We are moving at a breakneck pace because 3 chapters ago Jesus was being born and here we are Matthew 4:1 and Jesus is a grown, baptized man being tempted by the devil. Note here that the Greek for tempted can also mean “tested”. It was God’s intention for Jesus’s character to be tested, not to actually force conditions under which Jesus or anyone would sin. God never tempts anyone to sin. God leads Jesus to the wilderness, the devil tempts Jesus. With that in mind, we should read this as the devil “tested” Jesus. As he’s offering Jesus the world, Jesus doesn’t feel that little inner tug and turmoil like “Hmmmm maybe I can have another cupcake”. That didn’t happen. Stone cold did not care. The purpose of this exercise being “Look, things are put in front of Jesus that we all would’ve killed for and He said no. Truly He is incredible and above all men”. His squishy fleshy nature should make him vulnerable, His divine nature doesn’t.

However this (Jesus’s man/God nature) and the Trinity are DEEPLY complex mysteries of the faith and the more one such as myself extends into metaphor and analogy to explain it, the further into heresy we risk finding ourselves so please, definitely ask your trusted priest to guide you. My explanation is like a child’s drawing to get you started and inspire you to seek more qualified answers.

Jesus fasts for 40 days/nights. There’s a lot of different ways to fast. It’s possible that Jesus ate and drank some minimal amount during that period and it’s possible He didn’t. His human body would die of thirst like any of ours, so I’m inclined to believe He at least had water. Not a salvation matter, not gonna go too wild with this. Just something to consider. The devil says “turn these rocks into bread if you’re so powerful and hungry”. Jesus knows that conjuring bread to sidestep this fasting mission would be to go against God so He quotes Deuteronomy and says He will live according to God, not His flesh.

The devil says “Here throw yourself off this temple and the angels will rescue you, right?” Now, would it have helped Jesus make His case that He’s the Son of God if everyone down below watched a squad of angels come to rescue Him? Yes, but revealing his true identity at that time in that manner was not the plan. Instead of a flashy glorious demonstration of command over the heavens and legions of angels…. No, it’s the cross for Jesus. And Jesus knows it. It would be all too easy to dodge that suffering, but that’s not the plan. Satan quotes scripture to tempt Jesus, Jesus quote it back: Do not put God to the test. So yeah, caution against any “God if you want me to do this…. God if I’m evil then strike me down…. God if….” Bad idea.

The last temptation is to receive all the world, if He will only bow and worship Satan. You should note that this is the only time that WORSHIP is associated with PROSPERITY and the OFFER comes from SATAN. You do not become Christian to accumulate treasures in THIS life. And treasures can refer to money, status, and even love. So any prosperity gospel, “name it and claim it” stuff is pure poison.

So yeah all the world and creation was already the property of Jesus but this would bypass the cross which is why it should still be seen as tempting. It’s not just a bizarre case of Satan offering what already belonged to Jesus. Jesus is fed up with Satan, hits him with another Bible quote, and dismisses him with anger. Note: Jesus has authority to send Satan away. He only tolerated him briefly as it was the plan. With the trial over, angels descend to tend to Jesus.

An unknown amount of time passes and John the Baptist is arrested. Some scholars mark this as the start of Jesus’s earthly ministry. John is imprisoned by one of Herod’s sons, so that family is just an itch that won’t go away. Jesus heads to Galilee to stay out of trouble but then heads to Zebulun and Naphtali, as was prophesized and begins preaching the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

He was walking by the sea and finds Simon (Peter) and Andrew. This wasn’t His first meeting with them as we see reported in other books, which makes it easier to understand why when He tells them “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” They drop their stuff and go (you’ll see more of this later). This actually wasn’t that uncommon back then for a rabbi/teacher to just scoop up students to follow them in daily life and just absorb teaching through daily interactions, so Andrew and Peter would’ve understood this as normal. Note: Simon was renamed to Peter by Jesus. He finds another 2 fishermen brothers (James and John) and they immediately ditch their belongings, lucrative employment, and families to become disciples of Jesus.