Capernaum

Capernaum- how long had it existed? not much must have approached this in its whole history. When Mark says the whole city – I bet it does mean a very large percentage of the town- And they see amazing things- and things that must be setting off many resonances and disonances in their heads. There is such a heritage with the Jews- perhaps no other people have had such a carefully preserved and 'normed' heritage – as Bruggeman says (or is it Berger) a case of universe maintenance where each generation seeks to tilt the world so the next generation holds that view of the world as well (stakes particularly high in the Jews case- and they had some powerful agents involved in the world tilting.
This must have been discussed here for years- Peter, Andrew, James and John- they were Capernaum boys- what was the population (Capernaum the nearest village to the river Jordan on the NW shores of the Sea of Galilee) Don't have anything readily available to tell me 5000?* Don't imagine it was much bigger- a size where these men would have been known or known of by much of the town- and they take up with this strange rabbi who does things unlike other rabbis of the day.
What was the effect over the years in this place? “And you Capernaum will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. For if the deeds of power had been done in you have been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.”

*Wiki answers - that Charlesworth reckons the population was between 600 and 1200.
Another site says its not known how large Capernaum was – but its thought to be under 2000.
From Archeology and the Galilean Jesus- he looks like he goes into it a fair bit- based on a likely size between 6 and 10 hectares – he says between 600 to 1500- also says that Nazareth probably fewer than 400 inhabitants, “Capernaum would have been viewed as one of the larger villages.” (p152). Reckons that Sephoris and Tiberias between 8000 and 12000.

On the whole they mustn't have taken the risk- surely when these things were happening there were many who actually thrilled with them- they saw people they knew and love being healed, family members cured of demon possession (how wide spread was it? how widespread is it? ) Was Jesus career followed with interest? Had they already 'turned' before his crucifixion? (had John 6.66 moments- or perhaps actually been there? Does the thrilling lead to an openess or an oportunity to take a risk of faith – to go along with this man for a bit and see where it leads- because there is much here that adds up? but they on the whole only do this in a very superficial australian idol type of way... Is someone like me- who has never seen anything like this- one of the one who condemns them? “God's blessing on people who don't see, and yet believe!” What does Jesus call them -you faithless generation – (Mk 9:19 you faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you?)
- Strong words- strong feeling. Is this the most negative thing Jesus has to say about the people he loves and has come to save? Without faith it is impossible to please God...
O you of little faith... Abraham held up as an example of faith- because unlike Capernaum, he knew and had experienced little- but on hearing a 'voice' shifted to another world 1200 kms? from Ur to Canaan- and his knowledge grew through obediance- the willingness to take the risk on this God- and through that he found him faithful.

How much of a partnership was it between the demons and those at Capernaum that rejected Jesus?
Does the no in one direction open you up for a yes in another? Can the demons work with this sort of vacillation? how much can they encourage it?
It would seem that they had a front opened up in Capernaum- and suffered some big setbacks – as the country saw a great light- but that in this case they were able to consolidate- but perhaps the attitude of the people comes first?
And Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith and couldn't do many miracles there...