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4:1-11
Jesus meets Satan head on
As soon as Jesus was baptised he started his work on earth as the
"second Adam", and just as the first Adam was tempted by the devil as
soon as he was created, so also Jesus was tempted immediately after his
anointing. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into a desolate place - not a garden of
Eden - and then the devil started to put the pressure on Jesus, trying to make
him sin in some way.
For nearly seven weeks (40 days in fact) Jesus refused to eat, but
through all this time he never complained or grumbled - unlike the Israelites,
who complained very quickly as soon as their comforts were removed.
Satan came to him many times. On one of these occasions he appeared
before Jesus and said "You are the Son of God, so why not work a miracle,
and turn these rocks into bread?"
But Jesus said "It is more important to obey God and die, if need
be, than to eat food and live!" (Deut. 8:3)
Jesus had had no instructions from his father to eat, so he refused to
act alone. Not only that, but to yield to his intense hunger would be a signal
that his flesh was stronger than his will.
Another test put to Jesus by Satan was aimed at getting him to perform a
spectacular display of power - what you might call a stunt - in order to gain
the acclaim of the people. Personal glory rather than patient endurance and
suffering.
The devil took Jesus to the highest place on the Temple.
"You are the Messiah" said the devil, "So jump off this
wall and show everyone how great you are!"
To back up his dare, the devil quoted from Psalm 91: 11 and 12 :
"God will command his angels to be your bodyguards" and "The
angels will catch you if you fall."
But Jesus was not looking for religious acclaim, or personal glory. He
knew that the cross came first, and obedience preceded the rewards. He trusted
his Father for protection, and had no need to prove anything.
"It is written" he said to the devil, " You shall not test
Jehovah's presence." (Deut. 6:16 - in this case the Israelites were at
Massah, and were surrounded by many evidences of God's presence, yet they
questioned whether He was there!)
Another test which Satan put Jesus through involved an appeal to his
kingship over the world. In a sense all the kingdoms of this world do at present
belong to Satan (2.Cor.4:4 and 1John 5:19), and he is allowed control of them
until the end of the age, when Jesus returns and takes them off him.
"I will give you all these kingdoms right now" said the devil,
"If you worship me!"
But Jesus had no intention of running ahead of the divine time-table,
especially when the trade-off was to bow before Satan! He knew that, one day,
all those kingdoms would be given to him anyway, so it was futile to try to get
them before then. As with all of God's plans, it is always best to fit into
them, and not try to run ahead of His timing.
Jesus finished the 40 day wilderness trials with the words "Go away
Satan! The Bible says "You shall worship and serve Jehovah only!"
The devil had to leave, because he had been dismissed by the Messiah's
royal command. Jesus had passed every test and remained pure. He was now in a
position to move into the next stage of his mission . . . and as a sign of his
Father's approval, angels were sent with food and drink to strengthen him as he
walked back towards the people of Palestine.
4:12-17
Jesus begins his public ministry in Galilee
Jesus and John the baptist were linked in many ways - their love of God's
Word, their calling, their godliness, their persecution by the religious
leaders, their zeal and their focus. John, as we know, was the fore-runner of
the Messiah, so it was a significant event when John was hounded all the way to
prison because in a way he foreshadowed what was soon to happen to Jesus.
When Jesus heard what had happened to John, he set off for the same
district where John had been working : Galilee. At this time he was already in
danger of being killed, because the Jewish populace had just tried to kill him
(Luke 4:16-30)
So Jesus left his home-town Nazareth (a mainly Jewish region) and
travelled right into the centre of the Herodian kingdom (where a large number of
non-Jews lived). Jesus chose to live in a sea-side town called Capernaum, which
is in the region which used to be occupied by the two tribes Zebulun and
Napthali.
Interestingly enough, this was the very place which Isaiah ( in 9:1,2)
predicted would be where the Messiah would live. Here the ignorant,
superstitious, godless Gentiles saw, in the Messiah and his message, a
"great light." As the quote goes :
"The people who live in the lands of Zebulun and Napthali, the lands
now filled with Gentiles, around the Jordan and the sea of Galilee . . .
although they have been living in darkness and death, they have now seen a great
light!"
So, despite the dangers, Jesus made Capernaum his headquarters, and, like
John, he too began to preach the same simple message of repentance which John
had proclaimed.
4:18-22
Peter, Andrew, James and John
During this time in Galilee, Jesus met two old friends, Peter and Andrew.
The first time he had met them, in Judea, he had challenged them to become
Christians (John 1:35-42) and now, on this second meeting he called them to
serve him.
It happened like this. Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew his brother,
were out on the lake, busily throwing their nets into the water. Jesus waited
until he had their attention, then he called to them.
"I need you two to be my disciples!" he said, "If you
commit your lives to me, I will turn you from being fishermen into
people-catchers!"
Peter and Andrew's hearts had already been touched by God, and they were
keen to change the world in a significant way, so when Jesus gave them the
opportunity, they immediately resigned from their trade and took on the new
work.
So Jesus walked along the edge of the lake, with Peter and Andrew, until
they arrived at another boat, which was also little way out on the lake. This
one was sitting quietly in the water, and they could see the three men on board,
busy with net-mending chores.
Old Zebedee was working with his two sons, James and John, but when the
two young men saw Jesus, with Peter and Andrew in tow, they realised that
something important was about to happen.
"I need you two" Jesus called to them, "Will you be my
disciples?"
The brothers looked at each other, and at their father, as they tried to
weigh up the cost of abandoning all that was familiar to them, then they
decided. Jesus waited as they waded ashore.
4:23-25
Jesus works in Galilee
Jesus devoted his days from then on to three things : teaching, preaching
and healing. He went everywhere throughout Galilee, sparing no effort to help
the people understand who he was, and why he had come. He taught from the Old
testament when he was in the synagogues, and he preached the gospel at every
opportunity, backing up his words by performing convincing miracles. His power
to perform divine healing was absolutely astounding!
For example, people came to him with every imaginable disease and
disability. There was no sickness or physical problem which Jesus could not fix
instantly : fevers, missing limbs, withered hands or feet, leprosy, skin-rashes,
blood-poisoning, cancers, acne, sprained ligaments, hernias, anaemia, warts,
asthma, tumours, cerebral palsy, drug-addiction, cataracts, deafness, paralysis,
epilepsy, and demon-possession . . . nothing was too hard for him.
As a result of this amazing healing work, word got around that here, at
last, was a reliable cure for all kinds of sickness - and Jesus' reputation
spread as far as Syria. Consequently, an ever-growing number of sick and healthy
people began to cluster around Jesus, coming in, naturally, from his own
district, but also from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea in general and around the
Jordan.