In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
Comment: The original was written without even words being separated, and to our minds would have been difficult to read! But here, in the continuum of words, we have at least four separate thoughts. Today I removed the four paragraphs which are in most, if not all English translations of this passage. Firstly Jesus came from Nazareth to the Jordan where John was baptising masses of people to repent and be baptised. If Jesus was perfect why did he need a baptism of repentance? Matthew tells us that John asked Jesus why he had come and Jesus answered “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” and maybe as another reason God wanted the watching crowd to see the dove descending and hear God’s spoken approval of His sent Messiah. Secondly the Spirit (typified by the descending dove) led Jesus out into the wilderness to be severally tempted. Hebrews records that Jesus ‘was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.‘ Doing the work of God always makes people face the onslaught of Satan. He can appear as ‘a roaring lion’ or can appear as ‘an angel of light’; he can even use friends or colleagues to unwittingly unsettle the servant of GOD! Thirdly, and although no time is indicated or what happened during that time, with John imprisoned, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Fourthly Jesus began to call people to follow Him as His disciples. He now became a wandering teacher, a Rabbi with followers. He called Simon (Peter) and Andrew, James and John, fishermen, to leave their fishing nets and become ‘fishers of men’. Surely, if you let your mind wander, this short passage envelops a whole lot of emotions! What did John, as the promised Elijah, think as he was announcing the Messiah? What did the onlookers feel as they saw the dove descend and heard the voice of God thundering out of the clear sky? How tough it must have been for the God-man Jesus to be faced by 40 days of temptation? How did those feel who were left to attend the boats when the brothers left? How/why were the brothers persuaded to change their whole approach to life?
Proverbs 21: 4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin.
Prayer: Help me by study and thought to fill in the unwritten details of scripture passages.
As I read it! 