Death of John the Baptizer
As we open Matthew 14, we have the senseless death of John the
Baptizer. John dies because Herod’s
wife, Herodias, has a grudge against him.
You see, Herod divorced his own wife so that he could marry
Herodias. At the time, Herodias was
Herod’s brother’s wife. Personally, I
think John the Baptizer had a point.
There were some seriously messed up family dynamics going on within
Herod’s family.
However, there are a few things that we can learn from this
story. First, there are consequences to
living out your faith. There will be
rejection. There will be push-back. There will be antagonism. There will even be rivalries. If we live out our faith boldly enough, we
will even create nemeses. Living out our
faith means choosing things against what the world wants us to choose. If we do enough of it in the right
directions, we will upset people who want to live by the agenda of the world. Sometimes we’ll upset them quite a bit.
Second, we can learn that the world wants to follow its own
desires. It simply does. If someone wants something badly enough, it
will do whatever is within its power to accomplish it. The world left unchecked will pursue its own
agenda. The world left unchecked is not
good on its own. The world left
unchecked is self-mongerish, thinking about only what they need, want, and
desire whether it is good for them or not.
Third, we can learn that staying alive is not the ultimate
goal. Human nature is largely a survival
by instinct. Human nature tells us that
we must do whatever it takes to stay alive.
But the reality is that John the Baptizer died in the prime of his
ministry. Jesus didn’t supernaturally
put a stop to it. God didn’t
supernaturally prevent the horrible deed from happening. Sometimes we make a greater statement of
faith in our death than we could ever make in life. Although it might be hard to hear, because we
have the promise of eternal life, our testimony of faith can take a higher
priority than our survival.
If you are having trouble swallowing this fact, look to
Jesus. Look to His own disciples. Look to Paul.
I think their example shows us that when we are in Christ, survival is
no longer the top priority in our life.
Survival is good. Our testimony
is more important than survival.
Jesus Withdrew
When Jesus hears the news of John the Baptizer, He withdraws. He needs time with the Father. He might not have done anything to prevent
it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t make Him sad. I imagine there is a long list of times that
what we as human beings do to one another has made Jesus – God – have to
withdrawn in mourning.
The Crowds Don’t Leave Him Alone
However, notice that when Jesus withdraws the crowds don’t let
Him. Jesus gets personal time on the
boat, but that’s it. As soon as His feet
touch dry soil again the crowds are there.
Waiting. Expecting.
Feeding of the 5,000
Then perhaps one of the most popular of Jesus’ miracles
happens. Jesus takes the crowd. He takes those disciples that not too long
ago had gotten a taste of apostleship and draws them into disciple mode once
more. He has compassion on them. He heals their sick.
They get hungry. The
disciples come to Jesus complaining of their hunger and their need to eat. The disciples want to dismiss the crowds. I have to confess. Had I been in Jesus’ shoes, I’d have wanted
to send them away after a long day of healing people and teaching them.
But this is not what Jesus does.
Jesus doesn’t settle for the “let them buy their own food” option. Jesus challenges the disciples to provide
food for the crowds. At first the
disciples stumble and completely miss what Jesus is talking about. But even though they might completely miss
what Jesus is saying, they still are open to Jesus working through them. They collect some fish and bread. In spite of their lack of understanding,
Jesus still worked a miracle through them.
God doesn’t need us to understand everything. He just needs us to be willing to let Him be
in control.
Everyone is fed. Everyone
has had access to physical and spiritual feeding. Jesus dismisses the crowds and sends people
home. More than five thousand people
were fed off of a little bread and a little fish. Such is the power of God.
Into the Storm
Immediately, Jesus tells the disciples to get into a boat while He
goes up a mountain to pray. Remember the
story earlier when Jesus told His disciples to get into a boat? They met a bad storm. That time, Jesus was with them – albeit asleep
in the boat. Here it happens again. Jesus tells the disciples to get into a boat
and He ends up leading them directly into another storm. This time, Jesus isn’t with them. Jesus is up on the mountain praying.
But here’s the neat thing.
The Bible tells us that it was about the 4th watch that Jesus
came to them. This would put it between
3:00 am and 6:00 am. So make sure you
understand this. Jesus sends the
disciples out the prior evening. The
storm comes. They struggle with the
storm all night long. Finally, just
before dawn, Jesus comes walking on water to them. Again we see that Jesus is not afraid of
leading His disciples into a storm.
Jesus can get them out; so it’s okay that they are sent in. In fact, one might say that it is expected.
Walking on Water
Then a really cool thing happens.
The disciples see Jesus walking on water. They were afraid, thinking not only were they
wrestling with nature for their very lives but now the supernatural was going
to come and torment them. But Jesus
calls out. He tries to calm their fears.
Then Peter does something extremely foolish. I know that Peter often gets praise for this
and we often lift up Peter here as a great example. We often turn to this story as encouragement
for us to “Get out of the boat.” But I have
come to disagree rather profoundly. I
think Peter is making a huge mistake here.
I think this is a story about Peter’s humanity, not his
spirituality. I think this for three
main reasons.
- First, go back and read Jesus’ command in verse 22. Jesus made the disciples get into the boat. They are safe within Jesus’ directive, and His directive was to get into the boat.
- Second, read Peter’s response very carefully. He says, “If it is you.” Peter isn’t making a statement of faith, here. This is a question, not a statement! Peter is looking for proof. He can’t just believe Jesus, who calls from afar. Peter needs proof that the one who is calling is actually Jesus. I see this as a sign of weakness. Mind you, if I were in that spot I would probably be suffering from the same weakness. So I’m not judging Peter here. I’m simply saying that this is an act of spiritual weakness, not spiritual faith. Peter clearly questions, “If it is you.”
- Third, read the rest of Peter’s response. He says, “Command me to come to you on the water.” That word “command” is in the imperative. Peter is commanding Jesus to command him to come. Is it in our moments of spiritual strength that we think we can give orders to the Son of God? No, I don’t think so. This point more than anything leads me to see that Peter is in a point of spiritual weakness here. This is not an act of reproducible faith. This is an act of human foolishness.
However, Jesus complies.
But notice something rather important.
Peter gets out on the water. He
does fine, but then he starts to sink.
He is only saved because of the presence of Christ. To me, this is even more evidence that this
is an act of Peter’s foolishness. When
we are acting out of God’s calling, He goes before us, He prepares the way, and
we are successful. When we do things on
our own, things may start out okay but we end up needing to be rescued by
God. When we take time to humble ourselves
before God and listen so that we can obey His calling, we learn the lesson the
easy way. When we assert ourselves and
strike out on what we think God wants us to do, we still learn the lesson but
we learn it the hard way through our failure and our weakness.
Healing the Sick
After the incident on the water, they land in Gennesaret. People recognize Him. This is the very next day after the feeding
of the 5,000. They bring out their
sick. Once more, Jesus finds Himself
surrounded by a crowd. There is no rest
for the weary. But there is
compassion. Jesus does what is necessary
to put the Kingdom of God on display.
He is such an inspiring example.
I know I shall never attain His greatness, but that doesn’t mean I
cannot be inspired by His passion, His spiritual sight, and His focus. For Jesus, it really is all about the Kingdom
of God. Oh that I could be the same.
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