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Matthew 4:1. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness, Teaching us that after baptism we should most expect temptations, Jesus is led away by the Holy Spirit, for He did nothing apart from the Spirit. He is taken to the desert to show us that the devil tempts us when he sees that we are alone and do not receive help from others. Therefore, we should not refuse the advice of others and rely on ourselves. for temptation from the devil, The devil, that is, the slanderer, is called so because he slandered God to Adam when he told him: “God is jealous of you.” He still slanderes virtue. He fasted to show that fasting is a powerful weapon against temptation, just as satiety is the source of all sin. forty days and forty nights, He fasts as many days and nights as Moses and Elijah. If he had fasted more, His incarnation would have seemed illusory. When he gave in to nature, then he became hungry, so that by hunger he would give the devil a reason to come up and fight with Him and thus defeat him and overthrow him, giving us victory. Matthew 4:3. And the tempter came to Him and said: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. This seducer heard a voice from heaven: “This is My Son,” but on the other hand he sees that He was hungry, and wonders how the Son of God can feel hunger. Therefore, he tempts Him in order to make sure, saying: “if you are the Son of God,” he flatters Him, thinking that He is hiding something. But you ask, what was the sin of making bread from stones? So, know that obeying the devil in anything is a sin. On the other hand, the devil did not say: “let this stone be bread,” but “stones,” wanting to plunge Christ into excess, for bread alone is completely enough for a hungry person. That is why Christ did not listen to him. Matthew 4:4. He answered and said to him, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” This testimony is taken from the Old Testament, for these are the words of Moses. And the Jews ate manna, which was not bread, but according to the Word of God it satisfied every need of the Jews, it was everything that anyone wanted to eat. Whether the Jew wanted fish, eggs, or cheese, manna satisfied his taste. Matthew 4:5. Then the devil takes Him to the holy city and places Him on the wing of the church, This was one of the parts of the church that we call side; they seem like wings. Matthew 4:6. and says to Him: If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written: He will command His angels concerning You, and in their hands they will bear You up, lest You dash Your foot against a stone. By saying: “if you are the Son of God,” the devil wants to say: I do not believe the voice from heaven, but you show me whether you are the Son of God. Indeed, damned! If He was the Son of God, then should He really have thrown himself down? It is characteristic of your cruelty to overthrow those who are mad, but to God to save. It is not written about Christ: “they will bear you up in their hands,” but about the saints who need angelic help. Christ, being God, does not need this. Matthew 4:7. Jesus said to him, “It is also written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Christ meekly reflects it, teaching us to defeat demons with meekness. Matthew 4:8. Again the devil takes Him to a very high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, Matthew 4:9. and he says to Him: I will give all this to You if you fall down and worship me. Some understand by a very high mountain the passion of greed, into which the enemy is trying to draw Jesus; but they think wrong. For the devil appeared to Him sensually, but the Lord did not accept thoughts; no! So, he sensually showed Him all the kingdoms on the mountain, presenting them before His eyes in a ghost, and said: “I will give all this to You if, when you fall, you will worship me.” Because of his pride, he considers the world his property. This and now he tells the selfish that those who worship him will have peace in their power. Matthew 4:10. Then Jesus says to him: Get behind Me, Satan; for it is written: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve. The Lord was angry with him when he saw that he was appropriating God’s things for himself, and said: “I will give all this to you,” supposedly his own. Find out from here what benefit the Scripture brings, for the Lord silenced the enemy with it. Matthew 4:11. Then the devil leaves Him, and lo, the Angels came and served Him. The Lord defeated three temptations: gluttony, vanity and passion for wealth, that is, greed. These are the main passions. Therefore, having defeated them, it is much easier to defeat the rest. That is why Luke says: “and having finished all the temptations” (Luke 4:13), although the Lord defeated only the main ones. Therefore, the angels served Him to show that after the victory they would serve us, for Christ does and shows all this for our sake. The angels always serve him, as God. Matthew 4:12. When Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, he withdrew into Galilee Matthew 4:13. and leaving Nazareth, he came and settled in Capernaum by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. Jesus withdraws, teaching us this so that we do not expose ourselves to danger. He retires to Galilee, that is, a sloping country, for the pagans have fallen into sin, and settles in Capernaum, that is, in the “house of consolation,” because He came down in order to make the pagans the home of the Comforter. Zebulun in translation means “night”, and Naphtali means “breadth”, for the pagans had both night and breadth in their lives, since they did not walk the narrow path, but leading to destruction. Matthew 4:14. that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, saying: Matthew 4:15. the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, on the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the heathen, Matthew 4:16. the people sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those sitting in the land and the shadow of death a light dawned. “The path of the sea” instead – a country lying “on the way to the sea.” The great light is the Gospel. The law was also light, but small. The shadow of death is sin; she is the likeness and image of death, for just as death captures the body, so sin captures the soul. The light shone upon us, for it was not we who sought it, but it itself appeared to us, as if pursuing us. Matthew 4:17. From that time Jesus began to preach and say: From the moment John was imprisoned, Jesus began to preach, for He waited for John first to testify about Him and prepare for Him the way that He was to go, just as slaves prepare the way for their masters. Being equal to the Father, the Lord Himself had His prophet in the person of John, just as His Father and God had prophets before John, or rather, they were prophets of both the Father and the Son. repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Christ and a virtuous life are the Kingdom of Heaven. For if someone lives on earth like an angel, is he not heavenly? So in each of us there is the Kingdom of Heaven if we live angelically. Matthew 4:18. Passing near the Sea of ​​Galilee, He saw two brothers: Simon, called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting nets into the sea, for they were fishermen; They were John's disciples. When John was still alive, they came to Christ, and when they saw that John was bound, they again returned to the life of fishermen. Thus, passing by, he caught them, saying: follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Matthew 4:20. And they immediately left their nets and followed Him. Look what obedient people they were - they immediately followed Him. From this it is clear that this was a second calling. Having been taught by Christ, then leaving Him, they immediately followed Him again as soon as they saw Him. Matthew 4:21. From there, going further, He saw two other brothers, James Zebedee and John his brother, in a boat with Zebedee their father, To nourish one's father in his old age, and to nourish oneself with honest work, is a great virtue. mending their nets, and called them. They were poor, and therefore, not being able to buy new networks, they were forced to repair the old ones. Matthew 4:22. And they immediately left the boat and their father and followed Him. Zebedee apparently did not believe, and so they left him. You see when you need to leave your father: when he blocks the path to virtue and piety. The sons of Zebedee, seeing that the first (brothers Simon and Andrew) followed Christ, immediately, imitating them, themselves followed Him. Matthew 4:23. And Jesus walked throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, He goes to Jewish synagogues to show that He is not an opponent of the law. and healing every disease and every disease among the people. He begins with signs so that they will believe what He teaches. Illness is a long-term suffering, while infirmity is a short-term disruption of the correct life of the body. Matthew 4:24. And rumors about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all the weak, those possessed by various diseases and seizures, and the demon-possessed, and the lunatics, and the paralytic, and He healed them. Christ did not ask any of those brought about faith, because this was already a matter of faith, that they were brought from afar. Those who go crazy are called lunatics. For the demon, wanting to convince people that the stars bring harm, lies in wait for the full moon and then torments them, so that they consider the moon to be the cause of suffering and slander God’s creation. The Manichaeans were also mistaken in this. Matthew 4:25. And a great multitude followed him from Galilee, and from the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.