Matthew 4:23-25

Bird's-eye view

In this brief but potent section, Matthew provides a summary of the initial phase of Jesus' public ministry. This is not a chronological list of events, but rather a thematic overview of what characterized His work from the outset. We see a three-stranded cord that is not easily broken: teaching, preaching, and healing. This is the pattern of Christ's kingdom advance. He is not merely a philosopher with good ideas, nor a political herald with a new agenda, nor a faith healer with a traveling show. He is the one in whom all the promises of God find their Yes and Amen, and so His ministry is comprehensive. He addresses the mind through teaching, the will through preaching, and the body through healing. This total ministry results in a total response: His fame spreads far and wide, and massive crowds begin to follow Him. This is the kingdom of God breaking into the world, not in a corner, but with authority and power that cannot be ignored.

What we are witnessing here is the launch of an invasion. The rightful king has landed, and He is establishing a beachhead in enemy occupied territory. The darkness is being pushed back on every front. Ignorance is dispelled by His teaching, rebellion is confronted by His preaching, and the brutal effects of the fall on the human body are reversed by His healing touch. This is not a quiet, private spirituality; it is a public, powerful, and disruptive campaign. The result is that people are drawn to Him from every direction, setting the stage for the Sermon on the Mount, where He will lay out the constitution of this kingdom He is inaugurating.

Outline

Context In Matthew

This passage serves as a crucial summary statement that bridges the calling of the first disciples (Matt. 4:18-22) and the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). Having called His first followers, Jesus immediately demonstrates what it means to follow Him. It means to be engaged in the work of the kingdom. This section shows the nature of His ministry, which provides the context for the content of His ministry that will be expounded in the following chapters. The crowds that gather here in verse 25 are the very audience for the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Matt. 5:1). So, before we hear the King's law, we see the King's power. His authority to teach, which will astonish the people (Matt. 7:28-29), is established beforehand by His authority over demons and disease. The words of the King are backed by the works of the King.

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 23 And Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

And Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, The ministry of Jesus is not static. He is not waiting for people to come to a designated holy place. He is on the move, taking the kingdom to the people where they are. This is an itinerant ministry, a missionary advance. Galilee was a populous and somewhat despised region, "Galilee of the Gentiles," but this is where the light dawns, just as Isaiah prophesied (Isa. 9:1-2; Matt. 4:15-16). The kingdom comes first to the margins, not the centers of power.

teaching in their synagogues Jesus does not immediately abandon the existing structures of Jewish life. He goes to the synagogues, the local centers for worship and instruction. This is where the people of God gathered to hear the Word of God. He operates from within their context, showing that He is the fulfillment of the Scriptures they read there every Sabbath. His teaching, however, was not like that of the scribes; He taught with an inherent authority (Matt. 7:29), because He is the Author.

and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, This is distinct from, though related to, His teaching. Teaching is the explanation and application of truth. Preaching (kerusso) is heralding, proclaiming, announcing. It demands a verdict. And what is the announcement? The gospel, the good news, of the kingdom. The long-awaited reign of God has arrived in the person of the King. The time is fulfilled (Mark 1:15). Repent and believe this good news. This is not just a message about how to get your soul to heaven later, but an announcement that heaven's rule is invading earth now.

and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. The King's proclamation is accompanied by the King's power. His words are not empty. The gospel of the kingdom is not just a new philosophy; it is a restorative power. The healings are not random acts of kindness; they are signs of the kingdom. They are a foretaste of the new creation, where there will be no more sickness or pain. Every healing was a direct assault on the domain of Satan, a reversal of the curse of sin. Jesus is demonstrating that He has authority not just over ideas, but over the physical consequences of the fall. He is making all things new.

v. 24 And the news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.

And the news about Him spread throughout all Syria; The impact cannot be contained. Good news travels fast, especially when it is accompanied by undeniable power. It doesn't just stay in Galilee; it crosses borders into Gentile territory like Syria. This hints at the universal scope of the kingdom from the very beginning. The fame of a Jewish teacher and healer is spreading among non-Jews. The light is already beginning to shine to the nations.

and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; The news creates a response. People don't just talk about it; they act on it. They begin bringing their broken and desperate to Jesus. Matthew gives us a catalog of human misery, a representative list of the ravages of the fall. Note the inclusion of "demoniacs." The spiritual nature of the conflict is explicit. Jesus is not just a doctor; He is an exorcist. He is binding the strong man and plundering his house. The physical and the spiritual afflictions are presented together, because the kingdom of God addresses both.

and He healed them. The summary is stark and absolute. There are no failures, no difficult cases sent away. He healed them. All of them. His power is total and His compassion is boundless. This is not the hit-or-miss sensationalism of modern faith healers. This is the sovereign power of the Son of God. He speaks, and it is done. He touches, and they are whole. This is a demonstration that His authority is absolute.

v. 25 And large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.

And large crowds followed Him The result of this comprehensive ministry is that Jesus becomes a phenomenon. He attracts massive crowds. To follow Jesus here does not necessarily mean they were all committed disciples, but they were drawn by His power and His message. He was the center of a great commotion. The kingdom is not a secret society; its arrival is a public event that demands a public response.

from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. Matthew emphasizes the geographical diversity of the crowds. They are coming from everywhere. Galilee in the north, Judea and the capital city Jerusalem in the south, the Gentile region of the Decapolis (a league of ten cities) to the east, and Perea (beyond the Jordan). This is a pan-regional movement. Jews and Gentiles are being drawn together by the power of this one man. This is a picture of the gathering of the nations that the prophets foretold. The King has appeared, and the world is beginning to take notice.

Application

The ministry of Jesus provides the blueprint for the ministry of the Church. Our task is to continue this three-fold work. We are to teach the whole counsel of God, grounding believers in the truth of Scripture. We are to preach the gospel of the kingdom, heralding the lordship of Jesus Christ and calling all men everywhere to repent and believe. And we are to heal, not necessarily through the same miraculous signs which authenticated Christ and His apostles, but by being agents of restoration in a broken world. The church should be a place where the sick, the suffering, and the demonized can find refuge and release. We do this through prayer, through tangible acts of mercy, through biblical counseling, and through building communities of grace where the curse is rolled back.

Furthermore, we should expect the true ministry of the gospel to have a disruptive and magnetic effect. When the lordship of Christ is proclaimed in word and demonstrated in power, it cannot be ignored. It will generate a response. Some will be drawn to it, and others will be repelled by it, but no one can be neutral. We must not be content with a quiet, respectable, contained Christianity. The gospel of the kingdom is an invasive force. It spreads. It creates a stir. If our ministry is having no effect, if no one is talking about it, if the broken are not being drawn to us, we must ask if we are truly ministering in the pattern of our Lord.