January 4, 2008 - The Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 4
General Comment: In 1920 Robert Frost in his book Mountain
Interval, penned what arguably might be the most remembered lines of
American verse:
I shall be telling this with a sigh
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Somewhere ages and ages hence:
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Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
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I took the one less traveled by,
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And that has made all the difference.
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Matthew has placed Jesus at the point of divergence leading
away from John (whose disciple Jesus had surely become) and the familiar
Jordan River shore. This chapter outlines in brief vignettes what will be
the results of the path he takes. This is not a man who has been
programmed to follow a certain course from which he is helpless to diverge. He
is, after all, a human being and destiny does not come to anyone neatly
wrapped, map in hand. The Baptism was but an awakening of consciousness,
bringing more questions than answers. We will follow Jesus as he sorts out the
answers on the road less traveled and begins to see why this has made all
the difference.
Matthew 4:1-11 The Temptation of Jesus
Some fishermen from Capernaum surrounded Jesus as he came
out of the water. They, too, had been baptized by John. They invited
Jesus to share some bread and dried fish, but the hovering, unseen spirit
had other ideas. The gentle caress of a dove's wings turned quickly into
an insisting hand on the shoulder, pushing Jesus along the rock-strewn road.
But to where, what? Into the wilderness, that endless waste land of wandering,
like the lost Israelites moving away from the high moments of Sinai into the 40
year long desert trek before reaching what God had in store for them. Jesus is
now on his own spirit quest. From the purification of the waters, now
comes the purification of heart, mind and soul, an initiation, a confirmation into
vocation, and...the enemy. Forty days of wandering; forty days of fasting; forty
nights of sheltering himself in the rocks from the winds, the spirit winds
going about the business of creating something new. He recited his mantra over
and over, every Israelite's morning and evening prayer, the Shema, reminding
himself whose he was, "Hear oh Israel, the Lord. The Lord our God is
One." It was night, it was morning, a new day.
The deprivations of so many days brought clarity to his
mind. He had transcended his hunger, thirst, the awareness of his very self.
Now he understood. John was right, the Kingdom of Heaven has come
near, and somehow Jesus knew he would be involved in its
manifestation. Somehow the reign of God was dawning, the edges of the dream of
Isaiah were beginning to come together and in a flash of mystical
inspiration, it came to him. God's Kingdom, God's reign was beginning
in him!
But how? The ancient enemy, the Prince of this world,
perched as he always is over the hopes of humanity, a prowling stealer of
dreams. He had a plan. Instill doubts. Question ability. Suggest
tempting alternatives. Play on the human inclination to power, control,
self importance. Turn these stones to bread, he taunted. You must be hungry.
Surely you can make bread from these stones. Aren't you the Son of God? Do
something spectacular, amaze the masses. They will follow a great miracle
worker. Look, I can make this easy for you. Do you want a
Kingdom? Look at the horizon. Every way you turn, all those nations, they
belong to me, you know, and they are all yours to rule, Jesus. All I want
is a little credit for handing over this Kingdom you have
so incessantly been thinking about. Jesus was being tempted but
not swayed. The words emblazoned themselves in his thoughts like the
burning finger of God at Sinai: "Hear oh Israel, the Lord. The Lord is
One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your might." The words spoke by themselves. And he
was alone. The victory was his, for now. And he knew what to do.
Matthew 4:12-17 Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee (Isaiah
9:1,2; 42:7)
On his way to Nazareth Jesus heard the news that Herod
Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, had arrested John and thrown
him into prison. John had become more that a nuisance, haranguing Herod about
his close to incestuous marriage to Herodias, Herod's half brother's
wife, and his own niece. More than that Herod could not help but be
disturbed, even threatened by the restless crowds that were increasingly
excited about John's announcement of a coming Kingdom and the one in whom it
would be manifested. The news of the arrest was not lost on Jesus. Paying
a brief visit in Nazareth, Jesus traveled to Capernaum on the northwest shore
of the Sea of Galilee some 3 miles from where the upper Jordan River
enters the sea. It was a fishermen's town, a border location for duty collectors,
government officials and many Gentiles. There was one small synagogue
there where Jesus would one day sit in the "Moses Seat," read
the Targum of Isaiah and teach. In a later time, upon that same site, a
beautifully elaborate synagogue would be erected. A busy crossroads such
as this would provide a promising locale for this young preacher to begin
his work. He would make his residence here.
Matthew 4:18-22 Jesus enlists his first followers
No one stands alone in the noble enterprise of proclaiming
the nearness, the very beginning of God's reign. First he would call some of
those same fishermen he had encountered among the pilgrims that came to John in
the Jordan: Peter, Andrew, James and John. He would call them and others with a
simple challenge - Follow me! But why would anyone follow him? Why
would anyone drop their nets, leave them to others, step away from
families, trade everything for an unknown future and a dream yet to be given
shape? But they did - without knowing precisely why, beyond the richness of
Jesus' confident presence among them, a compelling presence that reflected an
inner light of something from beyond himself. Somehow Jesus knew they were
ready. They would come home again, now and then. But they would never look
back.
Matthew 4:23-25 The Reign of God is in the midst of them
They are on the road, this small band of brothers, walking through
the villages and towns, sharing table hospitality with the spiritually hungry, lifting
up the hopes of the dispossessed, the landless poor, visiting the Synagogues on
the Sabbath, teaching, healing the sick, proclaiming the good news of
God's reign. There was an excitement growing, such as had not been experienced
in Israel since the triumphant victories of the Maccabean revolt had cast
out their Syrian Overlords almost 200 years before. The word spread: come
and see, is this the one we have expected? Is this The Prophet Moses spoke
about, the Messiah? We have never seen or heard anything like
this!
And the people came out to see this new thing God must
surely be doing in their midst. From Syria, the Gentile Decapolis, even from Jerusalem and beyond the Jordan
they came. And, for now, the crowds were with him.
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We are all tempted. Divergent roads are ever before us
begging the choice - take me! What are we to do? To whose voice do we listen?
To the last, most compelling point of view? Do we actually test our choices,
mull them over, examine them from all sides? Is there anyone who speaks a word
that captures our imagination, our devotion, someone who can overcome the
steeled resistance of our self interest? Matthew has presented the first part
of an answer: One in whom God is present and acting and is still traveling
the byways of time, calling still to those who will listen, those who
know that life is not what it could be. Peter, Andrew, James and John
heard something, saw something that compelled them to walk with this Jesus, to
learn if their own lives could begin to matter in their world, among their
people. The road is always there. The call is always in the air. Come and see.
Come join the journey. It might make all the difference.
