Matthew Chapter 14

¹ At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,

• Herod Antipas was responsible for both the death of John the Baptist and Jesus. He beheaded John the Baptist for Herodias who didn’t like what John the Baptist said about the relationship she was having with Herod Antipas aka Herod the tetrarch. She was married to Herod’s half brother, Herod II , but she was also Herod the Tetrarchs niece, so their relationship was also incestuous. Antipas was afraid of John’s influence and feared an uprising…which lead to him being paranoid when he heard of Jesus because he thought John could be back from the dead.
• When the Chief Priest had Jesus arrested he was brought before Herod. Herod was glad because he wanted to see Jesus do some miracles, but Jesus remained silent. Herod sent Jesus before Pilate and as a result the strained relationship between Pilate and Herod improved.

² And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.

³ For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife.

⁴ For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

• John the Baptist was put in prison for confronting the sin of adultery and incest Herod was engaging in with his niece and sister-in-law, Herodias. John the Baptist was the last Old Testament prophet to be put to death Matthew 11:10-13¹⁰ For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.¹¹ Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.¹² And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.¹³ For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. John’s death was under the old covenant because Jesus had not yet been crucified and resurrected.

⁵ And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.

⁷ Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.

⁸ And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist’s head in a charger.

• It seems she knew what Herod would do when Herodias daughter danced for him because she instructed her beforehand what to ask for. Her “gift” of dancing to entertain Herod and the party goers wasn’t for him after all, it was for Herodias to get what she wanted, the death of John the Baptist. This is the same behavior we saw in Potipher’s wife, Delilah, and Jezebel.

⁹ And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath’s sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.

• It seems Herod Antipas the tetrarch had enough sense to know that killing someone who people considered a prophet of God would not be wise. He knew it could set off an uprising in the people. Herodias likely asked Herod for John to be put to death before and Herod told her he wouldn’t for those reasons. Her plan places him in a bind… if he killed John the Baptist, there could be an uprising of the people, if he didn’t then the people who heard him promise to give the daughter of Herodias whatever she wanted would think he wasn’t a man of his word and he would lose popularity….so he caved and beheaded John.

¹⁰ And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.

¹¹ And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.

• What kind of mother would ask her child to carry a disembodied head to her? It seems inconceivable that a mother would subject her daughter to this, but the kind of evil it takes to go through this much to murder someone for calling out your sins produces this kind of cold wickedness. This is happening in society today… we have people who laugh and celebrate the death of Charlie Kirk for the same reason. There are videos of people mocking how he was shot. It wasn’t because he had an opinion they didn’t like, it was because he spoke the truth from the word of God, and they were convicted of their sins. In their evil heart, making them feel badly for their sins was a crime worthy of death….just like Herodias felt when John the Baptist words convicted her of her sins.

¹² And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

¹³ When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.

• When Jesus heard that Herod thought he was John the Baptist risen from the dead he became aware of the danger of sticking around that area presented, so he left this crowded place and headed for a place that was secluded. He went to Bethsaida. Luke 9:9-10 ⁹ And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.¹⁰ And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.
  According to some teachers Jesus was seeking a place of solitude, but when he arrived in Bethsaida people who were seeking him were waiting for him. I believe Jesus knew they would be there waiting, he was doing what the Holy Spirit lead him to do to fulfil the plans of God.

¹⁴ And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.

• Jesus was moved with compassion for the multitude of people. Let this same love be in my heart that even after a journey I would look to the needs of others and walk in compassion towards them.

¹⁵ And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.

• The disciples came to Jesus to wrap things up now and send people off to get some food for themselves. I wonder of the disciples were just tired of dealing with people and ready to relax.

¹⁶ But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.

• Jesus had healed them and taught them all day and still he wanted to feed them instead of sending them away.

¹⁷ And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.

• Bring what you have to Jesus and he will make it enough.

¹⁸ He said, Bring them hither to me.

¹⁹ And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

²⁰ And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

²¹ And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

²² And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

²³ And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

• I’ve been going through a kind of questioning about prayer lately. My thoughts have been,” If God is sovereign and knows already how everything is going to go, what am I praying for?” and another thought was that I don’t want prayer to be a thing I have to do in order to feel like I’m right with God which would make it works and nullify my prayers. Suddenly, there is a prayer question mark that wasn’t there. This morning I found a video that cleared it all up…the prayer isn’t just to get God’s attention on a troubling situation, his eyes are already there… it’s to make us a part of the process. In prayer, we also align our hearts with God’s plan and most importantly, we spend time with God. I feel better with I talk things over with God, my father…not because of works, but because I know he is working on my behalf. I look at this verse here where Jesus is going to the mountain to pray and I know he longs to spend time with his father…to speak to him and fellowship.There is rest in prayers to God.

²⁴ But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.

²⁵ And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

²⁶ And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

²⁷ But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

²⁸ And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

²⁹ And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

• I wonder if Peter told people, “I walked on water once…let me tell you about it..” then went into a Gospel message about keeping your eyes on the Lord even when the waves are looking all crazy? He certainly had a dynamic testimony.

³⁰ But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

³¹ And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

³² And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

³³ Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

• The disciples seem to know that Jesus is the Son of God… but then it seems they get used to being with him and need a reminder of how truly great Jesus is. This happens to me too…. something with remind me of the greatness of God and Jesus…it shakes me awake spiritually and I’m awestruck all over again. Lord God, please always remind me of your greatness —In Jesus’s name AMEN.

³⁴ And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.

³⁵ And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased;

• It’s easy to become dull of hearing and miss the fact that everyone who heard of Jesus was filled with hope….something they didn’t have much of regarding their incurable infirmities. People who were rotting away with leporsy, blind and deaf…many from birth, people born with defects or birthing injuries, people who were hurt and left crippled in accidents….these people didn’t have doctors… or quality medications to ease their suffering. When they heard of Jesus and the healings…the people were hopeful that Jesus would heal them. He did heal them and all of their lives got better. This must have been something… I remember when I was going to my appointments at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas… the waiting rooms were overflowing with people who were there for help…people who were sick and hurting. I imagine it was this kind of crowd around Jesus and he was going from one to the other healing them when they touched his garment.

³⁶ And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.