1 Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil.
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VERS. 1.-- *Then Jesus.* After baptism, because there is no delay before temptation: that he may straightway teach the baptized to go out of the world, and in quiet to be free for God: so the sons of Israel after the passage of the sea go up through the desert, and eat manna until they come to the land of promise. *Then Jesus was led,* etc. This is the order of right converse, that after receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit we should gird ourselves the more closely against the devil: by that way the Samaritan came down, because clothed in flesh he bore the same temptations. *To the Spirit*, the Holy, who sends strong to the battle those whom he fills. Without this Spirit, he who goes to the battle quickly falls. *That he might be tempted by the devil.* He is not tempted by the devil save because he has gone out to the desert, that is, has begun to be zealous for good.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry.
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VERS. 2.-- *And when he had fasted.* He fasts that he may be tempted, he is tempted because he fasts, and he gives us an example of fasting, etc., *as far as* and so, as long as we are here, let us always bewail our sins: because by this number the present life is shown. While through the various actions of this life our solicitude is stretched out, it must needs be that from the dust of the world, etc., *as far as* that we, who have been raised together in his resurrection, may be found to have died together in his passion. *Afterwards he was hungry.* This belongs to true humanity: and through this comes the occasion of tempting. The power lies hidden, the weakness lies open.
3 And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
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VERS. 3.-- *And coming.* Because hunger is a sign of weakness. And so temptation is not wanting to us in abstinence. Through the outward weakness he tempts Christ, in whom he found no law of sin. *If thou be the Son of God.* It is one thing to be a man exploring these matters, another to be a man tempting, while he seems to confess God and endeavors to mock at one of this kind. For so he tempts, that he may explore what he fears. So he explores, that by tempting he may deceive. *If thou be the Son of God.* He had known that the Son of God had come into the world, whether by the prophets, or by the angels announcing it, or by John pointing him out: but because he saw humble things in him, what he had suspected concerning the Godhead came into doubt with him out of pride. Whence also he cunningly makes inquiry: Nor was it unworthy that Christ, who had come to be slain, should be tempted, that by overcoming temptations he might give us the power of overcoming temptations, as by his own death he took away our mortality. Christ did not suffer himself to be tempted except after baptism, hinting that those who come to him will suffer heavier things, etc., *as far as* but Christ was tempted by suggestion only: because the delight of sin did not bite his mind.
4 Who answered and said: It is written, Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.
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VERS. 4.-- *It is written.* He does not use his power, but the authority of the Scriptures, teaching us to fight rather with doctrine than with miracles. *Not in bread alone doth man live.* As if to say: Thy persuasion is a temptation: because thou treatest of the food of the body, and not of the food of the mind. The lower part of man is sustained by bread, the other is refreshed by the word of God: but because thou treatest of the lower part, it is plain that thou art a tempter. *But in every word,* etc. Every word is charity, in which are fulfilled all the things that proceed out of the mouth of God, because by whosesoever ministry they are spoken, they are not his but God's: but if anything contrary is inserted, this is not of God. Out of the one word, that is, the wisdom of God, proceeds whatever the saints speak, who are his mouth.
5 Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple,
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VERS. 5.-- *Then he took him.* The first and the last temptation were in the desert; the middle one, moreover, was historically the last, after he had returned to Jerusalem. Because Matthew follows not the order of the history, but the order of Adam's temptation: whereas Luke follows the order in which the thing was done. Because he was left conquered and uncertain by Christ's answer: after the first he went on to the second temptation. That he permitted himself to be taken up was not weakness, but patience: whereas in the devil it was not power, but pride. Note that all these things were accomplished by the bodily senses. Nor is it a wonder if he permitted himself to be carried about: if the taking up is so understood, he who permitted himself to be crucified. *Upon the pinnacle.* In Palestine the roofs were flat on top, and there was the seat of the teachers, whence, etc., *as far as* he shows that we should obey whoever commands good and lofty things, but resist him who wills to cast us down. *If thou be the Son.* In all the temptations he does this, that he may understand, etc., *as far as* it is likely that the devil appeared in the shape of a man. *Cast thyself.* This voice befits him who busies himself to cast all men down: in which he is shown to be weak, because he can hurt no one, unless that man first cast himself down. For he was suggesting that by some sign he should explore how much he could avail with God. But no one ought to tempt God, when he has from human reason what he may do. Whence though he could do all things, he yet says to his own: *If they persecute you in this city, flee into another.* And he himself likewise fled and departed and hid himself. Now he could have come down from the temple otherwise than by casting himself down out of boastfulness. When human reason fails, let a man commend himself to God, not by tempting, but by devoutly confessing. *For he hath given his angels charge over thee.* What is rightly said of the body, the devil wrongly interprets of the head, etc., *as far as* but he speaks of the help of the angels as though to a weak man, and is silent about his own being trodden underfoot.
6 And said to him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written: That he hath given his angels charge over thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said to him: It is written again: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8 Again the devil took him up into a very high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,
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VERS. 8.-- *Again he took him.* This temptation went before in order, but is related out of its place, according to what was done in Adam's case. *He showed him,* etc. Not that he enlarged the sight of him who sees all things, but the vanity of worldly pomp, which he loved, as though it were beautiful, etc., *as far as* Not that he beheld it with the eye of concupiscence as we do, but this showing was in the mind, as physicians see diseases without being harmed by them.
9 And said to him: All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me.
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VERS. 9.-- *All these will I give thee.* This he says out of arrogance: not that the whole world is his. From the beginning the devil labored to usurp for himself what was God's: whence, that he might be worshipped in them, he invented idols. In these three are marked gluttony, avarice, pride. Luke sets avarice in the middle, and pride last, etc., *as far as* in these three all the kinds of temptations are comprehended.
10 Then Jesus saith to him: Begone, Satan: for it is written: The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve.
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VERS. 10.-- *It is written.* David laid Goliath low with three stones from the torrent, and Christ laid the devil low with three testimonies from the law. *The Lord thy God.* This is either said to the devil: not because he was going to fulfil it out of devotion, but that, on the contrary to what he himself was attempting, it might be shown by what is written that not he, but God is to be adored: or he hints that this precept was given not to the devil, but to himself according to his humanity, and to any man whatsoever. Likewise also that other word: *Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,* namely the Son and the Father and the Holy Spirit, who is one God. God is adored, and is served especially for his own sake. Here it is shown that the man Christ, as God and Lord, is to be adored by debt. *Thou shalt serve.* In Greek λατρεύσεις: for λατρεία is called service. Service common to God and to man and to whomsoever is called in Greek δουλεία. But that which is owed to God alone is called latria: whence idolatry, which gives to idols what it owes to God alone. Note that the devil is conquered in those things in which he conquered Adam. Him he tempted by gluttony, when he asked him to taste of the forbidden tree. By vainglory, when he said: *You shall be as gods.* By avarice, when he said: *Knowing good and evil.*
11 Then the devil left him; and behold angels came and ministered to him.
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VERS. 11.-- *They came.* Not as though then coming to him for the first time, but beholding the Lord's contest from afar, lest he should seem to have needed their protection or to have conquered by it. But when the other went away conquered, they came ready for his service. As in this contest our warfare is laid out beforehand, so in the service of the angels a glorious recompense is taught.
12 And when Jesus had heard that John was delivered up, he retired into Galilee:
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VERS. 12.-- *And when he had heard.* Here Matthew, like Mark and Luke, passes over the Lord's first coming into Galilee, after which, etc., *as far as, This beginning of miracles did Jesus.* And again: *John was not yet cast into prison.* *John,* etc. Which was for the Gospel's sake. Jesus, preaching this same thing more perfectly, gives place for a time and flees, that he may be an example to his own. *Into Galilee.* There are two Galilees: one is called the Galilee of the Jews, the other of the Gentiles, because of the dwelling of Gentiles there, which portion Solomon gave to the king of Tyre, who settled Gentiles there.
13 And leaving the city Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capharnaum on the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and of Nephthalim;
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VERS. 13.-- *Nazareth.* From which Christ is called a Nazarene, is a village in Galilee beside mount Thabor, etc., *as far as* because in the midst of the Gentiles it stands firm for the spreading abroad of the word of God, that it may show to believers in peril the harbor of faith.
14 That it might be fulfilled which was said by Isaias the prophet:
15 Land of Zabulon and land of Nephthalim, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:
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VERS. 15.-- *The land of Zabulon.* The evangelist passes over what stands first; namely: *In the first time the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephtalim was lightened*: as also what stands in the middle, etc., *as far as* but for a figure of those who are to be called from among the Gentiles, that which is of the Gentiles is here mentioned.
16 The people that sat in darkness, hath seen great light: and to them that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is sprung up.
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VERS. 16.-- *The people.* That people which was first led into captivity, and was in the darkness of vices, first saw the light of Christ's preaching. Thereafter the Gospel was scattered abroad among all. Whence it follows: *To them that dwell in the region.* *Of the shadow of death.* Death is in hell. The shadow of this death are sins, which are never without death. He therefore who wishes to flee death, let him avoid the shadow.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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VERS. 17.-- *From that time.* After he was baptized. Baptism makes men fit for preaching. *From that time,* that is, John having been delivered up: because when the law ceases the Gospel follows, as the sun follows the dawn. A humble master, who does not hinder the teaching of his disciple, but waits until he complete his course. In which he teaches that no one should despise a word from a lesser person. Whence the Apostle. *If anything be revealed to another, let the first hold his peace.* *Do penance.* The same things which the herald preaches: that it may be shown that he is no other than he who had cried in the voice. For Christ is the Word which cries in the Jordan by his instrument, and in all who from the beginning spoke anything by divine inspiration: and yet this man alone is the voice, because through him is shown the Word present, which the others announced from afar. For between the voice and the word there is nothing between, but as soon as the voice has sounded, straightway the word is perceived: as John, shut up, ceased: Christ shone forth in mighty works. Whence John is the figure of the prophets and of the law, who are truly the voice of the crying wisdom of God, of whom John is the end, and when they cease the Word alone, which had sounded in them, is shown by itself. This preaching of Christ, begun in Capharnaum with miracles flashing forth, is said, etc., *as far as* he began to preach when the Baptist was imprisoned.
18 And 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).
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VERS. 18.-- *Who is called Peter.* Either when Andrew first brought him to him, this name was put upon him, when it is said: *Thou shalt be called Cephas*, which is interpreted *Peter:* although here he seems to promise it for the future. Or when he confessed: *Thou art Christ the Son of the living God,* it was said to him: *Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church*. Peter, *acknowledging:* Andrew, *manly:* which befits teachers: because these alone, etc., *as far as* but because the first man went out disobedient, the second entered in obedient Matthew says that he called the disciples after his dwelling at Capharnaum. John says, etc., *as far as* but before Jesus came into Cana of Galilee, Andrew brought Peter, yet they were not disciples.
19 And he saith to them: Come ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men.
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VERS. 19.-- *Fishers.* He who is about to fish goes through the places of fishing. Mystically. When being incarnate he took flesh, he saw by his divinity in the sea of the world spiritual fishers: and to others he showed what they were, whom he had foreseen from eternity.
20 And they immediately leaving their nets, followed him.
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VERS. 20.-- *Immediately.* Perfect obedience is to leave one's own things unfinished. Their nets being left: because even if afterwards they take them up again, it is not out of covetousness and the love of ownership. In these a pattern is given to those who wish to follow. The intention is changed, not the fishing, the nets are changed into doctrine, covetousness into the love of souls: the sea becomes the world, the ship the Church, the fishes good and evil men.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets: and he called them.
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VERS. 21.-- *He saw two others.* Behold, in these four the number of the evangelists is prefigured, who draw souls out of the world from the four quarters of the world. They are called two and two, because charity is not save between two. A calling is spoken of: either according to the election of grace. Whence it is said: *Whom he called*, etc. Or according to that word: *Many are called*. It is asked how Matthew and Mark say that Jesus called them two by two: first Peter and Andrew, etc., *as far as* but he sent unlettered fishermen to preach for this reason, that faith might be reckoned to stand in the power of God, not in the eloquence of men. *Of Zebedee, and John.* Zebedee, a fugitive, that is, the devil. James, a supplanter, who is helped by John, that is, by the grace of God. *And he called them. But they,* etc. He called others also, but it suffices to name these.
22 And they forthwith left their nets and father, and followed him.
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom: and healing all manner of sickness and every infirmity, among the people.
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VERS. 23.-- *And Jesus went about all Galilee.* His fellow workers being called, he presses on with preaching, teaching that a teacher ought to be untiring. *Teaching in the synagogues.* Teaching about morals, those subject to the active life. Preaching about things to come, those perfect in the contemplative life. Teaching the natural righteousnesses, namely chastity and humility and the like, which man has by nature. Preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. To the Gospel belongs the mystery of righteousness, a good beginning, the promise of beatitude, the remission of sins, adoption, resurrection, the heavenly inheritance, the fellowship of the angels. *In the synagogues.* Nor let an idle teacher run about to no purpose, but let him preach where there are many. *The Gospel.* Because righteousness is a trouble to one living in the flesh, the labor of righteousness is not undertaken unless the wage of the work be looked for. Therefore Christ preaches beatitude for good news, that he may stir men up to patience in good work. *And healing.* To cure sickness and infirmity was no great thing, since they were to die afterwards. But it was done for this reason, that they might so be raised up to the kingdom. Morally instructing preachers to minister earthly supports also to their subjects, and so to draw them to the kingdom.
24 And his fame went throughout all Syria, and they presented to him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and such as were possessed by devils, and lunatics, and those that had the palsy, and he cured them:
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VERS. 24.-- *And his fame went abroad.* The works of salvation do not shine out enough to hearers without the fame of a good odor, nor does fame profit without the work: without which, etc., *as far as* he cures bodies, that they may the more readily hear invisible things. Otherwise it was a small thing to spend care upon men soon to die.
25 And much people followed him from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
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VERS. 25.-- *They followed.* Fourfold crowds, namely. Some, etc., *as far as* others, wishing out of envy to accuse him and to catch him in something.