A Prayer of Jesus I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will.
THE LOGOS OF GOD
PARALLEL SAYINGS FROM THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS
Section 1
From the Beginning to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 3:13-4:22)
1. The Baptism and Temptation
Matthew
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Chapter 3:13-4:11
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13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.
14 John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness." Then he consented.
16 And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him;
17 and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
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Chapter 4
The Temptation
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1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry.
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3 And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."
4 But he answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple,
6 and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"
7 Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;
9 and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."
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10 Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.
Mark
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Chapter 1:9-13
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9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

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10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove;
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11 and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased."
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Chapter 1
The Temptation
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12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; 
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and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him.
Luke
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Chapter 3:21-4:13
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21 Now when all the people were baptized, 
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and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,
22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased."
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Chapter 4
The Temptation
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1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit
2 for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."
4 And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'"
9 And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here;
10 for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you,'
11 and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"
12 And Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"
5 And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
6 and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
7 If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours."
8 And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'"
13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
2. The First Preaching in Galilee
Matthew 4:12-17
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12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee;
13 and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Caper'na-um by the sea, in the territory of Zeb'ulun and Naph'tali,
14 that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 "The land of Zeb'ulun and the land of Naph'tali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--
16 the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Mark 1:14-15
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14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, 
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preaching the gospel of God,
15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel."
Luke 4:14-15
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14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and a report concerning him went out through all the surrounding country.
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15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
3. The Rejection at Nazareth
Matthew 13:54-58
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54 and coming to his own country he taught them in their synagogue, 
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so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?
55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?"
57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house."
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58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.
Mark 6:1-6a
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1 He went away from there and came to his own country; and his disciples followed him.
2 And on the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue; 
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and many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands!
3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
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4 And Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house."
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5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them.
6 And he marveled because of their unbelief.
Luke 4:16-30
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16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read;
17 and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
20 And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
21 And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
22 And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"
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23 And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Caper'na-um, do here also in your own country.'"
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24 And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country.
25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Eli'jah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land;
26 and Eli'jah was sent to none of them but only to Zar'ephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Eli'sha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Na'aman the Syrian."
28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.
29 And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.
30 But passing through the midst of them he went away.
4. The Call of the First Disciples
Matthew 4:18-22
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18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
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19 And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
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20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zeb'edee and John his brother, in the boat with Zeb'edee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.
22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Mark 1:16-20
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16 And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen.
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17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men."
18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zeb'edee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them; and they left their father Zeb'edee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him.
Luke 5:1-11
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1 While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennes'aret.
2 And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."
5 And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets."
6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking,
7 they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken;
10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zeb'edee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men."
11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
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