THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
Lesson 4: Chapter 4
Narrative
#1 Continued: The Temptation of the Son of God and the Beginning of the
Galilean Ministry
Lord God,
Your Holy Spirit is our shield against the temptations of
Satan; it is Satan who calls us daily to conform to the world instead of being
transformed by the life of Jesus. Help us, Lord, to see that the things
that appear to be pleasing in this world are only temporary. Give us a
desire for that which is eternal and imperishable. We pray in the name of
God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
+ + +
Chapter 4: Satan Tests Jesus and the Beginning of Jesus' Galilean Ministry
So you say to
Pharaoh: Thus says the LORD: Israel is my son, my first-born.
Exodus 4:22
St. Paul
tells us that the human race takes its origin from two men: Adam and Christ ...
The first man, Adam, he says became a living soul, the last Adam a life-giving
spirit. The first Adam was made by the last Adam, from whom he also
received his soul, to give him life ... The second Adam stamped his image on the
first Adam when he created him. That is why he took on himself the role
and the same of the first Adam, in order that he might not lose what he had made
in his own image. The first Adam, the last Adam: the first had a
beginning, the last knows no end. The last Adam is indeed the first; as he
himself says: "I am the first and the last."
St Peter Chrysologus,
Sermon 117
I do not want you
to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all
passed through the sea, and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud
and the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same
spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and
the rock was the Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4
At His baptism, Jesus was proclaimed the Son of God (Mt 3:17). After His baptism, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to face a three-fold covenant ordeal as Satan tested Jesus' loyalty and obedience to God (Mt 4:1-3). A covenant ordeal is a test of faith in God as sovereign Lord and a test of one's obedience to the will of God for one's life. In each of Jesus' three tests, Satan tempted Jesus to rebel against God. Each test resembled the tests in which the Israelites, the "sons of God" (Ex 4:22), lacked faith and rebelled against God during their 40 years in the wilderness. St. Matthew personifies Jesus as the true Israel and the true Son in contrast with Israel the rebellious and disobedient son. Jesus' covenant ordeal also reminds us of Adam's covenant ordeal in the garden Sanctuary in Eden when Satan, disguised as a serpent, tempted Adam, God's first-born son in the family of man, by inviting Adam and Eve to rebel against God by making their own choices contrary to the will of God (Gen 3:1-13). Obedience is a characteristic of true sonship. Jesus is the new Adam and the new Israel; He is the obedient Son who rejected each of Satan's temptations.
Matthew 4:1-11 ~ The Temptation of the New Adam
1 Then Jesus was led
by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and
afterwards he was hungry. 3
The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that
these stones become loaves of bread."
4 He said in reply, "It is written: One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.'
5 Then the devil took
him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, 6 and 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, least you dash
your foot against a stone.'" 7
Jesus answered him, Again, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the
test.'"
8 Then the devil took
him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in
their magnificence, 9 and he said to
him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship
me." 10 At this, Jesus said to
him, "Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you
worship and him alone shall your serve.'"
11Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.
After Jesus' baptism, He crossed the Jordan River. Immediately after crossing from Perea into Judah, Jesus was led into the Judean desert by the Holy Spirit where He fasted for 40 days and nights. The number 40 is recognized as an important number in Scripture on account of the frequency of its occurrence and the uniformity of its association as both a time of consecration and as a period of trial and testing.
Question: What are some examples in Scripture where
the number 40 is found?
Answer: Examples for the Old and New Testaments:
At the end of His ordeal of fasting and prayer, Jesus was hungry like any man. Recognizing His physical weakness, Satan saw an opportune time to test Jesus to see if He was indeed the promised Messiah. The Greek word diabolos (in the LXX and the New Testament) is usually translated "devil," but in Hebrew the word is satan, meaning "adversary" or "accuser" as in a court of law. An example from the book of Job is "the satan" standing in the heavenly court accusing the man Job (Job 1:1-8); and also the use of the word "accuser/satan" in Ps 109:6-7: Find a lying witness, an accuser [satan] to stand by his right hand, that his plea may judged and found guilty, that his plea may be in vain. The most frequent use in the Old Testament, however, is in the metaphorical sense of an adversary (for example see 1 Sam 29:4) Every place the title "Satan" is found in the Old Testament it is preceded by the definite article "the;" the one exception is in 1 Chronicles 21:1 where it is a proper name.
Question: Who is Satan? See Rev 12:7-9 and
CCC 391-95 and 2852.
Answer: He is a created being who was once an angel
but who is now the adversary of both God and man. Revelation 12:9
identifies Satan as the same serpent who tempted Adam and Eve into sin and
became the "deceiver of the whole world."
In Isaiah 14:11-15, God promised His people that the day would come when the King of Babylon would be held accountable for the suffering he caused the Israelites, and the people would taunt the Babylonian king concerning his downfall. Within the lines of the taunt, the king is compared to another evil force, a beautiful creature whose pride led to his downfall when in his 5 "I wills" he declared himself God's enemy (Is 14:13-14). A similar passage is found in Ezekiel 28:11-19 where the lament over the king of Tyre also takes on a descriptive dimension of the fall of Satan: In Eden, the garden of God, you were, and every precious stone was your covering ... blameless you were in your conduct from the day you were created, until evil was found in you ...Then I banned you from the mountain of God; the Cherub drove your from among the fiery stones. You became haughty of heart because of your beauty; for the sake of splendor you debased your wisdom. I cast you to the earth, so great was your guilt ... (Ez 13-17).(1) In his first letter to the Church, St. John wrote: Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn 3:8).
Matthew 4:3 The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread."
Question: Satan begins the test by asking Jesus to
give proof that He is the "Son of God." Does this mean Satan knows Jesus
is God's divine Son? What is meant by the title "Son of God"? Who
else in the Old Testament bore this title? See Job 1:16; Ex 4:22; Wis
18:3/4; Dt 14:1; Mt 5:9, 45; Ps 2:7; 89:26; 2 Sam 7:8, 12-14; 1 Chr 17:13.
Answer: Satan is not certain that Jesus is the
Messiah, therefore, he tests Jesus. "Son of God" was a title that was also
assigned to:
Question: How will Jesus describe His rank of divine
sonship as different the others who bore the title previously in salvation
history? See Mt 4:11; 7:21; 22:42-46; Mk 1:13; Jn 10:15, 29-30; 14:9-10,
20; 16:15.
Answer:
Question: What events will confirm Jesus' claim to the
unique title "Son of God"?
Answer: The Resurrection and Ascension.
In His encounter with Satan, Jesus the Son of God is enacting both Adam's temptation by the Serpent in the Garden of Eden and Israel's temptations in the desert after leaving Egypt as God's "first-born son" among the nations of the earth (Ex 4:22-23). St. Paul called Jesus the "last Adam" (1 Cor 15:21-22, 45-47), and the Fathers of the Church called Him the "new Adam" and the "second Adam" (CCC 359 and 504).
Question: St. John the Apostle wrote: Do not love the world or the things of the
world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a
pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world (1 Jn 1:15-16). St. John has summed up the temptations of the world into three
categories: sensual lust (desires of the flesh), enticement for the eyes, and a
pretentious life (1 Jn 2:15-16). What comparisons can be made
between the temptation of Adam and the temptation of Jesus, and how does John's
list of the world's temptations compare to Satan's testing of both Adam and
Jesus? Quote the significant verses.
Answer:
| The Temptations of the First and Second Adams Contrasted | ||
| Temptations |
The first Adam Genesis 3:1-6 |
Jesus, the new Adam Matthew 4:1-10 |
| The devil's invitation to rebellion | "Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees...?" | The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God ... |
| Hunger, a desire of the flesh | The woman saw that the tree was good for food | command that these stones become loaves of bread" |
| Enticement for the eyes: | pleasing to the eyes, and | the devil...showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence |
|
The pride of a
pretentious life (power)
|
desirable for gaining wisdom | If you are the Son ...throw Yourself down ... He will command his angels concerning you ... |
|
Michal E. Hunt © 2011 (Jesus' temptations are in the order found in Lk 4:1-13) |
||
Question: What comparisons can be made between the
desert testing experiences of Jesus, the Son of God, and the Israelites, the
sons of God?
Answer:
| Israel | Jesus |
| Israel is God's "first-born son" from among the nations of the earth (Ex 4:22-23) | Jesus is the Son of God (Mt 3:17) |
| The Israelites were baptized by passing through the waters of the Red Sea and then, accompanied by God's spirit in the pillar of cloud and fire, they went into the desert (Ex 13:21-22; 14:21-22; 15:22) | After Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River, the Spirit of God led Jesus into the desert (Mt 4:1) |
|
The Israelites were in the desert for 40 years where they
suffered from hunger (Ex 16:2-3) |
After 40 days and nights in the desert, Jesus was hungry (Mt 4:2) |
| God tested Israel (Ex 16:4; Dt 8:2) |
God allowed Satan to test Jesus (Mt 4:1-11) |
|
The Israelites continually failed their tests of covenant
obedience and loyalty, even to the point of worshiping a golden idol (Ex 32:1-6) |
Jesus passed His tests. He remained faithful and
obedient to God, and He refused to bow down to worship Satan (Mt 4:10) |
|
Michal E. Hunt © 2011 |
|
Satan is Jesus' great adversary. Jesus describes the devil as "a murderer from the beginning" who "does not stand in truth because there is no truth in him" (Jn 8:44). Jesus' mission is not only to free mankind from bondage to sin and death but to "destroy the works of the devil;" the most heinous of his works was to lead man to disobey God (1 Jn 3:8, CCC 394).
In Jesus' contest with Satan, the devil addressed Jesus three times, quoting Scripture once from Psalm 91:10-12 and using the formula statement "it is written" (verse 6). In reply, Jesus quoted Scripture three times from Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:16 and 6:13, using the formula "it is written" twice in verses 4 and 7.
Question: What do all of Jesus' quotations from
Scripture have in common? Read those passages in context in the book of
Deuteronomy. What three similar tests did the Israelite's face in the
desert? See Ex 16:3-4; 17:7 and 32:1-6.
Answer: All Jesus' quotes from Scripture are from
passages in Deuteronomy where Moses recalls Israel's testing in the desert
journey from Egypt to Mt Sinai. Jesus' temptations recall how He was faced
with three similar tests:
Question: Compare the three tests of the Israelites
prior to the ratification of the Sinai Covenant (Ex 24) to Jesus three tests.
What is different about Jesus’ tests?
Answer: Satan gave Jesus three similar tests;
however, unlike the Israelite "sons of God," Jesus, the obedient and faithful
Son, passed His three tests:
| Israel | Jesus |
| 1. Israel was tested when the people complained of hunger; God gave them manna (Ex 16:3, 4) | Jesus was hungry when Satan challenged Him to make bread out of stones (Mt 3:2-3) |
|
2. Israel put God to the test at Massah and Meribah to prove God was with them (Ex 17:7) |
Jesus refused to put God to the test when Satan challenged Him to prove He was the Son of God (Mt 3:6) |
|
3. Israel yielded to the temptation to commit idolatry in the sin of the Golden Calf (Ex 32:1-6) |
Jesus refused to bow down and worship Satan (Mt 3:9) |
| Michal E. Hunt © 2011 | |
Question: During the desert period, the Israelites
often tested God's faithfulness. When they were ready to possess the land
of Canaan what three warnings/perils did Moses give the children of Israel in
Deuteronomy 6:10-16?
Answer: In Deuteronomy 6:10-16 Moses gave three
warnings/perils the Israelites will face when they live in the land of Canaan.
The Israelites will be in danger of losing the blessings God promised the
Patriarchs and will be driven from the land if:
Jesus will not fail as the Israelites failed. He will fulfill all His obligations as an obedient Son of God during His covenant ordeal.
Test #1: 3 The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread." 4 He said in reply, "It is written: One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.'
In the first test Satan, approached Jesus to test Him to see if He would reveal Himself as the divine Messiah by commanding a rock to turn into bread to feed His hunger "no ordinary "son of God" would have that power over the natural world. Jesus responded to Satan's test by quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3. In that passage, Moses tells the children of Israel: Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments. He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD (Dt 8:2-3; emphasis added).
Question: In that passage, what did Moses tell
the Israelite "sons of God" was the reason for the 40 years in the wilderness?
Answer: During the years in the wilderness, God tested
the Israelites to see if they would be obedient to His commandments by allowing
them to be afflicted with hunger and then showed them His faithfulness to
provide for their needs by feeding them manna, bread from heaven.
Moses continued his address to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8:7-9. In that passage, Moses told the people if they are faithful that God will give them the land He promised them. Then Moses describes the Promised Land as a new "Eden" where everything they need will be provided by God.
In the first test, Jesus rejected Satan's taunt; He did not come to serve His own fleshly desires but to do the will of the Father.
Question: How can the context of Moses' remarks in
Deuteronomy chapter 8, which links the manna from heaven to a test in obedience
to the "word of God" (Dt 8:3), and the description of Canaan as a new Eden give
us greater insight into Jesus' reply to Satan? Also see Ex 16:1a, Jn 1:1;
and 6:28-35, 47-58 where Jesus refers to the manna of the fathers and then to
Himself as "the bread which comes down from heaven." What is ironic about
Jesus' response to Satan?
Answer: Jesus' reply is that it is not material bread
which nourishes the physical body that ultimately gives life, but the Word of
God. In the Old Covenant "life" meant obedience to the Law of God, but
there is more in what Jesus responds to Satan than the meaning of "life" in the
Old Covenant. The irony is that Jesus is Himself the "Living Word" and He
is the "Living Bread come down from heaven." It is He who ultimately gives
life that lasts to eternity, and the "bread" that He will give to provide
eternal life is not like the manna that only gave temporal life. His
"manna" is His Body which is "the Living Bread" and the future gift of the
Eucharist. Jesus' Body becomes the true Tree of Life that sustains man's
immortality, like the Tree of Life in Eden. Jesus will give man the
necessary spiritual nourishment on the journey to the new Eden that is heaven.
Test #2: 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, 6 and 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, least you dash your foot against a stone.'" 7 Jesus answered him, Again, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.'"
In the second test, Satan quotes from Psalm 91:10-12. This passage is proof that even the devil can quote Scripture and twist it to his advantage. Satan's taunt is for Jesus to demonstrate He is God's Son by testing God's promise to deliver His elect: Whoever clings to me I will deliver; whoever known my name I will set on high (Ps 91:14). For a second time Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy, this time from 6:16, refusing to "test" God by demanding a supernatural show of power, unlike the Israelites.
Question: What did Moses tell the Israelites in
Deuteronomy 6:16? Also see Ex 17:7; and Dt 9:22-23. What is the
meaning of the word "Massah" and how are those passages related to Jesus'
response?
Answer: In Deuteronomy 6:16, Moses told the people: You shall not put
the LORD, your God, to the test, as you did at Massah. He was
referring to the events in Exodus 17:1-7 where the Israelites
quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD in our midst or not?
(Ex 17:7). The Hebrew word "Massah" means "testing" (Ex 17:1-7 and Dt 9:22-23). At Massah the thirsty Israelites challenged God to provide them
with water, behaving rebelliously instead of with faith and trust. Moses'
message to the Israelites was that rather than testing God, Israel should be
loyal, diligent and obedient. Yahweh's promised blessings in the Promised Land
were conditional upon Israel's obedience. Jesus is God's faithful and
obedient Son. Jesus' second test recalls the Israelites' failure at
Massah. Jesus' response to Satan is that He will not test God; He will put
His trust and faith in His Father's promises.
Test #3: 8 Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, 9 and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." 10 At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall your serve.'
In the last test, the devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth if Jesus will bow down and worship him.
Question: Does Satan have the authority to make this
offer? See Jn 12:31.
Answer: Apparently he does have that authority; from
the time of man's Fall from grace when Adam and Eve rejected God's sovereignty
over them, Satan has been the "prince of the earth."
Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy chapter six again, as He did in the second test, this time quoting from verse 13. In Deuteronomy 6:12-13 Moses told the Israelites: ... be careful you do not forget Yahweh who has brought you out of Egypt, out of the place of slave-labor. Yahweh your God is the one you must fear, him alone you must serve, his is the name by which you must swear (NJB).
Question: In Moses' warning to the Israelites, what
contrast is he making and what is the significance of swearing by God's name?
Answer: In Moses statement, serving Yahweh stands in
contrast to the fact that they had once served the Egyptian Pharaoh (worshiped
as a god-king) as vassals (Dt 8:12). The statement "his is the name by
which you must swear" suggests a loyalty oath of allegiance to the Israel's new
king who is also Israel's God.
Question: What is Jesus' point in quoting from this
passage? Compare Jesus' faith and obedience to the failures of Israel and
Adam.
Answer: Unlike the Israelites who were the "first-born
sons of God" among the nations of the earth, and unlike Adam, God's firstborn
son in the human family, Jesus' is the true Son whose allegiance cannot be
swayed by hardship like the Israelites (who lost faith and worshipped the Golden
Calf) or by Satan's promises of self-glorification to which Adam submitted
himself (Satan promised Adam he would be god-like if he disobeyed God and ate
the forbidden fruit). Jesus' loyalty and obedience is to God the Father
alone.
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him. After completing His covenant ordeal, the angels of the heavenly court came to minister/serve Jesus. St. Luke has a slightly different order for the three tests and concludes Jesus' ordeal with the statement: Having exhausted every way of putting him to the test, the devil left him, until the opportune moment (Lk 4:13, NJB).
Question: When was Jesus' last test of obedience and
Satan's last "opportune moment"?
Answer: Jesus' final test came as He prayed alone in
the Garden of Gethsemane and made His final act of obedience and submission to
the will of God the Father.
Matthew 4:12-17 ~ The Beginning of Jesus' Galilean Ministry
12 When he heard that
John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum
by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that what had been said through Isaiah the
prophet might be fulfilled: 15 "Land
of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee
of the Gentiles, 16 the peoples who
sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land
overshadowed by death a light has risen.
17 From that time on,
Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Jesus stayed in Judea and Perea until St. John was arrested and then He withdrew to the Galilee. Herod Antipas ruled both Perea (on the east side of the Jordan River) and the Galilee in the northeast.(2)
Question: Who arrested John the Baptist and why?
John was baptizing repentant sinners on the east side of the Jordan River in the
territory of Perea. See Mt 14:3-5.
Answer: Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great,
arrested him because John publically condemned Herod's marriage to Herodias, his
niece and the wife of his half-brother Philip.
Matthew 4:13 He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea ... After John's arrest, Jesus returned to His boyhood town of Nazareth in the Galilee. Then, He left Nazareth and went to make Capernaum His home and the headquarters of His ministry; in Matthew 9:1 Capernaum is called "his own city." Capernaum was a major port for the fishing industry on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee about 23 miles from Nazareth. One of the reasons Jesus relocated to Capernaum may have been because of its strategic location near the Via Maris, the major trade route that extended from Egypt, passing through the Galilee and on to other centers of trade in Syria, Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. Jesus didn't have to go the people; they came to Him on the Via Maris. Jesus began His public ministry in Capernaum by teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath (Mk 1:21).
Matthew 4:13b-16 ... in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: 15 "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, 16 the peoples who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death a light has risen.
Matthew again uses the fulfillment formula, quoting Isaiah 8:23-9:1. In chapter 7 Isaiah promised that that God would deliver the King Ahaz of Judah from his enemies. But a year later, neither the kingdoms of Israel or Judah remember God's merciful intervention and their sins now cause the prophet to condemn them to judgment and to prophesy the rise of the nation of Assyria and the means of their punishment. The first blow was to fall on the Galilee, but the prophet also promised there would one day be restoration: First he degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the end he has glorified the seaward road, the land west of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles. Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness: for there is no gloom where but now there was distress. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light ... (Is 8:23).
In the division of the land of Canaan, the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali occupied the lands north and west of the Sea of Galilee (Josh 19:10-16; 32-39). When the United Monarchy failed, Zebulun and Naphtali became part of the Northern Kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel. In 733-32 BC the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser invaded the Galilee and took the conquered Israelites eastward into exile in Assyrian lands. The tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali became the first Israelites conquered by a foreign power and taken away into exile (2 Kng 15:27-29). The 8th century prophet Isaiah of Judah describes that terrible time as "darkness" and "death."
Question: Isaiah's promise is that after the judgment
of the Assyrian invasion and exile there will be a future restoration that will
like a "great light," and a "rising light." What is the rest of the prophecy in
Is 9:5-6? Why does St. Matthew say this entire prophecy (Is 9:1-6) is now
fulfilled in Jesus and what is the connection to Isaiah's 7:14 prophecy?
Answer: Jesus is the "light;" He has risen from His
baptism in the Jordan River to become the "rising light" that has come to renew
and restore His people in the very first place where Israel was torn apart.
Jesus is fulfillment of the rest of Isaiah's prophecy "He is the child born to
Israel from David's line "upon whose shoulder "dominion rests;" He will be
called "Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace." He
is the child "God with us/Emmanuel" prophesied in Isaiah 7:14.
Question: In Christian liturgy and tradition, Isaiah 9:5-6 is used to refer to Jesus Christ. How are the 5 attributes of the
"son" given to Israel in verse 5 of Isaiah's prophecy fulfilled in Jesus?
Answer:
Do not miss the part of Isaiah's prophecy that describes the Galilee as a land of the Gentiles (Is 8:23; Mt 4:15). Gentiles did not begin to populate Israelite territory in the Galilee until the Assyrian invasion in the 8th century BC, and their numbers did not begin to be significant until the 2nd century BC.(3)
Question: Why is it that Isaiah is prophesying a
Galilee heavily populated by Gentiles that will occur long after his time?
What is the connection to Jesus? What is the focus of Jesus' messianic
mission? See Mt 10:6; 15:24; 28:19.
Answer: Jesus' messianic mission is to restore and
renew Israel, as promised by the prophets. It will be the men and women of
the new Israel of the New Covenant that will carry the Gospel message of
salvation to the Gentiles. Jesus' ministry in the multiethnic Galilee
foreshadows the Church's later mission to call the peoples of all nations to
salvation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 4:17 From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
This is the official beginning of Jesus' ministry. His message is the same as St. John the Baptist (Mt 3:1). The formula saying "from that time on Jesus began," found in 4:17 and 16:21, divides the Gospel into three sections. The phrase in 4:17 signals the beginning of Jesus' ministry and the proclamation of the Kingdom.
Matthew 4:18-22 ~ Jesus Calls His first Disciples
18As 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 fishers of men." 20 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.
Question: Was this the first time these men had come
in contact with Jesus? What significant earlier exchange did Simon have
with Jesus? See Jn 1:25-42.
Answer: No, earlier when Jesus was still in the
south after His baptism, all four men had been introduced to Jesus on the shores
of the Jordan River and had spent time talking with Him.
Then, that same day in the Galilee when He called them to become His disciples,
they had witnessed Jesus' supernatural powers in their harvest of fish.
It was a demonstration that left little doubt for them about Jesus' true identity.
During the earlier encounter on the banks of the Jordan River, Andrew and another of John the Baptist's disciples (probably John Zebedee) spent a day talking with Jesus at that time (Jn 1:35-38, 40). The next day Andrew brought his brother Simon (Peter) to meet Jesus, telling Simon that he had found the Messiah (Jn 1:41-42). At that time Jesus told Simon he was to be called "Kephas," meaning "Rock" (1 Jn 1:42).(4)
Note: John 1:39 records that it was the "tenth hour" that Andrew and his friend saw Jesus and stayed with Him "all that day." The tenth hour Roman time is 10 AM. It is unlikely that the time reference is Jewish time since the 10th hour Jewish time is 4 PM and the Jewish day ended at sundown.
Question: What was the response of these fishermen to
Jesus' call when they met Him a second time on the shore of the Sea of Galilee?
Answer: They left everything in their former lives and
followed Jesus.
The call of the four fishermen to leave their occupation as fishers of fish to become fishers of men as Jesus promised in 4:19 may be a fulfillment of Jeremiah 16:14-16: However, the days will surely come, says the LORD, when it will no longer be said, "As the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites out of Egypt"; but rather, "as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of the north and out of all the countries to which he had banished them." I will bring them back to the land which I gave their fathers. Look, I will send many fishermen, says the LORD, to catch them. After that, I will send many hunters to hunt them out from every mountain and hill and from the clefts of the rocks (emphasis added).
Matthew 4:23-25 ~ Jesus Proclaims the Kingdom and Ministers to the Multitude
23 He went around all of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people. 24 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 And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.
Like other prophets of God before Him, Jesus cured the sick and cast out demons. His healing miracles were signs that His authority was from God. Syria was the Roman province north of the Galilee.
Question for group discussion
Question: How does Jesus' testing by Satan provide
practical applications for Christians who are faced with circumstances that test
their faith and obedience? Give three examples. See Eph 6:17; Heb 2:18; 4:12, 16; Jn 16:24; Mt 3:16; 28:19; Acts 2:38; Rom 6:4.
Answer:
Endnotes:
1. Also see Job 1-2 where Satan has access to the heavenly court and where he is shown to be the opponent of man and God. Christian baptism is a renunciation of the devil (CCC 1237).
2. Herod Antipas was married to Herodias, a granddaughter of Herod the Great and his wife Mariamme, the last Hasmonean princess. Herodias was first married to her uncle Philip-Herod Boethus (Herod Antipas's half-brother) by whom she had a daughter named Salome (see Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 18.5.2). Herodias left her husband for Herod Antipas (also her uncle). Their marriage was forbidden under the Law of the Sinai Covenant (see Lev 18:16 and 20:21) and therefore was condemned by St. John the Baptist.
3. The Galilee was the homeland of several Israelite tribes until the Assyrian conquest in the 8th century BC. It was an Assyrian practice to deport the population of a region and to bring in other conquered peoples to take their place; this was the beginning of Gentile populations in the Galilee and Samaria (Northern Israel; see 2 Kng 17:22-24). With the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, the Gentile population increased. The Gentile population in the region grew significantly between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. Ten Gentile Greek-culture cities west of the Galilee, in a region called the Decapolis (ten cities; see 1 Mac 5:15), were established as a federation of free cities under Roman rule after the Roman conquest of 63 BC, and the two largest cities in the Galilee in Jesus time, Sepphoris (the capital of the Galilee) and Tiberius, were heavily populated by Greek culture Gentiles.
4. Jesus will not officially rename Simon "Kephas" (rock in Aramaic) and "Petros" in Greek (masculine) until a significant event in the 16th chapter of Matthew.
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2010 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
Catechism references
|
4:1-11 |
394, 2849* |
|
4:4 |
2835 |
|
4:10 |
2083, 2135 |
|
4:11 |
333* |
|
4:17 |
1720*, 1989 |
|
4:19 |
878* |
|
4:21 |
878* |
|
4:24 |
1503* |