FROM JESUS’ BIRTH TO HIS INITIAL TEACHINGS
Religion is the story of what a sinful man tries to do for a holy God; the gospel is the story of what a holy God has done for sinful men.
—R. GUSTAFSON1
JESUS’ GENEALOGIES (MATT. 1:1–17; LUKE 3:23–38)
The Gospel of Matthew begins the New Testament, appropriately, with Jesus’ line of descent from Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, through King David, which remarkably connects the New Testament with the Old. In His covenant with Abraham, God promised He would bless all families and nations through him and his descendants. God reiterated and expanded on His promises to Abraham in subsequent covenants, including the Davidic Covenant, whereby God promised King David that his descendants would rule in Israel forever. This kingdom, David’s throne, and the Davidic line of kings would continue eternally (2 Samuel 7:5–16; 1 Chron. 17:10–14, 23–27; 2 Chron. 6:10, 15–17, 42; 7:17–18; 13:8; 23:3).2 With this genealogy, Matthew confirms that God is fulfilling His promise to bless mankind through Abraham’s descendant—Jesus Christ—and that Jesus is in King David’s line of succession.
The Gospel of Luke includes a genealogy of Jesus that differs from Matthew’s, as Luke begins with Jesus and works back to God, whereas Matthew begins with Abraham and comes forward. Some theologians believe Luke traces Mary’s line to show Jesus descended through David legally via Joseph and by blood via Mary, removing any question as to His legitimacy as the Messiah in David’s line pursuant to God’s promise. Others believe Luke traces the actual line of Joseph.3 J. A. Martin says that irrespective of which view, if either, is correct, it’s significant that Luke traces Jesus’ descent all the way back to Adam, the first human being. It “is an indication of the universal offer of salvation, which is common to his Gospel—that Jesus came to save all people—Gentiles as well as the nation of Israel (cf. Luke 2:32).”4 Pastor Donald Fortner observes that though the Jewish leaders attacked Christ’s divinity and His messianic claims from every angle, they didn’t challenge His genealogy because it was a matter of public and biblical record.5
JESUS’ BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD (MATT. 1:18–2:23; LUKE 1:26–35; 2:1–52)
The angel Gabriel goes to Mary in Nazareth and informs her of her upcoming virgin birth of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, relating that her son will be great and will be called holy—the Son of God. Gabriel tells Mary, “And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
When Joseph learns of Mary’s pregnancy he plans to divorce her, assuming she has committed adultery. But as a righteous man, he plans to do it quietly to avoid shaming her. He changes his mind when an angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream and tells him the baby has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. They should call Him Jesus, the angel says, because He will save His people from their sins. This would fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy about the virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14).
The Roman emperor Caesar Augustus issues a decree requiring everyone in the empire to be registered for tax purposes. To comply with the census decree, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem—some seventy miles6—because Joseph is of the house and line of David. While they’re in Bethlehem Jesus is born, fulfilling the prophecy that the Messiah would be born there (Micah 5:2). An angel of the Lord appears to shepherds in the field and announces the birth of Christ, the Savior. The shepherds go to Bethlehem to witness the baby lying in a manger, and they praise God.
Mark Moore notes that as shepherding was a lowly occupation, the shepherds’ involvement in the birth story shows, from the beginning, that God’s mercy extends to all people. The shepherd symbolizes those who care for God’s people, from David the shepherd boy to Jesus the Great Shepherd.7 “Shepherding,” writes Thomas Golding, “is one of the most frequent and powerful images in the Bible. . . . The primary roles of a shepherd with his sheep were guiding, providing food and water, protecting and delivering, gathering scattered or lost sheep, and giving health and security.”8
After eight days, the baby is circumcised and is called “Jesus” as the angel had commanded. When Jesus is still a baby, Joseph and Mary take Him to the Temple in Jerusalem for presentation to the Lord and for purification according to God’s law concerning the firstborn (Exodus 13:2, 12). While there, they meet a righteous and devout man named Simeon and a prophetess called Anna. Having been told by the Holy Spirit that he will not die before seeing the Messiah, Simeon sees Jesus, takes Him in his arms, and blesses God for fulfilling His promise of salvation for the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Joseph and Mary marvel at Simeon’s words—while the angel Gabriel had already told them their Son would be great, Simeon is presenting a new revelation about Jesus’ significance. Simeon also prophetically tells Mary that Jesus will cause many to rise and fall, probably referring to His coming judgment and His salvation. Simeon then warns Mary that a sword would pierce her soul—widely interpreted as a prediction of Mary’s future suffering when Jesus is rejected and crucified.9 Anna praises God and testifies about Jesus to those in Jerusalem waiting for Israel’s redemption.
Three wise men from the east (Babylon or Persia) come to Jerusalem to see the newly born King of the Jews after seeing His star rise. The trio may have known about Jewish messianic hopes,10 perhaps through the Old Testament prophecy of Balaam that a world ruler would arise out of Israel (Num. 24:17). When Herod, King of Judea, learns about the wise men, he and all of Jerusalem are troubled. Herod asks Jewish leaders where Christ is to be born and is told He will be born in Bethlehem as Micah had prophesied (Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:3–6). Fearing competition for his throne, Herod sends the wise men to Bethlehem to search for the child on the pretense that he wants to go to Him and worship Him. They go to the child, worship Him, give Him gifts, and then return to their country without talking to Herod, having been warned in a dream to avoid him.
An angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, telling him Herod will try to kill Jesus so he should take Jesus and Mary to Egypt. Joseph obeys, which Matthew says fulfills Hosea’s prophecy, “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Hosea 11:1). Realizing the wise men have tricked him, Herod seeks to kill Jesus by ordering the murder of all boys two years old and younger in and around Bethlehem. Matthew says this cruel act fulfills Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jer. 31:15; Matt. 2:17–18). After Herod dies, an angel tells Joseph in a dream to return to Israel with Jesus and Mary. But Joseph, to avoid Herod’s son and successor Archelaus, who is reigning over Judea, takes his family to live in Nazareth.
Of the four Gospel writers, only Luke provides information about Jesus’ life between the time of his family’s arrival in Nazareth and the beginning of His public ministry. When He is twelve years old, Jesus goes with His parents to Jerusalem for their annual visit for the Passover feast. On their way home, Mary and Joseph notice Jesus is missing and return to Jerusalem to search for Him. They find Him in the Temple conversing with teachers. Because Jesus is so young and lacks formal rabbinical training (John 7:15), “all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.”11 These extraordinary displays of wisdom would continue into His adult ministry, when He would astonish crowds with His authoritative teaching (Matt. 7:28–29).
When Mary rebukes Him for disappearing, Jesus tells them He had to be in His “Father’s house.” Thus, at this early age, Jesus already shows awareness that He is God’s Son.12 He is not being disobedient to His parents but showing His love for the Temple, the house of His Father.13 Nevertheless, He leaves with His parents and obeys them, and He grows in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man.
JOHN THE BAPTIST (MATT. 3:1–12; MARK 1:2—8; LUKE 1:5–25, 36–80; 3:1–20)
The Gospels depict John the Baptist as the conscious forerunner of Christ who was preannounced by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3; cf. Mal. 3:1) as the “voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord.” John preaches repentance in preparation for Christ’s coming. He contrasts his baptism of water with Christ’s baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus isn’t the only one who will confront the Sadducees and Pharisees, as John rebukes them as a “brood of vipers” and tells them to repent and prove their sincerity through their actions—“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” John’s boldness is reminiscent of the Old Testament prophets.14
The Gospels and Acts convey that John’s ministry is profoundly relevant to Christianity, and his preparatory teachings are included in all four Gospel accounts. He is the first recognized prophet in Israel for hundreds of years, since the close of the Old Testament, and thereby constitutes the prophetic bridge from the Old Testament prophets to the New.15 Other prophets also appear in the Gospels, such as Zechariah, Elizabeth, Simeon, and Anna,16 who accompany Christ’s coming and, as God’s messengers, proclaim what God has done in sending His Son into the world.17
Paul mentions John in his brief explanation of the Gospel to the “brothers” in Antioch in Pisidia. Before Jesus’ coming, Paul says, “John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance” and assured the people he was not Christ and was unworthy of Christ, Who was to follow him (Acts 13:24–25). Paul reiterates this to the Ephesian Christians (Acts 19:4). Peter also tells Gentiles in Caesarea about John (Acts 10:37). Further, Luke describes John’s parents as “righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” Jesus Himself regards John’s role as indispensable, declaring, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist” (Matt. 11:11).
John’s importance is evident even before his birth, when the angel Gabriel announces in the Temple to Zechariah the priest that his wife Elizabeth will bear him a son whom he shall call John. Gabriel assures Zechariah many will rejoice at John’s birth, “for he will be great before the Lord.” John will “be filled with the Holy Spirit” from the time he is in his mother’s womb, and he will “make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” Because Zechariah expresses doubts to Gabriel that these things will happen, Gabriel tells him that he will be unable to speak until John’s birth. When Zechariah comes out of the Temple he is mute and makes signs to the people.
John’s special bond with Jesus is seen when Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth immediately after Jesus is conceived in Mary’s womb, at which point Elizabeth is six months pregnant with John. When Mary enters Elizabeth’s house and greets her, the baby John leaps for joy in her womb and Mary praises God for His goodness in choosing her as the mother of the Messiah, and for His faithfulness in fulfilling His promises to Israel.18
When John is born, instead of naming him after his father Zechariah, Elizabeth calls him John. Zechariah, still mute, writes on a tablet, “His name is John.” Immediately Zechariah’s mouth is opened, his tongue loosed, and he blesses God out loud. Overcome by fear, the people talk about these things throughout Judea, saying, “What then will this child be?” Once Zechariah can speak again, He is filled with the Holy Spirit and begins prophesying, predicting that the Messiah will deliver Israel, that God will honor His holy covenant with Abraham, and that his son John will be “the prophet of the Most High” (Jesus) who would go before Him and prepare the way for Him.
When John is preaching in the Jordan Valley, many Jews come to hear him and regard his preaching as authoritative and prophetic.19 During His ministry Jesus would ask the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders whether John’s baptism is “from heaven or from man” (Mark 11:30), they don’t dare say from heaven because they had rejected him, but they are afraid to tell the people he is merely from man because “they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet” (Mark 11:32).
When the Jews send representatives to find out John’s identity and role, he plainly denies he is the Christ (John 1:20). He says he is the one who has come before Christ to prepare people for His ministry. Why, then, does he baptize, they ask. He replies, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” (John 1:26–27).
F. F. Bruce says John’s baptism had some antecedents in Israel, but it “was distinctive in that he administered it to others, and in its eschatological significance [its relevance to End Times and the coming of the Messiah].”20 The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel, continues Bruce, “promised that at the dawn of the new age God would purify his people from their defilement with clean water and give them a new heart and a new spirit—his own spirit.”21 Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, was announcing the New Covenant, as discussed in the previous chapter.
John’s ministry is essential to ready people for Christ and His message. When John instructs his disciples to repent, he does so in the context of the coming kingdom of heaven. Matthew repeatedly quotes Jesus using the phrase “kingdom of heaven” rather than “kingdom of God.” Mark generally uses “kingdom of God.” Most scholars regard the terms as interchangeable,22 so we should consider them synonymous.23 As previously mentioned, Matthew may have avoided using “kingdom of God” because his Jewish audience would have been offended at the use of the divine name.24
John proclaims, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus reiterates this theme when He begins His public ministry, demonstrating its providential continuity. The Old Testament contains a rising expectation of God coming to establish justice, crush His opposition, and renew the universe.25 Accordingly, the phrase “kingdom of heaven” originated with the late-Jewish expectation of God’s decisive future intervention to restore His people’s fortunes and liberate them from the power of their enemies26 by sending His Messiah, who would pave the way for His kingdom.27 As noted, however, Jewish messianic expectations were markedly different from Jesus’ true messianic mission.
JOHN BAPTIZES JESUS (MATT. 3:13–17; MARK 1:9–11; LUKE 3:21–23; JOHN 1:32)
Jesus asks John to baptize Him, but John is initially reluctant, believing Jesus doesn’t need repentance. However, John performs the ceremony anyway, and this baptism, in fact, is the high point of John’s ministry and the inauguration of Christ’s ministry,28 which begins when Jesus is about thirty years old. Once Jesus has been baptized and is praying, the Holy Spirit descends on Him in the form of a dove. A heavenly voice says, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” The Father makes the same declaration during Jesus’ transfiguration (Matt. 17:5), which tells us, writes Donald Fortner, “that Christ, our ascended, exalted Savior, is that One in whom alone we find acceptance with God. As the Holy Lord God is well pleased with his Son, so he is well pleased with his elect in his Son, our Substitute.”29 When John the Baptist proclaims that Jesus is the Son of God (John 1:29–34), it’s a glorious manifestation of the three persons of the Holy Trinity and of their mutual love and unity of purpose.30 The Father blesses Jesus and anoints Him with the Holy Spirit, Who will be with Jesus throughout His earthly ministry.
Some wonder why the Son of God, a sinless man, should undergo baptism, which is associated with repentance. That this troubles some readers lends credence to the historicity of the account.31 The Gospel writers would not invent a story that would cause further skepticism when their purpose was to win converts, not stir unbelief. One possible reason is that His baptism symbolizes His formal acceptance of the work of redemption, which He would now begin and would culminate in His suffering, death, and resurrection.32 So His symbolic gesture of repentance should not give us pause. God’s salvation scheme involved God the Son becoming a man, taking on Himself the people’s guilt, and vicariously enduring their punishment.33 In being baptized, He fulfills all righteousness, validates John’s ministry, identifies with human sin and sinners, and provides an example for Christians to follow.34
THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (MATT. 4:1–11; MARK 1:12–13; LUKE 4:1–13)
The Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to endure the devil’s temptation. This is not to be understood as a symbolic battle—Satan is a created being, an archangel who has fallen because of his pride.35 Jesus is hungry, having fasted for forty days and forty nights. The devil subjects Him to three temptations, and in each case He responds with the armor of Scripture. Satan tells Him if He is the Son of God He should command the stones to become loaves of bread. Jesus answers that man doesn’t live by bread alone but also by God’s words. The devil takes Him to Jerusalem, sets Him atop the Temple, and taunts Him to throw Himself off because God’s angels would save Him. Satan is twisting Scripture to suit his evil purposes, so Jesus invokes the passage from Isaiah that forbids putting God to the test (Deut. 6:16; Isaiah 7:12). Finally, Satan promises to give Jesus control of the world immediately if He will worship him. Jesus responds, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”
Commentators have categorized these temptations as the “lust of the flesh,” “pride of life,” and “lust of the eyes.” In his first epistle, John asserts that these temptations are “not from the Father but . . . from the world” (1 John 2:16–17). “If anyone loves the world,” writes John, “the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). James endorses the same principle: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). This does not contradict God’s pronouncement that His entire creation is good (Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 31; 1 Tim. 4:1–4; Romans 14:14). The epistle writers use the term “the world” to denote the system of evil controlled by Satan (1 John 5:19)36—that portion of human society that is under the influence of evil and at war with God.37 The cravings and lusts of sinful man are antithetical to God,38 so Christians should avoid them.39 Paul instructs us to “put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5).
Some also don’t understand why Christ would allow Himself to be tempted or how it’s possible for the Son of God to experience temptation at all. But was Jesus tempted in the sense human beings are? Temptation usually means we actually consider, however briefly, committing the sin, which is itself sinful. Surely Jesus isn’t tempted in that way because Hebrews 4:15 says He is without sin—yet the same verse says Jesus is actually tempted. I think it means that the devil subjected Jesus to temptations, but He didn’t let them take root for a microsecond. “Jesus did not let the sinful suggestions of Satan come into his heart,” argues Werner Franzmann. “At their very approach he rejected and repulsed them.”40
But the question remains: why would Jesus subject Himself to this ordeal? One reason is that to be fully man, Christ must endure the experiences common to all men (see Heb. 2:17–18; 4:14–15).41 Human beings grow through adversity, and our faith grows and is purified through our trials (1 Peter 1:6–7). Alfred Edersheim, in his classic The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, explains that Jesus had to experience temptation to be fully human:
That at His consecration to the Kingship of the Kingdom, Jesus should have become clearly conscious of all that it implied in a world of sin; that the Divine method by which that Kingdom should be established, should have been clearly brought out, and its reality tested; and that the King, as Representative and Founder of the Kingdom, should have encountered and defeated the representative, founder, and holder of the opposite power,42 “the prince of this world”—these are thoughts which must arise in everyone who believes in any Mission of the Christ.43
Edersheim explains that we will understand how the life and work of Christ would begin with “the temptation” if we understand His mission. Edersheim, a Christian convert from Judaism, says that such a concept was never conceived in Judaism “because it never conceived a Messiah like Jesus.”44 As noted, Jesus came not to deliver Israel from its political oppressors, but to save sinners—and this involved Him condescending to human form, suffering the indignities of human existence, and dying on the cross (Phil. 2:1–11). Edersheim contends that the story of the temptation, like Jesus’ baptism, lends credence to the Bible because “it cannot have been derived from Jewish legend.”45 The event was so contrary to the Jewish concept of the Messiah that the Gospel writers wouldn’t have dared include it if they were concocting a fable to persuade Jews.
While the concept would have been foreign to them, however, it’s perfectly consistent with God’s salvation scheme and squares with God’s acknowledgment in Genesis 3:15 that Satan would strike Christ’s heel. If Christ can die on our behalf, He can certainly be subjected to Satan’s series of impotent temptations, and His triumph over them brings further glory to the Father and to the Son, Who God promised would crush Satan’s head. It is fitting that Jesus takes on Satan directly before His ministry begins, draws the battle lines, and sends a message to His adversary, whose challenges He will overcome now and whom He will defeat permanently in the future. We can have a personal relationship with our Savior because He experienced the types of trials (and far worse) we experience. He is not an unapproachable, indifferent deity—He is a personal, compassionate God Who has given everything for us so that we can live. Above all else, this is what makes our own suffering endurable.
Jesus’ temptation reflects His triumph over the human struggles that challenge every man and shows His pure motives and His other-directedness. “It is the open window of his soul,” Charles Foster Kent writes, “through which it is possible to study the simple yet divine principles that found expression in all that he taught and did. It shows that Jesus regarded life and humanity with eyes that had looked into the very heart of the Father, and that he recognized that he was therefore in a unique sense called to reveal God to his fellow men.”46 Jesus’ character is revealed in these temptation accounts, which illustrate that in the process of perfectly fulfilling His mission, He disappoints the hopes of those who had anticipated a different kind of Messiah.47 He eschews power and glory over men (e.g., He washes their feet), refusing to satisfy their desire that He present Himself as their political and military savior. But in this restraint, He satisfies our desire for salvation. As Bruce Shelley observes, “Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central event the humiliation of its God.”48
THE “LAMB OF GOD” CALLS HIS DISCIPLES (JOHN 1:29–51)
The day after the Jews ask John the Baptist if he is Christ, John sees Jesus walking toward him and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’” John is not being gratuitously self-deprecating. Rather, he is matter-of-factly asserting that Christ’s superiority inheres in His pre-existence—the same pre-existence the Apostle John affirms in the introduction to his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (1:1–3).
The following day, when standing with two of his disciples, John again identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God as He walks by. This prompts the disciples to begin following Christ, further evidencing John’s handing of the baton to Jesus. One of the two disciples, Andrew, tells his brother Simon Peter they have found the Messiah and brings him to Jesus, and the two follow Him. Andrew is thus the first person to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.49 The other disciple is believed to be John the Apostle who, along with his brother James, also begins to follow Jesus (Mark 1:18–20; Luke 5:1–11).50 Next, Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael in Galilee.
JESUS TURNS WATER INTO WINE AND CLEANSES THE TEMPLE (JOHN 2:1–22)
Jesus performs His first miracle, or “sign,” at a wedding at Cana in Galilee by turning water into wine, “which manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him.” New Testament Professor Gerald Borchert notes that the term “sign” means more than just a wonder—it is a powerful act that demonstrates the reality of Who Christ is.51
Some people are unsettled by Jesus’ reaction when His mother informs Him the wine has run out. “Woman, what does this have to do with me?” He asks. “My hour has not yet come.” Addressing her as “woman,” says Borchert, is not impersonal or disrespectful, as it might seem in Western culture. Nor is Jesus’ question impolite. He is beginning His mission and establishing parameters, especially His principal duty to His Father—He greatly respects His mother, but He is focused on His Father’s business. “He came,” writes Borchert, “to fulfill the Father’s purpose for him; namely he came to make the Father known (John 1:18). To act on the Father’s authority and to do his will was the work of the Son (John 5:19–20, 30, 36). . . . In this Gospel the ultimate focus of ‘the hour’ is on the glorification of Jesus—his death and resurrection (John 7:30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1). Jesus is on His Father’s timetable. What may seem to be harsh words, therefore, must be understood in the full context of Jesus’ destiny and his obedience to the Father.”52
Indeed, four times in the Gospel of John we see Jesus either delaying certain action or evading His enemies because “His hour” has “not yet come.” But we shall see that when His hour does come—His time to die on the cross—He uses the same terminology to announce it: “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.”53
Nevertheless, Jesus performs the miracle, which is the first of seven miracles John records.54 After the wedding Jesus, His disciples, His mother, and His brothers go to Capernaum, a village on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee—a city Gospel writers call Jesus’ “own city” (Matt. 9:1) because He lives there for a while after He leaves Nazareth (Matt. 4:13).55
Following a few days’ stay in Capernaum (John 2:12), Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Passover and finds men selling oxen, sheep, and pigeons in the Temple courts while others exchange money. He pours out the coins of the money-changers, overturns their tables, and drives them out with a whip of cords, chastising them for making His “Father’s house a house of trade.” When the Jews defiantly demand He demonstrate His authority with a sign, He says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John reveals that Jesus is referring to His body. His disciples later remember this when He is raised from the dead, which causes them to believe “the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”
John’s Gospel has the Temple cleansing occurring at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, but the synoptics place it at the end (Matt. 21:12–13; Mark 11:15–17; Luke 19:45–46). Some commentators infer that Jesus must have cleansed the Temple twice,56 while others contend that John wrote his Gospel later with more of a theological emphasis, and so he organized his material for maximum evangelical impact.57 He didn’t distort the facts or alter the story, but simply placed it at the beginning to capture the readers’ attention and summon their focus on the dramatic struggle in which Jesus was engaged. That the disciples later remembered Jesus referring to His body as the Temple and then believed in the Scripture vindicates this approach.
John MacArthur, however, sees too much difference in the historical circumstances and literary contexts of the two accounts to equate them. He believes it’s likely Jesus repeatedly cleansed the Temple because the Jewish nation as a whole never recognized His authority as Messiah (Matt. 23:37–39).58 Leon Morris falls somewhere in between these two views, observing that if only one Temple cleansing occurred, we can reasonably assume John placed it early to maximize the theological impact. As the first five chapters of John contain material not in the synoptics, however, Morris believes it’s more likely there were two cleansings.59
JESUS MEETS NICODEMUS (JOHN 2:23–3:21)
While in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast Jesus performs more “signs,” causing many to believe in Him, but the scriptures indicate Jesus believes their faith is either inauthentic or tentative.60 Jesus is aware of the fickleness of human nature and that people sometimes get caught up in a short-lived emotional experience. This still happens today, which is why we need to base our faith on more than a subjective, emotional encounter. Many would not understand the significance of His signs until His death and resurrection. Until then they might have believed in Him as a miracle worker, but not as the Messiah and Son of God.61
This passage is significant because one of John’s main purposes is to prove Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. He makes that clear in the next section, when he relates Jesus’ encounter with the Pharisee Nicodemus, who is a “ruler of the Jews”—one of the seventy-one members of the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish council. “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God,” exclaims Nicodemus, “for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Nicodemus respects Jesus as a teacher from God because of His performance of signs, but he doesn’t understand He is more than God’s messenger. His statement triggers a profound response from Jesus, including His now well-known revelations that one must be born again to see the kingdom of God, and that to be born again one must believe in Jesus.
Nicodemus asks, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus clarifies that He is referring not to a physical rebirth but a spiritual one, which a person can only have if he believes in Jesus. When one becomes a believer in Christ, he experiences regeneration—a spiritual rebirth—and becomes a new creature in Christ. This involves an inner cleansing and renewal of human nature by the Holy Spirit whereby man’s spiritual condition is transformed from a disposition of sin to a new relationship with God (Titus 3:5). This does not occur because of human merit but through God’s grace.62 When one is born again, however, he is not immune to sin, but is no longer a slave to sin (Romans 6:6). He will still struggle with the “desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:17),” but is now empowered by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to resist sin, which will involve a daily struggle where “sin remains, but no longer reigns.”63
The point is explained simply and beautifully in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” This verse is described as a summary of the whole Gospel.64 “Is there a verse anywhere in the Bible more well-known and loved than this one?” asks Kenneth Gangel. “How poignantly it states that eternal life comes not because of anything we do.”65 God gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, and Christ’s deity is essential Christian doctrine. Those who say otherwise are not Christian. As previously noted, to “believe” does not mean mere intellectual acknowledgment that Christ is God. It is putting our trust and confidence in Him that He can save us—entrusting our eternal destiny to Him and Him alone.66
We must acknowledge not merely that Christ died for the sins of the world. “Saving faith,” declares Gangel, “requires a recognition that he died for each of us individually.”67 We should pause and reflect on this. God loves each of us individually and offers salvation to each of us personally. This is not an abstract theological concept—we must grasp it and appropriate it for ourselves. Moreover, saving faith is not accomplished through human efforts but is a gift of God and His grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8–9). Paul further notes, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
The revelation that God gave His only Son to die for our sins underscores the magnitude of God’s sacrifice and love for us. God’s love through Christ is reinforced by Jesus’ assuring Nicodemus that the Father did not send Him to condemn the world but to save us—because as sinners we are already condemned. While the Bible depicts Jesus as the ultimate judge, sin is what leads to our condemnation. But Jesus, through His sacrifice, offers us the gift of life through belief in Him.
Jesus tells Nicodemus, “The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out by God.” John also contrasts light and darkness in the prologue to his Gospel (1:5), identifying Jesus Christ as the true light Who came into the world. Though He created the world, the world did not know Him, and His own did not receive him (1:9–11).
As always the Bible is consistent, for the Old Testament utilizes the image of darkness as well, especially in the poetic books in which darkness represents—appropriately—destruction, death, and the underworld (Isaiah 5:30; 47:5; Psalms 143:3; Job 17:13).68 We know from observation and sometimes personal experience that many avoid or reject the Gospel because to accept it means having to come to terms with one’s own sinful nature. While many resist the Gospel ostensibly on intellectual grounds or because they think they have no need of a savior, Jesus is telling us here that many simply refuse the light because it exposes the darkness in their own lives.
This is tragically ironic for we remain lost, and ultimately unhappy, if we are dishonest with ourselves by refusing to face up to our sin. We may enjoy temporary pleasure, but our addiction to sin keeps us from turning away from it. Jesus affirms, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). But this is not discouraging because “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8–9). The darkness is no competition for the Light. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). As E. A. Blum puts it, “Light’s nature is to shine and dispel darkness. . . . darkness is unable to overpower light.”69
For now, Satan is in constant spiritual warfare against Christ and believers, but Jesus is the victor. Jesus promises us, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). He adds, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). God’s marvelous Word, from beginning to end, is consistent in showing the superiority of light over darkness, of life over death. In the Old Testament, light is associated with life. To see light means to live (Job 33:28; 3:16). “For with you is the fountain of life,” writes David. “In your light do we see light” (Psalms 36:9). In another psalm he exclaims, “For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life” (Psalms 56:13). Similarly John writes, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
JOHN THE BAPTIST CONTINUES TO PREACH AND IS ARRESTED (MATT. 14:3–5; MARK 6:17–20; LUKE 3:19–20; JOHN 3:23–36)
Meanwhile, John the Baptist is still preaching and baptizing, though he fully understands his ministry is purely preparatory for Christ’s, which has now begun. In his Gospel, the Apostle John says John the Baptist has not yet been imprisoned, indicating he assumes his readers are already aware of John’s later arrest. This shows John was adding further information to the synoptic Gospels to aid our understanding of these ministries.70
John the Baptist’s disciples are worried Jesus’ ministry is drawing more people than John’s. When they voice their concerns, John responds by winsomely reiterating his deference to Christ, for whom he is merely the forerunner. John depicts Christ as the bridegroom, his followers as the bride, and himself as the friend of the bridegroom. He cautions his disciples that Christ’s ministry must increase while his must decrease, as Christ is from heaven while he “is of the earth . . . and speaks in an earthly way” (John 3:31). John attests that the Father loves the Son and has given Him all things, and whoever believes in the Son has eternal life (John 3:35). Some commentators believe that John 3:31–36 are the words of the Apostle John, the author of this Gospel, and that John the Baptist’s words end with his statement that his ministry must recede while Christ’s must grow (John 3:30).71 Others believe John the Baptist uttered those words.72 Regardless, the Spirit-inspired message is powerful: Christ is the all in all, and John the Baptist came to announce Him.
Herod arrests and imprisons John the Baptist because John had rebuked him for unlawfully marrying Herodias, wife of his brother Philip. Though Herod wants to execute John, he refrains because he fears the people, who believe John is a prophet.
JESUS AND THE SAMARITAN WOMAN (JOHN 4:4–42)
When Jesus learns of John’s arrest he heads toward Galilee (Matt. 4:12; Mark 1:14; Luke 4:14), going through Samaria on His way. This is the shortest route from Judea but most Jews go through Perea, which is east of the Jordan River, to avoid Samaria and the despised Samaritans, a racially mixed people whose religious practices were anathema to the Jews. What likely compels Jesus to take the disfavored route, however, is His heart for the lost (Luke 19:10), which results in His meeting with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in Sychar, a village about thirty miles north of Jerusalem.73
His disciples having gone into the city to buy food, Jesus is alone at the well when a woman comes to draw water. Jesus asks her for a drink, surprising her that a Jew would interact with her. Jesus tells her that if she knew who He was she would have asked Him for a drink and He would have given her “living water.” The woman misinterprets His meaning and asks whether He is too good to drink from this well when the Jewish patriarch Jacob had drank from it. Jesus replies, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
It would be hard to imagine a more vivid contrast between temporal and eternal things, and between the earthly life and life eternal, for water is hardly a human luxury—it’s an absolute necessity. But as vital as it is to our earthly life, it’s nothing compared to the gift of life Jesus gives us when we place our faith in Him. Again, the woman misunderstands Him, for she asks to have some of this water that has the power to permanently quench one’s thirst so she wouldn’t have to keep coming back to the well for more. Jesus tells her to get her husband, knowing it will prompt her to say she isn’t married. When she does, He tells her she has had five husbands, and the woman realizes He’s a prophet.
She questions Him about the conflicting religious practices of the Samaritans and Jews, with the former worshipping “on this mountain” (Mount Gerizim—the site of the Samaritans’ temple,74 which had been destroyed more than a hundred years earlier by John Hyrcanus, a Jew from Jerusalem),75 and the latter worshipping in Jerusalem. Jesus informs her that the physical location of worship isn’t nearly as important as the nature of her beliefs. He tells her she worships what she does not know and that she has a misperception about the true God. “Salvation,” Jesus declares, “is from the Jews,” meaning that the Messiah, who will bring salvation, is Jewish. Scripture is replete with God’s assurances that Israel is God’s chosen nation—His nation of Holy Priests, to which He has entrusted His Law and through whom salvation will come (Acts 13:23; Romans 11:26; 3:1–2; 9:3–5, 18; Psalms 147:19–20; Isaiah 2:3; Amos 3:2; Micah 4:1–2).
Still unaware of Jesus’ identity, she says the Messiah is coming and will clear it all up for them, to which Jesus responds, “I who speak to you am he.” Jesus usually avoids proclaiming He is the Messiah when He ministers in Galilee and Judea because the political fallout might interfere with His ministry in these areas.76 But He’s willing to reveal Himself here, probably because it poses no risk to His ministry.77 That Jesus’ approach made an impact on the woman is shown in her enthusiastic retelling of the encounter to fellow Samaritans in town: “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
When the disciples return they urge Jesus to eat, and He uses the occasion to teach them about His priorities. Just as He told the woman that the water of life is infinitely more important than drinking water, He informs them that His food is to do the Father’s will and complete His work, showing His obedience to the Father.
Convinced by the woman’s testimony, many Samaritans ask Him to stay. When He stays a few more days, many more come to believe: “They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the World.’”
JESUS HEALS AN OFFICIAL’S SON (JOHN 4:43–54)
After Jesus leaves Samaria He goes to Galilee and begins His ministry in villages close to the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 4:12–17; Mark 1:14–15; Luke 4:14–15; John 4:43–45).78 The people welcome Him because they have witnessed His activities in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast. In Capernaum an official asks Jesus to heal his deathly-ill son. Jesus mildly cautions the man for believing in Him only because of His miraculous signs. In his persistence, however, the man demonstrates his faith in Jesus’ power to heal. Jesus tells him, “Go; your son will live,” and before the man reaches his home his servants meet him and tell him his son had begun to heal—at the precise time Jesus had assured him. The man and his entire household believe.
JESUS IS REJECTED IN HIS HOMETOWN (LUKE 4:16–30)
Jesus goes to His hometown of Nazareth, enters the synagogue, and participates in the Sabbath service, as was customary for visiting rabbis.79 He stands up to read from Scripture and is given the scroll of Isaiah, which He unrolls to a specific point and begins to read. His choice of Scripture is no accident. He reads to them, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Isaiah 61:1–2).
Jesus has already begun His ministry, and word is circulating about His healings and His teachings. Now in His hometown, he reads a passage that suggests He is the promised Messiah Who is “anointed” to proclaim the “good news.”80 He drives the point home by declaring, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” J. A. Martin explains that with this statement, “the implication was clear. Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah who could bring the kingdom of God which had been promised for so long.”81
The congregants marvel at His words but are incredulous that they are coming from the mouth of “Joseph’s son.” Jesus responds, “No prophet is acceptable in his hometown.” He cites to them two examples of God’s prophets ministering to Gentiles because Israel lacked belief—one involving Elijah (1 Kings 17:8–16) and the other, Elisha (2 Kings 5:1–19). This infuriates His listeners, who are intimately familiar with the scriptures and understand His point: that the unbelieving people of Nazareth are unreachable though even Syrian lepers and Phoenician widows are receptive to the message.82 They drive Him out of town and try to throw Him off a cliff, but Jesus escapes. This is not the only time Jesus, against all odds, avoids being killed, proving that God is sovereign and will unfold events in His time. It was not yet Jesus’ time to go.
Jesus’ words and the people’s reaction to them is a microcosm of the larger picture of Jewish rejection of Jesus’ ministry and His messiahship. In reading from Isaiah He affirms His identity, and in citing the Old Testament prophets ministering to Gentiles, He describes His practice of preaching to unlikely people—such as the woman at the well—and taking His message to the Gentiles when the Jews reject Him. This is a model of the development of the Christian Church and its outreach to Gentiles. The book of Acts reports that in the same way, the apostles first take Jesus’ message to the Jews and then turn to the Gentiles when they are rejected.83 “The visit to Nazareth was in many respects decisive,” Alfred Edersheim writes. “It presented by anticipation an epitome of the history of the Christ. He came to His own, and His own received Him not.”84
In view of this remarkable story of Jesus reading from the scroll of Isaiah and applying the passage to Himself (as well as mountains of other examples), it baffles me that some critical scholars dispute that Jesus was aware or “self-conscious” that He is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament.85 You see, if Jesus was unaware, then Paul and the other apostles must have originated the idea, which could mean that the Christian religion was founded on a lie, a construct designed to deify a man—an extraordinary man, perhaps, but not a God-man.
Conservative scholars believe that Jesus, in becoming a man, surrendered use of some of His divine attributes, including omniscience, but a fair reading of the Gospels shows He is well aware of His messiahship at least by the time He begins His public ministry, even if He sometimes seeks to keep His identity a secret (Mark 8:29–30).86 James Edwards notes, “The messianic consciousness of Jesus is deeply imbedded in Jesus’ speech, actions, and bearing, especially as expressed in . . . his divine authority that commenced at his baptism.87 New Testament professor Sigurd Grindheim adds, “Jesus’ words and deeds do not make him the outstanding divine representative. Jesus did what none of God’s representatives had done or could do. Only God himself could say and do what Jesus said and did. . . . Jesus claimed to be God’s equal.”88
Jesus consciously acts in a role reserved in the Jewish tradition exclusively for God. He demonstrates His self-understanding in the extraordinary demands He makes of His disciples. He claims the authority to forgive sins and to heal.89 He cleanses the holy Temple, assumes lordship over the Sabbath, and exercises the divine prerogative of reinterpreting divine Scripture.
Jesus repeatedly depicts Himself as the Son of Man, the Christ, and the One in Whom the hopes and prophecies of the Old Testament are being fulfilled. He mentions various Old Testament passages as being fulfilled in Him90 such as Psalms 110:1, which we’ll explore in Chapter 10. “Jesus places himself in the center of the world’s salvation,” writes Richard France. “It is in him that the prophecies are fulfilled, and in his coming that the new order is inaugurated.”91 Yes, and if Jesus were not proclaiming Himself as the Messiah and as God incarnate, the Jews would not pick up stones to throw at Him for blasphemy (John 8:59; 10:31). Those who deny Jesus is aware of His messianic role ignore His actions and words as well as the furious response they elicited.
JESUS PREACHES ON THE KINGDOM OF GOD (MATT. 4:12–17; MARK 1:14–15; LUKE 4:14–15)
From Nazareth, Jesus withdraws to Capernaum by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, where He preaches that the people must repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew says that Jesus’ move is a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (Isaiah 9:1, 2) that the people “dwelling in the darkness” there “have seen a great light.” We’ve already noted that Jesus is the light. Mark Moore observes, “Into a culture of darkness comes Jesus, the light of the world” (John 1:4–5, 9; 3:19; 7:52).92
In preaching repentance in anticipation of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus is echoing the message John the Baptist preached (Matt. 4:3). Their ministries begin on the same note and with the same vision.93 But while Jesus’ pronouncement of the kingdom mirrors John’s in calling for repentance in view of God’s coming judgment, it adds the component of salvation. “It is the saving significance of the kingdom that stands in the foreground,” write K. A. Mitchell and T. C. Mitchell. “[Jesus] announced the kingdom not just as a reality which was at hand, something which would appear in the immediate future, but as a reality which was already present, manifested in his own person and ministry. . . . In him the great future has already become ‘present time.’”94 Paul, in his letters, uses “kingdom of God” frequently in terms of inheriting the kingdom of God in the future (1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5:21), and also suggesting it might already be present in the lives of Christians (Romans 14:17; 1 Cor. 4:20).95
As we’ve observed, the idea of the kingdom of God is central to Jesus’ ministry.96 Jesus expands the Old Testament concept of the kingdom of God not only to mean future expectations, but also that the kingdom has already come in an entirely unexpected way. Jesus still preaches that the kingdom of God will come in the future—in His Second Coming when He will establish His earthly rule. But it is also present now, in His incarnation. “The messianic promises of the prophets were not only about to be fulfilled,” Walter Elwell argues, “they were actually in the process of fulfillment in his mission. In Jesus, God was visiting his people. The hope of the prophets in some real sense was being realized.”97 Elwell continues:
John the Baptist had announced an apocalyptic visitation of God that would mean the fulfillment of the eschatological hope and the consummation of the messianic age. Jesus proclaimed that the messianic promise was actually being fulfilled in his person. This is no apocalyptic kingdom but a present salvation. In these words Jesus did not proclaim the imminence of the apocalyptic kingdom. Rather, he boldly announced that the kingdom of God had come. The presence of the kingdom was a happening, an event, the gracious action of God. This was no new theology or new idea or new promise; it was a new event in history.98
Douglas Moo explains that in one sense the kingdom of God has always existed, as the Old Testament describes God as the eternal king: “Your Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations” (Psalms 145:13). God has always been and will always be sovereign over the entire universe, but “His kingship, His ruling power, is not always seen in our world that is marred by evil and sin.”99 Thus, the Old Testament scriptures predict a future time when “a special form of God’s kingdom would come into being.” The prophet Daniel, for example, sees a vision of the “son of man” being granted everlasting authority and glory over all people and nations. Jesus’ teaching clearly affirms the future aspect of the kingdom, when He will come and rule sovereignly forever. But He also teaches that the kingdom has already been inaugurated in His first coming, but will not reach its climax until His Second Coming.100
The Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels explains how Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God is consistent with Old Testament teachings, but is also more expansive:
The term “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of Heaven” signifies God’s sovereign, dynamic and eschatological [future] rule. The kingdom of God lay at the heart of Jesus’ teaching. As proclaimed by Jesus the kingdom of God had continuity with the OT promise as well as with Jewish apocalyptic thinking, but differed from them in important respects. For example, it denoted God’s eternal rule rather than an earthly kingdom, its scope was universal rather than limited to the Jewish nation, and it was imminent and potentially present in him rather than a vague future hope, being inextricably connected with his own person and mission.101
The kingdom of God is a time of God’s rule anticipated in the Old Testament, which God brings about through Christ but in a way the Jews don’t expect—because they believe the Messiah will establish God’s rule completely when He first appears. When Jesus fails to establish His earthly rule and dies on the cross instead, His followers are initially devastated, not only because they have lost their leader, but also because their entire understanding of God’s kingdom has been shattered. But after His ascension and resurrection and the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the disciples begin to comprehend God’s greater plan.102
Jesus inaugurates the kingdom while on earth, and the Church continues to preach the existing kingdom that is now underway while speaking of a future time when Christ will return and consummate His kingdom rule, which will be on earth and in Heaven.103 Again, the kingdom of God has a present and a future dimension. It involves the “already-not yet” concept, meaning it is here now, but it is also coming in the future in a different way that is tied to the original and will complete it. Craig Keener confirms the kingdom “is inaugurated through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, but it is not yet consummated. . . . Jesus’ announcement of the kingdom is an invitation to join in God’s movement of taking back His creation, reestablishing God’s relationship with His people.”104
Jesus ushers the kingdom of God into the world at His first coming. He invades the sinful world and dies for us. Following His resurrection and ascension, He sends the Holy Spirit to us, to empower believers to resist sin and evil. Paul says God “has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13). “Believers are new people living in an old world,” J. Daniel Hays contends. “God has started his kingdom project, but he has not completely finished it. The kingdom of God has already arrived, but it has not yet come in all its fullness. The grand project has been launched, but it has not been finished.”105 “Believers,” Hays continues, “are living in enemy-occupied territory between God’s initial invasion (Jesus’ first coming) and his total defeat of evil (Jesus’ second coming). Believers live in the overlap between this age and the age to come.”106
Believers in the current age are already enjoying some of the benefits of the kingdom because, through their faith in Christ, they have joined Christ’s eternal kingdom today. They are now eternally safe and secure, and after their physical death they will be reunited with Christ—and they shall also join Him in His future reign over the new heaven and the new earth (Rev. 21).
JESUS CALLS DISCIPLES (MATT. 4:18–22; MARK 1:16–20; LUKE 5:10–11)
John describes Jesus’ calling of the first disciples as recounted above, and each of the synoptics record that Jesus calls the same disciples: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Jesus instructs Simon Peter and Andrew, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” In Luke, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” Many commentators surmise there were two different callings.107 H. I. Hester maintains that Jesus called the first six disciples—these four plus Philip and Nathanael—when he found them with John the Baptist (reported in the Gospel of John), and sometime later they returned to their homes before Jesus traveled to Nazareth. That’s probably why, when he called them again, they didn’t hesitate to follow Him.108 The ESV Study Bible adds that these men had been followers of Jesus for about a year but had returned home to their normal work before He called them again.109
By this calling, Jesus makes them full-time disciples. Jesus, as the first evangelist, shows God works through human beings. He knows the importance of building His ministry around a small group of men with whom He will work closely and mentor as leaders.110 Leon Morris observes that Jesus calls the disciples He wants, whereas in Judaism the disciple chooses the rabbi.111
JESUS PREACHES IN CAPERNAUM (MATT. 8:14–17; MARK 1:21–38; LUKE 4:31–43)
Jesus then goes into Capernaum and teaches in the synagogue on the Sabbath. He “astonishes” His hearers with His teaching, “for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.” This was also the initial reaction of those who heard His sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth (Matt. 13:54) before they turned on Him. His words, His manner, and His confidence demonstrate that He speaks not as any other prophet of God, but as God Himself. Jesus’ teachings aren’t just authoritative; they are uniquely attractive,112 which is one reason so many readers have become believers just by reading the Gospels.
Jesus’ words don’t just sound authoritative. They convert His will into power. He needs no magical potions, formulas, or incantations. He heals a demon-possessed man simply by demanding it come out of him, just as on an infinitely grander level, He spoke the world into existence (Gen. 1:1–31; Psalms 33:6; John 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2).113 Amazing people with His demonstration of authority and power, “his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.”
After this, Jesus immediately leaves the synagogue and goes with James and John to Peter and Andrew’s house, where Peter’s mother-in-law is very ill. After Jesus touches her, she is instantly healed and begins to serve them. The Gospel writers say that the woman “begins to serve them” to show that Jesus’ healing thoroughly restores her. As a result of this healing, the locals bring all their sick and possessed people to the house that evening and Jesus heals them and casts out the demons, in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (Isaiah 53:4).
The next morning Jesus rises early, goes to a deserted place, and prays. Before undertaking important activities, Jesus often prays to gain strength. He prays when He is baptized (Luke 3:21), before choosing His disciples (Luke 6:12), concerning the feeding of the five thousand (Mark 6:41, 46; Matt. 14:19, 23), when He is about to question His disciples on an important matter (Luke 9:18), on the mountain of His transfiguration (Luke 9:28), before He says, “Come to me all who are weary” (Matt. 11:25–30; Luke 10:21), before He teaches His disciples the Lord’s prayer (Luke 11:1), at Lazarus’ tomb (John 11:41–42), on Peter’s behalf before he is to deny Him (Luke 22:32), with the high priestly prayer (John 17), in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32, 35, 36, 39; Matt. 26:39, 42, 44; Luke 22:42), on the cross (Luke 23:34; Mark 15:34; Matt. 27:46; Luke 23:46), and after He is resurrected (Luke 24:30), among other times.114 If the God-man Jesus Christ needed prayer, how much more do we need it?