In his commentary William Barclay notes the significance of Jesus' move from Nazareth to Capernaum. He says, "There was a kind of symbolic finality in that move. In that moment Jesus left his home never again to return to live in it. It is as if he shut the door that lay behind him before he opened the door that stood in front of him. It was the clean cut between the old and the new. One chapter was ended and another had begun. Into life there come these moments of decision. It is always better to meet them with an even surgical cut than to vacillate undecided between two courses of action."
ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., ChristianGlobe Illustrations, by William Barclay