Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan

 

 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. 

 

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

 

- Matthew 4:18-25 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, / And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death / Light has dawned." From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  

 

 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.  It's important to note that these first disciples had already heard the preaching of John the Baptist (John 1:29-42), and so were prepared to accept Christ immediately.  Although illiterate and unlearned in religion, my study Bible comments, these "people of the land" whom Jesus calls will be revealed at Pentecost to be the wisest of all. 

 

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.  My study Bible asks us to note that the crowds do not swarm Jesus when He commands repentance (see verse 17, the final verse in yesterday's reading, above), but only when He begins to heal and work miracles.  This fact, it says, shows that the people misunderstand the true nature of Christ's Kingdom.  It also shows His concession made, in the words of Theophylact, "to give credibility to what He teaches" among the fickle multitudes.

 

 It's interesting that my study Bible points out the draw of the crowds with Jesus.  First of all, we recall that John the Baptist was a very powerful preacher in his own time, and drew crowds to himself.  He was widely considered a holy man.  He performed no miracle, but taught the people to prepare for the coming of the Messiah, for "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (see Matthew 3:1-6).  In that passage, we read, "Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins."  What would make people do that?  It seems that clearly it is the anticipation of the Messiah, and the promise of receiving the Messiah through repentance, which is something that draws the people in their anticipation of the good things a messianic age would bring to Israel.  Around the time of Jesus, we know that there were several people who claimed to be the Messiah. Three of them, Theudas, Judas of Galilee, and another known as Simon Magus are mentioned in the Book of Acts (Acts 5:34-42; 8:9-10).  Because of the particular place in history in which Israel found itself at this time, the desired expectations of the Messiah ran very high; this included the overthrow of the Romans and the establishment of a political Israel, restored to its fortunes under a king like David.  But there were other prophesies about the Messiah and his time that included the establishment of justice, a prophetic identity, and miraculous occurrences and spiritual signs, such as the restoration of sight to the blind (see Isaiah 35:4-6).  So, while miraculous occurrences will still draw people's interest in our time, we can easily imagine how the cherished desire for the appearance of the Messiah would create such a draw in Jesus' healings.  Indeed, in all of their contests and challenges to Jesus, one consistent thing demanded by the religious authorities will be for proofs of His identity through spectacular signs that would convince them.  If we just put ourselves in the place of the people of that time and place, we might also begin to understand Jesus and His ministry a little bit better.  He comes as He would come into the world, even as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, but as an answer to people's prayers, expectations and anticipations, as a Redeemer come for all, and One who would need to establish the understanding of a Kingdom that is not of this world, and all that means in the Christian context.  That's not an easy task, and yet Jesus is on a path to "fulfill all righteousness," and to fulfill the Scriptures.  But because of the kind of expectations He's up against, His ministry will have to engage the people in a particular way, including keeping the messianic secret until it's time to be revealed.  Let us learn to follow Him, as will His first disciples.

 

 

 

 

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned

 

 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

"The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles:

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,

And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death

Light has dawned." 

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 

 

- Matthew 4:12–17 

 

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, / Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'" Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him,  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

 

Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, / By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, / Galilee of the Gentiles: . . ."  The Gospel makes it very clear that the preparatory mission of John the Baptist has been completed, as Jesus waited until he heard that John had been put in prison to depart to Galilee.  According to my study Bible, Galilee of the Gentiles indicates that many non-Jews lived in this region.  As it had a mixed population, it wasn't considered a genuinely Jewish land, although many of its Gentile residents had converted to Judaism during the Maccabean period.  Because many of the Jews of Galilee had been influenced by the Greek culture and its customs, my study Bible adds, they were generally considered to be second-class citizens by the Jews of Judea. 

 

"The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, / And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death / Light has dawned."   St. Matthew quotes here from Isaiah 9:1-2.  My study Bible explains that darkness means ungodliness.  Here, it says, "darkness" represents the Gentiles' unawareness of God and the Jews being under the shadow of the Old Covenant.  To sit in darkness means to be overcome by spiritual ignorance.  The great light is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  See also John 1:4-5.

 

 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  My study Bible notes that Christ's first word, similarly to that of John the Baptist, is "Repent."  The difference, however, is that the kingdom of heaven is present wherever Christ is.  But nevertheless, Christ's mission is still to call us to repentance.  My study Bible explains that this is the necessary first step in the way of the Lord.  It is accompanied by the confession of sins and the act of baptism, and is to be followed by a life filled with fruits worthy of this change.  

 

As longtime readers of this blog will know, the term repentance is extremely important for us to understand.  In Greek, this word is μετανοια/metanoia, and it literally means "change of mind."   Repentance is not the same as simply feeling guilty, nor merely feeling sorry.  Repentance indicates change, a change that goes from one direction to another;  that is, from wherever we are and going toward Christ, where Christ would have us go.  Properly, our entire lives in Christ, and the whole of the religious and spiritual journey of our lives should be a constant renewal in this sense of repentance, personal transformation.  As we grow more deeply in this relationship with and participation in the life of Christ, so also we will change.  We will experience a kind of constant experience of conversion, metanoia, change of mind.  Of course, we have help on this journey.  We are not led simply by our own noses or our own opinions, but rather by all the things which are offered in the Church, and the things left to us by Christ.  Most notably there is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, and Christ's great Light within us.  St. Paul has explained that we are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in us (see Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16).   Additionally, we are left with sacraments and services, the practices and traditions of the Church, the Scriptures and prayers.  We have help in the saints and the angels who guide us and form the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us and worships with us (Hebrews 12:1).  All of these things are meant not only to shore up our faith, to help us to live that faith, but also to hold us in the embrace of the kingdom of heaven even as we live in this world, so that this active and ongoing work of repentance in us may bear the spiritual fruit that is possible for us, and follow Christ where we are led.  This is the action of the Light which continually leads us out of our own darkness, a constant illuminating process.  In fact, historically, Christian Holy Baptism has also been called "Illumination."  It is this sense in which Baptism begins our journey, which is ongoing and culminates only in the fullness of Christ's light, an eternal goal and not simply a temporal one.  As my study Bible notes, the kingdom of heaven is at hand for us, for where Christ is, so there is His Kingdom.  Where two or three are gathered in His name, He has promised us, so He is there also, and moreover, He is with us always.  He is the morning star that rises in our hearts, and the light shining in a dark place  (2 Peter 1:19-20).  For we are all disciples -- that is, learners -- and this is our road, Christ's "way."

 

 

You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve

 

 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"  

 

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written:

'He shall give His angels charge over you,'

and, 

 'In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

 

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him,  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

 

- Matthew 4:1-11 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are you coming to me?"  But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water;  and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  My study Bible explains that to be tempted is to be tested in fundamental areas of faith.  As in St. Mark's Gospel, here Jesus is led up into the wilderness after His Baptism to be tested by a struggle with the devil (in St. Mark's Gospel, we're told that He was thrown or driven out by the Spirit; in Greek ἐκβάλλει).  My study Bible comments that we who are baptized in Christ need not be defeated by temptations because we too are aided by the Holy Spirit.  The wilderness forms a battleground, an image of the world, both the dwelling place of demons and a source of divine tranquility and victory. 

 

 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Jesus fasted to overcome temptation; according to my study Bible, in so doing, He gives us an example of our own power and limitations in the face of temptation.  We are to note that Christ's hunger of His flesh doesn't control Him.  Rather, He controls His flesh.  Christ's fast of forty days is the foundation of the Church's forty-day Lenten fast before Holy Week and also a traditional fast before Christmas.  In the verses that follow, we read of the various temptations given by the devil.  In this contest or struggle, Jesus reverses Israel's falling to temptation in the wilderness.  My study Bible reminds us that the Israelites were tested forty years in the wilderness and proved disobedient and disloyal.  God humbled them by first letting them go hungry and then feeding them with manna to help them learn to be dependent upon Him (Deuteronomy 8:2-5).  In today's reading, Jesus is tested with hunger for forty days, and He does not sin.  All of His answers to Satan are from Deuteronomy, and they all call for loyalty to God.

 

 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  Note that the devil's temptation is to challenge Christ's relationship to the Father, the very thing revealed at His baptism in yesterday's reading, and the messianic secret for which He will be judged a blasphemer and be put to death.  If You are the Son of God calls into question that declaration by the Father (see yesterday's reading, above).  My study Bible comments that the devil wants Jesus to act independently and to detach Himself from the will of the Father -- thus, destroying His mission.  According to my study Bible, in Christ's divine nature, He shares one will with the Father and the Holy Spirit; He can do nothing of Himself (John 5:30), apart from the Father.  But in His humanity, He possesses free will and at all times must choose to remain obedient to the divine will of the Father.

 

 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"   Jesus rejects the first temptation of the devil, thereby rejecting an earthly kingdom.  This shows us not to pursue earthly comfort in the "food which perishes" (John 6:27), my study Bible says.  It notes that while Adam disregarded the divine word in order to pursue the passions of the body (Genesis 3), the New Adam -- Christ -- conquers all temptation by the divine word, giving human nature the power to conquer Satan.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3.

 

 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down."  The holy city is Jerusalem.  Once again, the devil is tempting Christ to reject His identity as Son and His loyalty and love of the Father.

 

"For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and,  'In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  As in the first temptation Jesus had defeated Satan through the power of the Scriptures, he vainly tried to use Scriptures here to put God's power of protection to the test (see also 2 Peter 1:19-21).  Satan quotes from Psalm 91:11-12.

 

 Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  My study Bible comments that trials and temptations come on their own; we should never intentionally expose ourselves to danger in order to test or prove God's protection.  To do so is to tempt the LORD.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:16.

 

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"   Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.  My study Bible notes here for us that God's Kingdom is not one of earthly power and possessions.  In this test by the devil, Jesus is being asked to choose worldly power over the Kingdom of God.  (Note also how the devil mimics divine actions by being on an exceedingly high mountain; see, for example, Matthew 17:1-3.)  My study Bible comments that the devil is the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31), "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), because the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19).  It notes that Jesus refuses the road of earthly glory, which would lead Him away from His suffering and death for the redemption of the world.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:13.  Note also that in Greek, "Away with you, Satan!" reads literally, "Get behind Me, Satan!"  These are the same words Christ will use with St. Peter, when he suggests that Christ not go to the Cross (see Matthew 16:21-23).  

 

Jesus refutes every temptation of the devil with one central thing:  His loyalty and love of the Father.  More essentially, He does so by clinging to His real identity; He is the Son of  God, the Son of God the Father.   This, of course, is the one thing the devil attacks, consistently and repeatedly.  He begins the first two temptations with, "If You are the Son of God . . .."  Jesus' adherence to this identity, of course, is not the product of pride, of social life or a system of social values, nor is it something He inherited or was conferred upon Him at birth.  This is the spiritual reality of who He is, and occurs within the power of a fully loving and participating identity within the embrace of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.  This is a divine reality, and His relations within it are relations of love and loyalty.  The devil makes his last appeal to Christ in a way that reveals what he really wants. He says, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  The devil wants to usurp God's place and the things that belong only to God.  He wants worship; He even wants Christ's worship and loyalty, which seems to indicate that he doesn't understand Christ the Son at all, and so continues to challenge Him.  But Jesus responds by turning the tables on the devil.  His words, "Away with you, Satan!" are more accurately translated, "Get behind Me, Satan," indicating who is really in charge here, whose authority must be followed.  Therefore in today's reading about temptation in the wilderness we are getting a sense of the true meaning of Christ's saving mission.  We must keep in mind that to be tempted is to be tested.  There is the devil, who is the "ruler of this world," and Christ who comes to claim it as the Son.  This is salvation, redemption.  So, what happens in this time of fasting in the wilderness is what we should understand as spiritual warfare, and in our own lives we also participate in that warfare.  As my study Bible indicates, the wilderness is a battleground, an image of the world, and we human beings are in the middle of it.   In the Lenten tradition of the fast, the Church makes it clear that we are also called into this struggle, with Christ, for we also are tested.  He shows us the way; He is the firstfruits in all ways, and we enter into His life.  In today's lectionary reading, we are also given the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20:1-21.  We often forget that the foundation of those commandments, and the first half of them, is the worship due only to God.  But Jesus never forgets that; it is His basic weapon with which He fights the devil in today's reading.  Let us also hold fast to what comes first.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

They brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them

 

 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.  

 

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. 

 

- Matthew 4:18-25 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, / By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, / Galilee of the Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."  From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 

 

  And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.   My study Bible asks us to understand that these first disciples had already heard the preaching of John the Baptist, and so they were prepared to accept Christ immediately.  Although they were illiterate and unlearned in religion, it notes, these "people of the land" whom Jesus calls will be revealed at Pentecost to the be the wisest of all.  

 

 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.  My study Bible says that we should note that these crowds do not swarm Jesus when He commands repentance (as in yesterday's reading; see the final verse, above), but only as He begins to heal and work miracles.  This fact, it says, shows that the people misunderstand the true nature of His Kingdom.  It also shows Christ's concession, according to Theopylact, "to give credibility to what He teaches" among the fickle multitudes.  

 

Jesus reveals the presence of the Kingdom with Him in the healings that He does.  He heals diseases and torments, epilepsy, paralysis, and of course this goes hand in hand with casting out demons from those who were possessed.  This is all an expression of the Kingdom very present with Him, and of course, a manifestation of His power and authority in His identity as Son.  But, as we discussed in yesterday's reading and commentary, all the things that Christ is, and that entire presence of the Kingdom that encompasses all that He teaches and will do, including even Judgment, are part and parcel of what comes with Christ.  We can pick and choose healing, or casting out demons, but we can't leave out repentance, for this is basic and fundamental to His gospel message.  It is a sad and tragic thing when people suffer; when they suffer from diseases that afflict in terrible ways, when people die.  These things are "not fair."   In the historical understanding of the Church, these afflictions are a part of the effects of sin in the world, and that includes death and all that comes with it.  But each one of us will contend with death in one way or another, and what that means is that the ways in which we meet death, or any of the varied forms of death we encounter in life, such as illness and suffering, injustice, and the entire gamut of myriad things that are detrimental to life, must first of all be the encounter with Christ.  He is the One who transfigured death on the Cross, defeated it, but in His suffering created meaning and purpose.  We also, turning to Him in our distress, must meet all of our suffering and ailments with Him, and the fullness of what He is and teaches us.  Many people look to the amazing healings described in the Gospels and think that prayer's effectiveness is only about those times of trouble we have and the banishing of that trouble, like using a magic wand to fix our problems, or saying particular words that will have this effect.  Some see Christ's preaching as teaching us that all we have to do is believe that we have what we want, and call on His name, and it will be manifest.  But this is not the fullness of His ministry and message.  Even St. Paul writes that he had to accept an affliction, for he had received so many blessings and revelations, and been granted so many graces by God that, as he says, "a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure."  Praying about this "thorn in the flesh," this "messenger of Satan," he was told by God, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."  Can we, in our quest for healing, accept what St. Paul says here?  That his own thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, was allowed intentionally for the greater glory of God, that his weakness was in fact a way through which God's strength is made perfect?  How many of us can accept so fully this gospel that we could meet our own afflictions this way, finding meaning and even intention and purpose in our suffering?  But St. Paul met his suffering in prayer, and embraced the message that God had for him.  He concludes, "Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10).  It is a healthy and good thing to seek life, to reject death in all its forms, and to find the good and abundant reality of creation which God has given us and of which we are a part.  But when we substitute something else, an idol even of something nominally good, for the fullness of Christ and the meanings and grace to be found in the transfiguration of life possible through faith, then we're missing the mark -- we're failing to find what God has in mind for us and the beauty therein.  None of us wants to suffer; even more so, none wants to see their loved ones suffer in any way.  The mother of God, Mary, comes to mind when we think of her watching her Son suffer and die.  This kind of agony we wish upon no one.  And yet, she accepted God's reality for her; it was her faith that guided her response to even the worst cruelties of life.  These things are also great and profound mysteries; they are difficult to fathom, more difficult even to see when we are in distress.  But prayer will see us through them, even in the times when God's grace must be sufficient for us, when God's strength is made perfect in our weakness, or that of someone we love.  An acceptance of the potentials of meaning even within suffering shifts our perspective to one of compassion, and transcendence.  We find a dignity in forbearance but most of all in our capacity for care in the midst of imperfection, a beauty in seeing the grace that is still possible in the expression of faith and of love and the strength made perfect in weakness.  For we are on a journey to God which takes us through all kinds of things in life, even the sad things of this world.  Let us find His way and the comfort in His easy yoke, and light burden (Matthew 11:20).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned

 

 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

 "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, 

Galilee of the Gentiles:

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,

And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death

Light has dawned."

 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

 

- Matthew 4:12-17 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"  Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and,  'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'" Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.   And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. 

 

 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  Note that the Gospel gives us a sense of the "handing off" of ministry from John the Baptist, the last and greatest prophet of the Old Testament type prophets, to Jesus, who brings the New Covenant through His ministry.  John is titled the Forerunner, the one who prepared the people for Christ's ministry.

 

And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, / By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, / Galilee of the Gentiles: . . .  My study Bible comments that the term Galilee of the Gentiles indicates that many non-Jews lived in the region of Galilee.  As Galilee had a mixed population, it was not considered a genuinely Jewish land, although many Gentile residents had converted to Judaism during the Maccabean period.  Because many of the Jews there had been influenced by the Greek culture and its customs, my study Bible says, they were generally considered to be second-class citizens by the Jews of Judea.  

 

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, / And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death / Light has dawned."   Darkness, my study Bible explains, means ungodliness.  Here it is representative of the Gentiles' unawareness of God and the Jews being under the shadow of the Old Covenant.  To sit in darkness means to be overcome by spiritual ignorance.  The great light, it says, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

 

  From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."   This is Christ's first word of His ministry, echoing that of John the Baptist, "Repent" (see this reading).  The kingdom of heaven, my study Bible says, is present wherever Christ is.

 

 My study Bible comments that the kingdom of heaven is present wherever Christ is.  At the moment when Christ first comes preaching this word, people have yet to see the unfolding of His ministry and His teachings, His miracles and His criticisms of the religious leadership.  The people who hear Christ in the beginning of His ministry don't yet know about what is to come in Holy Week, His Crucifixion, nor His Resurrection.  They don't know about Pentecost and the Church to come.  But when we listen and know and accept in the Church that "where Christ is, there is the kingdom of heaven" we need to think about all that this means.  For where Christ is, there is also the whole of Christ.  There is the Man who taught us that to follow Him is to take up our own crosses.  There is the One who was Crucified.  There is the One who died and resurrected and who ascended into heaven, even divinizing human flesh, so that we could follow Him there also.  So when we hear the command "Repent" used by Christ, let us hear all of its meaning for us.  For it does not come in a vacuum to us.  We are not the people of Galilee who first hear Him preach and have no familiarity with Him except perhaps as One from a town of not much reputation, Nazareth, a son of a carpenter.  To repent in our context, as those who must hear echoes of the fullness of Christ's mission and ministry in what He preaches here, we must understand that the command to repent is asking us to be conformed to Him in our love for Him, the same way that in a solid marriage of love, we find spouses conforming to one another out of love.  But He is our Bridegroom, the head of our family, the One who teaches us what we are all about, gives us His Creed, and encourages us in turn to bloom in that repentance, in following Him, as each one may do with whatever they have been given in life, created as a unique soul by God.  To repent, in the true meaning of the Greek term, is to "change one's mind."  But this is a special kind of changing of one's mind.  This is a change of mind that comes through the influence of Christ, of that kingdom of heaven that exists wherever He is.  And let us not forget that where He is, so also is the Father and the Holy Spirit, and the fullness of the kingdom of heaven in the great cloud of witnesses testified to by St. Paul.  We "repent" or change in terms of the influence and effect of our closeness to Christ in all of that fullness, just like the disciples will who follow Him in the stories of the Gospels.  Let us remember when we pray, when we turn to the Cross, in all our moments when we seek Christ, that there is the kingdom of heaven, and His mission and ministry meant for us to dwell there also, and to help to bring it into this world through our faith in following Him and bearing His light within us.

 

 

 

 

You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve

 

 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"

 

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written:

'He shall give His angels charge over you,'

and, 

 'In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" 

Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

 

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.   And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. 

 

- Matthew 4:1-11

 

 On Saturday, we read about the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"  But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Then he allowed Him.  When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

 

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. My study Bible explains that to be tempted is to be tested in fundamental areas of faith.  As in St. Mark's Gospel, here the Spirit leads, or "throws," Jesus into the wilderness after His Baptism to be tested by a struggle with the devil.  We who are baptized in Christ, it says, need not be defeated by temptations because we are also aided by the Holy Spirit.  Here the wilderness is a battleground, an image of the world.  That is, it is both the dwelling place of demons and a source of divine tranquility and victory. 

 

 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  My study Bible reminds us that the Israelites were tested forty years in the wilderness and proved disobedient and disloyal.  God humbled them by first letting them go hungry and then feeding them with manna to help them learn to be dependent upon God (Deuteronomy 8:2-5).  In today's reading, my study Bible says, Jesus is tested with hunger for forty days, but He does not sin.  In reading the passage, let us keep in mind that all of Christ's answers to Satan are from Deuteronomy, and they are all calling for loyalty to God.  My study Bible adds that Jesus fasted in order to overcome temptation, which gives us an example of our own power and limitations in the face of temptation.  The hunger of Christ's flesh doesn't control Him.  Instead, He controls His flesh.  Christ's fast of forty days is the foundation of the Church's traditional practice of a Lenten fast before Holy Week, and also before Christmas.

 

 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  It's important to note that the bedrock of all things is our love of God who loves us.  Here, the devil begins with a challenge of Christ's relationship to the Father.  He says, "If You are the Son of God" in order to call into question the Father's declaration at Jesus' Baptism (see Saturday's reading, above, in which the voice of the Father declares, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased").  My study Bible says that the devil wants Jesus to act independently and to detach Himself from the will of the Father.  In Christ's divine nature, He shares one will with the Father and the Holy Spirit; He can do nothing of Himself (John 5:30), apart from God the Father.  But in Christ's humanity, He has free will, and at all times must choose to remain obedient to the divine will of the Father. 

 

  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"  In rejecting this first temptation, Jesus is rejecting a purely worldly perspective and shows us not to pursue earthly comfort in the "food which perishes" (John 6:27).  In the poetry of the Bible, we see that Adam disregarded the divine word in order to pursue the passions of the Body (Genesis 3), and here the New Adam -- Jesus Christ -- conquers all temptation by the divine word, giving human nature the power to conquer Satan.  

 

 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and,  'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"   The holy city is Jerusalem.  Here the devil tries a trick; as Jesus was able to defeat him through the power of Scripture in the first temptation above, now the devil tries to use Scripture to put God's power of protection to the test.  See also 2 Peter 1:19-21.  

 

 Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  Jesus responds by quoting from Deuteronomy 6:16.  My study Bible comments that trials and temptations come on their own; we should never intentionally expose ourselves to danger in order to test or prove God's protection.  To do so is to tempt the LORD. 

 

 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.   And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.   My study Bible reminds us here that God's Kingdom is not one of earthly power and possessions.  In the devil's test, Jesus was being asked to choose worldly power over the Kingdom of God.  The devil is the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31), "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), because the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19).  Here Jesus refuses this road of earthly glory, which would lead Him away from His suffering and death for the redemption of the world.  

 

Let us note that the last verse in today's reading tells us that then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.   It illustrates this nature of the wilderness in which we find ourselves.  There is tremendous beauty of God, there is the defeat in the temptations of the devil, high and low, exalted and debased.  We have saints and angels with us, we have the devil and the fallen demons who tempt us.  We are in the middle of a battleground, as my study Bible puts it, and when we forget that this is where we are, we forget what we are meant to be about.  Fasting is a practice in which we meet our temptations, as does Jesus here.  For each person, the temptations will vary, but if you ask a priest listening to confession, they are so often the same old things, just varying in pattern and details of a person's particular life experience.  We should say, to begin with, that fasting in the Christian context is not about going on a diet, not about willpower, not just about self-discipline in some athletic or stoic sense.  Neither is it about morality.  Fasting is something we do with God and for God; it is a way of both showing love and commitment to God (to Christ), and at the same time struggling against our own temptations to take shortcuts, to think it doesn't matter, to think of ourselves simply as thinking machines with bodies irrelevant to faith and to love of Christ and separated from our minds and hearts.  Fasting reminds us that we are all of a whole:  body, soul, and spirit, for it involves all.  When we fast we do it to shore up and rely upon that relationship to God, to understand that our dependency upon God gives us strength to rise above the worldly exigencies that press in upon us and to meet them the way God would ask us to, not imply to be controlled by them.  Fasting in this sense helps us to say "no" to the rest of things we need to discern and reject, and to say "yes" to what we need for our true strength and growth and development.  In that sense, all the disciplines in the Church are meant to help us to grow in our own identity as human beings, to come to know what it is to be formed and shaped by Christ to become more like Him, and to meet the challenges of bearing our own crosses in the world.  Let us note first of all that it is the Holy Spirit who leads Christ up into the wilderness to face these temptations.  This is preparation for His ministry to come.  When Jesus resists temptation in today's reading, He's doing several things we can observe.  First of all, He's setting limits on the devil, on what the devil can tempt Him to do, and on the devil's presumption to ensnare Him in his power, like a slave.  He defeats the devil by saying no to the temptations presented.  And Jesus does more than that.  He sets down the rules by which He needs to live His life, and carry out His ministry in the world.  When we say no to temptation, we are doing the same.  We are setting up our own protective boundaries, a fence that lines the road we intend to follow for not just our own good but for the life of the world, in following Christ.  We have the power to resist temptation and choose the path of Christ instead.  Faith practices such as fasting help us to mark that clear delineation and to know, as my study Bible says, that we have the power to do so, exercising and developing that strength in Christ through faith.  When we go through periods of testing and temptation, when we feel sorely pressed and without resource, let us remember what we read here, that Christ is with us, and angels minister to us, and that through our faith we have the power to say no to what is not good for us, the things that lead us away from God, the phony temptations that sound good but are a snare.  Let us remember that sin easily leads to our own slavery; as anyone struggling with addiction of any kind -- including to material wealth, power, or anything else we make into an idol.  Every false consolation leads us to a degraded and weak condition, and takes away from our humanity, what we can be as human beings created in the image of God.  Let us take heart and be like Christ, and follow Him.   He puts His relationship with God the Father first; let's remember where our love belongs and the One who will teach us more of love.

 

 

 

 

 

Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men

 

 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.  

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. 

 

- Matthew 4:18-25 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,  Galilee of the Gentiles:  The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."  From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

 

 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.   My study Bible tells us that these first disciples had already heard the preaching of John the Baptist, and they were prepared to accept Christ immediately.  It notes that although they were illiterate and unlearned in religion, these "people of the land" whom Jesus calls will be revealed at Pentecost to be the wisest of all. 

 

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. My study Bible asks us to note that the crowds do not swarm Jesus when He commands repentance (see the final verse in yesterday's reading, above), but only when He starts to heal and to work miracles.  What this shows is that the people misunderstand the true nature of Christ's Kingdom.  Moreover, according to Theophylact (as quoted in my study Bible), it shows Christ's concession "to give credibility to what He teaches" among the fickle multitudes.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing to note in today's reading is the "immediate" quality of this new ministry, this beginning of Christ's public ministry.  The text seems to emphasize its explosive and remarkable growth.  The disciples follow Him immediately in response to His call to "Follow Me."  The rapidity with which His fame spreads not only through Galilee, but through every region of Israel people is remarkable, among all the Jewish communities even in the nearby Gentile areas.  This is significant, because it, in fact, mirrors the rapid spread of Christianity that would occur after Pentecost.  My study Bible correctly points out, however, that the people aren't responding so quickly to Christ's call to repentance, but rather to His healing miracles, including exorcism.  On display is His healing power, giving people something they desperately want.  But Jesus is all of a package, and we can't separate His message from His Kingdom and from the rest of His ministry.  In time, this will prove the case, and the "fickle multitudes" as my study Bible calls them, will show their character.  However, there is another thing we must note that is important in this context both of character, and also Christ's calling to the disciples.  He speaks to these fishermen by calling them not to an amorphous set of principles or values, a mere "belief" system, but to a vocation.  And perhaps most importantly, the vocation to which they're called, their new life in Christ, is one that accentuates and develops something they are already trained to do.  Jesus speaks to them in a language they understand from their own lives as fishermen, telling them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  (By the way, the Greek word translated as "men" means people or humanity, human beings.)   This gives us an insight to key issues of both identity and our places in God's Kingdom, how we are called to the kingdom of heaven which is at hand.  Christ's power transforms.  Our proximity and our faith (or perhaps one should say our "faithfulness") works to give us new identity, but within the parameters of a kind of transfiguration.  We remain the same person, and yet we are changed -- and from the inside out.  They will not simply become fishers of men because they go around collecting followers for Jesus, bodies to populate this new movement.  They will become fishers of men by becoming disciples of Christ, living with Him, learning from Him, growing in understanding, and being transformed themselves through this process of faithful living and trust in Him.  What we should always remember is that we, like the fishermen, are called toward something.  We are called on a journey of repentance, meaning "change of mind."  It is a journey of transformation, in which all that we are, all that might be constituted as part of "mind" -- and beyond only the intellect -- is changed, transfigured, turned around.  We don't become someone else, but we are drawn out of our circumstances and given a deeper and truer sense of who we are, and the image in which we have been created, in this communion that constitutes the kingdom of heaven.  This is the immediate response, a deep recognition of where the heart truly is, and where we find the one thing -- the One Person -- in whom we can deeply trust to show us the way.

 

 

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light

 

 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

"The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles:

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,

And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death

Light has dawned."

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 

 

- Matthew 4:12-17 

 

Yesterday we read that, after His Baptism by John the Baptist, Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be temped by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' "  Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, / Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' "  Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.' "  Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

 

 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, / By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, / Galilee of the Gentiles: . . . "  The quotation that begins here is from Isaiah 9:1-2.  My study Bible explains that the term Galilee of the Gentiles indicates that many non-Jews lived in the region.  Having a mixed population, it was not considered a genuinely Jewish land, although many Gentile residents had converted to Judaism during the Maccabean period.  As many of the Jews there were influenced by the Greek culture and its customs, they were generally considered to be second-class citizens by the Jews of Judea.   Let us note how the text tells us that Jesus deliberately began His ministry here; He departed to Galilee.  This is His journey.

 

 "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, / And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death / Light has dawned."   Darkness is another term which means ungodliness.  Here it represents the Gentiles' unawareness of God, according to my study Bible, as well as the Jews being under the shadow of the Old Covenant.  To sit in darkness, my study Bible explains, means to be overcome by spiritual ignorance.  The great light is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."   Like that of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-2), the first word of Jesus as He inaugurates His public ministry, is "Repent."  My study Bible comments that the kingdom of heaven is present wherever Christ is.

 

 Jesus' first word of His preaching in His public ministry is, Repent.  In fact, what He says is identical to John the Baptist's preaching, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  It's important that we notice Matthew takes time to remark that Jesus has waited to begin His public ministry until after John is put in prison.  With these first words reported in the Gospel, it's clear we're to understand there is no important break between John the Baptist and Jesus in terms of their service to God as part of the same plan of redemption.  Although John, importantly, was a part of the Old Covenant (and in fact, the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets), and Jesus Himself ushers in the New, they are nonetheless on the same continuity, each playing their role in the salvation plan of God.   Jesus will say to the disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (Matthew 11:11).  This illustrates the place of John the Baptist, and also the continuity between the doctrine of the Old and the New Covenants.  John has come preparing the people for the Messiah with a message and also a baptism of repentance.  But Jesus will usher in a different Holy Baptism.  As John has said in preparing the people, the Christ will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11).  John's baptism of repentance called people to do an "about-face" preparing for the Messiah, to "prepare the way of the LORD" and to "make His paths straight" (in the words of Isaiah 40:3), in order to receive the Christ.  But when Jesus commands repentance, it is He who is the One to turn to and to receive.  We are to prepare to follow Him, and have our own "change of mind" (the meaning of the Greek word for repentance) as He inaugurates us into the kingdom of heaven and we find our way forward.  Our faithfulness is what is asked for, for He takes us not to a set of propositions and laws, but rather onto a journey with Him -- for as my study Bible says, where He is, so is the kingdom of heaven.  Some two thousand years later, we are still on that journey, and it is a new one for each generation, for each person who receives Him and participates in His life and community of the Church and all the communion of saints.  May we continue to bear the fruits of repentance and of the Spirit, for it remains His light that guides us and shows us the way out of our own darkness.

 

 

 

 

Away with you, Satan!

 

 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be temped by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' "

 

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written:

    'He shall give His angels charge over you,'

and,

    'In their hands they shall bear you up,

    Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' "

Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.' "

 

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

 

- Matthew 4:1-11 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"  But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, sarom heying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

 

  Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be temped by the devil.  My study Bible explains that to be tempted means to be tested in fundamental areas of faith.  It is the Holy Spirit who leads Jesus into the wilderness after His Baptism to be tested by a struggle with the devil.  (In St. Mark's Gospel, the Greek literally reads that the Spirit "throws" Jesus into the wilderness.)  My study Bible remarks that we who are baptized in Christ need not be defeated by temptations because we also are aided by the Holy Spirit.  It says explains that the wilderness is a battleground, an image of the world -- both the dwelling place of demons and also a source of divine tranquility and victory.  

And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. In the whole of today's reading, Jesus effectively reverses the falling to temptation of Israel in the wilderness.  The Israelites were tested for forty years in the wilderness, and proved disobedient and disloyal.  My study Bible explains that God humbled them by first letting them go hungry and then feeding them with manna to help them learn to be dependent on Him (Deuteronomy 8:2-5).  Here in today's passage, Jesus is tested with hunger for forty days, but He does not sin.  All of His answers to Satan are from Deuteronomy, and all call for loyalty to God -- which Jesus' life and righteousness exemplify.  My study Bible adds that Jesus fasted to overcome temptation, and in so doing gives us an example of our own power and limitations in the face of temptation.  It's not the hunger of His flesh that controls Him.  Instead, He controls His flesh.  The Lord's fast of forty days is the foundation of the forty-day Lenten fast in the Church before Holy Week, and also of a traditional fast before Christmas.  

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' "  Here the devil challenges the relationship of Christ to the Father.  If You are the Son of God isn't simply a taunt to Jesus, but it also calls into question the Father's declaration at Christ's Baptism (see yesterday's reading, above), challenging Christ's faith and obedience.  The devil, my study Bible says, wants Jesus to act independently and to detach Himself from the will of God the Father.  In Christ's divine nature, it notes, He shares one will with the Father and the Holy Spirit; He can do nothing of Himself (John 5:30), separately from God the Father.  But in Jesus' humanity, He has free will, and therefore at all times He must choose to remain obedient to the divine will of the Father. Jesus responds to the tempter by quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3.  By rejecting this first temptation, Jesus is rejecting an earthly kingdom.  He also shows us not to pursue earthly comfort alone in the "food which perishes" (John 6:27).  My study Bible remarks that while Adam disregarded the divine word in order to pursue the passions of the body (Genesis 3), the New Adam -- Christ -- conquers all temptation by the divine word, which gives human nature the power to conquer Satan. 

 

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, / Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  The holy city is Jerusalem.  Again, the devil tries to shake Christ's confidence and loyalty to God the Father, saying "If You are the Son of God . . .. "  My study Bible says that as Christ had defeated the devil through the power of the Scriptures, Satan now vainly tries to use the Scriptures to put God's power of protection to the test.  The devil is quoting from Psalm 91:11, 12. 

Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.' "  Again, Jesus quotes from the book of Deuteronomy and the story of Israel's temptations in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 6:16).  My study Bible explains that trials and temptations come on their own; we should never intentionally expose ourselves to danger in order to test or prove God's protection.  To do so is to tempt the LORD.

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.  My study Bible comments that God's Kingdom is not one of earthly power and possessions.  It says that in the devil's test, Jesus was being asked to choose worldly power over the Kingdom of God.  The devil is the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31), "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), because the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19).  Here, Christ is refusing the road of earthly glory, which would lead Him away from His suffering and death for the redemption of the world, as my study Bible notes.  Jesus quotes again from Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 6:13, 10:20; see also Joshua 24:14, referring to the same event).

How do we worship the devil?  Does the devil come to us and claim that if we worship him, he will give us all that we want?  Well, it might not happen in this clearly declarative way in people's experience (that would be quite frightening to witness), but temptations come nonetheless, and in ways that we can all relate to through the examples here.  If we pay close attention to our prayer lives, we might find that we are prompted in deep prayer to a kind of humility that doesn't make sense in terms of "the world's" logic.  In the world, we are constantly tempted -- particularly on the internet -- to conform and aspire to all kinds of images and acquisition of things that will impress others, declare us to be "good" or "superior" in some sense, perhaps even "great" in terms of achievement or the things we have.  There are numerous studies regarding, for example, internet use and young people in terms of the depression caused not through isolation alone, but through the endless feed of impossible images to acquire for oneself.  This is particularly true when it comes to body image for young women.  These are all forms of temptation that ask us to turn away from the heart -- and concerns about the state of our hearts -- to outward acquisitions that will favorably impress others or give us a sense of being acceptable on purely worldly terms.  Great skill, hard work, beauty in whatever form (such as dance, art, music), are all wonderful things to enjoy.  But at the expense of devotion to God, to what is truly good for us, even to the place of our communion with God where we'll find true identity (and not something patched together from what the world is offering today), none of these things are worthwhile in the sense that they take us off the path of our own righteousness and love of God.  The communion with God of the heart is the place where from which Christ speaks for all of us when He expresses His loyalty to the Father.  It is in this place where we find the One who loves us and knows us better than we know ourselves, and who can teach us who we are and what we need to pursue in life and even in the world.  This is the place where we learn both love of God and proper love of neighbor.  The themes we have encountered so far in our readings in St. Matthew's Gospel which have begun this week all center on what constitutes righteousness.  Jesus exemplifies the love and loyalty to God -- lived faithfulness -- that define what it means to be truly righteous.  When we have the humility necessary to understand that we need this guidance, then we can find Christ who has lived and experienced this world for us first, to show us His light so that we can walk in it through a world filled with temptations to  false and misleading ways in life.  They may look good, but don't deliver.  Above all, we will find the love that anchors it all in a deep sense of being truly cared for.  Let us trust in Him and His way for us.  Let us note how all the things offered to Christ are things that would make Him "great" on worldly terms.  But His loyalty to the Father comes first, and the greatness of Christ is what will be accomplished through humility, loyalty, and love.

 

 

 

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of disease among the people

 

 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.  

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. 

 

- Matthew 4:18-25

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:  The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."  From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

 

  And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.   My study Bible tells us that these first disciples had already heard the preaching of John the Baptist, and so they were prepared to accept Christ immediately (see John 1:35-51).  It says that although they were illiterate and unlearned in religion, these "people of the land" called by Christ will be revealed at Pentecost to be the wisest of all.  

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.  My study Bible asks us to note that the crowds do not swarm Jesus when He commands repentance (see yesterday's reading, above), but only when He begins to heal and to work miracles.  This shows that the people misunderstand the true nature of His Kingdom.  It also shows Christ's concession, in the words of Theophylact, "to give credibility to what He teaches" among the inconsistent multitudes. 

At this time in Israel's history, expectations of a worldly Messiah, who would deliver the people from the Romans -- like a great king in the style of David -- were very high.  So much so, that the people await one who can do what Jesus does, and be accompanied by the signs prophesied in the Scriptures.  But Jesus is not going to be that kind of worldly king or deliverer, and He comes preaching repentance.  The stage is, therefore, already set for the conflicts that will arise later on in Christ's ministry.  People will be annoyed with Him (such as in His home town of Nazareth, as His neighbors simply cannot accept this identity in the Person they know as the carpenter's son; see Matthew 13:53-58), they'll be outraged at Him, eventually His very persecution will center on this idea that He could be the Christ.  The religious leaders will claim He stands convicted of blasphemy for even answering their question about this identity (Matthew 26:63-65).  Although John the Baptist had many followers, and preached a baptism of repentance in preparation for the Messiah (see this reading), Jesus the Messiah is a completely different proposition, and the expectations for a Messiah are much more worldly than the Messiah that Christ actually is.  He does not come as a conquering king who will re-establish the kingdom of Israel, but He comes instead preaching the kingdom of heaven.  But when Jesus begins using divine power to heal, that is another matter.  These are signs of the kingdom of heaven being quite present, effecting cures prophesied for the time of the Messiah, such as in these passages from Isaiah:  "In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness" (Isaiah 29:18).  Moreover, Jesus has command over unclean spirits, and so also heals the afflictions caused by such, including torments.  This is one kind of a deliverer that makes sense, someone who can relieve people of these effects of a fallen world into which has come death and sin.  So, therefore His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.  So Jesus now has followers from everywhere in the historical Jewish world, and soon even those who come as pilgrims to Jerusalem will before long be seeking Him as well.  Note that He preaches the gospel of the kingdom as He teaches in the synagogues of all Galilee.  In our next reading, Jesus will begin preaching the greatest sermon we know on the gospel of the kingdom, the Sermon on the Mount.  For now, let us consider into what world of expectations Jesus comes as a Man, One who preaches repentance and the kingdom, but also bears signs of the Messiah.