Knowing The Word in Matthew 19:1-2

[Now begins Jesus’ route to Jerusalem. We know from John’s Gospel that Jesus went to Jerusalem several times over the period of his public ministry. Yet Matthew uses this one trip as a dramatic turn in his gospel for Jesus’ final conflict.]

1 Now when Jesus had finished these sayings [teaching], he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. [The area east of the Jordan is not part of Judea but of Transjordan. Perhaps Matthew is indicating Jesus’ southerly route to Jericho.] 2 And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. [Mark mentions Jesus teaching the crowds; Matthew has him heal them, but the two--teaching and healing--are inseparable.]