Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 1:21

"And they go into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught." — Mark 1:21 (ASV)

The first Sabbath incident occurred in the synagogue in Capernaum. The synagogue originated in the Exile as the result of Jews meeting together for prayer and the study of the Torah. In NT times synagogues were found all over the Hellenistic world and were the center of Jewish religious and social life.

Capernaum was the home of Peter and became a kind of base of operations for Jesus’ Galilean ministry. A Jewish custom permitted visiting teachers like Jesus to preach (based on the reading from the Law or Prophets) in the synagogue by invitation of its leaders.