His Own City

Matthew 9:1 KJV

And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.

This is not Bethlehem where He was born or Nazareth where He grew up and from whence the disciple had placed Him, "Jesus of Nazareth". It was a fulfillment of Scripture that He should be called a Nazarene. But this passage speaks of Capernaum, where he had recently moved having, I presume, been invited by Peter or one of the other disciples who had been fishermen there and who owned a home there. 

This tells me that any city may be "His own city" if there be people there to invite Him in. It is not that it must be:

• The majority of the city or even
• The officials of the city

because neither was the case at Capernaum. It need only be that there is someone in the city who ask Him to abide with them. 

Remember that He had been forced out of the region of the Gadarenes. Though He had cast the demons out of the man in the tombs they would not suffer Him to remain with them. Even the demoniac did not invite Christ to stay but requested that he be able to go with Jesus.

If Jesus is to claim a city someone must ask Him to abide with them.