Matthew 4
4
Jesus Is Tempted in the Desert
1Then the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert, and there the devil tempted him. 2Jesus didn’t eat for 40 days and 40 nights, and he got very hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘People must not live only on bread, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
5Then the devil took Jesus to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. After all, it is written,
“ ‘The Lord will command his angels to take good care of you.
They will lift you up in their hands
so that you don’t trip over a stone.’ ”
7Jesus answered, “It is also written, ‘Don’t test the Lord your God.’ ”
8Then the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain. He showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9“If you bow down and worship me,” he said, “I’ll give you all this.”
10Jesus said to him, “Get away from me, Satan! It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’ ”
11Then the devil left Jesus, and angels came and took care of him.
Jesus Begins to Preach
12John the Baptist was put in prison, and when Jesus heard about that, he went back to Galilee. 13Though he had grown up in Nazareth, he went to live in the city of Capernaum. That was by the lake, in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14In that way, the words of the prophet Isaiah came true. He had said,
15“Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!
Galilee, where Gentiles live!
Land along the Mediterranean Sea! Territory east of the Jordan River!
16The people living in darkness
have seen a great light.
A light has shined on
those living in a very dark land.”
17From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Turn away from your sins, because the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Jesus Chooses His First Disciples
18One day Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee. There he saw two brothers, Simon, who was later called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were throwing a net into the lake, because they were fishermen. 19“Come and follow me,” Jesus told them, “and I’ll send you out to fish for people.” 20Right away they left their nets and followed him.
21Going on from there, he saw two more brothers. They were James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, working on the nets. Jesus called out to them too, 22and they left the boat and their father and followed Jesus.
Jesus Heals Sick People
23Jesus went all over Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every illness and sickness that the people had. 24News about him spread all over Syria, and they brought him everyone who was ill with any kind of sicknesses. Some were suffering great pain, while others were controlled by demons. Some were shaking wildly, and others couldn’t move at all. Jesus healed every one of them. 25Large crowds followed him from Galilee, from the area known as the Ten Cities, from Jerusalem and Judea, and from the area across the Jordan River.
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Matthew 4
4
The Temptation of Jesus. 1#Jesus, proclaimed Son of God at his baptism, is subjected to a triple temptation. Obedience to the Father is a characteristic of true sonship, and Jesus is tempted by the devil to rebel against God, overtly in the third case, more subtly in the first two. Each refusal of Jesus is expressed in language taken from the Book of Deuteronomy (Dt 8:3; 6:13, 16). The testings of Jesus resemble those of Israel during the wandering in the desert and later in Canaan, and the victory of Jesus, the true Israel and the true Son, contrasts with the failure of the ancient and disobedient “son,” the old Israel. In the temptation account Matthew is almost identical with Luke; both seem to have drawn upon the same source. #Mk 1:12–13; Lk 4:1–13. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2#Ex 24:18; Dt 8:2. He fasted for forty days and forty nights,#Forty days and forty nights: the same time as that during which Moses remained on Sinai (Ex 24:18). The time reference, however, seems primarily intended to recall the forty years during which Israel was tempted in the desert (Dt 8:2). and afterwards he was hungry. 3The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” 4#Cf. Dt 8:3. Jesus refuses to use his power for his own benefit and accepts whatever God wills. He said in reply, “It is written:#Dt 8:3.
‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’”
5#The devil supports his proposal by an appeal to the scriptures, Ps 91:11a, 12. Unlike Israel (Dt 6:16), Jesus refuses to “test” God by demanding from him an extraordinary show of power. Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, 6and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:
‘He will command his angels concerning you’
and ‘with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”#Ps 91:11–12.
7Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’”#Dt 6:16. 8Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, 9and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”#The worship of Satan to which Jesus is tempted is probably intended to recall Israel’s worship of false gods. His refusal is expressed in the words of Dt 6:13. 10At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written:
‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.’”#16:23; Dt 6:13.
11Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.
The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry.#Isaiah’s prophecy of the light rising upon Zebulun and Naphtali (Is 8:22–9:1) is fulfilled in Jesus’ residence at Capernaum. The territory of these two tribes was the first to be devastated (733–32 B.C.) at the time of the Assyrian invasion. In order to accommodate Jesus’ move to Capernaum to the prophecy, Matthew speaks of that town as being “in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali” (Mt 4:13), whereas it was only in the territory of the latter, and he understands the sea of the prophecy, the Mediterranean, as the sea of Galilee. 12#Mk 1:14–15; Lk 4:14, 31. When he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,#Jn 2:12. 14that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled:
15“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,#Is 8:23 LXX; 9:1.
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
16the people who sit in darkness
have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.”#Lk 1:79.
17#At the beginning of his preaching Jesus takes up the words of John the Baptist (Mt 3:2) although with a different meaning; in his ministry the kingdom of heaven has already begun to be present (Mt 12:28). From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,#3:2. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The Call of the First Disciples.#The call of the first disciples promises them a share in Jesus’ work and entails abandonment of family and former way of life. Three of the four, Simon, James, and John, are distinguished among the disciples by a closer relation with Jesus (Mt 17:1; 26:37). 18#Mk 1:16–20; Lk 5:1–11. As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. 19He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20#Here and in Mt 4:22, as in Mark (Mk 1:16–20) and unlike the Lucan account (Lk 5:1–11), the disciples’ response is motivated only by Jesus’ invitation, an element that emphasizes his mysterious power. At once they left their nets and followed him. 21He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, 22and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.
Ministering to a Great Multitude.#This summary of Jesus’ ministry concludes the narrative part of the first book of Matthew’s gospel (Mt 3–4). The activities of his ministry are teaching, proclaiming the gospel, and healing; cf. Mt 9:35. 23He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,#Their synagogues: Matthew usually designates the Jewish synagogues as their synagogue(s) (Mt 9:35; 10:17; 12:9; 13:54) or, in address to Jews, your synagogues (Mt 23:34), an indication that he wrote after the break between church and synagogue. proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.#9:35; Mk 1:39; Lk 4:15, 44. 24#Syria: the Roman province to which Palestine belonged. His fame spread to all of Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them. 25#Mk 3:7–8; Lk 6:17–19. And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis,#The Decapolis: a federation of Greek cities in Palestine, originally ten in number, all but one east of the Jordan. Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.
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