Mark 8.22; Luke 9.10).
305. Chorazin was 'up the hill' behind Capernaum, some 3 or 4 km distant, and
Bethsaida was about 13 km from Capernaum. Though technically in Herod Philip's territory
(across the Jordan), Bethsaida was oriented to the towns and villages round the north and west
of the lake (both Pliny, Nat.Hist. 5.21, and John 12.21 locate it in Galilee); see further J. F.
Strange, 'Bethsaida', ABD 1.692-93. It is relevant that Peter and Andrew appear to have left
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