Christ going into the desert, to prepare himself before his Manifestation, overcometh the Devil’s temptations. (12) Beginning in Galilee, as the Prophet said he should; (18) he calleth four Disciples; and with his preaching and miracles draweth unto him innumerable followers.
THEN * Jesus was led of the Spirit into the • desert, to be tempted of the Devil. 2And when he had • fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry. 3And the tempter approached and said to him: If thou be Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4Who answered and said: It is written, Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.
5Then the Devil took him up into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the Temple, 6and said to him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for • it is written, That he will give his Angels charge of thee, and in their hands shall they hold thee up, lest perhaps thou knock thy foot against a stone. 7Jesus said to him again: It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8Again the Devil took him up into a very high mountain: and he showed him the Kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, 9and said to him: All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me. 10Then Jesus saith to him: Avant Satan; for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and • him only shalt thou serve. 11Then the Devil left him; and behold Angels came, and ministered to him.
12And when * Jesus had heard that John was delivered up, he retired into Galilee; 13and leaving the city Nazareth, came and dwelt in Capharnaum a sea town, in the borders of Zabulon of Nephthali, 14that it might be fulfilled which was said by Esay the Prophet: 15Land of Zabulon and land of Nephthali, the way of the sea beyond Jordan of Galilee, of the Gentiles; 16the people that sat in darkness, hath seen great light; and to them that sat in a country of the shadow of death, light is risen to them. 17From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: • * Do penance, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
18And Jesus * walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishers) 19and he saith to them: Come ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men. 20But they incontinent leaving the nets, followed him. 21And going forward from thence, he saw * other two brethren, James of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, repairing their nets; and he called them. 22And they forthwith left their nets and father and followed him.
23And Jesus went round about all Galilee, teaching in their Synagogues, and preaching the Ghospel of the Kingdom; and • healing every malady, and every infirmity, in the people. 24And the bruit of him went into all Syria, and they presented to him all that were ill at ease, diversely taken with diseases and torments, and such as were possessed, and Lunatics, and sick of the palsey, and he cured them: 25And much people followed him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and from Jewry and from beyond Jordan.
ANNOTATIONS. CHAP. IV.
↑ 1. Desert.) As John the Baptist, so our Saviour by going into the desert, and there living in contemplation even among brute beasts, and subject to the assaults of the Devil for our sins, giveth a warrant and example to such holy men as have lived in wilderness for penance and contemplation, called Eremites.
↑ 2. Fasted forty days.) Elias and Moyses (saith St. Jerom) by the fast of 40 days, were filled with the familiarity of God, and our Lord himself in the wilderness fasted as many to leave unto us the solemn days of fast (that is, Lent.) Jerom. in ch. 58 Esa. St. Augustine also hath the very like words ep. 119. And generally all the ancient Fathers that by occasion, or of purpose speak of the Lent-fast, make it not only an imitation of our Saviour’s fast, but also an Apostolical tradition, and of necessity to be kept. Contemn not Lent, (saith St. Ignatius) for it containeth the imitation of our Lord’s conversation. And St. Ambrose saith plainly, that it was not ordained by men, but consecrated by God: nor invented by any earthly cogitation but commanded by the heavenly Majesty. And again, that it is sin not to fast all the Lent. St. Jerom’s words also be most plain: We (saith he) fast forty days, or, make one Lent in a year, according to the tradition of the Apostles, in time convenient. This time most convenient is (as St. Augustine saith ep. 119) immediately before Easter, thereby to communicate with our Saviour’s Passion: and (as other writers do add) thereby to come the better prepared and more worthily, to the great solemnity of Christ’s Resurrection: beside many other goodly reasons in the ancient Fathers which for brevity we omit. See (good Christian Reader) twelve notable sermons of St. Leo the Great de Quadragesima, of Lent: namely Ser. 6 and 9 where he calleth it the Apostles’ ordinance by the doctrine of the Holy-Ghost. See St. Ambrose from the 23rd Sermon forward; in St. Bernard 7 Sermons, and in many other Fathers the like. Last of all, note well the saying of St. Augustine, who affirmeth that by due observation thereof, the wicked be separated from the good, Infidels from Christians, Heretiks from faithful Catholiks.
↑ 6. It is written.) Heretiks allege scriptures, as here the Devil doth in the false sense; the Church uses them, as Christ doth in the true sense, and to confute their falsehood. Aug. cont. lit. Petil. lib. 2 ch. 51 to 5.
↑ 10. Him only serve.) It was not said, saith St. Augustine: The Lord thy God only shalt thou adore, as it was said, Him only shalt thou serve; in Greek, λατρεύσεις. Aug. sup. Gen. q. 16. Whereupon the Catholik Church hath always used this most true and necessary distinction, that there is an honour due to God only, which to give unto any creature, were idolatry; and there is an honour due to creatures also according to their dignity, as to Saints, holy things, and holy place. See Euseb. Hist. Ec. lib. 4 ch. 14, St. Jerom. cont. Vigil. ep. 53, Aug. lib. 10 Civit. ch. 2. lib. 1, Trin. ch. 6 Conc. Nic. 2 Damasc. lib. 1. de Imag., Bed. in 4 Luc.
↑ 17. Do penance.) That penance is necessary also before Baptism, for such as be of age; as John’s, so our Saviour’s preaching declareth, both beginning with penance.
↑ 23. Healing every malady.) Christ (saith St. Augustine) by miracles got authority, by authority found credit, by credit drew together a multitude, by a multitude obtained antiquity, by antiquity fortified a Religion, which not only the most fond new rising of Heretiks using deceitful wiles, but neither the drowsy old errors of the very Heathen with violence setting against it, might in any part shake and cast down. Aug. de util. cred. ch. 14.
Margin Notes
- 1–11. The Ghospel upon the first Sunday in Lent.
- 12. THE THIRD part of the Ghospel, of Christ’s manifesting himself by preaching, and that in Galilee.
- 18–22. The Ghospel upon St. Andrew’s day.
- annot. 1. desert. Eremites.
- annot. 2. fasted forty days. The Lent-fast.
Margin References
- 1. Mar 1, 12.
- 2. Luc. 4, 1.
- 4. Deut. 8, 3.
- 6. Psal. 90, 12.
- 7. Deut. 6, 16.
- 10. Deut 6, 13.
- 12. Mar. 1, 14. Luc. 4, 14.
- 15. Esa. 9, 1.
- 17. Mar. 1, 15.
- 18. Luc. 5, 1.
- 21. Mar. 1, 19. Luc. 5, 10.
- annot. 2. fasted forty days.
- Igna. ep. 5.
- Ambr. de Quadrag. ser. 16, 34.
- Jer. ep. 14 ad Marcel adv. Montanum.
- Aug. Ser. 69 de temp.
