Matthew

In chapter 13 we saw the kingdom parables.  These parables presented a kingdom far different than what the Jews were expecting.  This kingdom of heaven would exist for a time in this fallen world.  It would exist among the leaven of the world, hidden among the religions, growing like a beautiful pearl until that Day when the Lord comes.  At the end of chapter 13 we saw a small picture of this played out in Jesus' life.  He was rejected in Nazareth, His own home town.  He was looked down on as a carpenter, a working man; it was as if he stole the wisdom and miracles He displayed.  They were offended by Him.

What was this offense?  Was it not that Jesus did look and act like they thought?  They had formed an idea in their mind of how the messiah should be and anything outside of that was rejected.  The messiah they were looking for; the Jesus they were expecting was another Jesus, a Jesus of their own making and own understanding.  They had created an idol.

As if this rejection wasn't enough, especially on the heals of the kingdom parables, Matthew brings us to chapter 14 where we see the pride and godless attitude of Herod.  We capture a glimpse of just how far the leadership of the land had fallen away. 

14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus ² and said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him."

This is Herod Antipas the Tetrarch.  He was the Son of Herod the Great who was king when Jesus was born.  Tetrarch means 'a fourth'.  Herod was a lesser king ruling a fourth of the land. 

³ For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. ⁴ Because John had said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her." ⁵ And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. ⁷ Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.

⁸ So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, "Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter."

⁹ And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. ¹⁰ So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. ¹¹ And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹² Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

Herod's first wife was Aeretas and he was married to her for some time.  While away visiting his brother Philip, who was his half brother, not having the same father, Herod had an affair with Philip's wife Herodias.  Herod brought Herodias home with him and ended up marrying her even though she was his sister in law.  This woman ended up being the downfall of Herod.  Herod wanted to be king and Herodias certainly wanted to be queen.   

Josephus said that John the Baptist was a good man and that he was respected by the people and that John folks to out for sinful actions.  He believed that Herod murdered John because he felt threatened by his influence of the people.  He was afraid John might use his power to raise a rebellion against Herod.  John confronted Herod over his sin of adultery so Herod put him in prison in Macherus. 

Herodias was bad for Herod and held sway over him.  It was by his foolish oath to grant her anything that she surprised him by asking for John's head.  Herod delivered John's head to his new wife. 

At the beginning of this affair, Herod tried to keep it away from Aeretas.  However she caught on and went back to her father and informed him.  He put together an army and went up to attack and kill Herod's army.  The tetrarch Philip joined with Aeretas agaisnt Herod.  According to Josephus, many Jews thought this was God's judgment on Herod for killing John the Baptist. 

We can see paranoia in verse one from Herod.  This is a man living in fear and guilt.  As the popularity and reputation of Jesus grew John began to think this was John who had come back from the dead.  Origen wrote in the 3rd century that John and Jesus, being related, looked very much alike.  This might account for some of Herod's fear.  He thought John had come back to get him and overthrow his kingdom. 

A few years later, according to Josephus, Philip died right after Caligula took the throne of Rome.  Agrippa was named king and not tetrarch.  This angered Herod and Herodias terribly.  Their envy drove them to plot to go to Rome and ask Caligula for the title of king.  They would spare no expense.  It was his in intention to buy or bribe to acquire the title of king.  Agrippa heard of this and sent message to Calugula that they were planning to rebel against Rome.  Caligula believed Agrippa and ended up exiling Herod Antipas to Gaul.   It wasn't too much later that Herod and Herodias committed suicide.

¹³ When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

Jesus got away from Herod and Herodias; not out of fear but because it wasn't time.  Even going to a deserted place, the crowds found Jesus.  They came from the cities of Galilee.  One report said there were 204 towns in Galilee and none of them were smaller than 15,000 people.  This is a fairly dense population with cities that were near each other; word traveled fast of such an amazing Man and the works of His hand.

Look at what Luke says as he is warned of Herod after speaking of the kingdom of Heaven:

³¹ On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You."

³² And He said to them, "Go, tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.' ³³ Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.

The word used for 'fox' is actually a word for a female.  There is at least some thought that Jesus was speaking to Herodias, the power behind the power of Herod.  After all it was by her plotting that John the Baptist was beheaded.

 ¹⁴ And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.

We see the love of the Lord for the people.  This 'moved with compassion' is one word that means to be affected at your inner most being, moved with compassion and sympathy.  This word is used twice by Matthew and twice by Mark.  Three of these usages was when Jesus saw the multitude. 

¹⁵ When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food."

This was a deserted place that the multitude found Jesus.  The disciples point this out and that it was getting late.  If Jesus didn't send them away, they were going to hang around and a lot of folks were going to get hungry.  They may have perceived this as a problem with the crowd getting unruly. 

¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."

What a strange moment this must have been.  The disciples may have wondered if Jesus was even paying attention.  What was He thinking, they may have wondered.  Yet, what could be so important that we should think that leaving the presence of Jesus is the right thing to do?  Jesus was obviously aware of the needs of the people.  He was healing the people.  Isn't it odd that they saw Jesus healing the sick, yet they thought they had to send them away to be fed.  Were they thinking, "Yes, Jesus can heal, but feed a multitude?  How is that possible?"  How often do we worship Jesus and then lose faith (probably much more than we care to admit. 

¹⁷ And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish."

We know from John 6:9 that this was provided by a small boy.  These wouldn't have been loaves like we think of a loaf of bread.  This would be a small, flat bun.  It was likely just enough food for this small boy. 

¹⁸ He said, "Bring them here to Me." ¹⁹ Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. ²⁰ So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. ²¹ Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

The command to the multitude to sit was an invitation to recline as if they were to have a banquet right there in this deserted place.  Spurgeon said:

"What a feast this was! Christ for the Master of the feast; apostles for butlers; thousands for numbers; and miracles for supplies!" (Spurgeon)

Jesus took the loaves and fish; such a meager provision, such a humble amount and looked to heaven blessed it.  The common blessing of that day was, "Blessed art Thou, Jehovah our God, King of the universe, who bringest forth bread from the earth."  Jesus gave this to the disciples to distribute.  After the first provision was handed to a disciple, the next stepped forward and had to think, 'Well now its gone, what will we do?"  Yet, Jesus handed some to him to distribute; and it just kept coming.  Everyone ate, and not just a few bites, but they were filled up.  And none of this was wasted, they took up twelve baskets full of fragments (We might think of this as leftovers for later).  This multitude was numbered at five thousand men.  This would translate to possibly fifteen thousand or more people. 

For those of us in East Tennessee, we might picture this as Jesus standing center court at Thompson Boling arena when it was filled to capacity (21,000) and then feeding them with one sack lunch from a small child.

I wish we knew more of the response of the crowd.  Were they all truly convinced?  Or, did they receive the blessing of the Lord and desire these blessings to be an accessory to their normal lives?  Their desire to force Him to be king was selfish desire.  They were looking for someone to serve them and their desires.  This might be somewhat understandable when we see what a self serving scoundrel that Herod was.  But we must come to the Lord to serve Him; we call Him Lord and Master.  We don't come to be master over Him so that He will serve our purposes.

²² Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. ²³ And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. ²⁴ But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.

We see the Lord enjoyed a brief time of solitude.  He used this solitude to go to the mountain and spend time with his Heavenly Father.  Jesus was alone while the disciples were at sea being tossed by the waves because the wind was opposing their progress. 

²⁵ Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear.

The fourth watch was somewhere between 3am to 6am.  We can imagine Matthew recounting this event.  He was there; while the others, many fishermen, might not have been as easily brought to fear, this store at sea in the middle of the night would strike fear in any normal man.  The rowing against the waves and storm had gone on for some time and they must have been worn out physically. 

Imagine you were there with the disciples, rowing like crazy in the waves and wind and dark, looking over and seeing Jesus.   What would you think?  This sight made no sense to the human mind.  It wasn't possible, didn't register; this sight couldn't be dealt with rationally.  In an effort to figure this out and ease their troubled minds, someone suggested what they saw was a ghost, an apparition.  They were saying what they saw wasn't really there; it was just something spiritual that became briefly visible.  But their own effort to explain this made their fear even worse.  Now they not only feared the storm and waves, they feared the one who could deliver them.  Their fear of the storm was fear of the seen and felt.  The second fear was a perceived fear, a reaction to something they didn't understand.  The word used us phobou; in which we can see phobia.  This fear was fabricated in their minds.

It's fascinating that Mark links this amazement to the feeding of the multitude.  It's as if he is saying they should have marveled and been amazed at the feeding but their hard hearts got in the way.

²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid."

This call to be of good cheer is to be fortified, to stand up straight and be courageous.  There were told to not be afraid; don't let your perceptions bring fear on you.  Don't let what you see and perceive become a phobia.

²⁸ And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."

We shouldn't think Peter had doubts about it being Jesus; the 'if it is You' might be better understood 'since it is You'.  There's no real logic behind Peter blurting this out.  In fact, quite the opposite; why didn't Peter invite Him into the boat?  Instead, Peter invites himself to stand with the Lord on the water.  You gotta love Peter's faith.

²⁹ So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"

³¹ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" ³² And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

Peter did fine with his eyes on the Lord.  But then, what happened?  Peter 'saw' the wind and felt threatened.  He walked on the water by faith.  He fell in the water by sight.  We are commanded to walk by faith not by sight.  Jesus spoke to Peter as the one of little faith.  We shouldn't think less of Peter for being of little faith.  Peter's little faith got him out of the boat and walking on the water.  How many of us have walked on the water?  It could be 'little faith' is a step in the right direction for most of us.

It's interesting that in John's account of Jesus walking on water that he doesn't give us the account of Peter getting out of the boat.  We might speculate this is due to the competitive nature these two had. 

³³ Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."

This event brought a change of understanding among the disciples.  While Mark said they were hard hearted

³⁴ When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret.

³⁵ And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, ³⁶ and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.

It was a new day after a dark and stormy night.  Did the disciples remember the lessons learned in the storm?  Did they hold fast to the change of heart that happened when the Lord rescued them?  We often get short memories when the sun is shining?  If we only speak to the Lord and praise Him and recognize Him in the storm, something is out of balance in our life.  Our balance is to endure the storms, learn the lessons well, and return to the mountaintop praising the Lord for who He is, what He's done. 

The people of the surrounding region certainly knew and believed that Jesus could heal them.  They too may have been people of little faith.  As we've seen, it only takes a little.  These folks begged that they might touch the hem of His garment and be made well; and as many that touched it were in fact healed. 

Barclay noted the beauty in this passage and then went on to say:

But there is also pathos here. No one can read this passage without seeing in it the grim fact that there were hundreds and thousands of people who desired Jesus only for what they could get out of him. Once they had received the healing which they sought, they were not really prepared to go any further. It has always been the case that people have wanted the privilege of Christianity without its responsibilities. It has always been the case that so many of us remember God only when we need him. Ingratitude towards God and towards Jesus Christ is the ugliest of all sins; and there is no sin of which we are more often and more consistently guilty.^[2]

In the pictures of the kingdom parables we saw that the real kingdom exists within what makes the appearance as the kingdom.  Our churches are full of folks that believe in God; people who don't hesitate to call to Jesus in a storm.  They will eat the bread and fish of His provision and cry out for healing.  However, they never yield their life to Him.  They never call Him Lord of their life and declare themselves to be His servant.  Its out natural way to Lord our own life and find people like Jesus to make it better and easier for us.  But this is a far cry from Christianity; it's a far cry from having our sins forgiven and having our eternal destination changed.  Are you just one of the multitude seeking the blessings of Jesus?  Or, are you a follower of Jesus Christ? 

©2015 Doug Ford