Jesus has just been baptized by John and introduced to the Jewish community.
Matthew 4: 1-4, Temptation #1: Stones and bread
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Jesus responds to scripture with scripture. This is a game the devil will lose.
The quote in verse 4 is from Deuteronomy 8:3.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Jesus responds to scripture with scripture. This is a game the devil will lose.
The quote in verse 4 is from Deuteronomy 8:3.
Matthew 4: 5-7, Temptation #2, Testing God's protection
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "`He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
Jesus answered him, "It is also written: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
In verse 6 the devil quotes from Psalm 91:11-12; in verse 7 Jesus responds from Deuteronomy 6:16.
Was Jesus really, physically, at the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem? The story presumes that Jesus could really throw himself off and chooses not to act that way. I find in interesting in how Jesus responds to the urge to "prove" himself. Many of us would like God to "prove" himself to us at times but God is very different, very "other" and is not prone to respond to these requests (or demands.) Indeed, Jesus's interpretation of the Deuteronomy passage instructs us against demanding that God perform for us.
Matthew 4: 8-10, Temptation #3, World power
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: `Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: `Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"
Matthew 4: 11, The temptation ends
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
The temptation of Jesus is covered in this gospel and that of Luke. In the Luke passage (Luke 4:13) we are told that the devil left him "for a time". In other words, there would be other temptations! A recurring temptation would be the mountaintop offer of political power and control, an offer Jesus repeatedly rejects. (A comparison between the Matthew and Luke accounts is here.)
Who is "the devil"? What is evil? Is it personified? Here it is implied that the devil is a divine individual. In our modern world, I struggle with this, although I have no problem believing in the existence of evil. I would just prefer that evil be diffused, impersonal.
Matthew 4: 12-17, The ministry begins
When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali-- to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."
From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali-- to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."
From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
The quote in verse 16 is from Isaiah 9:1-2.
Somehow John's imprisonment sets something off in Jesus -- he knows it is time to move. Matthew is eager to link this to the words of the prophet Isaiah.
Matthew 4: 18-22, Simon, Andrew, James and John
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Two men, mere unknown fishermen, are invited to follow Jesus. And then there are two more, the "sons of Thunder". They may not know it, but their lives have now taken a very dramatic turn....
Matthew 4: 23-25, A ministry of healing
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
Syria and Galilee are the first to hear the voice of Jesus preaching, presumably in the local Aramaic language. Decapolis (in verse 25) means "the ten cities", a collection of cities spread across the region in Syria and modern Jordan. They were apparently places where Graeco-Roman culture was mixed with the native Hebrew culture and Jewish ethnic groups.
In the next chapter, Matthew records a discourse of Jesus on the citizenship of the upcoming kingdom.
Not sure an impersonal evil force would really answer your preferences, and there are some instances in which evil appears to be directed by intent and purpose, even beyond the purpose of those humans that may be caught up in it and appear to be its agents. If God is personal, it doesn't seem far fetched to think evil is as well in the person of a great spiritual adversary.
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