Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Monday, January 13, 2014 Read John 2:12 Our reading today is only one short verse. But it contains a bit of information that is important for us as we consider the storyline of John’s gospel in comparison to the storyline of Mark’s gospel. As we read the synoptic gospels we discover that Capernaum becomes the center of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. He has a home there and returns time and again. John will make nothing of his reference to Jesus moving to Capernaum. In fact, in the very next episode Jesus will be back in Jerusalem. But this one single verse likely helps us to get in touch with a piece of “historical reality” – something that we have been learning not to be too worried about in the gospels. That John places Jesus in Capernaum even though he makes nothing of the reporting of that provides us with confirmation that likely Capernaum was at the center of Jesus’ Galilean ministry. Sometimes it may appear that we question everything about the historical reality of the gospels. That certainly is not meant to be the case. In fact, personally, I take most historical references at face value. It’s just that historical reality is not all that important. When we find a reference like this that has no other purpose in a gospel, and a reference which is verified by both the synoptic gospels and by John it makes it more likely to be historically accurate. Why John chose to drop this little verse into his story is peculiar – I’m glad he did.