GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 2:1
No Place Like Home
In 1823, John Howard Payne published the song “Home, Sweet Home”: “Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home. A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, which sought through the world, is ne’er met elsewhere. … There’s no place like home!” The song has been used in movies and by some rock bands (see Mötley Crüe’s version). Often shortened, the phrase “there’s no place like home” is part of American culture because it’s a sentiment expressed by those who return to the, well, familiar comfort of home.
St. Mark wrote: “And again entering into Capernaum, after some days, it was heard that he was in the house.” (2:1) Commentators struggle with some of the wording of this short sentence. For example, there’s some question about the phrase “after some days.” Many writers take this to be a Jewish idiom meaning after some days, several days afterward, a short time later, or several days later (di hemeron). These two words are likely another Markan contraction of time covering Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, which took several weeks or maybe months. At any rate, Jesus was back in Capernaum “in the house.” Again, there’s the question about just whose house Mark referred to. There’s reason to think that since Peter related this story to Mark, it was his—Peter’s—house. It seems that when Jesus was in Capernaum he stayed at Peter’s house.
It’s easy to imagine that after several weeks or months of travel, often staying in the countryside (Mark 1:45), Jesus felt that sentiment: “There’s no place like home.” This is also a spiritual metaphor: though the soul travels far and wide, there’s no place like home—with the Father.
Directory