Jesus is still in the wilderness, where the devil had tempted him, when he learns that John the Baptist has been arrested. So he leaves the wilderness and returns to Galilee, where he had grown up in Nazareth. The Greek verb here translated as “arrested” can also be a gentle one, meaning “give, deliver, entrust.”[1] But in a judicial context it means “handed over to the authorities.”[2] It’s the word behind our English translations of what Judas Iscariot did—he betrayed Jesus.[3] It’s the word used when the chief priests and the elders decide to send him to Pilate.[4] If I’ve counted correctly, it’s used 31 times in Matthew and always carries a sense that something is wrong, dangerous. As I often am, I gained this insight from Dr. Mark Davis’ scripture blog, “Left Behind and Loving It.” [5]
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