Matthew 4:1-11

This passage occurs during Lent in the Revised Common Lectionary (Year A) and Epiphany (Year 1) of the Narrative Lectionary.

Summary:
This is a text of testing.  That verb, πειραζω, appears three times!  Testing allows us to discover the nature of something.  What do we discover?  We discover that the devil is pretty good at tempting...tempting with the flesh, the power and the glory.  Even using scripture!  More importantly, we learn that Jesus draws his strength from the Word of God.  We learn that the Word of God comes from God's mouth, brings life in the wilderness, overcomes evil and is even worshiped by angels.

Key Words:

πειραζω & εκπειραζω ("tempt" or "put to the test,"  Found in 4:1, πειρασθναι (aorist passive infinitive), 4:3, πειραζων (participle present) and 4.7, εκπειρασεις (2nd person future)):   BDAG offers that this word means, "to endeavor to discover the nature or character of something by testing."  In this story, we discover the nature of two people, both the devil and Jesus.  The devil is the one who tempts us, tempts us with the flesh, glory and finally deceptive power, all so that we would worship him and not God.  He will quote Scripture and has no fear of God.  We learn also, here, by experience, that Jesus will draw on his power from the Word of God.  He alone, and not the devil, is master of Scripture.  He will also be ministered by angels, and though human, cannot be defeated by human weakness, but only by the will of God.

Note:  Although a slightly different word, εκ-πειραζω, is used when Jesus says to the Devil, "Don't test God," (4:7) I don't think this distinction is key.  It means essentially the same thing.  Furthermore, because it is a direct quote from the LXX, Jesus (Matthew) is forced to use it instead of simply, "πειραζω."  Regardless, this word comes into English in very clear way: "experiment"!  (literally e-x-p-e-r-i-m-e-n-t) Jesus is saying, "Don't experiment with God!" 

εκπορευομαι   ("come out" 4:4, εκπορευομενω (dative participle))  This word here is a fairly common word in Greek -- "come or go out."  What is significant here is that is goes hand and hand with the word and the mouth of God.  God's Word does not stay still, but goes out from God's mouth.  And what does it do?  It brings life in the middle of the wilderness and overcomes all evil.

προσκυνεω and λατρευω ("worship" 4:10, προσκεησεις & λατρευσιες (2nd person future))  προσκυνεω comes from the Greek for "forward kiss" as in lean down to touch and kiss the ground in front of the person.  λατρευσιες can also mean worship, but has to do with serving God in the temple, or more broadly, serving God as a way to fulfill obligations.  The root of the word is payment!  In the sense of "paying one's vows" before God.  When you put these two together, you have the image of full body worship, with both our knees (on the ground) and our arms (serving God through the offering plate, the acts of worship).

διακονεω ("serve" 4:11, διηκονουν (imperfect))  This word means to "serve" like a waiter serves on tables.  It comes into English and the church vocabulary through a variety of servant ministries.  It might be fun to play with the connection between worship service (4:10) and service as worship (4:11).  In the early temptation, Jesus (and we as humans) are tempted to worship the devil with his knees.  Here the temptation is about worshipping with our feet through acts of service.  You could argue that the angels fulfill the word of the Lord as the both worship and serve Jesus.

Grammar:  εαν vs ει

εαν is nice for translators.  It means "if" in a truly hypothetical sense.  "εαν" it rains today, the game will be canceled.  For example, in Matthew 4:9, the devil says, "εαν" you throw yourself down Jesus, I will give you all of this.
ει, however, is much harder.  It can mean "if" or "since" or "because not" depending on the context and the verb moods used around it.  Let's look at 4:3:
ει υιος [ει] του θεου, ειπε ινα οι λιθοι ουτοι αρτοι γενωνται
The  [ει] has breathing marks that indicate it is a form of the verb "to be," in this case, "are."  In fact, most of the words in this sentence an individual learns in the first couple weeks of Greek:
if son are of God, say in order the stones these bread [some form of become]
Because you know the sentence, you probably piece it together:
If you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread.  Why the subjunctive γενωνται?  Why ουτοι?  For another day!  In this sentence, it seems odd that the devil would wonder if Jesus is the son of God.  The devil is saying, more likely, "As the son of God, do X, Y and Z."  Not only does this make more sense in the narrative, but grammatically, the fact that the verb [ει] is in the indicative and not subjunctive mood, also suggests this.

Matthew 4:12-23

This passage occurs in the Epiphany season of the Revised Common Lectionary (Year A), most recently January 22, 2023.
 
Summary: Reading how Matthew describes the call of the disciples after John's description seems unfair.  John created a work of art.  Matthew's seems like a clean-up job on Mark!  However, Matthew's touch-up work is good theology and good writing.  But what interests me is something Matthew doesn't clean up from Mark, namely Jesus' command to his disciples to "Follow me."  Actually, Jesus never says "Follow me."  He barks out three words, none of which are a verb:  "Here after me."  A bit rougher indeed than "Come and see" but effective nonetheless.  Get out of the way and let Jesus shake up the people!

Also worth noting:  The Greek reading of Matthew 4:17 is the foundation for Thesis 1 of the Luther's 95.

2023 note:  There is a strong note of community here as well as reconciliation.

Key Words:
μετανοειτε (4:17; "Repent"):  It is worth pointing out that this verse, Matthew 4:17, begins the 95 thesis.  Luther had grown up reading the Vulgate, which translated this as, "Do penance."  Luther's reading of Greek helped him see the deeper ethical (and existential demand) of Jesus:  Always and continually repent.  It is not an aorist (one-time) command, but a present tense command, which indicates the intent is for continued action.  Thus Luther says that when Jesus says this, "He wills that the whole life be one of repentance."

I am also struck this year (2023) that this is a plural command.  This command to repent was never simply for an individual.  Also interesting the disciples leave in pairs!

καταλιπων (here a participle form of καταλειπω, 4:13; "abandon"):  Jesus leaves his hometown.  This is something that Mark leaves out.  I like this detail though because before Jesus asks his disciple's to leave their home, he has already left his. 

κατωκησεν (from κατοικεω, "dwell", 4:13)  I don't think I had seen the word "οικεω" in this word.  Before Jesus calls people, he gets to know the territory.  

πληρωθη (πληροω, 4:14; "fulfilled"):  One of the cliches regarding the Gospels is that Matthew wrote for Jews; Luke for gentiles.  However, a quick search on this verb reveals that Luke takes nearly as much time as Matthew to connect Jesus' actions as "fulfilling" OT prophecies.  The only Gospel writer seemingly unconcerned with fulfillment of the OT is Mark.  Helpful to remember that in the year of Matthew (and Luke) we will find lots of direct OT connections.

βαλλοντας (from "βαλλω", 4:18)  To cast means to throw.  Which means the disciples are letting go!  The first criteria that Jesus looks for is people who can "Let it go!"

δευτε (with οπισω μου, 4:19; "Follow??"):  This word is not a verb.  It is more of an adverb like "quick" or an interjection, like "Here!" or "Come on!"  Jesus does not literally say, "Follow me" using the Greek word follow.  He simply says, "Hey, Come on!  After me!"  In other words, "Follow me" makes it sound like Jesus even gave them more instructions than he did.

ποιησω (4:19; "I will make"):  It is helpful to remember that the task of becoming disciples is not one that we accomplish, but rather Jesus says he will make them fishers (of men).  Jesus is the subject of transformation; we are the object.

καταρτιζοντας (from καταρτιζω, meaning "mend", 4:21)  The second criteria Jesus look for in disciples are people who can mend.  The world needs mending!  

Note:  This word is fascinating; I don't think its translated the same way twice.  It has a broad meaning of making something whole and complete again.

Gal. 6:1   If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore them in a spirit of gentleness.

1Th. 3:10 ...as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?
Luke 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

Ephesians 4:12 ...to equip (noun form) the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 

Heb. 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Grammar review/ sentence translation:  Let me know if anyone reads this section.  I am trying a different format here.
4:14  ινα πληρωθη το ρηθεν δια Ησαιου του προφητου λεγοντος
NRS Matthew 4:14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

A couple of points:
1)  When you have a ινα, expect a verb in the subjunctive form.  Don't translate it with "would" as you might; just know that in Greek the ινα demands a subjunctive verb:  "in order to do X"  In this case, "in order to be fulfilled"
2)   Notice the -ου suffix train?  Three words in a row.  Nice to connect them:  "the prophet Isaiah." 
3)   There are two participles.  One is nice.  One is not.  The nice one is λεγοντος.  This circumstantial is surprisingly nice because your brain can probably recognize the root verb and figure out...the prophet Isaiah is saying something.  Although circumstantial participles are often difficult to translate, λεγοντος is so common you might even be able to recognize it and simply translate it "saying."  Lastly, even if you don't include it, you still get the sentence correct, "What was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:"
The hard participle is το ρηθεν.  It is hard to recognize the participle, in this case the aorist passive form of  λεγω.  It is also a substantive, so you translate it in the form, "The one who/what/which XYZ."  Because it is passive, it is "The one who/which/what XYZ (in passive form)"  In this case, "The one which is said."  Since it is aorist, it is the "the one which was said."  "The one" sounds silly so we just make it:  The thing.
Yuck
4)  The preposition is δια.  So, you could read it, "The word spoken by the prophet Isaiah."  However, this stretches the preposition's meaning.  The more natural reading is, "The thing spoken through the prophet Isaiah."  Who says Matthew doesn't have a concept of the word as an eternal substance coming down to earth??

Matthew 4:1-17

This passage occurs in the Narrative Lectionary, Year 1, Most recently Jan 17, 2015)
 
I have written on Matthew 4:1-17 twice before:
Matthew 4:1-11 
Matthew 4:13-23


Two notes for Narrative Lectionary 2015:
1)  There is plenty of law in this text.  First, there is a struggle against temptation.  Second, there is the call both in word and deed to a total commitment to God.  Before you get too geared up, remember this text is used here as an Epiphany and not Lent I text.  Thus I think the focus should be illuminating something about Christ's identity; in this case, as the one who overcomes temptation.

2)   The NL includes Matthew 4:17, a call to repentance.  If one feels compelled to go in the law direction, I think looking at the bookends of the story is very helpful:  It begins with Jesus baptism and ends with a call to repentance.  Our own call to fight temptation, to repent, to struggle against sin, is grounded in our Baptism.