Matthew 14:1-36
14:1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,
14:2 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.
14:3 For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him,
and put [him] in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.
14:4 For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
14:5 And when he would have put him to death,
he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.
14:6 But when Herod's birthday was kept,
the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.
14:7 Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.
14:8 And she, being before instructed of her mother, said,
Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.
14:9 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].
14:10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
14:11 And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel:
and she brought [it] to her mother.
14:12 And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
Herod- ie., Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great (see note at 2:19).
Herod's reign illustrates ''justice'' in the absence of the King of kings-
  1. Knowledge confused by superstition (v.1,2) cp. Mark 6:14-16; Luk 9:7-9
  2. Authority wasted in debauchery and foolishness (v.3-8) cp. Mark 6:17-25
  3. Decisions directed by public opinion and peer pressure (refs. at 'b.' above)
  4. Honor distorted to save face (v. 9-11) cp. Mark 6:26-29
    For his ''oath's sake'', Herod committed murder.
14:13 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.
14:14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude,
and was moved with compassion toward them {cp. 9:36}, and he healed their sick.
14:15 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 {food}.
14:16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
14:17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.
14:18 He said, Bring them hither to me.
14:19 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.
14:20 And they did all eat, and were filled:
and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.
14:21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
14:22 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.
14:23 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.
Contrast:
Jesus... [ Herod... ]
- was moved with compassion for others (v.14)[ - was moved by self indulgence ]
- brought healing (v.14)[ - brought death ]
- led according to His agenda (v.15,16) [ - allowed subordinates to affect his decisions ]
The King's agenda at this point is to prepare His disciples for His absence,
by stretching them beyond the limits of their faith, first through the Feeding of the 5,000 (v.15-21), then through His Walking on the Water (v.22-33)...
The Feeding of the 5,000 - cp. Mark 6:30-44; Luk 9:10-17; Joh 6:1-14 (also see Book Notes at John 6 )
Jesus was teaching the disciples-
  1. to follow His lead. He commanded them to feed the crowd (v.15,16).
  2. to understand their powerlessness and faithlessness (v.17; cp. Joh 15:5).
  3. to trust in Him (v.18-21).
    Their little was more than enough when committed to Him.
    To our shame, the modern Church has not learned these lessons.
    We have spiritual bread (eg., Joh 6:35,41,51; 2Pet 1:3), but in our faithlessness,
    often we send the multitudes away to government, or psychiatrists, or...
    But only One can truly satisfy their need.
Jesus... went... to pray... alone-
In His humanity, the Lord Jesus lived a life of dependency upon His Father.
He illustrated His teaching (of our dependency upon Him) by His own perfect example.
14:24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
14:25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
14:26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying,
It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
14:27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying,
Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
14:28 And Peter answered him and said,
Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
14:29 And he said, Come.
And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
14:30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid;
and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth [his] hand, and caught him,
and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
14:32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.
14:33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying,
Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
Jesus... walking on the sea- cp. Mark 6:45-52; Joh 6:15-21 (and Book Notes at Joh 6:15 )
Here again, Jesus teaches that-
  • He is able to do what I cannot.
  • He will enable me to do what He bids me to do, if I will trust Him.
Here also is a picture of the believer's situation today:
  1. Jesus is in the heavenly mount, in the place of prayer. (cp. v.23; Rom 8:34)
  2. His disciples toil in obedience to Him, in His absence,
    in the darkness and unrest of this sinful world, and against contrary winds of opposition.
    cp. v.22,24; Isa 54:11; Eph 4:14
  3. Jesus will come again to His own, just before the night ends
    (the fourth watch was between 3 a.m. and sunrise). cp. v.25; 2Pet 1:19; Rev 22:16
Jesus tested their faith, in order to strengthen it.
They experienced-
  1. the fear of the unknown - comforted by His Word. v.26,27; cp. Isa 43:1,2
  2. the fear of unbelief - arrested by His Hand. v.28-31; cp. Psa 46:1-5
    - - Note that although Peter's faith was small and failing, it was greater than that of the others.
    Only he was willing to step out of the boat when Jesus called. The others watched him as he walked on the water, and as he began to sink. He knew the power of Christ by experience.
    - - Not only was his faith small, his prayer was short. It is the shortest prayer in the Bible. But it was enough, because it was directed to the One who was more than sufficient for his need.
  3. the fear of God - evoked by His Person. v.32,33; cp. Mark 4:41
14:34 And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.
14:35 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;
14:36 And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment:
and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.
the land of Gennesaret- is the same area as 'the country of the Gergesenes' (8:28).
Contrast their previous response to Him. cp. 8:34 with 14:35,36; Mark 6:53-56)
diseased people- Their concern, at His previous visit, had been for hogs and the economy.
made perfectly whole {GK=diasozo, to escape, to save}-
As the demon possessed men had been entirely released from their bondage,
so, Jesus set these people free from Satan's grip.
cp. Luk 13:12,16; 2Tim 2:26; Psa 103:2-4; 124:7; Isa 42:6,7
(Contrast: Herod had power to destroy, but not to make whole. v.10)
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