Luke 5:17-19
17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him.
19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.
The gospels of Matthew and Mark identify that the location of this healing was in Jesus' "own town" or more specifically Capernaum.
The central insula identified as the "house of Peter" is interesting because the actual portion of the insulae where Peter is believed to have lived is identified. The main road in Capernaum ran from the north, going alongside the synagogue, and past the "house of Peter" with an entrance to the courtyard of the insula from the main street.
Since the "house of Peter" was located just off the prominade of the seaport of Capernaum, the space involved around the area would or could include the area of two major streets, a side street, and the area leading to the sea. That would leave room for many people to be waiting to see or hear Jesus in the "house of Peter."
According to Stanislao Loffreda, one of the excavators at Capernaum and author of Recovering Capharhaum, the house belonging to Peter was almost square and contained an area of 84 square meters--equavelent to a home of 904 square feet--quite a large home for the time and location. The structure dates to the Helenistic period, and twelve square meters of area were cleared and found to contain superimposed layers of white plaster. White plaster floors were common for the time, but in the Capernaum excavations, this house was the only house found to have plaster floors. Dating of the plaster identifies that the structure was used as a community area as early as the third quarter of the first century A.D.
Peter's house in Capernaum was the first example of the "house church" where churches originated in homes and as the number of believers grew, a public facility would be used. In this case, the house began to be used very early as a public facility for religious purposes.
posted by ~serapha~ at 12:11 PM
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