Proverb 31, ideal woman, modern translation. Interpretation of the books of the Old Testament. Proverbs. He values his wife as a treasure

FORTY-DAY FAST AND TEMPTATION FROM THE DEVIL
(Matt. 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13)

The first three Evangelists have a narrative about the forty-day fast of the Lord Jesus Christ and his subsequent temptation in the desert from the devil, and St. Matthew and St. Luke, and St. Mark only mentions this briefly, without giving details.

After baptism, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness,” located between Jericho and the Dead Sea. One of the mountains of this desert is still called the Forty Days, after the Lord’s forty days of fasting on it. The first work of the Spirit of God that rested on Jesus at baptism was to lead Him into the wilderness, so that there He could prepare through fasting and prayer for the great service of saving mankind. There He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, i.e., as can be seen, during all this time He ate nothing at all and “after a hunger,” i.e. came to an extreme degree of hunger and exhaustion. “And the tempter came to Him,” this was the final attack of the tempter, for according to Luke the devil did not cease to tempt the Lord for 40 days (4:2).

What is the meaning of this temptation of the Lord from the devil?

Having come to earth in order to destroy the works of the devil, the Lord could, of course, destroy them immediately with one breath of His lips, but we must know and remember that the works of the devil were rooted in the errors of the free human soul, which the Lord appeared to save without depriving of freedom, this greatest gift of God to man, created not by a pawn, not by a soulless automaton, and not by an animal guided by an unconscious instinct, but by a free, rational personality. In relation to the Divinity of Jesus Christ, this temptation was a struggle between the spirit of evil and the Son of God, who came to save man, to maintain his power over people with the help of the ghosts of knowledge and happiness. This temptation was similar to the temptation of Jehovah that the Israelites allowed themselves in Rephidim (Ex. 17: 1-7), complaining about the lack of water: “Is the Lord among us or not?” So the devil begins his temptation with the words: “If you are the Son of God.” And just as the Psalmist says about the sons of Israel that they tempted the Lord in the desert, so the devil tempted the Son of God with the intention of irritating Him, angering Him, reproaching and insulting Him (Psalm 77:40-41). Mainly, the temptation was directed against the human nature of Jesus, on which the devil hoped to extend his influence, to seduce its will onto the wrong path.

Christ came to earth in order to establish His kingdom among people - the Kingdom of God. Two paths could lead to this goal: one, which the Jews of that time dreamed of, - the path of the quick and brilliant accession of the Messiah as an earthly king, the other - a slow and thorny path, the path of voluntary moral rebirth of people, associated with much suffering not only for followers of the Messiah, but also for Himself.

The devil wanted to divert the Lord from the second path, trying to deceive Him, according to humanity, of course, with the ease of the first, which promised not suffering, but only glory.

First of all, taking advantage of the hunger that tormented Jesus as a man, the devil tried to convince Him to use His Divine power in order to get rid of this painful feeling of hunger for every person. Pointing to the stones, which in this area still resemble bread in their shape, he says: “If you are the Son of God, these stones will be bread.” The devil hoped that, having been tempted by this once, Jesus would continue to do the same: he would protect himself with legions of angels from a crowd of enemies, come down from the cross or call on Elijah to save Him (Matt. 26:53; 27:40, 49), and then the matter would the salvation of mankind through the sufferings of the Son of God on the cross would not have been realized. The God-man, who for others turned water into wine and miraculously multiplied the loaves, rejected this evil advice with the words of Moses, spoken regarding the manna with which God fed His people for 40 years in the wilderness: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth.” from the mouth of God" (Deut. 8:3). By “verb” here we must understand the good will of God, providing for man. The Lord worked miracles to satisfy the needs of others, and not His own: if, in all His sufferings, instead of enduring them, He had resorted to His Divine power, He could not have been an example for us. Repeating this miracle often, He could have attracted with Him all the people who were then demanding “bread and circuses,” but these people would not have been reliable for the free Kingdom of God that He founded. His goal was for people to freely follow Him according to His word, but not like slaves, carried away by the ease of possessing earthly goods.

Having suffered defeat at the first temptation, the devil proceeded to the second: he led the Lord to Jerusalem and, standing him on the wing of the temple, suggested: “If you are the Son of God, look down from below: for it is written, that His angel commanded You to keep You, and they will take You in their arms.” You..." Again a proposal to strike the imagination of people who are tensely awaiting the coming of the Messiah with a miracle, so as to easily captivate them with him: and this, of course, would be fruitless for the moral life of people, and the Lord rejected this proposal too with the words: "Not tempt the Lord your God,” spoken at one time by Moses to the people of Israel (Deut. 6:16), i.e.: “one should not unnecessarily expose oneself to danger by experiencing the miraculous power of God’s omnipotence.”

Then the devil proceeds to the third temptation: he shows Jesus from a high mountain “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” and says: “I will give all this to you if you worship me.” St. Luke adds at the same time that the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the universe “in a moment of time” and said at the same time: “I will give you all this power and the glory of them: as it was given to me to eat, and if I want, I will give it” (4: b-7). The devil unfolded before the gaze of Jesus a picture of all the kingdoms of the earth, over which he really ruled, as a spirit of malice, showed Him what forces and means he had in this world to fight God, who came to earth to save man from his power. He hoped, obviously, that this picture would confuse the human spirit of Jesus with fear and doubt about the possibility of carrying out His great work of saving mankind. And indeed: what could be more terrible than the picture of a world that has voluntarily given itself over to the power of the devil?

Of course, in these words the devil promised Jesus purely external power over people, external dominion over them, while retaining internal, spiritual dominion for himself. This is exactly what the Lord did not want, who taught that He did not come for external dominion, not to be served as earthly rulers (Matthew 20:28) and that “His kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36), and this Kingdom is purely spiritual. Therefore, the Lord, with the words of Deuteronomy (6:13): “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone,” drives away the devil from Himself, saying: “Follow Me, Satan!”, indicating that He does not recognize the power of Satan over the world, because the universe belongs to the Lord God, and worship in it is due to Him alone.

“Then leave Him the devil,” according to the Evangelist Luke: “Depart from Him for a time,” because soon he again began to tempt Him through people, erecting all kinds of intrigues (Luke 4:13). The indication of Ev alone is important. Mark that in the desert the Lord was “with the beasts” (Mark 1:13). Like the New Adam, wild animals did not dare to harm Him, recognizing Him as their Master.

THE DESERT OF THE LORD TO GALILEE AND HIS CONVERSATION WITH THE SAMARITAN WOMAN
(Matt. 4:12; Mark 1:14; Luke 4:14; John 4:1-42)

All four Evangelists speak about the departure of the Lord to Galilee. St. Matthew and Mark note that this happened after John was thrown into prison and St. John adds that the reason for this was the rumor that Jesus makes more disciples and baptizes than John the Baptist, although, as he explains, Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples did. After John was imprisoned, all the enmity of the Pharisees was directed at Jesus, who began to seem more dangerous to them than John himself, and therefore Jesus, since the hour of His suffering had not yet come, in order to evade the persecution of his envious enemies, leaves Judea and goes to Galilee. Only the Evangelist John tells about the conversation between the Lord and the Samaritan woman that took place on the way to Galilee.

The path of the Lord lay through Samaria - a region located north of Judea and formerly belonging to the three tribes of Israel: Dan, Ephraim and Manasseh. In this area was the city of Samaria, the former capital of the kingdom of Israel. The Assyrian king Salmanassar conquered this kingdom, took the Israelites into captivity, and in their place settled pagans from Babylon and other places. From the mixing of these settlers with the remaining Jews, the Samaritans emerged. The Samaritans accepted the Pentateuch of Moses, worshiped Jehovah, but did not abandon serving their gods. When the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity and began to rebuild the Jerusalem temple, the Samaritans wanted to take part in this, but were not allowed by the Jews and therefore built themselves a separate temple on Mount Gerizim. Having accepted the books of Moses, the Samaritans rejected the writings of the prophets and all traditions: for this the Jews considered them worse than the pagans and in every possible way avoided having any kind of communication with them, abhorring them and despising them.

Passing through Samaria, the Lord and His disciples stopped to rest near a well, which, according to legend, was dug by Jacob, near the city of Shechem, called Sychar by the Evangelist. Perhaps this is a mocking name that has come into use from “shikar” - “drinking wine” or “sheker” - “lie”. The Evangelist points out that it was “the sixth hour,” in our opinion, noon, the time of greatest heat, which necessitated the need for rest. “A woman came from Samaria,” i.e. Samaritan woman, draw water. The disciples of Jesus went to the city to buy food, and He turned to the Samaritan woman with the request: “Give Me something to drink.” Having learned from speech or clothing that the person turning to her with such a request was a Jew, the Samaritan woman expressed surprise at how Jesus, being a Jew, asked her, the Samaritan woman, for a drink, meaning the hatred and contempt that the Jews had for the Samaritans. But Jesus, who came into the world to save everyone, and not just the Jews, explains to the Samaritan woman that she would not have raised such a question if she had known who was speaking to her and what happiness (gift of God) God had sent her in this meeting. If she knew who was telling her: “Give Me a drink,” then she herself would have asked Him to quench her spiritual thirst, to reveal to her the truth, to the knowledge of which all people strive, and He would have given her this “living water” under which to understand the grace of the Holy Spirit (See John 7:38-39). The Samaritan woman did not understand the Lord: by living water she understood spring water, which is at the bottom of the well, and therefore asks Jesus where He can get living water from, if He has nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. “Are You really greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well, and he himself and his children and his cattle drank from it,” she recalls with pride and love Patriarch Jacob, who left this well for the use of his descendants. Then the Lord raises her to the highest understanding of His speech: “Whoever drinks of this water will become thirsty again, and whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst for it; but the water that I will give him will be a source of water in him.” , flowing into the eternal belly." In spiritual life, blessed water has a different effect than sensory water in bodily life. He who is filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit will never again feel spiritual thirst, for all his spiritual needs are completely satisfied; meanwhile, the one who drinks sensual water, as well as satisfies all his earthly needs, quenches his thirst only for a while and soon “comes thirsty again.” Moreover, the blessed water will remain in a person, forming a source within him, flowing (literally from Greek: “jumping”) into eternal life, i.e. making a person a partaker of eternal life. Continuing to not understand the Lord and thinking that He is talking about ordinary water, but only some special one that quenches thirst forever, she asks the Lord to give her this water in order to save her from the need to come to the well for water. Wanting to make it clear to the Samaritan woman that she is not talking to an ordinary person, the Lord first orders her to call her husband, and then directly accuses her of the fact that, having five husbands, she is now living in an adulterous relationship. Seeing that the one speaking to her is a prophet who knows the unseen, she turns to Him for a solution to the question that most tormented the Samaritans at that time in their relationship with the Jews: who is right in the dispute about the place of worship of God, are the Samaritans who, following their fathers? , who built the temple on Mount Gerizim, brought worship to God on this mountain, or the Jews, who argued that God could only be worshiped in Jerusalem.

By choosing Mount Gerizim to worship God, the Samaritans were based on the command of Moses in Deut. 11:29 say a blessing on this mountain. And although their temple, erected on this mountain, was destroyed by John Hyrcanus back in 130 BC, they continued to make sacrifices there. The Lord answers the controversial question with the assurance that it is a mistake to think that God can be worshiped only in one specific place. The controversial issue between Jews and Samaritans will soon lose its significance, for both Jewish and Samaritan worship will cease in the near future. This was fulfilled when the Samaritans, exterminated by wars, became unconvinced of the significance of their mountain, and Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was destroyed by the Romans and the temple burned. Nevertheless, the Lord gives preference to Jewish worship, bearing in mind, of course, that the Samaritans, accepting only the Pentateuch of Moses, rejected the prophetic writings, which set out in detail the doctrine of the person and kingdom of the Messiah. And there is “salvation from the Jews” itself, for the Redeemer of mankind will come from among the Jewish people. Further, the Lord, developing the thought He had already expressed, indicates that the time will come (and even has already come, since the Messiah has appeared) a time of new higher worship of God, which will not be limited to any one place, but will be universal, for it will be accomplished in the Spirit and truth. Only such worship is true, for it corresponds to the nature of God Himself, Who is the Spirit. To worship God in spirit and in truth means striving to please God not only in an external way, by making sacrifices to Him, as the Jews and Samaritans did, who thought that all worship of God boils down to this alone, but by true and sincere striving for God as Spirit , with all the strength of your spiritual being, to know God and love God, unfeignedly and unfeignedly desiring to please Him by fulfilling His commandments. Worshiping God “in spirit and truth” does not at all exclude the external, ritual side of worship of God, as some false teachers and sectarians try to assert, but they only demand that this side of worship be given first place. In the outer, ritual worship of God itself, one cannot see anything reprehensible: it is both necessary and inevitable, since a person consists not of one soul, but also of a body. Jesus Christ Himself worshiped God the Father with His body, kneeling and falling face down on the ground, and did not reject similar worship of Himself from other persons during His earthly life (see Matt. 2:11; 14:33; 15:22; John. 11:21 and 12:3 and many other places).

As if beginning to understand the meaning of Jesus’ word, the Samaritan woman, thoughtfully, says: “I know that the Messiah will come, that is, Christ; when He comes, He will tell us everything.” The Samaritans also expected the Messiah, calling Him Gashshageb, and basing this expectation on the words of the Pentateuch of Gen. 49:10, Num. Chapter 24 and especially in the words of Moses in Deut. 18:18. The Samaritans' concepts of the Messiah were not as corrupted as those of the Jews: the Samaritans were waiting for a prophet in the person of the Messiah, and the Jews were waiting for a political leader. Therefore, Jesus, who for a long time did not call Himself the Messiah before the Jews, directly tells this simple-minded Samaritan woman that He is the Messiah-Christ promised by Moses: “I am, speak with you.” Delighted with the happiness of seeing the Messiah, the Samaritan woman throws her waterpot at the well and hurries to the city to announce to everyone about the coming of the Messiah, Who, as a Heart-Teller, told her everything that “she had done.”

The disciples who came from the city at that time were surprised that their Teacher was talking with a woman, for this was condemned by the rules of the Jewish rabbis, who instructed: “do not talk for a long time with a woman,” “No one should talk to a woman on the road, even to his lawful wife.” "It is better to burn the words of the law than to teach them to a woman." However, in awe of their Teacher, the disciples did not express their surprise to Him with any question and only asked Him to eat the food they had brought from the city.

But natural hunger is drowned out in Him by the joy of the conversion of the inhabitants of the Samaritan city to Him and by concern for their salvation. He rejoiced that the seed He had thrown had already begun to bear fruit, and therefore, to the disciples’ offer to satisfy His hunger, He answered them that the true food for Him was the fulfillment of the work of saving people, entrusted to Him by God the Father. The Samaritans coming to Him are for Him a field ripe for harvest, while in the fields the harvest will only be in four months. When sowing grain in the ground, it usually happens that the same person who sowed it reaps; when sowing the word, the spiritual harvest more often goes to others, but the one who sows at the same time rejoices along with the one who reaps, for he sowed not for himself, but for others. Therefore, Christ says that He sends the Apostles to reap the harvest in the spiritual field, which was initially cultivated and sown not by them, but by others: the Old Testament prophets and Himself. During this conversation, the Samaritans approached the Lord. Many believed in Him at the word of the woman, but even more believed at His word when, at their invitation, He stayed with them in the city for two days. Hearing the teaching of the Lord, they, by their own admission, were convinced that He truly was the Savior of the world, Christ.

THE ARRIVAL OF CHRIST THE SAVIOR IN GALILEE AND THE BEGINNING OF HIS SERMON
(Matt. 4:13-17; Mark 1:15; Luke 4:14-15; John 4:43-45)

All four Evangelists speak about the coming of the Lord to Galilee and the beginning of His preaching there. Arriving in Galilee, He left His native city of Nazareth, testifying that a prophet has no honor in his own country, and settled in Capernaum by the sea, located on the territory of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, in which St. Matthew sees the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy of Isain 9:1-2. The Galileans received Him well, for they also went to the festival in Jerusalem and saw everything that Jesus did there. Soon the rumor about Him spread throughout the whole country, and He taught in their synagogues everywhere, beginning His sermon with the words: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is drawing near!”

It is remarkable that these were the same words with which John the Baptist began his sermon. The New Kingdom, the new orders that the Lord Jesus Christ came to establish in people, are so different from their previous sinful life that people really needed to leave everything the same and, as it were, be born again through repentance, i.e. through a complete internal change. Repentance is such a complete change of thoughts, feelings and desires.

Since the Lord returned from Judea to Galilee, Galilee has become the usual place of His activities. It was a country, small in territory, but very populous in population, which included not only Jews, but also Phoenicians, Arabians and even Egyptians. The excellent fertility of this country has always attracted numerous settlers to it, who became one people with the local population. The dominant faith was Jewish, although there were many pagans in it, which is why it was called the “Galilean language.” All this was the reason, on the one hand, for the great religious ignorance of the Galileans, on the other hand, and for their greater freedom from the religious prejudices of the Jews, in particular regarding the person of the Messiah.

The Savior's disciples were all from Galilee, and His other followers found it easy to follow Him everywhere in this small, fertile country. These considerations can be used to explain the reasons why the Lord chose Galilee as the primary place of His ministry. And we see that the Galileans really turned out to be more receptive to His preaching than the proud Jews.

CALL TO APOSTOLIC MINISTRY OF THE FISHERIES: PETER, ANDREW, JAMES AND JOHN
(Matt. 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11)

Three Evangelists tell us about the calling of the first Apostles: Matthew, Mark and Luke, and the first two briefly, as if stating only the very fact of the calling, and St. Luke describes in detail the miraculous catch of fish that preceded this calling. As St. tells us. Evangelist John, while still on the Jordan, His first disciples, Andrew and John, whom He had designated, followed the Lord, then Simon, Philip and Nathanael came to the Lord. But having returned with Jesus to Galilee, they little by little returned to their previous occupation - fishing. Now the Lord calls them to constantly follow Him, commanding them to leave fishing and devote themselves to other work - catching people for the Kingdom of God.

The rumor of the coming of the Messiah quickly spread throughout Galilee, and crowds of people flocked to listen to His teaching. Everyone crowded around Him, and so, one day, when He was on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, which was also called the sea (probably due to the strong storms that were there), He had to get into a boat to sail out and teach the people from it. Having finished the teaching, the Lord ordered Simon, who owned the boat, to sail to the depths and cast his nets. An experienced fisherman, who worked unsuccessfully all night, was sure that the new catch would not be successful, but such a miraculous catch occurred that even the net broke through. Peter and Andrew had to call for help from their comrades who were in another boat, Jacob and John, so that they would help them pull out the caught fish. There were so many fish that both boats filled with them began to sink. Overwhelmed by awe, Peter fell at Jesus’ feet, saying: “Depart from me, Lord! For I am a sinful man.” In these words, he wanted to express the consciousness of his unworthiness before the greatness and power of the Wonderworker. With a word of meekness, the Lord calms Peter and predicts his future high destiny. According to the testimony of the Evangelists Matthew and Mark, the Lord said to both brothers Peter and Andrew: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men!”, and then called the other two brothers James and John Zebedee to follow Him in the same way. Leaving their nets, and the last two and their father, they followed Jesus.

SERMON AND WORK OF THE LORD IN GALILEE
(Matt. 4:23-25; Mark 1:35-39; Luke 4:42-44)

As a man, Christ the Savior Himself suffered from exhaustion due to so much labor, and in this sense it can also be said that He took upon Himself our infirmities and suffered illnesses. And so the next day, early in the morning, in order to rest and strengthen His strength with solitary prayer, He again withdrew from people to a solitary place. But the people again crowded around Simon’s house, and, having learned that Jesus was not there, they began to look for Him. Seeing this, Simon and those who were with him, i.e. Andrew, James and John also went to look for Jesus and, having found Him, called Him to the city, where everyone was waiting and looking for Him. The Lord told them, however, that He needed to go to other cities and villages to preach, for that is why I came, that is why I was sent, that is, to preach the gospel to everyone. After leaving Capernaum, Jesus walked throughout Galilee, preaching and performing miracles. The rumor about Him spread far beyond the borders of Galilee, throughout Syria: the sick were brought to Him from afar - from the Decapolis, from Judea and Jerusalem and from beyond the Jordan, and He healed them. Many people followed Him and listened to His teaching.

2. THROUGH TEMPTATION (4:1-11) (MARK 1:12-13; LUK 4:1-13)

Matt. 4:1-2. Immediately after baptism, the Spirit of God led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil (according to legend, this happened near Jericho, map). Obviously, this period of time was necessary in the mind of the Father, so that in it the Son, led by His hand, would show a model of obedience (Heb. 5:8). The test or temptation of the Son began after He, having fasted for forty days and forty nights, felt a severe attack of hunger.

It appears that from God's perspective the Lord Jesus' putting him through temptation was intended to demonstrate His spiritual power. The Son of God could not sin by His nature, and by this the severity of His temptation was aggravated on a scale incomprehensible to us. He had to endure to the end, without “easing” his soul with his “fall.”

Matt. 4:3-4. The first temptation concerned the area of Jesus' filial relationship with the Heavenly Father. Satan hoped that, being the Son, Jesus could be “flattered” by some act or action “independent” of the Father. Tempting the Son, Satan acted subtly and cunningly: if you are the Son of God, he said, approaching Jesus, then you can turn these stones into bread with your own word. But Jesus knew that this was not the will of the Heavenly Father regarding Him. It consisted in allowing Him to “hunger in the wilderness” without food.

To listen to Satan's "advice" and satisfy your hunger would mean to act contrary to the will of the Father. And in response to the evil spirit, Jesus quotes words from Deut. 8:3 “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” There is more good in being obedient to the word of God than in satisfying human desires. The fact that Jesus quoted from the book of Deuteronomy shows that He recognized the infallibility of its authority, and this cannot but sound like a reproach to those theologians who dare to “criticize” it.

Matt. 4:5-7. By tempting Christ a second time, Satan tried to kindle in Him the desire to “show off oneself” for the sake of greater popularity among people. The evil spirit came from the same thing as in the first case: if you are the Son of God, that is, the Messiah, no evil will happen to you; and so the devil takes Him and... places Him on the wing of the temple. It is not possible to dogmatically judge whether this actually happened or was just a vision. One way or another, Satan took a cunning step here in relation to Jesus as the Messiah.

He, in essence, reminded Him of the prophecy of Malachi (3:1), based on which many Jews believed that the Messiah would suddenly descend from heaven and appear in the temple. Satan seemed to be saying: Why don’t You do what people expect from You, and what would be a demonstration of a miracle in their eyes? After all, it is written that the Angels “will carry You in their hands, lest You dash Your foot against a stone.” Satan may have thought that he, too, needed to quote from Scripture if Jesus was doing it.

However, he deliberately did not bring Ps. 90:11-12 exactly, omitting the important idea that “Angels are commanded to guard You in all Your ways.” The psalmist, meanwhile, meant exactly that, that God will protect in everything he who acts according to His will. If Jesus would have thrown himself down from the wing of the temple in order to raise His prestige among people in such an unusual way, then he would not have acted according to the will of God. That is why He again answered the tempter with the words from Deuteronomy 6:16, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,” implying that he who goes out of His will should not expect help from Him.

Matt. 4:8-11. The final temptation from Satan had to do with God's plan for Jesus. God intended that Jesus Christ would rule the world. And so Satan shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Currently, these “kingdoms” belong to Satan, since he is “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4) and “the prince of this world” (John 12:31 cf. Eph. 2:2). Consequently, by tempting Jesus, he really had the power at that time to give Him all the kingdoms, but on the condition: if you fall and worship me.

What Satan was actually saying was, “I can do God’s will for You, and You can have all these kingdoms now.” In that case, of course, Jesus would never have gone to the cross. One can assume that He could have become the “King of kings” without experiencing the suffering of the cross. This, however, would mean thwarting God's plan to save the world; and for Jesus personally this would mean bowing down to a creature inferior to Him. And again He refers to the book of Deuteronomy (6:13 and 10:20), where it is said that only God should be worshiped and served. Thus Jesus resisted this temptation.

It is interesting to note that Satan tempted Eve in the same way in the Garden of Eden. It affected her physical appetite (Gen. 3:1-3; Matt. 4:3), flattered her “feeling of security” (Gen. 3:4-5; Matt. 4:6), and finally inflamed her what we call “ambition,” the desire for power and authority (Gen. 3:5-6; Matt. 4:8-9).

In the same “three ways” the evil spirit has been seducing people from the ages (1 John 2:16). But the One who identified Himself with sinners through baptism and Who gives people righteousness has proven that He Himself is righteous, and this is confirmed by the Heavenly Father. The result is natural: the devil leaves Jesus. And at the same moment God sends Angels to serve Him.

II. News brought by the King (4:12 - 7:29)

L. The Beginning of His Sermons (4:12-25)

1. WORD OF JESUS (4:12-22) (MARK 1:14-20; LUK 4:14-15)

A. His Sermon (4:12-17)

Matt. 4:12-16. Matthew makes an important clarification regarding the timing of further events, noting that Jesus began His ministry only when he heard that John had been taken into custody. The reason for John the Baptist's imprisonment is given later in 14:3. Upon learning of John's arrest, Jesus leaves Nazareth and settles in Capernaum (Luke 4:16-30 explains why He left Nazareth). This area was inhabited by the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali (since these were the lands that fell to them according to the division made by Joshua), but pagans also lived there.

Isaiah prophesied (Isaiah 9:1-2) that light would shine in this land, and Matthew views Jesus' removal to Capernaum as the fulfillment of this prophecy. One of the tasks of the Messiah was to bring light to those who are in the shadow (darkness) of death, to become this light for both Jews and Gentiles (John 1:9; 12:46).

Matt. 4:17. So, after John was imprisoned, Jesus began to preach. Many are already familiar with the motif, or rather, two motifs, that sounded in His words: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (compare 3:2). What John the Baptist had previously proclaimed, the Messiah Himself began to proclaim. Now God’s work was rapid progress towards the ultimate goal - the establishment of His glorious Kingdom on earth. And if someone wants to become a part of this Kingdom, they must repent. For repentance is an indispensable condition for joyful communication with God.

b. Jesus calls the disciples (4:18-22) (Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11)

Matt. 4:18-22. Because Jesus was the promised Messiah, He had the right to take people out of their daily activities and call them to follow Him. However, the meeting with Simon and Andrew that Matthew writes about was not Jesus' first meeting with these people; the first is described in the Gospel of John (1:35-42). But now Jesus called these fishermen to leave their usual occupation in order to follow Him always and everywhere. For from the “fishers” He intended to make them fishers (of the souls of men).

The news of the coming Kingdom of God had to be preached everywhere so that many could hear it and - through repentance - become “partakers” of this Kingdom. However, the call of Jesus was not easy to fulfill, for it assumed that a person would have to - in order to fulfill it - leave not only his studies, but also his neighbors. Matthew explicitly states that James and John parted not only with their fishing gear, but also with their father; both followed Jesus.

2. ABOUT THE WORKS OF JESUS (4:23-25) (LUKE 6:17-19)

Matt. 4:23. The Lord did not limit himself to preaching. His deeds were no less important than His words, since the Jews could always ask: “Can this one who calls Himself the Messiah do deeds worthy of the Messiah?” The summary of Jesus' works found in 4:23 is very important to the development of Matthew's main theme (note that Matthew 9:35 sounds almost identical to Matthew 4:23, which talks about several significant things).

1) . And Jesus walked throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues. He who claimed the title of King of the Jews taught among the Jews. He taught in synagogues where Jews gathered for worship.

2) . Jesus taught and preached, that is, he performed prophetic ministry - after all, He was the “Prophet” promised to the Jews in Deuteronomy (Deut. 18:15-19).

3) . He proclaimed to them the Gospel (good news) of the Kingdom. For the essence of His preaching was that God intended to fulfill what He promised to Israel (when He entered into a covenant with them) by establishing His Kingdom on earth.

4) . Jesus healed every sickness and every disease among people (compare “teaching,” “preaching,” and “healing” in Matt. 9:35). This proved that He was a true Prophet, since His words were accompanied by “signs.” All this should have convinced the Jews that God acted in history to fulfill His purposes. They were required to repent of their sins and recognize Jesus as their Messiah.

Matt. 4:24-25. The ministry of Jesus, and perhaps the ministry of the four disciples whom He called first (verses 18-22), made a tremendous impression on the people: hearing about the wonderful works of Jesus caused large crowds to flock to Him. Matthew writes: And rumors about Him spread throughout all Syria, that is, throughout all the territory north of Galilee.

Those who came to see and hear Him brought with them many sick people suffering from all kinds of diseases, and Jesus healed them. It is not surprising that many people followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis (meaning the area south and east of the Sea of Galilee), and Jerusalem and Judea, and beyond the Jordan (map).

1. Then (after His baptism) Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil,

2. And having fasted forty days and nights, at last he became hungry.

All three synoptic evangelists - Matthew, Mark and Luke - indicate that the temptation of Christ took place immediately after baptism. Those. one must think that there was no time between the baptism and the temptation of Jesus Christ. Christ was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, who descended on Him in the form of a dove at baptism.

The very possibility of temptation is based on the fact that a person can commit some kind of sin. According to church teaching, Christ was sinless and not only sinless, but also could not sin. Having been baptized, He took upon Himself the title of servant. This was the greatest feat in the entire history of mankind. Then He is taken into the desert and subjected to temptation, not as God, not as a mere man, but as a human slave, voluntarily accepting the duties of slavish service to humanity. Just as the chosen people, coming out of Egyptian slavery, were tempted in the desert for 40 years, so Christ, having passed through the waters of baptism (which correspond to the Old Testament waters of the Red Sea), is tempted.

The word “devil” literally means: the one who scatters, separates one object from another or some people from others. Thus, the devil means a person who produces discord, division, confusion in thinking and feeling; since this is done primarily with the help of slander or deception, hence the usual (albeit figurative) meaning of the word “devil” - slanderer or seducer. The devil is the enemy of man because he breaks the connection (disconnects) him with God and other people. Often in the New Testament the words “devil” and “Satan” refer to the same “ancient serpent.” “Satan” is a Hebrew word and is translated as “adversary” or “one who resists.” Sometimes this word is applied to people who resist the truth, who have submitted themselves to the spirit of rebellion. But the devil, or Satan, is almost always a disembodied spirit that opposes God and produces evil in the world, materializes this evil.

Following the example of the forty-day fast of the Savior from ancient times, the Christian Church established a 40-day Great Lent, which continues during the following Holy Week and ends with the Holy Resurrection of Christ. Thousands of Christian devotees and many scientific experiments have proven that even an ordinary person can withstand a full forty-day fast, i.e. to live for such a long time without food, although in the church understanding, fasting is moderate eating of plant foods.

Our Lord Jesus Christ spent the entire time of his 40-day fast in unceasing prayer. “Jesus, having been baptized, prayed,” says the Gospel of Luke. He then went to secluded places to pray many times.

Throughout his entire fast, Christ felt hunger, which intensified towards the end of the fast and finally became strongest and unbearable, so that He “was finally hungry.” St. John Chrysostom writes: “Since Christ did and endured everything for our teaching, even now He allows Himself to be taken into the wilderness and put into battle with the devil so that none of those who were baptized, if he happened to endure even greater things after baptism previous temptations, was not embarrassed by them as something unexpected, but would courageously endure every temptation, as if it were an ordinary matter. You did not receive weapons to be idle, but to fight.”

Blazh. Theophylact of Bulgaria notes that Christ “is taken precisely into the desert in order to show us that the devil tempts us when he sees that we are alone and without the help of others. Therefore, we cannot remain without advice and rely only on ourselves.”

3. And the tempter came to Him and said: If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.

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.”

The devil had no doubt at all that Christ was the Son of God. If he had doubted this, he could not have offered Jesus to perform such a miracle as turning stones into bread. Thus, the devil’s words had an inciting meaning. That is, You, Who took upon Yourself the image of a human slave, are almost dying of hunger, but You should not die, because both You and I know well that You are the Son of God. You were recently publicly recognized as the Son of God at your baptism. For You, therefore, it is not at all difficult to take care of Yourself. You only need to say the word, and these stones that You see will immediately become bread.

“Not by bread alone...” were the first words spoken by the Savior after baptism. Indeed: the body is supported by food. But a person does not consist of only one body. The body cannot nourish itself or be nourished on its own; it transmits information about its needs and requirements to the spirit and only with its participation receives what it needs for its existence. The spirit takes care of the body and its needs; it would die without such a close connection. In tempting Christ, the devil therefore did not turn to the main source of human life. Wanting to achieve his goal, he turned to the “slave” (body) instead of his “master” (spirit), and tempted the body to dominate its master, to subjugate the spirit to itself. But this is not the normal order. It is not the spirit that is dependent on the body, but the body on the spirit. For the body to be alive, the spirit must be alive. But the life of the spirit does not depend on the nutrition of the body. It only says that “a healthy mind in a healthy body,” in order to force the body to healthy work. The spirit feeds on different food. Since the image and likeness of God in man lies not in the body, but in the human spirit, then the food that nourishes the spirit is given by God - this is the word of God. The devil represents man primarily as a physical being, while the Savior represents man primarily as a spiritual being. The Lord seemed to forget about feeding the body, feeding his spirit (he prayed). The devil did not think about feeding the spirit, expressing external care for the body. The error was exposed and the temptation was repelled. Christ’s answer to the devil is taken from the Old Testament book “Deuteronomy”, chapter 8, article 3: “... Man does not live by bread alone, but by all kinds of bread by the word that comes from the mouth of the Lord man lives " Moses here mentions to the people about his wanderings in the desert and says that there God humbled the people, tormented them with hunger and fed them with manna. The people remained alive there because the Lord took care of them, in particular sending down manna from heaven for food. Consequently, the Savior did not need to worry about bread. He will get food when he needs it.

Christ came to earth in order to establish His kingdom among people - the Kingdom of God. There were two paths to this goal: one - which the Jews of that time dreamed of - the path of the quick and brilliant accession of the Messiah-Christ as an earthly king, the other - a slow and thorny path, the path of voluntary moral rebirth of people, associated with much suffering not only for followers Christ, but also for Himself. The devil wanted to divert the Lord from the second path, trying to deceive Him as a man with the ease of the first, which promised not suffering, but only glory.

We know from the Gospels that the Savior performed miracles to meet the needs of other people, but never for His own.

If, with all His sufferings, instead of enduring them, He had resorted to His Divine power and avoided them, He could not have been an example for us; He could have drawn behind Him all the people who were then demanding “bread and circuses,” but these people would not have been reliable for the free Kingdom of God that He was creating: His goal was for people to freely follow Him according to His word, but not as slaves , carried away by the ease of possessing earthly goods. Therefore, by “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” here we must understand the good will of God, providing for man.

St. John Chrysostom notes that the devil began his temptation of Christ with a flattering appeal to Him. He didn’t say, “if you are hungry,” but said, “if you are the Son of God.” He keeps silent about hunger so that it does not seem that he is putting it on display for the Savior and wants to humiliate Him, so with the very first words he thinks to seduce Him and exalt Him. And further the saint notes: “Look at the cunning of the evil spirit, with what he begins the fight, and how he remains faithful to his cunning: with what he cast out the first man from paradise and subjected him to countless disasters, here too he begins his seduction, i.e. incontinence of the belly... But Christ, wanting to show that even the cruelest violence cannot force a virtuous person to do anything inappropriate, voluntarily suffers hunger (hunger), and yet does not obey the suggestion of the devil, teaching us not to obey him in anything. Since the first person, having listened to the devil, angered God and violated the law, the Lord in every possible way inspires not to listen to the devil, even when what he demands would not be a violation of the law, even if the demons suggested something useful, and then the Lord forbids them listen".

Blazh. Theophylact of Bulgaria draws attention to the fact that “the devil did not say: so that this stone should become bread, but: these stones, wanting to draw Christ into excess, while for the hungry one bread is completely enough.” And this also testifies to the cunning of the evil spirit.

5. Then the devil takes Him to the holy city and places Him on the wing of the temple,

6. And he said 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.

7 Jesus said to him, “It is also written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

The holy city here is undoubtedly called Jerusalem. All interpreters agree on this, because there was a temple on whose wing Christ was placed.

The Savior repelled the first temptation with reference to Holy Scripture. Now the devil is tempting Christ, also referring to the text of Holy Scripture. He quotes verses 11-12 of the ninetieth Psalm. According to his logic, the Son of God must and does possess miraculous power and must discover it. Before performing any miracles, the Son of God must test this miraculous power on Himself. For testing, a miracle was chosen that, both according to the concepts of the ancients and according to our concepts, would seem to be the miracle of miracles, destroying the main physical law of gravity. Here is a link to the text of Psalm 90.

The full text of the indicated verses of this psalm reads as follows: “... for He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you for all your ways : they will carry you in their hands, so that you will not stumble on the stone with your foot " When reading these verses, it is immediately clear that the devil does not quote them completely and incorrectly applies the text to the circumstances in which Jesus Christ found himself. It is remarkable that the Savior does not consider it necessary here to reveal any logical error or infidelity, but reflects temptation only with the text of the same Holy Scripture.

The Savior says: Moreover it is written: “ Don't tempt Lord your God "(Deut. 6:16), that is, "one should not unnecessarily expose oneself to danger, experiencing the miraculous power of God's omnipotence." These words were once spoken by the prophet Moses to his people, who were indignant and grumbled at God in Massa (translated as “temptation”), a locality on the Sinai Peninsula.

The nature of the refutation here is different from what it was during the first temptation. In the first temptation, the thought that the devil inspired in Jesus was actually the thought of the devil and therefore was naturally refuted by the words of Holy Scripture. To use the same method of refutation in the second temptation would mean to refute Holy Scripture. The text chosen by the devil was in itself correct; its application to people and to the Savior Himself was also true, although not under the circumstances in which He found Himself. Therefore, the incorrectness of the biblical words coming from the mouth of the devil was that this text was presented as an instrument of temptation.

Therefore, Christ, without refuting the words of the devil in themselves, points only to the nature of his act or action. The words of the Holy Scripture cannot tempt God, who gave this Scripture and imparted to it His Divine authority (the 3rd commandment of God warns about this: do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who takes His name in vain. – Ex.20.7).

Blazh. Theophylact of Bulgaria, pointing to the second temptation of Christ by the devil, writes that only the devil’s cruelty is capable of casting down those who are raging from on high, and saving God. And what is written: they will carry you up in their hands is written not about Christ, but about the saints who need angelic help. “Christ, as God, does not need her,” concludes Theophylact.

Saint Gregory the Dvoeslov warns that the devil often mocks and seduces people through dreams. “For us,” he writes, “that virtue is enough if we do not pay any attention to the play of the imagination. Dreams are most often nothing more than chimeras of a deceptive mind or demonic tricks.”

And here is the story about the terrible fall of the ascetic and elder Iron. With the help of dreams, the devil deceived him and, from the heights of virtue, plunged him into the abyss of destruction. Iron spent fifty years in the desert in high deeds and abstinence. He labored alone in the desert. And he was known to many for his high life. But one day Satan appeared to him in a dream in the form of Christ and gave him a commandment to withdraw from others, supposedly for the purpose of stricter fasting and asceticism. He didn’t even come to church on Easter. And all this in order not to eat with other monks anything that was served for lunch, and not to break the strict fast that he decided to observe on the advice of the devil.

Satan kept him in deception for a long time. And one day he appeared to him in a dream in the form of an angel. The unfortunate Iron bowed to him like an angel. Satan ordered him to immediately jump into the well to see for himself that because of his great virtue, holiness and deeds for the sake of God, nothing bad would happen to him. And Iron, having the firm confidence that his dreams were true, jumped into the well.

It happened that other monks immediately noticed this and with great difficulty pulled him out of the well. This ascetic lived only two days, and died on the third. This is how trusting in dreams can ruin your life.

8. Again the devil takes Him to a very high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory,

9. And he says to Him: I will give all this to You if you fall down and worship me.

10. Then Jesus saith unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve.

11. Then the devil left Him, and behold, the angels came and served Him.

The devil sometimes places many people on a “very high mountain,” and these people diligently bow down and serve him, strongly disguising their service to the devil as service to God. There is no doubt that not a single ordinary person, being in even a better position than the one in which the Savior was, could have resisted such a temptation without God’s help. He would have bowed to the devil and, what is most surprising, would have found it possible to justify himself. On Christ's side was the absence of any worldly well-being. The devil had seemingly attractive material wealth on his side. But on the other hand, the voluntarily suffering servant Christ, precisely by virtue of this very suffering, was the Lord, He ruled by virtue of the very idea of \u200b\u200bservice perceived by Him. The devil was originally and always a slave. The deceptive offer to worship was a call to the Lord to worship the slave. This was the logical inconsistency of the temptation, and it was rejected.

“Get behind Me, Satan...” - this phrase, literally translated from Greek, sounds like this: “Get out of My sight, Satan...” Christ also responds to the third temptation with biblical words, in this case the phrase is taken from the book “Deuteronomy (6, 13): “You will fear the Lord your God and serve Him alone.” The point is that Israel (the people) had to serve the Lord God and worship Him alone. These words could also refer to the devil. The Savior seems to say to him: you tempt Me to bow to you and serve; but you yourself must worship God and serve Him. And since before the devil there was God, equal in essence to the Father and the Spirit, then the words of Christ can have the following meaning: instead of Me worshiping and serving you, you yourself must worship and serve Me. Blazh. Jerome briefly and clearly expresses this thought: “the devil, who says to the Savior: if you fall, you will worship me, hears the opposite, that he himself should worship Christ as Lord and God.”

St. John Chrysostom draws conclusions and conclusions from the temptations of the Savior by the devil: “... the sources of all countless evils are the following three vices: service to the belly, vanity, excessive addiction to wealth. Knowing this, the vile tempter uses this weapon... How should one defeat him? Just as Christ taught: turn to God, do not lose heart even during the most severe hunger, believing in the One who can feed us with words; and if we receive such benefits, do not tempt the Giver with them, but, being content with the glory of heaven, do not care at all about human glory, and avoid excesses in everything. Truly, nothing exposes us to the power of the devil so much as the desire to have more and more, i.e. greed... The devil often gives disastrous advice even through people close to us: he takes on the guise of compassion, and, pretending to be benevolent, gives us advice that is more destructive and harmful than any poison. His business is to flatter us, to our detriment; and God’s business is to punish us, for our good. So, let us not be deceived, let us not strive intensely for a quiet life: whom God loves, he punishes, Scripture tells us (Proverbs 3:12).

12. When Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, he withdrew into Galilee

13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and settled in Capernaum by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali,

14. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet Isaiah, who said:

15. The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, on the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the heathen,

16. The people sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those sitting in the land and shadow of death a light dawned.

It can hardly be assumed that the activity of John the Baptist lasted more than two years. Having arrived in Galilee, Christ left his hometown of Nazareth, testifying that the prophet has no honor in his own country, and settled in Capernaum by the sea, which was located on the territory of the tribes (tribes) of Zebulun and Naphtali. St. John Chrysostom notes that Christ retires there “to teach us not to go towards temptations ourselves, but to retreat and evade them. He is not a coward who does not rush into danger, but he who does not have courage in danger.”

Evangelist Matthew points to the spiritual meaning of the resettlement of Jesus Christ to lands inhabited by pagans mixed with Jews. In this fact, the ancient prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled, which in a literal translation from Hebrew reads as follows: “In former times He (God) considered the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali small, and in the future he considers it important - the seaside path, on the other side of the Jordan, Galilee pagan. The people walking in darkness will see a great light; those living in the land of grave darkness, the light will shine on them.” The people living on these lands did not have high mental and moral development. The Evangelist here contrasts the relative light of their moral development with the great light that shone upon them with the coming and activity of the Savior; first light, i.e. the totality of their moral qualities seems to the evangelist darkness and the shadow of death (the cover of the grave) in comparison with this great light.

St. John Chrysostom points out that “wanting to show that the inhabitants of this country did not themselves seek and find this light, but God showed them from above, the evangelist says “the light shone upon them,” i.e. the light itself shone and illuminated them, and not they themselves first came to the light.” The saint refers his last words to the entire human race, which before the coming of Christ was in the most disastrous state.

Blazh. Theophylact of Bulgaria calls the Gospel a great Light. He says that the Old Testament Law of Moses was light, but small. And by the shadow of death we mean sin, since sin is the likeness and image of death, “for as death embraces the body, so sin embraces the soul.”

17. Since then (after His baptism) Jesus began to preach and say: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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,

19. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

20. And they immediately left their nets and followed Him.

Since the Lord returned from Judea to Galilee, Galilee has become the usual place of His activities. It was a country, small in territory, but very populous, inhabited not only by Jews, but also by Phoenicians, Arabians and even Egyptians. The fertility of this country has always attracted numerous settlers, who became one people with the local population. The dominant faith was Jewish, although there were many pagans in it, which is why it was called “Galilee of the Gentiles.” All this was the reason, on the one hand, for the great religious ignorance of the Galileans, and on the other hand, for their greater freedom from the religious prejudices of the Jews, in particular regarding the personality of the Messiah. The Savior's disciples were all from Galilee. The Galileans turned out to be more receptive to His preaching than the proud Jews. This may explain the reasons why the Lord chose Galilee as the primary place of His ministry.

« Repent ...,” these were the same words with which John the Baptist began his sermon. There is no doubt that the initial preaching of Christ was a continuation of the preaching of John, and, as a continuation, at first had an internal connection with it. However, the meaning of the initial sermon in the mouth of John and Jesus Christ was not the same. The difference was this. John preached the imminent appearance of the King and His Kingdom. Christ preached His Kingdom. There is one thing in common: repentance is necessary, a complete internal change in people, a departure from their previous sinful life through a complete change of thoughts, feelings and desires.

The Lake of Galilee is called a sea here, probably because there were frequent storms on it. From the Gospel of John, we know that Andrew and Simon (in Hebrew Simeon) were called by Christ when John the Baptist had not yet been put in prison, and Simon was renamed Peter. And here we note the fact that Matthew already knows that Simon was called Peter. Obviously St. Matthew speaks of Christ's second calling of the apostles Peter and Andrew. A few words were now enough for the disciples to finally follow the Savior.

«… I will make you fishers of men ": Simon and Andrey were fishermen in the material sense. The Savior tells them that He wants to make them fishermen in the spiritual sense; Instead of ordinary fish, the apostles will catch people in the gospel net. St. John Chrysostom writes: “Look, then, what is their faith and obedience. They were busy with their own business, but as soon as they heard the call of the Savior, they did not delay, did not postpone until another time, did not say: “let’s go home and consult with our relatives”; but, leaving everything, they followed Him... They, having not yet seen a single sign, believed such a great promise, and preferred to follow Christ over everything.” Saint Chrysostom concludes that Christ wants such obedience from us - without delay, to follow Him.

22 And they immediately, leaving the boat and their father, followed Him.

John was called earlier, along with Andrew. Jacob was now called, most likely for the first time. St. John Chrysostom says that “to catch men” was promised to Peter and Andrew, but this was not said to James and John. “Only the example of obedience of the first paved the way for them,” concludes Chrysostom. And he further notes: “Look with what detail the evangelist points out their poverty: Jesus found them mending their nets. They were poor to such an extent that they did not have the opportunity to buy new networks, and therefore they repaired dilapidated ones. Meanwhile, no small proof of their virtue is the fact that they easily endure their poverty, are nourished by righteous labors, are connected with each other by bonds of love, live with their father and serve him.” But as for Zebedee, the father of James and John, he did not follow Christ. He did not follow because, as Chrysostom says, apparently he did not believe. And he not only did not believe, but also opposed them in their desire to follow piety. St. John Chrysostom and Blessed. Theophylact set the actions of the brothers as an example for those who follow and want to follow Christ, leaving property and relatives for this. Theophylact especially emphasizes: “Do you see when you need to leave your father? When he interferes with virtue and piety.”

23. And Jesus went throughout 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 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.

25 And a great multitude followed him from Galilee, and from the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

While traveling through Galilee, Jesus Christ taught in synagogues. Synagogues among the Jews arose during the Babylonian captivity, when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Synagogue means “assembly”, it is a place of prayer for the Jews, but where, however, no sacrifices were made. St. John Chrysostom writes: “Christ begins to visit synagogues, showing these His disciples that He is not an opponent of God or any deceiver, but came according to the will of the Father; and when He visited the synagogues He not only preached, but also performed miracles.”

In the words " healing every sickness and every disease among people “The evangelist emphasizes the miraculous nature of these healings and the divine power of Jesus Christ, in contrast to ordinary doctors, who cannot heal every disease.

Although the Savior walked, taught and healed in Galilee, the rumor about Him spread beyond the borders of Galilee. Syria was located northeast of Galilee. The Decapolis was the name given to the country east of the Jordan, which included ten cities: Damascus, Philadelphia, Raphapa, Scythopolis, Gadara, Ippon, Dion, Pella, Gelasa (Gerasu) and Kanatha. Precisely at different times the number of cities was a little more or a little less, but the country was still called the Decapolis. It was a union of free Hellenistic cities. The Decapolis ceases to exist at the beginning of the 2nd century AD. Chr., when some of the most important cities of this union were annexed to Arabia.

Blazh. Theophylact of Bulgaria asks the question: “Why didn’t Christ ask any of those brought about faith?” And he answers: “Because this was already a matter of faith, that they were brought from afar.” Theophylact calls those who are raging lunatics. He says that the demon, wanting to assure people that the stars and the moon have an unfavorable effect on them, waits until the full moon and then tortures them, so that people would take the moon as the cause of suffering and dishonor God’s creation, not him.