Matthew 4, Luke 4,
John 2
In an attempt to harmonize the Gospel accounts
around the life of Jesus, I have been using a book called A Harmony of the Gospels compiled by Archibald T. Robertson. These books are designed to help the reader
bring the life or Jesus together as a chain of events, not a collection of
stories or reflections. A good student
of the Bible should have a book like this in their collection.
Matthew 4
Matthew 4:1-2
For whose benefit was this? Was
it designed to strengthen Jesus? Was it
designed to prepare Him for what lay ahead?
I’m not so sure. Jesus has always
been, but not always been flesh and blood.
If Jesus was with the Father from the beginning (John 1:1), you can be
sure Jesus knew all about Satan. It may
have been an opportunity for Jesus to see what it is like to deal with Satan as
flesh and blood; to see what kind of tactics the Devil uses, but I seriously
doubt Jesus needed to be strengthened here.
All the fullness of God dwelt in Jesus in bodily form (Colossians
2:9). Jesus could have sent Satan packing
with just a word from His mouth. So
that’s why I think it was a time for Jesus to experience what you and I
experience each and every day. Satan
attacks us when we are weakest. And it
is refreshing to know that my Savior knows what I deal with all the time.
Matthew 4:3-11
In the first temptation Satan was trying to seduce Jesus into disobeying
the will of God; to act independent of God.
In the second temptation Satan starts quoting scripture (and don’t miss
the significance of that). Blending
Malachi 3:1 and Psalm 91:11-12, Satan tempts Jesus to do something spectacular so
the people will follow Him; to sensationalize His ministry. Once again this would be stepping outside of
God’s will. The inherent meaning in
Psalm 91:11 indicates that the angels will guard the person who is living
within God’s will (“Keep you in all your ways”, as in the New King James). So in other words if God commanded it, Jesus
would obey it. But Jesus was not about
to do something that God had not clearly planed or instructed. And speaking of God’s plan, the third
temptation surrounded Satan’s temptation to accomplish the end result in a
different way; to step outside of God’s will once again. The kingdom’s of the world did indeed belong
to Satan, for he is the ruler of this present age (2 Corinthians 4:4 and John
12:31). Had Jesus succumbed to this
temptation there would be no redemption of humanity. Jesus would control the world, not redeem it.
Matthew 4:12
It’s not clear how much time passed between the Temptation and when John
the Baptist was arrested. But this we do
know: John was still a free man when Jesus returned from being tempted by
Satan. Based on John 3, Jesus had moved
to a different place after the wedding in Cana (John 2), and after He and His
disciples had been baptizing people as well (John 3:22-23). Apparently John the Baptist was arrested
while Jesus was in Judea for the second time.
He (Jesus) was there once during His baptism and once during Passover
(John 2:13). If the events here align
with John 4, then it is at this point Jesus travels through Samaria and meets
the woman at the well.
Matthew 4:17
I find it significant that Matthew records these words; Jesus calls a
person to repent and turn to God. Not
only does repentance indicate that a person just might be living a life in
opposition to God, but it also admits that there is a standard by which all
people must live. However, the popular
trend among liberal theologians today is to rewrite and reinterpret scripture
according to our own standard. A page at
www.religioustolerance.org
says, “It is important to change the
interpretation of those passages in religious holy books that are violent and
unjust by today's standards”. The
Bible can be changed in light of modern ethics and understanding. This teaching is finding its way into
seminaries, and pastors are being trained in this kind of thinking. This kind of thinking is growing rampant even
in my own denomination. And those who
think otherwise are viewed as unenlightened buffoons. The point is, Jesus called humanity to
repentance, and the unrepentant are living apart from God.
Matthew 4:18-22
As recorded in Mark 1 and Luke 5, Matthew indicated that Jesus called
four men (two sets of brothers) to a full-time ministry. Instead of simply believing that Jesus is the
Messiah, these men (and perhaps Philip and Nathaniel as well), were called to
work alongside Jesus. And as stated in
John’s Gospel, these men had already spent some time with Jesus.
Matthew 4:23-25
I’m reminded of Ecclesiastes 7:13 here. “Consider the work of God, For
who is able to straighten what He has bent?”
This is a bent and twisted world in which we live, and only God can undo
the effects of sin. The significant part
about this is that Jesus accomplished a whole lot more after He called the four
men into full time ministry with Him.
Perhaps the four men went into the town and told people about the
Messiah, and that’s why they came out to see Him. This ministry would have had to be organized
quite well. If not, people would have
been pushing and shoving their way to see Jesus.
Luke 4
Luke 4:1-13
Here is Luke’s account of the Temptation. Notice that Luke reverses the 2nd
and 3rd temptations compared to Matthew.
Luke 4:14-30 As
popular as Jesus had become, His message didn’t seem to be very well received
in His home town. Notice that Jesus did
no miracles there, He simply read from Isaiah 61:1-2, although He omitted the
end of verse 2; the part about God’s vengeance. The people were quite impressed, but did not
believe that Joseph’s Son could possibly be the Messiah. This is why Jesus gave no signs to testify He
was the Messiah because the people wouldn’t believe even then (compare Mark
6:5). It’s like trying to debate an
atheist. An atheist has already made up
his mind that God does not exist, so no clever argument or divine intervention
will ever change their heart. They are
bind because they choose to be. Anything
Jesus did that day in Nazareth would have been ignored. They might have felt God was working through
Jesus, but not that Jesus was God.
Luke 4:31-37
This is the same event as recorded in Mark 1:21-28. Again I am amazed that an unclean spirit did
not feel threatened within the synagogue.
I wonder if this is why so many congregations have conflict. Perhaps the conflict comes because the unclean
spirit gets uncomfortable when the Spirit of God begins to move in a church,
and working through an individual or a group, the unclean spirit leads people
to cause dissention, divisions, and disruptions.
Luke 4:38-41
This repeats what is mentioned in Mark 1:38-41. Note that Peter’s mother-in-law showed no
after effects. We all know how weak a
fever makes us. It takes a few days to
gain back our strength. But this woman
was able to serve immediately (verse 39), as if the fever had never existed.
John 2
John 2:1-2
The next day (or “the third day”) here refers back to the calling of
Philip and Nathaniel. It seem pretty
clear that this wedding took place before Jesus traveled back down to Jerusalem
for the Passover celebration (John 2:13), so that places it before He returned
to Galilee, called Peter and Andrew and James and John, and before He stood up
and spoke in His home town.
John 2:3 A
typical Wedding Feast would last 7 days.
This event would take place after the end of the year’s engagement and
after the Groom came to the bride’s house and escorted her back to his
home. It seems that there was too much
week left at the end of the wine.
John 2:4-12
Did Mary expect a miracle here?
Probably not, especially considering what is mentioned in John
2:11. The comment “What does that have
to do with us” was actually quite common.
It spoke of a person’s involvement in the affairs of others, even in the
affairs of other nations, kingdoms, or realms.
And probably the most important part of this was His statement that “My
time has not yet come”. Jesus was
committed to following the Father’s timing, and had not received any
instruction to make Himself known through miracles just yet. Remember that this scene takes place before
the healing of the demon possessed man in the synagogue. What changed?
Did Jesus suddenly hear from the Father “Give them the wine”? You know, it’s not clear. But what is clear is that only a small group
truly knew what had happened. It wasn’t
until a little bit later that He openly demonstrated His glory (see John 2:11).
John 2:6 As
stated, these water pots, containing up to 180 gallons of water, were used for
Jewish ceremonial washing. The
Pharisee’s must have been afraid of germs.
They made people wash their hands before they ate, while they ate, and
after they ate. Bowls of water were
placed on the table, and a good Jew would dip his hands in the water at
mealtime (compare Matthew 15:1-2). Well,
the water used for this was now gone. It
had all been turned into wine. What were
these people to do now that the water pots were empty? Maybe the wine was so good that they would be
too drunk to notice. Or maybe it was
symbolic of the New Way to righteousness; not through rituals but through the
blood of Jesus.
John 2:13 I
know it seems strange to say up to Jerusalem, but the city does sit high atop a
hill, and the Temple sits even higher.
John 2:14-17
As a convenience to pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem for the
Passover, sacrificial animals could be purchased in the Court of the Gentiles
outside the Temple wall. And strangely,
animals that someone had brought with them just were not acceptable; they were
rejected by the priests. However, for a
small fee, a new, unblemished animal could be purchased. Isn’t that just so wonderful! And here Jacob thought he would have to go
back home and bring another. Boy, these
priests think of everything. And the
money-changers, well that’s something special as well. The Temple Tax had to be paid in the Jewish
currency. Well, wouldn’t you know it;
the exchange rate was unfortunately a little bit biased toward the Jewish
currency. Shucks, is just too bad that
foreign currency isn’t as valuable as good Jewish currency. Well, Jesus sees all of this and gets ticked
off. No, really! This angers Jesus, it really does. How could this level of corruption have crept
into God’s sacred Temple? So He takes
authority and turns the tables (so to speak).
This is Jesus’ first warning to those conducting business when they
should be leading people into holiness.
Here he questions how the Temple could have become a place of
business. In another similar incident,
Jesus calls the place a den of thieves (Luke 19:46).
John 2:18-22
Needless to say the Jewish Religious leaders are bit perturbed with
Jesus. And Jesus response shocked
them. Now get this. Herod was not too pleased with the Temple
built by Zerubbabel (see Haggai 2:3). It
was not as nice as the one Solomon had built.
So they began rebuilding it in 19 BC.
46 years later the Temple was still not finished. As a matter of fact history tells us that the
Jewish leaders worked on the Temple up to 63 AD; only to have it destroyed in
70 AD by the Romans. Of course they
didn’t realize that the Glory of God did not dwell in a building but in the Man
standing before them. Not even the disciples
understood this until the Spirit was given.
John 2:23-25
A belief in Jesus based on sensationalism is not a belief in Jesus. It is a lust for things that impress and
amaze. Jesus knew this. He knew the people were simply impressed with
what He could do, not who He was. 
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