Matthew 4:11-12

Matthew 4:11-12

Outline of Events Matthew Omitted

Between verses 11 and 12 of Matthew chapter 4, a year in Jesus ministry had passed by. In verse 11 we read that Jesus had just successfully defeated the temptations of Satan after spending 40 days fasting in the wilderness. Now, he will be embarking upon his ministry, but after His temptation, we read in verse 12 that John the baptist was arrested. Yet if you look at the chronological order of Jesus life, John was not arrested until after Jesus entered Judea.

Like the other synoptic Gospels of Mark and Luke, Matthew covered many events in Jesus early ministry of Galilee. We do find far more events recorded by John from Jesus' ministry in Judea and Samaria, but not all of the differences are attributable to geographic reasons. The Holy Spirit led each Gospel writer to write in a way that, when taken as a whole, they would give us a complete picture of our Lord Jesus, HIS ministry, and HIS mission.

Matthew does cover Jesus early life, HIS baptism, and HIS temptation which all took place in Judea, he will not cover any more events of Jesus ministry in Judea until HIS last year just before HIS triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

If it were not for John's Gospel, which was the last one written, we would never have known about the events that took place which I cover in the outline below. While I did cover this in another more broad outline, I decided to isolate out this portion for an easy reference to truly get a good picture of the events Matthew omitted in first year of Jesus' ministry.

1. Events between verses 12 and 13 cover almost a year in the life of Jesus

Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,

1. He just left the desert where He was tempted by Satan (Matthew 4:1-11)

2. Andrew, Simon, and perhaps a third person (John 1:35-42)

3. Jesus goes into Galilee; Meets Philip and Nathanael (John 1:43-51)

4. Jesus’ first miracle, at a Cana wedding He turns water to wine (John 2:1-11)

5. Jesus goes to Capernaum, to prepare His headquarters for His ministry? (John 2:12)

6. Jesus cleanses the temple (John 2:13-25)

7. Jesus attends the Passover feast (John 2:23-25)

8. Nicodemus visits Him at night (John 3:1-21)

1. Jesus teaches on being born again John (3:1-14)

2. God so loved the world (John 3:15-16)

3. Condemnation without believing (John 3:17-18)

4. Men loved darkness because (John 3:19-21)

9. John the Baptist exalts Christ (John 3:22-36)

1. Jesus came to the countryside of Judea (John 3:22)

2. John the Baptist testifies about Jesus (John 3:23-28)

3. Rejoices greatly because of the Bridegroom’s voice (John 3:29)

4. John humbles himself, ”He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 30-36)

10. John reproves Herod for marrying his brothers wife and gets arrested (Luke 3:19-20)

11. Jesus goes to Galilee by way of Samaria

1. When He heard of Johns imprisonment (Matthew 4:12)

2. After John was arrested and put in prison, Jesus started preaching in Galilee (Mark 1:14)

3. When He heard Pharisees knew he was baptizing more people then (John, John 4:1-2)

12. Jesus talks to the woman at the well in Samaria and stays two days (John 4:4-23)

13. Jesus preaches repentance and news starts spreading quickly of Him (Luke 4:14-15) (Matthew 4:12)

14. Nobleman’s son healed (John 4:43-54)

1. The healing of an official of Herod’s court is 2nd miracle in Cana, 1st was wedding (John 2:1-11)

2. The father went his way, which showed the sincerity of his faith. Being satisfied, he did not hurry home that night, but returned as one easy in his own mind.

3. All the people in his household became believers

15. Jesus invited to read at the synagogue in His hometown Nazareth (Luke 4:16-22)

1. Jesus read from the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1-2)

2. They thought He spoke very well and enjoyed the gracious words coming from His lips

16. Rejected by His hometown they would attempt to kill Him, but Jesus escapes (Luke 4:23-30)

1. He knew they would not accept Him, so He tells them what they are thinking

2. Later on the cross they would taunt Him with similar words (Matthew 27:42)