“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus begins his public preaching with the exact message John preached (3:2): repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The continuity is deliberate — Jesus does not announce a new message but continues and embodies the one John prepared. The from that time marks a narrative turning point: from this moment, the public ministry is underway. The kingdom that John announced as approaching is now being proclaimed by the king himself. Luke 4:18–21 records Jesus' fuller inaugural address citing Isaiah 61; Matthew's summary is tighter: the kingdom requires repentance, and the kingdom is here.
Church Fathers on Matthew 4:17
Christ’s Gospel should be preached by him who can control his appetites, who condemns the goods of this life, and desires not empty honours. 'From this time began Jesus to preach,' that is, after having been tempted, He had overcome hunger in the desert, despised covetousness on the mountain, rejected ambitious desires in the temple.
For another cause also He did not preach till John was in prison, that the multitude might not be split into two parties; or as John did no miracle, all men would have been drawn to Christ by His miracles.
In this He further teaches that none should despise the words of a person inferior to Him; as also the Apostle, 'If any thing be revealed to him that sits, let the first hold his peace.' [1 Cor 14:30]
Read all 9 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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