‘At that time (season) Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus.' John had stirred the people in Peraea, another part of Herod's territory east of Jordan. But his ministry had been restricted to preaching. He had performed no miracles. Now, however, came news to Herod of great crowds ga... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He is risen from the dead, and therefore do these powers work in him.” Surely the only explanation for this new figure with these amazing powers was that it was John, come back from the dead. That alone explained the source of His unusual pow... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FORERUNNER IS REJECTED BY THE CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND PUT TO DEATH (14:3-12). A warning of what lies ahead for Jesus in the future is now introduced. For John, His forerunner has been put to death by Herod the Tetrarch in a most shameful way, and suspicion is now falling on Jesus because, as a re... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.' We are now told why Herod was upset at the idea of John coming back from the grave. It was because of the way that he himself had treated him. Herod had gone on a visit to se... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” ' Thus John had boldly approached Herod and told him that what he was doing was against the Law of God. Herod's immediate response had been to imprison him. ‘John said to him continually' (imperfect tense) that what he was doing was ‘un... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when he would have put him to death, he feared the populace, because they counted him as a prophet.' But although he would have liked to have John put to death, he dared not do so, for he was afraid of the disturbance that it would cause among the people. He knew that they believed that John w... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced among the people gathered (‘in the midst'), and pleased Herod.' And then there had been an unfortunate occurrence for a man whose life was ruled by pleasure, drink and lust, and who ignored the Law of God. It had been his birthday. And... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask.' So he swore on oath that he would give her anything that she asked. To be fair to him he little dreamed what the consequences would be. Even he did not realise the insane jealousy and fury of his wife, and her cruel determina... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And she, being put forward by her mother, says, “Give me here on a large dish the head of John the Baptist.” ' So Herodias stepped in and impressed on her daughter that she should ask for the head of John the Baptist. It tells us all that we need to know about Salome, whose anger and bitterness mus... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths, and of those who sat at meat with him, he commanded it to be given.' The king was ‘grieved'. He might hate John but he respected him and was even afraid of him. This was the last request that he had expected. But because of the strength of h... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he sent and beheaded John in the prison.' Thus he sent and arranged for John, lying in prison at Machaerus, to be beheaded. This was strictly illegal without a trial, but he would do it on the basis that he was an insurrectionist. Perhaps Pilate was present and gave him the nod. His soldiers e... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And his head was brought on a large dish, and given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother.' Then John's head was placed on a large serving dish, and ceremoniously handed over to the waiting teenage slut, who took it in to her mother. So hardened were they both that this grisly behaviour... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And his disciples came, and took up the corpse, and buried him, and they went and told Jesus.' Then the faithful disciples of John came, no doubt devastated by the news, and took up John's corpse, and gave it a decent burial. We are probably to see in this an indication that God had not forgotten... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now when Jesus heard, he withdrew from there in a boat, to a wilderness place apart, and when the crowds heard of it, they followed him on foot from the cities.' ‘When Jesus heard.' What did Jesus hear? Was it the news of the death of John as in Matthew 14:12. Or was it the news of what Herod was s... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS PROVIDES A MESSIANIC FELLOWSHIP MEAL IN THE WILDERNESS FOR HIS SYMBOLIC NEW COMMUNITY (14:13-21). Jesus, having been rejected by His home country and by the powers that be, has compassion on those who do follow Him into ‘a wilderness place' and feeds them with bread from Heaven. There may here... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he came forth, and saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick.' And when Jesus left the boat, He saw the great crowd and had compassion on them. Compare here Matthew 9:36. ‘Because they were as sheep without a shepherd' has therefore to be read in, as it is expressl... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when even was come, the disciples came to him, saying, “The place is a wilderness, and the time is already past. Send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food.' The crowds spent the day listening to Jesus, and as evening approached, the disciples became conc... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But Jesus said to them, “They have no need to go away. You give them to eat.” Then Jesus quietly turned to the disciples and said, ‘There is no need for them to go away. You give them to eat.' (The ‘you' is emphatic). It is difficult to avoid the impression that Jesus has 2 Kings 4:42 in mind, wher... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And they say to him, “We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.” ' Their reply was simple. ‘All we have available are five loaves and two fishes'. We learn from elsewhere (John 6:8) that these were contributed by a young boy who had probably preserved them by having the foresight to keep his o... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then the command was given which made all the difference. Jesus commanded that they be brought to Him. In His hands they would prove totally sufficient. No one present could have even imagined what was about to happen. It had been one thing for Elisha to feed... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he commanded the crowds to recline on the grass, and he took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.” ' ‘He commanded the crowds to recline on the grass.' Reclining was the attit... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And they all ate, and were filled, and they took up what remained over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.' We may compare here Psalms 78:25, ‘He sent them food to the full'; and 2 Kings 4:44, ‘they ate and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord'. For these people ate to the full o... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.' Finally we are supplied with an enumeration of the crowds, or rather, of those ‘who ate'. There were five thousand men, besides women and children. The idea is probably that ten men were required in order to establish a s... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And immediately he constrained the disciples to enter into the boat, and to go before him to the other side, until he should send the crowds away.' ‘Immediately He constrained.' The urgency behind these words would be difficult to understand had we not had the explanation in John's Gospel. Some of... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS DEMONSTRATES HIS MASTERY OF THE SEA AND IS RECOGNISED AS ‘THE SON OF GOD' (14:22-33). This is the second consecutive miracle in which Jesus take the initiative in order to demonstrate to the disciples Who He is and What He has come to do, and it results in their recognition that He is ‘the So... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And after he had sent the crowds away, he went up into the mountain apart to pray, and when evening was come, he was there alone.' Then once He had been able to disperse the crowds He ‘went up into the mountain apart to pray.' He had much to pray about and spent the remainder of the evening and mo... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, distressed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.' Note the close interconnection between Jesus being in the mountain praying alone, and the boat being now in the middle of the Sea distressed (literally ‘tormented') by the waves, with a contrary win... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.' The fourth watch of the night was 3:00 am to 6:00 am (The Roman night watch was divided into four). It was daybreak, after a night of toil. And it was at this stage that He came to them, walking on the Sea. His people had g... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost,” and they cried out for fear.' Quite naturally when the disciples saw this eerie figure (in the first light of day) walking on the Sea some distance away, they cried out in fear, ‘Its a ghost'. This is n... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer; it is I; don't be afraid.” ' Jesus immediately sought to remove their fears saying, ‘Take courage, it is I, don't be afraid'. ‘It is I' is ego eimi. In LXX this was also the Name of God revealed to Moses (Exodus 3:14). While it was no... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the waters.” ' On hearing Jesus' words, and no doubt recognising His voice, Peter, with his usual mixture of impetuosity and faith, called out to Him and said, “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the waters.” His co... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said, “Come.” And Peter went down from the boat, and walked on the waters to come to Jesus.' Jesus' response was to invite him to ‘Come'. So Peter let himself down from the side of the boat and walked on the waters to come to Jesus. And while he kept his eyes on Jesus all went well.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me.” ' However, having bold faith while standing in the boat was one thing, maintaining it in the face of a strong wind stirring up the waves was another. And he was suddenly seized with fear and bega... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, and took hold of him, and says to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ' The impression we are given is that Peter had almost reached Jesus before he had taken his eyes off Him, for Jesus is able to reach out and take hold of him. And then... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when they were gone up into the boat, the wind ceased.” Then together they went up to the boat and clambered in, at which point ‘the wind ceased'. Once Jesus was with them in the boat all the problems of the disciples ceased.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, “Of a truth you are the Son of God.” ' Filled with awe at what they had witnessed those in the boat (seemingly more than just the twelve) ‘worshipped' Him. And they declared, ‘truly You are the Son of God'. They now had a deeper recognition of... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when they had crossed over, they came to the land, to Gennesaret.' We can only imagine the awe of the remainder of that voyage. They would never see Jesus in quite the same way again, for they now had a deeper awareness that He was, in some way that they did not understand, ‘on the divine side... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when the men of that place knew him, they sent into all that region round about, and brought to him all who were sick,' On landing at Gennesaret Jesus was recognised by those who lived there, (it was not far from Capernaum) and immediate word was sent out to all the neighbourhood, to tell them... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MESSIANIC SIGNS CONTINUE (14:35-36). Having fed the new community with ‘bread from Heaven, and having revealed Himself as Lord of sea and storm, thus presenting Himself as their Provider and Protector, Jesus expands His ministry as the Servant Who ‘bore our afflictions and carried our diseases'... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And they asked him that they might only touch the border of his robe, and as many as touched were made whole.' And just to touch the hem or tassel on His robe now proved sufficient. It was not that the robe had power, it was that to touch it brought them in touch with the wearer. Such was His powe... [ Continue Reading ]