“And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.”
They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach — Capernaum becomes Jesus' operational base in Mark, the town from which he will make repeated sorties throughout Galilee. The Sabbath synagogue setting is significant: Jesus engages the covenant community in their primary gathering place on their primary sacred day. The teaching is not described in content — Mark is interested in its effect and authority, not its substance. The synagogue is the appropriate venue for a Jewish teacher claiming to announce the kingdom of God; Jesus' choice to teach in synagogues throughout Galilee is theological — the kingdom arrives at the center of the covenant community's life.
Church Fathers on Mark 1:21
Mark, arranging the sayings of the Gospel as they were in his own mind, not in themselves, quits the order of the history, and follows the order of the mysteries.
Quitting Nazareth. Now on the sabbath day, when the Scribes were gathered together, He entered into a synagogue, and taught.
The Scribes themselves taught the people what was written in Moses and the Prophets; but Jesus as the God and Lord of Moses, himself, by the freedom of His own will, either added those things which appeared wanting in the Law, or altered things as He preached to the people; as we read in Matthew, 'It was said to them of old time, but I say unto you.' [Matt. 5:27]
Catena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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