1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.

3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

In this pericope, Jesus has just been baptized and received the confirmation of his divine nature from his Father. After his baptism, he is led by the Spirit to the wilderness, where he fasts for forty days. His purpose (as corrected by the Joseph Smith Translation) is to be with God (see JST Matthew 4:1). It would seem that this experience has given him a heavy burden and mission that he needs to accept. In order to do so, he has to assert dominance over the "natural man" inside of himself. Thus, he turns to fasting in order to subdue it.

It is at the end of this, when Christ has just fought a spiritual battle and likely is physically and spiritually exhausted, that Satan comes to tempt him. In a similar fashion, Satan often comes to us at our weakest points. He comes to us when we are tired, when we've had a long day at work, or when we've just suffered disappointment or discouragement (Matthew 1-4, New Testament Student Manual). It is at that moment that we have to be on our guard the most. We have to be aware of every decision that we make, because Satan is always there, waiting for us to slip even in the slightest. It's at that moment that he will step in and try to take control.

Interestingly, when Matthew writes about these events, he re-orders them, as he does so often. The order in which he places them seems to build up to a climax. "The Q-sayings material has been reworked (see Luke 4:1-13) to move climactically from concern for personal well-being (hunger) to a grasp for personal power (putting God to the test for safety), to the splendor of ruling a kingdom (worship as a supreme being)" (Matthew 4:1-11, Enter the Bible). These three temptations reflect three important aspects of those that want to follow Jesus:

1. We must be willing to "bridle our passions," including our bodily appetites, in order to put God and his word first.
2. The relationship between us and God must be one of trust, not one that requires proof of his love.
3. There is only one true God that we must obey. We should never turn to anyone else for any form of salvation.

12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;

13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:

14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,

15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;

16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Matthew's main audience is Jewish, and as a result, he often uses Old Testament prophesies in his writings in order to convince the Jews that Jesus is the Christ that was spoken of by Old Testament, the great Jehovah. In this section, he makes use of a prophecy written by Esaias, one which is found in Isaiah 9:1-2. In this prophesy, Esaias speaks about "the land of Zabulon" and "the land of Nephthalim". He prophesies that they, who were in a great darkness, will receive a great light.

In this section, as he does so often, Matthew shows to the reader, specifically the Jewish reader, how Jesus Christ once again fulfilled an Old Testament prophesy. He mentions a prophesy about how a light would spring up "in the region and shadow of death." This phrasing is purposefully chosen in order to reflect the nature of Zabulon and Nephthalim, which in the Old Testament times was the land of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. These regions are very valuable, and many wars were fought over them, causing these regions to be "the region and shadow of death" (Matthew 1-4, New Testament Student Manual).

While this was intended to convince a Jewish audience of the validity of Christ as the Savior, this also helps us to understand the nature of His ministry. Every person that has ever lived on the earth has lived under the "shadow of death". Each of us is going to die physically, meaning that our spirits will leave our bodies, never to be reunited as far as is generally known. Each of us is also going to be separated from the presence of God, a death of a spiritual nature. We have no hope of returning on our own.

However, because of Christ's ministry on this earth, "light is sprung up." Each of us now has a hope that we can be resurrected and live with our Father in Heaven again. It is thanks to Christ's great atonement for each of us that we can overcome both spiritual and physical death. Thus, we see that Christ fulfilled the prophesy in a temporal way, but he also fulfilled it in a spiritual sense as well.

We also have an opportunity to be that light. We have the opportunity to share the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others. There are many out there that are searching for the truth. They're searching for some spark of hope, some glimmer of peace and respite. Just like Jesus was a light "in the region and shadow of death," we can be a light in others' dark moments in their lives, in the moments when they feel dead spiritually, mentally, emotionally, or in any other way. All we have to do is reach out to others with the healing power of Christ.

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The first thing to note in this verse is the message that Christ preaches: repentance. Christ's message to everyone is that of repentance. He wants everyone to repent and to come unto Him. However, unlike how many people view repentance, repentance is not preached as a bad thing that should be avoided by just being perfect. Christ does not say "Repent: for you are terrible people that can't get things right." He says "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." He preaches repentance as a way to prepare for the kingdom of heaven. Thus, if we want to participate in the kingdom of heaven, we must be continually repenting, searching to better ourselves so that we can participate in the kingdom of heaven.

Another thing to note about this verse is in his mention about "the kingdom of heaven" being near, or "at hand". Many people understand this kingdom to be the church that Christ established in Matthew 16:19, which in one sense it is. Christ set up his church in order to "govern" the members of his church, in order to provide to everyone's needs. However, this church was not intended to be the sole kingdom that was established. In his discourse titled The Standard and Ensign for the People, Parley P. Pratt explained that "the kingdom of heaven was to be set up twice." In the second establishment, or restoration, the kingdom of heaven was intended to become not just a religious authority, but a political authority. It was intended to be a literal kingdom, a nation of righteous people.

On reading Christ's call to repentance and Pratt's description of the kingdom of God, I realized that I needed to take my role in building up the kingdom of God more seriously. Up until now, invitations that I have extended have been very casual. If I happened to walk into a situation where someone could be interested in the gospel, I might have offered some brief invitation, then quickly changed to another topic when they refused. While not wanting to be too overbearing, I realized that I need to be more bold in my invitations. In order to be a citizen of the kingdom of God, one has to have been baptized a member of His church. One has to have taken upon himself the name of Christ. Thus, in building up the kingdom of God on the earth, I need to be more earnest in offering citizenship to what will be the most powerful kingdom that will ever exist on earth.

18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

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.

22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

When Jesus is walking by the sea of Galilee, there are many fishers there. Two sets of brothers capture his attention specifically. The first is Peter and Andrew. When he sees them, he invites them to follow him. Then, he leaves them a promise. He promises them that if they will follow him, he will make them "fishers of men." This gives the Peter and Andrew a choice: they can either ignore Christ's invitation and continue on with their day to day life, or they can choose to accept it.

Christ also invites two other brothers, James and John. They are in a similar situation, except that they are also with their father. This may have increased the pressure to stay, the pressure to keep helping their father. While it's easier to give up everything when one is the only person involved, it is much more difficult when one's choices impact others. James and John had to make the choice to leave not just their nets, but their father.

And yet, what is interesting about the passage is their reactions. When Christ calls out to them, they don't pause and think for a little bit. They don't ask him "Can you come back tomorrow?" They drop everything and follow immediately. We can see that Jesus called them with authority. Matthew emphasizes the authority and impact of Jesus' call "by making the response of these new disciples verbally symmetrical-they followed immediately (4:20, 22)" (Matthew 4:12-25, Enter the Bible).

Christ also calls us. He calls us in the callings in the church, but he also calls us every day to serve others, to help build his kingdom. He wants us to follow him and to become his disciples. We may have things filling up our lives, such as school or work. However, when he calls us, we need to drop everything in order to serve us. We need to be willing to put God before everything else. That may mean that we leave the path that others, even family, are following in order to follow God's path. We each need to leave our "nets", our things of the world, behind and follow Christ. And when we do, he will reward us with more than just the daily sustenance that is brought by our regular activities. He will reward us with joy in this life, and a place in the kingdom of God.

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 all manner of disease among the people.

24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.

This pericope is somewhat of an "introductory paragraph" for the ministry of Christ that follows in chapters 5-9. It describes the ministry of Jesus as teaching and preaching, which is found in chapters 5-7, and healing, which is found in chapters 8-9 (Matthew 4:12-25, Enter the Bible).

This pericope also seems to have a corresponding section at the end of chapter 9, where Matthew again states that Christ went about teaching, and preaching, and healing. It also mentions directly afterwards the multitudes that were following him, just as it does in Matthew 4. It then uses this topic to transition to the next section of Matthew, which begins with Jesus giving the apostles the power to minister to others. From this we can see the beginnings of Christ's church.

In an address given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland based on this section, he discusses the importance of verse 23. He describes how after calling his disciples, and preaching the Sermon on the Mount, he begins to perform miracles of healing lepers, casting out demons, and even raising from the dead. Then, after performing these many miracles and observing the multitude that follows him, he calls his apostles and gives them the power not just to teach, but to heal as well. From this, we can see that healing is just as important to Jesus as teaching and preaching (Teaching, Preaching, Healing).

In reading this, I realized that in my mind, the most important part of Christ's ministry was his teachings. He set an example for us to follow, he taught us how to follow it, and it was through that example that we would return to live with God. I began to appreciate the examples of Christ's healing power in the lives of those with whom he associated.

It was also at this moment that I realized more about my role in God's kingdom. Though it is important to teach and to preach, what is even more important is that we bring the healing power of the atonement into the lives of others. For example, in the higher and holier way of ministering, the goal isn't to go and teach a lesson so that they get their monthly dose of the Gospel. The goal is to teach them the doctrine, but with the purpose of bringing Christ's healing power into their lives. This connection between teaching and healing is what Matthew may have been trying to convey. And it's something that even the leadership in the Church today want the members to understand.