4:8
(Verse 8) Again, the devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and said to him, 'All these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me.' The glory of the world, which is passing away with the world, is shown on the mountain and on the pinnacle. But the Lord descends to humble and lowly places in order to overcome the devil through humility. Furthermore, the devil hastens to lead him to the mountains, so that through the same mountains by which he himself fell, others may fall as well, according to the saying of the Apostle: 'Lest he be lifted up with pride and fall into the judgment of the devil' (1 Timothy 3:6).
4:9
(Verse 9) I will give you all these things if you fall down and worship me. Even in this boasting, the arrogant and proud one speaks: not because he has power over the whole world or can give all the kingdoms, since we know that many holy men have been made kings by God. If you fall down, he says, and worship me. Therefore, whoever is going to worship the devil, falls before him.
4:10
(Verse 10.) Then Jesus said to him: Go, Satan: for it is written. Not as many think, Satan and the apostle Peter are condemned with the same sentence. For to Peter it is said: Get behind me, Satan (Matt. XVI, 23), that is, follow me, who are contrary to my will: but here he hears, go, Satan: and it is not said to him, behind me, so that it may be understood, go into the eternal fire, which is prepared for you, and your angels.
You shall worship the Lord your God and serve only Him. The devil said to the Savior: if you fall down and worship me, on the contrary, He hears that He should rather worship the Lord, His God.
4:11
(Verse 11.) Then the devil left him: and behold, angels came and ministered to him. Temptation precedes victory. Angels minister, to demonstrate the dignity of the victor.
4:15-16
(Verse 15, 16.) The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, Those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. These were the first to hear the Lord preaching, that where the first captivity had occurred by the Assyrians, there the proclamation of the Redeemer would be born.
4:17-18
(Verse 17, 18.) Then Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.' And as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And he said to them. When John was handed over, he begins to preach rightly: as the Law ends, the Gospel arises accordingly. But if the Savior preaches the same things that John the Baptist had foretold before, he shows himself to be the Son of the same God, whose prophet John was.
4:19-20
(Ver. 19, 20.) Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. These first ones were called to follow the Lord: fishermen and unlettered men are sent to preach, lest the faith of believers be thought to come about not by the power of God, but by eloquence and teaching.
4:24
(Verse 24) And he healed the lunatics and the paralytics. And many crowds followed him from Galilee and Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. Not truly lunatics, but those who were thought to be lunatics due to the deceit of demons, who, by observing the phases of the moon, desired to defame creation so as to overflow with blasphemies against the Creator.
5:1-2
(Chapter 5, Verses 1, 2.) But Jesus, seeing the crowds, went up the mountain, and when he had sat down, his disciples came to him. And opening his mouth, he taught them, saying, 'The Lord goes up to the mountains, so that he may draw the multitudes to higher things with him. But the crowds are not able to ascend. And the disciples follow, to whom he speaks not standing, but sitting and huddled. For they were not able to understand him shining in his majesty.' According to the letter, some of the simpler brothers think that he taught the Beatitudes and the rest that follow on the Mount of Olives, which is not at all the case: for from what precedes and follows, the place is shown to be in Galilee, which we thought was either Mount Tabor or any other lofty mountain. Finally, after he finished his speeches, it immediately follows: But when he entered Capernaum.
5:3
(Verse 3.) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is what we read elsewhere: And the humble in spirit will be saved (Psalm 34:16): But lest anyone should think that poverty, which is sometimes borne out of necessity, is being preached by the Lord, he added 'in spirit,' so that you would understand it as humility, not as lack. Blessed are the poor in spirit, who are poor by choice for the sake of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, concerning such poor, the Savior also speaks through Isaiah: The Lord has annointed me; therefore, he has sent me to preach to the poor (Isaiah 61:1).
5:4
(Ver. 4.) Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Not the land of Judah ((Al. Judea)), nor the land of this world; not the cursed land, bringing forth thorns and thistles (Gen. V), which the most cruel and warlike possess; but the land that the Psalmist desires, saying: I believe to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps. XXVI, 13). Such a possessor, and after victory a triumphator, is also described in the forty-fourth psalm: Attend, proceed and reign prosperously (Al. and prosperously): for truth, meekness, and justice. No one possesses this land by meekness, but by pride.
5:5
(Verse 5.) Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. This mourning is not a common law of nature for the dead, but for the sins and vices of the dead. Thus Samuel wept for Saul, because he regretted that God had anointed him king over Israel (1 Samuel 15). And so the Apostle Paul says that he weeps and mourns for those who have not repented after committing fornication and impurity (2 Corinthians 12).