Matthew Chapter 4

Mathew Chapter 4

Next Jesus follows the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil and fasts for 40 day and nights, and boy was he hungry afterwards.  The devil know he’d be hungry so he tried to tempt him with some stones that he turned to bread, but Jesus told him that God says Man can’t live on bread alone. 

The devil switched tactics and puts him high up on a temple and says “If you’re the son of god, he’ll send angles down to make sure you don’t get hurt hanging out so high on a temple roof!”  But Jesus lets him know that god’s not going to be tempted to help him. God as it turns out is totally willing to let his son suffer.

So the Devil takes him up to a mountain and says if you bow down and worship me, I’ll give you everything, the whole world, the glory the kingdom… everything.  Jesus, chastises the devil, saying get out of town, God’s the only one you should serve.  So the devil leaves him and the angels come and tend to him.  Bet the devil was sad he missed that!  I sounded like he really wanted to see the angels at work.

John the Baptist is in a little trouble, he’s in prison, they don’t say why he’s in prison, but he’s in prison. 

But it must set off warning bells in Jesus’ mind because Jesus goes to Galilee.  He leaves Nazareth, and goes to the coast to Capernaum to fulfill the prophesy of Esaias who said “The people of Zabulon and Nephthalim who dwell in darkness will see the light, and the light will shine on the shadow of death”  I think the light shining on the shadow of death might be about healing the sick.

Jesus is preaching to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. While walking on the beach in Galilee he runs in to two brothers, Peter and Andrew, fishing with their nets.  He tells them if they follow them he will teach them to fish men instead of fish.  Uh huh.  They jumped at the opportunity!

I read this two ways, first I read fishing for men as a sort of forming a big gay club for men,  I’m sure there has never been a great time in history to be gay, and Jesus loves everyone, so that’s cool.  But then I read a more sinister, literal interpretation that involved cannibalism, we catch fish and eat them.  But I decided that he meant, they join him in preaching the gospel.

So he sees two more brothers, James and John, who are mending their nets, and they leave there dad’s ship and follow him, because he’s that awesome.

Jesus is that awesome, because he’s wandering around Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and healing all sorts of diseases.  He’s getting famous in Syria, so they are bringing him the sickest folk they can find to heal them.  We are talking about the sick, the tormented, the lunatics, the people possessed with devils, even those with the palsy!  So people started following him.

I had a palsy (Bell’s Palsy) once it was really annoying, and disfiguring.  So I can personally see how a bunch of people start following him.  My doctor just made me buy so really expensive medicine that didn't even work. I wouldn't follow him anywhere.