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NOTES for Mat 4:12-17

Printable version
12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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Why did Christ need to withdraw to Galilee? According to ordinary human logic, He should have gone to preach in places where there were more educated people, people knowledgeable in Scripture and therefore better prepared, places where it would be easier to be heard. And in days when a widely known preacher is being imprisoned, it would be better to quiet down altogether, but at the same time secure the support of influential people, wait, and at a convenient moment begin preaching with their backing.

But Christ follows His own logic, one that is incomprehensible by ordinary human standards. Even to a sympathetic observer, His preaching could have looked like taking up the baton that had fallen from John's hands. After all, Jesus repeats John's words: repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near. But soon, already in Galilee, the difference between the two teachings will begin to emerge, and one will give way to the other. Christ will increase, and John will decrease. Yet Christ's greatness is inseparably bound up with His self-emptying, and one of the expressions of that self-emptying was His withdrawal to Galilee, a remote province on the border of pagan lands. It is here that an event, at first noticed by few, takes place, an event that changed the world: the preaching of the Savior.

Other notes

 
For Mat 4:12-17
12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Hide
For two thousand years now, many people, by no means only Christians among them, have tried to formulate...  Read more

For two thousand years now, many people, by no means only Christians among them, have tried to formulate the central thing that Jesus wanted to tell the world. Yet the message He brought can essentially be expressed in a single sentence: repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near. In fact, He said nothing else; everything else was merely testimony to the truth of these central words, a clear and visible demonstration that the Kingdom people had awaited, of which the Old Testament prophets had already spoken, had at last truly "drawn near," that it was already close at hand, already entering our world and transforming it, so that everyone who seeks the Kingdom now has the opportunity to share in the life for which he has longed. Of course, for such participation to become possible, much in one's life will have to be reconsidered and changed. Nor can relationships among people who live in the Kingdom remain the same as relationships among those who live by the law of our world, a world that is being transformed but is still far from fully transformed. Every New Testament book without exception tells us about this new life, the life of the Kingdom. But these books gather the testimony of those who encountered Christ and came to share in the Kingdom; they are only an illustration of the main thing. And the main thing, which constitutes the essence of Christianity, was expressed in a single sentence of the Savior: repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near.

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For Mat 4:12-23
12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Hide
The key word in today's Gospel reading is light. The evangelist tells us that the Lord's arrival...  Read more

The key word in today's Gospel reading is light. The evangelist tells us that the Lord Jesus' arrival in Galilee became for the inhabitants of that land the appearance of the great light prophesied by Isaiah. The Lord Himself speaks in a similar way in His conversation with Nicodemus, as the evangelist John tells us. The Lord said that judgment upon the world consists in this: the light has come into the world. This is certainly not about the mysterious radiance of the Godhead that sometimes accompanies the revelation of the Almighty's glory. Rather, we should recall the words of the psalm: “Your word is a lamp to my feet.” Christ's coming enables us to see and distinguish good from evil, the way of life from the way of death. In His presence, we are able to see the truth about God, about ourselves and about the world. Although only some of us are granted a vision of the light of the Transfiguration, the uncreated radiance of God, the light of truth about which the prophet Isaiah and the evangelist Matthew speak today is given to everyone from the day the Lord began His ministry.

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For Mat 4:12-25
12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
Hide
Jesus begins His preaching where the preaching of John the Baptist broke off: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near"...  Read more

Jesus begins His preaching where the preaching of John the Baptist broke off: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near." But this is not the essence of His preaching. This very passage from the Gospel of Matthew describes His ministry most clearly: He calls disciples and thereby begins to build His Church; He preaches the Gospel of the Kingdom; and He reveals the works of God in this world, bearing witness that with His coming the relationship between God and the world has changed. Today's passage is a kind of "summary" of the whole Gospel that follows.

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For Mat 4:1-25
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
Hide
Today’s reading describes the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, preceded by the temptation in the wilderness...  Read more

Today’s reading describes the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry (vv. 12–25), preceded by the temptation in the wilderness (vv. 1–11). Why, one might ask, put through such a trial the One who was known in advance to be certain to withstand it? Yet there was a purpose to it. A human being always remains human, even when we are speaking of the Man in whom all the fullness of God dwells. Even such a Man is free and must therefore freely choose His path, just like every other human being. Divine will belongs to Jesus in the same fullness as to the heavenly Father, but human will has also been given to Him in all its fullness, so that for Him this choice was by no means a game or a mere formality. The trial itself was, in essence, a test of His readiness to avoid those temptingly easy paths that the devil has always tried to pass off as the true ones. The trap is that these paths promise to lead to the goal set by God, but without the effort that the path indicated by God will evidently require. The central theme of Jesus’ preaching becomes the Kingdom, which, He says, ‘has drawn near,’ and the call to turn to God, without which one cannot enter the Kingdom (v. 17). But how are people to be moved to turn to God? This is where the devil offers Jesus his ‘help.’ Turn stones into bread, feed the people, and then everyone will be ready to follow You into the Kingdom (v. 3). It seems a genuinely foolproof option: who would refuse free bread? Except that the incentive for those turning to God would then be bread, not the Kingdom. After all, humanity has always sought a convenient and profitable religion, and what all peoples have wanted from higher powers above all has been success in their affairs, military victories, and good harvests. If this is not stated openly today, it is often only because these requests have been replaced by talk of the ‘social function of religion’ and the ‘economic effectiveness’ of one denomination or another. Jesus, meanwhile, speaks of the word of God, of that living revelation and that fullness of communion with God without which there is no Kingdom and which no economic successes or achievements can replace (v. 4). Well then, if not bread, let it be a miracle: people will run after a miracle just as they will after free bread (vv. 5–6). Except that the miracles the devil offers Jesus are of a kind in which the human being takes no part at all. Something happens to a person; they see and hear what they would never otherwise have seen or heard; perhaps they change outwardly and may even sometimes see the Kingdom of which Jesus speaks. Yet inwardly they do not change at all. The question is not what a person wants or what they are ready to resolve to do for God and His Kingdom, but what God can do for that person. But God is ready to do everything for the human being; He has already proved this in action more than once, and there is no need to put Him to the test again (v. 7). Of course, if one could enter the Kingdom with a wave of a magic wand, there would be a vast number of willing takers. But simply finding oneself in the Kingdom is not enough; one must also let it into one’s heart. No magic wand can help with that: the person must decide for themselves. And so, when all his tricks have proved useless, the devil simply offers Jesus a bargain: just one act of obeisance in exchange for complete freedom of action in a world where the devil rules, and where acting without his consent means condemning oneself to certain defeat (vv. 9–10). The temptation is great: just one purely symbolic gesture, without witnesses at that, and no problems afterward. For if the devil does not intervene, neither will anyone else in the world where, before Christ’s coming, his power was truly unlimited. But Jesus understands that such a symbolic gesture means the devil will always stand behind Him, poisoning with his presence the Kingdom He is bringing into the world. Of course, the spirit of darkness seldom reveals this presence openly, but it is no accident that he shows Jesus the world precisely as ‘the kingdoms of the world and their glory’ (v. 8): wherever there is a state, especially a ‘glorious’ one, there will always be a place for the devil. Such is the nature of all power in the fallen world. It no longer matters what theory he uses to cloak his attempts to poison the life of Christ’s Church and turn the faithful away from the Kingdom: the doctrine of the ‘two swords,’ as once in the West; the theory of ‘symphonia,’ as at the same time in the East; or the idea of the ‘Kingdom of God on earth,’ as has often happened in later times. Only one thing can save us from such spiritual poison: unconditional faithfulness to God, to the living God whose fullness Jesus carries within Himself (v. 10). Only after overcoming these temptations does it become possible to dwell in the Kingdom and bear witness to it.

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For Mat 4:1-25
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
Hide
The Evangelist could hardly even have had the thought that Jesus' trial in the wilderness would end with Him yielding to Satan's temptation and falling into some sin. Rather, in the description of this strange dispute, where the Son of God and Satan exchange biblical quotations, there lies...  Read more

The Evangelist could hardly even have had the thought that Jesus' trial in the wilderness would end with Him yielding to Satan's temptation and falling into some sin. Rather, in the description of this strange dispute, where the Son of God and Satan exchange biblical quotations, there lies the deep choice that stood before Jesus: what path He would choose to carry out His mission, and exactly how God would appear to people and return them to true life.

The tempter offers Him the path of an earthly kingdom: for if He truly is the Son of God, then all the kingdoms of the earth rightfully belong to Him, all the countless legions of angels will fight for Him, the earth itself will turn His realm into paradise, and stones will become bread.

But the Lord chooses another path: He will not draw people by showy miracles and power; instead of slaves He will have disciples, who will come to know His divine glory without coercion, through faith and love.

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