This chapter begins with the temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus was led by the Spirit out to the “wilderness”—a loaded word in Scripture. “Wilderness” is a hard, harsh place where God’s people are under duress. Life is pared down to basics; hunger and thirst and deprivation reign. We read that Jesus was there for 40 days and 40 nights, fasting. He was hungry (because he was human like us). Then the “tempter” came to Jesus. Later in the story, the “tempter” is plainly named the devil.
The tempter tried to get Jesus to satisfy his hunger by manipulating reality, changing stones into bread. Next the devil tempted Jesus to take advantage of the Father’s love for him by throwing himself from the pinnacle of the Temple. Last, the devil said, “If you will worship me, all the kingdoms of the world, and their splendors,” would belong to Jesus.
Jesus faced a choice, as Adam and Eve did, and as the children of Israel, wandering in the wilderness, did. But he passed the temptation every time, because he clung to Scripture and to his relationship with his Father.
Jesus, as he left the wilderness, had clarity: he would lean on Scripture and his relationship with God. Wilderness time often brings clarity about the path forward. Jesus’ ministry had begun!
As Jesus exited the wilderness, he learned that that John the Baptist had been arrested. He withdrew to Capernaum, by the sea of Galilee, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali (4:13). Matthew notes that there is a Scriptural prophecy about this very place in Isaiah 9: “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”
Sure enough, a great light had come into the world at just that spot. It was Jesus, who began his earthly ministry by proclaiming: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” (Matthew 4:17) God was doing a new thing by sending his son Jesus into the world, and as he began his work, the kingdom of heaven was truly coming near to all who could see and hear him!
As Jesus walked, he saw his first two disciples, Simon Peter and Andrew, his brother, fishing in the sea of Galilee. He asked them to follow him, for he would make them fishers of men. Immediately, they left their nets and followed Jesus. Another pair of brothers, James and John, were also called, and they dropped everything to follow Jesus. To be called to accompany and learn from a rabbi was something that had passed these men by in their younger years. But now they decisively went all in on Jesus and learning from him.
The last passage in Matthew 4, verses 23 to 25, is a summary of all that Jesus did as his ministry began. With his new disciples, he taught in the synagogues, centers of Scriptural learning and worship. He proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom (that the Messiah had come and made a new way for people to draw close to God.) He healed every disease and sickness, even very serious illnesses. Many people were drawn to bring their loved ones who are sick to him. Great crowds began to follow Jesus, from Galilee, the ten towns (or Decapolis) that were to the right side of the sea of Galilee, and south, on the right side of the Jordan River. (That was a very large area of Greek-speaking and pagan people.) People flocked to Jesus from Judea and Jerusalem, far to the south of Galilee, and eastward as well, beyond the Jordan and the Dead Sea. The powerful pull of seeing and hearing and witnessing Jesus brought all kinds of people to him from far away. The next three chapters will tell us that when Jesus saw the crowds, he sat down on a mountain and began to teach them.