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The temptation of Christ. The calling of Peter, Andrew, and the sons of Zebedee.

1. Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness.

Teaching us that it is especially after our baptism that we should expect temptations, He is led up by the Holy Spirit; for He did nothing apart from the Holy Spirit. He is led into the wilderness to show us that the devil tempts us when he sees us alone and without help from others. Therefore we must not put our trust in ourselves without any counsel from others. To be tempted by the devil. The devil is called "the slanderer" because he slandered God to Adam, saying, "God envies you." And even now among us the devil slanders virtue.

2. And when He had fasted. He fasted to show us that fasting is a great weapon against temptations, just as the love of delicacies was the beginning of all sin. Forty days and forty nights. He fasts as long as Moses and Elijah did, for if He had fasted longer, it would have seemed that He had taken flesh in appearance only. Afterwards He hungered. He hungered only when He permitted His nature to do so, to give the devil an opportunity through hunger to approach Him and engage Him in combat, so that Christ could throw him down and vanquish him and grant us the victory.

3. And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. That prowler, the devil, had heard the voice from heaven, and then he saw the Lord hunger, and he was in doubt, wondering how the Son of God could hunger. Therefore he tempts Him, to find out. He flatters Christ, meaning to snare Him by saying, "If thou be the Son of God." You might ask, "What sin was it to make bread out of stones?" Listen, then: it is a sin even to listen to anything that the devil says. Consider this as well; the devil did not say, "Command that this stone be made bread," but "these stones," wishing to cast Christ into gluttony. For one loaf would certainly suffice a man who is hungry. For these reasons, then, Christ did not listen to him.

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. This testimony is from the Old Testament, from the words of Moses (Deut 8:3). The Hebrews, too, had been fed by manna, not by real bread; by the word of God the manna fulfilled every need of the Hebrews, and it became whatever food each one might desire to eat. For the manna provided to each Jew the taste he desired, whether of fish, eggs, or cheese (Wisdom of Solomon 16:20).

5-6. Then the devil taketh Him up into the Holy City, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, 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. "If Thou be the Son of God." As if he were saying, "I do not believe the voice from heaven; but if Thou art the Son of God, show me." Yet, O foul one, though He is the Son of God, would He have thrown Himself over the precipice? That is the mark of your own savagery, to hurl over the precipice those who are demonized; but it is the mark of God to save. But the words "In their hands they shall bear thee up" were not written of Christ, but of the saints who are in need of angelic help (Ps. 90:11-12). Christ, being God, does not need such help.

7. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Christ calmly repels the devil, teaching us to defeat the demons with meekness.

8-9. Again, the devil taketh Him up onto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me. Some think that the high mountain is the passion of avarice into which the enemy strives to lead Jesus. But those who think this do not reason well. The devil appeared to Him visibly, for the Lord did not entertain any evil thoughts — far from it! The devil, therefore, visibly showed Him all the kingdoms, presenting them before His eyes in an image, and said, "All these things will I give Thee." In his pride, he considers the world to be his own. Even now the devil makes this offer to the greedy, with the result that those who worship him do possess these things.

10. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee behind Me, Satan. For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. The Lord became angry with him when He saw him appropriating what was God’s and saying, "All these things will I give Thee," as if they were his own. Learn how much the Scriptures benefit; for with them the Lord shut the mouth of the enemy.

11. Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him. The Lord conquered the three temptations of gluttony, vainglory, and avarice. These are the chief passions, and by conquering them, how much more so does He conquer the others. Wherefore Luke says that the devil "ended every temptation" (Lk. 4:13), having ended these chief temptations. Whereupon angels serve Him to show that the angels will serve us as well after our victory over temptation. For everything that Christ did and revealed was for our sake, since the angels are always serving Him as God.

12-13. Now when Jesus had heard that John had been handed over, He departed into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim. Jesus departs, teaching us not to throw ourselves into dangers. He departs into Galilee, which means "rolling down," for the Gentiles had rolled down into sin. He dwells in Capernaum, which means "house of comfort and consolation," because Christ came down from heaven to make the Gentiles the house of the Comforter. "Zabulon" means "nocturnal" and "Nephthalim," "a broadening." The life of the Gentiles, therefore, was both dark and broad, for they were walking not the narrow way, but the way leading to destruction (Mt. 7:13).

14-16. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw a great light; and on them which sat in the region and shadow of death light hath dawned. "By the way of the sea" means "which is situated along the road of the sea." The "great light" is the Gospel, for the law, too, was a light, but a small one. "The shadow of death" is sin, for sin is the likeness and silhouette of death. Just as death overpowers the body, so too does sin overpower the soul. The light has dawned on us, for we were not seeking it, but it appeared to us as if it were pursuing us.

17. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say. From the time John was arrested, Jesus began to preach. For Jesus waited for John to first bear witness to Him and to prepare the way for Him, in the same manner in which servants make preparations for their masters. Being equal to the Father, the Lord also had John as a prophet, just as God the Father had the prophets who were before John; yet in truth these were the prophets of both the Father and the Son. Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is Christ and it is also the life of virtue. For when someone lives as an angel on earth, is he not heavenly? So the kingdom of heaven is within each one of us when we live as angels.

18-19. As He was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishermen; and He saith unto them. These two had been disciples of John, and while John was still living they had approached Christ. But when they saw John arrested, they returned again to their fishing, and so Christ comes, fishing for them, and says:

19-20. Come follow Me and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. Behold obedient men, who followed Him immediately. From this it is clear that this is the second time that He called them. For they had been taught by Christ on a previous occasion (Jn. 1:35-42), then left Him, and when they saw Him again followed Him readily.

21. And going on from thence, He saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a boat with Zebedee their father. It is the greatest of virtues to care for one’s father in his old age, and for the father to be supported by the just labors of his sons. Mending their nets. They were poor and as they were unable to buy new nets, they were stitching together their old ones.

22. And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him. It appears that Zebedee did not believe and it is for this reason that they left him. Do you see when it becomes necessary to leave one’s father? When the father becomes an impediment to virtue and reverence for God. When James and John saw the first two follow Christ, they rightly followed Christ as well, imitating their good example.

23. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. Jesus enters the synagogues of the Hebrews to show that He is not opposed to the law. And healing every disease and every infirmity among the people. He begins with miracles, to give credibility to what He teaches. By "disease" is meant chronic illness, and by "infirmity," a temporary bodily disorder.

24. And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people that were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and lunatics, and paralytics, and He healed them. Christ did not ask for faith from any of the sick that were brought to Him, for the very fact that they were brought from a distance was a sign of faith. "Lunatics" means those who were possessed by demons. For the devil wanted to instill in men the belief that the heavenly bodies cause evil, and so would wait until the moon was full and then would set upon men. The devil does this so that the moon would appear to be the cause of suffering, and thus God’s creation would be slandered, as it was by the heretical Manichees in their delusion.

25. And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.