TBR Bible study -- Matthew 4

Matthew 4

The Temptation of Jesus

1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."


4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "
5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:

" 'He will command his angels concerning you, ​

and they will lift you up in their hands, ​

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' " ​

7Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' "

8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

10Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' "

11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Jesus Begins to Preach

12When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. 13Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

15"Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, ​

the way to the sea, along the Jordan, ​

Galilee of the Gentiles— ​

16the people living in darkness ​

have seen a great light; ​

on those living in the land of the shadow of death ​

a light has dawned." ​

17From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

The Calling of the First Disciples

18As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20At once they left their nets and followed him.


21Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus Heals the Sick

23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. 25Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

 

The focus of this verse isn't where Jesus was led, but for what purpose. The word translated as desert here, can also be translated as 'isolated'. Separating a weakened Jesus from any kind of support for the purposes of temptation is something that happens more than once.

Notice the qualifier in verse three: "IF you are the Son of God..." Jesus hadn't done anything besides get baptized. He hadn't even recruited any apostles yet. If Jesus was going to question who He really was at all, it would probably be now before He had a chance to build up any momentum.

Interesting here that of all the things Jesus could have done (we think) in response, He counters with quoted scripture. Even more interesting, it seems to work. Satan has no counter for it.

 

I find it interesting the three things Satan targeted with his temptations. They seem like very good strategic areas for tempting human beings: intense hunger, defying danger/thrill-seeking, and power/control. And I find it even more interesting that Jesus used the Bible to rebuff all three temptations, rather than to use His own authority. Perhaps He's trying to teach the rest of us that we can defy evil with Scripture, too?

 

There are a few things that deserve to be noted regarding these first recruiting efforts by Jesus. First, He didn't go after educated men. Fishermen like these led simple lives, and were almost certainly illiterate. These weren't religious scholars or priests -- they were ordinary working-class men.

Second, all four of them left immediately to follow Him. They had no idea where He was going, or what was going to be involved. What's more, they didn't make arrangements to deal with their tools, their nets, boats, or anything else. They didn't tell Jesus, "We're interested, so we'll meet you after work today, okay?" Nope, they dropped everything and left. Why? Was Jesus that charismatic? Or did these men have some kind of gut feeling they should go with Him? Or did they just really hate fishing?

Think about it -- what would it take for us to walk off the job with absolutely no guarantee of anything in the way of security?

 

Verse 17 establishes that repentance was deemed necessary from the start of Jesus' ministry.

 

Could folks today leave their high paying jobs & 401k nest eggs at the drop of a dime to help start a ministry with Jesus today? I wouldn't say it couldn't happen (with God, all things are possible !!!!!) but a lot more folks would be saying no today vs. yes. To some folks, their high paying job is their source/their God. The disciples left solid paying jobs and had to trust Jesus to meet their needs, which is a good basic principle of faith in work here . .

 

I don't think Jesus would go after mid-to-upper level income people. I think he'd recruit lower income, blue collar folks.

 

Wasn't Matthew a tax collector? those guys were very rich.

 

I find it interesting that after He asked Simon, Andrew, James and John to follow Him, He chose healing to gather more followers and make Himself known. Of all the things He could've claimed, performed, or commanded, He chose to heal the sick. That says a lot about His heart for people.

 

They were more like extortionists, actually. So while many of them had money, they were also despised. That made Matthew a prime candidate for Jesus.