Broken bread and small fish: Are You At Home With Me?

Home. "...the people heard that he had come home" (Mark 2:1). I really like this phrase. It's a little phrase - a little word, setting up the rest of the passage. Not very significant, maybe, but...I can't stop thinking about it.

Not all versions translate it as home. Some say "at the house" or "in the house". But since Matt. 4:13
says that You had come to live (or dwell) in Capernaum, anytime You returned to Capernaum it would be safe to say You really had come HOME, no matter whose house You were in or at.

You weren't born there; You didn't grow up there. You were born in Bethlehem, spent a few years in Egypt, and grew up in Nazareth.

They didn't recognize You - or accept who You were - in Nazareth. They couldn't see past their idea of who and what they thought You should be. They couldn't see You (Mark 6:1-4). So You...well, You moved. You made Your home somewhere else.

Capernaum became Your home because You chose to dwell there. Maybe You chose to make Your home with them at least partly because some of the inhabitants who lived there accepted You. Not everyone did - in fact, Jesus condemns Capernaum (Matt. 11: 23) for an inadequate response to the miracles performed there - but it seems that a number of folks were glad You were there. They accepted You living there, embraced Your presence, were so happy whenever You came home that they gathered in great numbers. It seems THEY considered it Your home.

Your real home isn't in Capernaum, of course, or Nazareth, or Bethlehem, or anywhere that any of us have ever been. Your real home is another place. One we haven't seen yet, but long for and dream about.

You left that home (John 6:38) and came to stand with us, to be with us. You choose to make Your home here among us - to be with us - to be with ME - like You chose to be with them in Capernaum.

When I read these lines (Mark 2:1-2), it feels like a fairy tale in which the hero has finally returned after a long absence and people are flocking to see him and welcome him. You have come. You are here.

Will I be a place You "grew up" but won't stay because there is no room for You as You really are?

Or will I be a place You choose to live and make Your home because You are welcomed AS YOU ARE?

Are You "at home" with me?

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