The Gospel of St Matthew

Class #8 January 21

The Start of the Ministry

Chapter 4

1.     ALMIGHTY God, who by thy blessed Son didst call Matthew from the receipt of custom to be an Apostle and Evangelist; Grant us grace to forsake all covetous de-sires, and inordinate love of riches, and to follow the same thy Son Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. (Collect for St Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, September 21)

Matthew 4

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.

2. Recap/review/questions Matthew 4:1-11
   
   

3. v 12 – Matthew makes it clear that Jesus is following in John’s footsteps – John is imprisoned so Jesus picks up with his message of repentance.

1. There is a clear continuity in Jesus’ work with what has gone on before.

2. The content of His teaching will increase soon, but for now we see a perfection of John’s ministry and the impact it has on citizens – some of whom become His disciples.
   
   

4. v 13-16 Jesus is forced to leave his hometown of Nazareth (Luke 4:29 – immediately after his first sermon in the synagogue) and moves to Capernaum.

1. Geography – Capernaum is on the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee.

                                                               i.      The sea is a freshwater lake, fed by the Jordon, about 14 miles long by 7 miles wide (at the widest) and 600-700 feet below sea level.

                                                             ii.      Capernaum was one of 9 or 10 towns surrounding the lake.

                                                            iii.      The area was part of the fairly small province of Galilee which was no more than 50 miles by 25 miles.

                                                           iv.      The area was very lush and population was very dense (perhaps the most dense in the Middle East). Josephus tells us it had 204 villages, each with a population of at least 15,000 (over 3,000,000 people).

                                                             v.      Galilee had often been held by pagans. Greek was common and pagan customs well known

2. Galilee had two virtues that would aid the spread of the Gospel:

                                                               i.      It had also been an area of rebellion, sedition, willingness to try new things.

                                                             ii.      It sat astride one of the most important trade routes in the world – between Damascus and Egypt.

3. Matthew pulls from the prophecy of Isaiah when introducing the move of the ministry to Galilee:

                                                              i.      Isaiah 9:1-2 To Us a Child Is Born 1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan-  2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.

1.      This is an early indication of the future Gospel offering to the Gentiles.

2.      v 16 It also, perhaps, makes good sense that Jesus would have greater success here than his later ministry south in Jerusalem. Those “orthodox” Jews to the south felt they have no need of what Jesus offered. The Jews in Galilee, exposed every day to paganism (and perhaps sometimes participating) lived “in the darkness” and knew they needed the light of Christ.

a.       It is not at all uncharacteristic for God to go to the least likely place.

5. v 17- 22 And yet, the ministry to the Gentiles was for later. For now Jesus was preaching the Gospel to the Jews.

1. Matthew demands a response from its readers and we see that reflected in the first responses to Christ’s ministry – Andrew and Peter “drop everything”, family, business, possessions and follow him.

                                                               i.      Just how much did these poor fishermen really leave behind? Gregory the Great tells us ‘quite a lot’! -  read ACCS “How much did the Poor Fishermen Leave Behind” and “The Kingdom worth Everything”.

2. Response to Jesus demands courage, decisiveness and sacrifice.

                                                               i.      We will, someday, leave behind all things of this earth. Our choose is to willingly abandon them for a better life in eternity, of do all that we can to hold on to them, ultimately losing them and salvation as well.

3. We are reminded of the courage of Abram in Genesis, when he left everything to follow God without any knowledge of what the future held.

                                                               i.      Trust and faith in God is the key to a successful Christian life. ACCS – “What is Left Behind in Discipleship”.

6. v 23 – 25 Three sides to the Gospel

1. Teaching – involves detailed explanation and instruction on the message of the Gospel.

2. Preaching – the word here is of a herald – it involves a clear, challenging proclamation that people had better listen to. It has authority and demands attention.
   
   Teaching informs the mind; Preaching reaches for the will.

3. Healing – healing demonstrated His supernatural power and divine authority and so was useful in His ministry – nature could not do the things Christ did. However, healing also:

                                                               i.      Was illustrative of the human spiritual illnesses. For example, leprosy – unclean – certainly also referenced our unclean and decomposing soul.

                                                             ii.      Demonstrated God’s interest in the entire man – body and soul are of interest to God and, in His time, He will heal all infirmities.

Read ACCS Jesus’ “Healings Prophesied”

4. Notice, too, that the vast majority of Jesus’ miracles were positive actions of healing (an exception is the cursing of the fig tree and that was not directed at people). Conversely, Moses’ miracles, done by the power of God, were mostly negative – curses and plagues.
   
   The Gospel is founded upon grace, love, sweetness, redemption and restoration (physically and spiritually). It lures us to obedience rather than frightens us with punishment.

How MUCH DID THE POOR FISHERMEN LEAVE BEHIND? GREGORY THE GREAT: Some­ one may wonder: At the Lord's beckoning, what or how much did these two fishermen, who scarcely had anything, leave behind? On this, my beloved, we should attend to one's intention rather than one's wealth. That person has left behind a lot who keeps nothing for himself, who, though he has little, gives up everything. We tend to be attached to those things we own, and those things we scarcely own, we carefully hold on to. Therefore Peter and Andrew left much behind when they left behind covetousness and the very desire to own. That person has left much behind who renounces with the thing owned the very coveting of that thing. Therefore those poor who followed Jesus left behind just as much as those less poor who did not follow him but were able to covet. So when you notice that some have left a great deal behind, you need not say to yourself, I want to imitate those who disdain this world, but sorry, I have nothing to leave behind. You will leave much behind, my brothers, if you renounce earthly desires. External things, how­ever small they may be, are sufficient for the Lord, since he looks at the heart and not at our material goods. Nor does he judge by how much is involved in our sacrifice but from how much it is made. For if we judge by external goods, our holy merchants traded in their nets and vessels for the perpetual life of the angels. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 5. _2.411

THE KINGDOM WORTH EVERYTHING. GREG­ORY THE GREAT: The kingdom of heaven has no price tag on it: It is worth as much as you have. For Zacchaeus it was worth half of what he owned, because the other half that he had unjustly pocketed he promised to restore four­fold.⁶i For Peter and Andrew it was worth the nets and vessel they had left behind; for the widow it was worth two copper coins; ⁶⁸ for another it was worth a cup of cold water," So, as we said, the kingdom of heaven is worth as much as you have. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 0 5.2.

WHAT Is LEFT BEHIND IN DISCIPLESHIP.

ANONYMOUS: Notice that Peter and Andrew are said to have left behind their nets, whereas James and John their father and a vessel. There are generally three things that each person who comes to Christ should leave behind: acts of the flesh, material goods, parents in the flesh. By leaving behind the fishing nets means leaving behind acts of the flesh; by leaving behind the vessel means material goods; by leaving behind their father, all parents. And notice that first they leave behind their nets, then their vessel and, third, their father. It is appropriate to leave behind worldly acts first, for they are particu­larly harmful to spiritual things. Second, worldly goods, for it is not as harmful to have something in the world as to do some act, though also to have is harmful. Last, one's par­ents, for they too can be harmful, though less harmful than the riches and actions of this world. So they left behind their vessel, that they might become helmsmen of the church's vessel; they left behind their nets, that they might no longer bring fish to the earthly city but people to the heavenly city; and they left behind a father, that they might become the parents of all spiri­tual beings. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW,

HOMILY _7.71

⁶⁵1 Kings 19:20-21. ⁶⁶PG 57:219; NPNF 110:88**, Obedience requires immediate response. ⁶⁷Lk 19:8. "Mk 12:42. "Mr 10:42. ⁷⁰PL 76:1093-94; CS 123:11" (Homily 2). ⁷¹PG 56:676.

4.23 Jesus Teaches, Preaches and Heals

JESUS' HEALINGS PROPHESIED. CHROMATIUS:

Isaiah predicted this would happen when he said, "He himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness." To this end the teacher of life and heavenly physician Christ the Lord had come that by his direction he might educate people to life and with his heavenly medicine cure the sickness of body and soul, that he might free bodies beset by the devil and restore those per­sons afflicted by various infirmities to true and complete health. By the word of divine power he cured the weaknesses of the body, but by the medicine of heavenly teaching he healed the wounds of the soul. David clearly noted that the wounds of the soul are healed by God alone when he said, "Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits," to which he added, "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases."' He is the true and perfect physi­cian therefore who gives healing to the body and restores the soul to health: our Lord and Savior. TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 16.4.²