The Evangelist inserted a word about Herod here. It is as if he were saying this: although the people thought very highly of John, yet Herod, rebuked by him, added to all his wickedness that he had imprisoned him. He narrates, as it were, with deep sorrow and strong pity, that Herod had so wrongly treated John, while the people had a high opinion of him. "The heavens were opened" in order to show us that baptism opens the heaven closed by Adam to all. "The Holy Spirit descended" upon Jesus, so that we might know from this that the Spirit also comes upon us when we are baptized. For the Lord had no need of the Spirit, but does all things for our sake, and Himself is the firstborn in all things (Col. 1:18), which we had afterwards to receive, that we might be the firstborn among many brethren. "Like a dove" so that we learn that we need to be meek and pure. And just as in Noah's time the dove depicted the calming of God's wrath, so here the Holy Spirit, having drowned sin, reconciled us to God. And the Son hears a voice spoken from the Father, to show that he has granted sonship to us who are baptized. "In Thee is My good pleasure" — in Thee I have rested.

Jesus, beginning [His ministry], was about thirty years old, and was thought to be the Son of Joseph, Eli, Matthat, Levi, Melchiev, Jannait, Joseph, Mattathia, Amos, Naum, Stim, Naggee, Maath, Mattathia, Shemei, Joseph, Judah, Ioannan, Risaiv, Zerubbabel, Shealtiel, Neriah, Melchiev, Addi, Kosama, Elmodam, Ire, Josiah, Eliezer, Jorim, Matthat, Levi, Simeon, Judah, Joseph, Jonhan, Eliakim, Melea, Mainan, Mattatha, Nathan, David, Jesse, Obid, Boozov, Salmonov, Naasson, Aminadab, Aramov, Esromov, Pharez, Judah, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Farrin, Nahorov, Serukhov, Rahab, Polekov, Ever, Salin, Cainan, Arphaxadov, Sim, Noah, Lamech, Methuselah, Enoch, Jared, Mahaleleel, Cainan, Enos, Seth, Adam, God.

The Lord was baptized when He was thirty years old, because this age is the most perfect, and in it a person turns out to be honorable or worthless. Luke presents the genealogy of the Lord in the reverse order, in comparison with the Evangelist Matthew, in order to show that he who is now born according to the flesh is of God — for see how the genealogy ascends to God — and at the same time, so that we may know that He became incarnate in order to raise up all intermediary fathers to God and make them sons. I can also say otherwise: the birth of the Lord, as seedless, met with unbelief. Therefore, the Evangelist, wishing to show that at other times man was without seed, ascends from the lowest to Adam and God. He says, as it were, "If you do not believe, as the second Adam was born without seed, then, I beseech you, turn your mind to the first Adam, and you will find that he was created by God without seed, and after that do not be unfaithful." Some ask: How does Matthew call Joseph the son of Jacob, and Luke the son of Eli? For it is impossible, they say, for one and the same thing to be the son of two fathers. To this it is answered, that Jacob and Eli were half-brothers, but of different fathers, that after the death of Eli, Jacob took his wife, in order to raise up children by her, and that therefore Joseph is called the son of Jacob by nature, and Eli by the law. For Jacob really begat him by nature, and he was his own son, and he was the son of Eli only according to the law. For the Law commanded that the wife of the deceased should be married to his brother without child, and that the one born of this union should be considered the child of the dead (Deuteronomy 25:5, 6), although by nature it was of the living. Therefore, the evangelists speak correctly, and do not contradict each other. Matthew wrote down Joseph's natural father, and Luke wrote down the father due to him according to the Law, that is, Eli; and both show that the Lord was born to sanctify nature and the Law.

Chapter Four

Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. There He was tempted by the devil for forty days, and did not eat anything during these days, and after they had passed, He hungered for the end. And the devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, then command this stone to become bread." Jesus answered and said to him, "It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." And having brought him up to a high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and the devil said to him, "To thee will I give power over all these [kingdoms] and their glory, for it is delivered to me, and to whom I will give it; therefore, if you worship me, all things will be yours. Jesus answered and said to him, "Get thee behind me, Satan; it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. And he led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the wing of the temple, and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: for it is written, His angels shall give charge concerning thee to keep thee; and they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus answered and said to him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

The Lord was baptized in order to sanctify the waters for us who have to taste grace. After Baptism, "He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness," for the Holy Spirit led Him into the struggle against the devil. He goes "into the wilderness" in order to give the devil a reason to attack Him, for he comes to us especially when we are alone. He fasts "forty days" and does not exceed the measure of the fast of Moses and Elijah, so as not to give Satan the idea that He is greater than they, but so that he approaches Him, thinking that He is also a man, and at the same time so that he does not appear incarnate only in a ghostly way. He is "tempted" after Baptism in order to show us that after Baptism we will be met with temptations. He fasts because fasting is a great weapon in temptations, and because after baptism we should give ourselves over not to sensual pleasures, but to fasting. The enemy attacks Him first with gluttony, as he did with Adam (Gen. 3), then with covetousness, showing Him all the kingdoms. How did he show it? Some say that I presented them to Him in thought. But I think that it was not in thought, but in sensuality, that I showed them to Him, putting them before His eyes in a phantom, and not in the imagination of the Lord. Further, he attacks Him with vanity, for he says: "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down." He spoke idly of this, caressing Him, so that He, deceived by flattery and wishing to show Himself to be the Son of God, would throw Himself down and thus reveal Himself to Him who He was. "Thou shalt not tempt," he says, "the Lord thy God," for no one should expose himself to obvious danger in self-deception that God will help him. Note also that it is very useful to know the Scriptures; for the Lord also smote Satan with the Scriptures. "Man shall not live by bread alone," this is Moses' saying about manna (Deuteronomy 8:3); for though manna was not bread, yet it nourished the people. Likewise, the sayings of Moses: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God" and "Thou shalt not tempt" (Deuteronomy 6:13, 16).

And having finished all the temptation, the devil departed from Him for a time. And Jesus returned in strength of spirit to Galilee; and the fame of him spread throughout all the country round about. He taught in their synagogues, and was glorified by all.