Matthew 14

Jesus gained notoriety because of the miracles that He performed. These miracles were signs of who He was and of the resurrection kingdom that He would bring, but these future gifts were of less interest to people than the prospect of immediate relief from their troubles. This is what most people wanted from Jesus. There was at least one person who was not interested in Jesus for this reason. His biggest issue was his own guilty conscience. When he heard of the miracles that Jesus was performing, he became convinced that Jesus was somehow John the Baptist, the man whom he had killed, now risen from the dead.

Herod had a guilty conscience because he knew that when he ordered the beheading of John, he had sent an innocent man to his grave. John was a nuisance to Herod. Through his preaching he had tried to interfere with Herod’s marriage to Herodias, the wife of Herod's brother Philip. Herod was afraid of John while he was living, and he was afraid of John after he died. This is not because John was a man of obvious power. It was because Herod knew that John was a prophet, and he was apparently afraid of what a righteous prophet might be able to do, even after he death. Here we discover more about Herod’s belief system: He believed that a righteous man could rise from the dead, and this did not comfort him. It frightened him.

The details of the death of John are disgusting. His story is a lesson in how entanglements with immoral women destroy a man, leaving him weak and afraid. Here was the mighty Herod being ruled by his passions, whether by his dancing step-daughter or by his scheming sister-in-law now become wife. Before long, a great servant of God was dead, and the man who wore the crown was afraid that he might come to life again.

These upsetting events are a display of the wickedness of this world, a place where a righteous man may die at the hands of a powerful tyrant under the thumb of a dangerous woman. The death of John the Baptist sent the Lord of glory, Jesus Christ, off by Himself to pray. Jesus was a man of prayer, and trials can be signposts to such men that send them toward God and not away from Him. Yet it was not easy for Jesus to be alone anymore, since so many people turned to Him as their answer for their considerable immediate problems. They followed Him, and He had compassion on them. He healed them. This is good news for us. His displays of power did not come because the crowds were so smart in their understanding of Jesus, but because the Son of God was compassionate toward them in their need. This is our Savior and King. He cares for you.

This care included not only the taking away of their infirmities. He fed them when they were hungry. He did this through the miraculous provision of food from the most meager supplies. By this He showed something to us of the life to come. There we will not be left hungry. Today many people are hungry, and they sometimes find themselves without the means to care for their families. Jesus knows this, and He will provide for us, though we may suffer greatly in very many ways in this age. His care and His power will surely meet our needs according to the dictates of His wisdom at just the right time, and He certainly will bless us with food. Even now He is the bread of life to us, but there is much more blessing that He has already secured for us that we will yet see in the resurrection age that is coming.

This Christ who assures His followers of great future blessings is powerful to bring about all of the promises of God. He displays His control over creation by walking on the water, that water that symbolizes the tumultuous world that we now live in after the fall of mankind in Adam. We can turn to Him even now and have courage and hope. Peter and the other disciples were not comforted when they saw Him walking on the water; the sight frightened them. The only way that any peace came from this situation was through the hand of Christ taking hold of the sinking frame of His follower, Simon Peter. We who believe can still cry out to Him, “Lord, save me.” He is still able to calm our hearts. We do not realize the strength of unbelief and doubt even within the lives of those who are followers of Jesus Christ. We are only kept from foolishness and dissipation by His hand that is still powerful to save.

This hand has especially reached out to lift us up through the cross of Christ. There we were saved from a trouble that we could not handle. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, knew what we needed, and He provided for us in ways that no one else ever could. While He can grant us immediate relief from everything that ails us, He has His sights set on a bigger goal than our present ease. He has come into our lives to heal our guilty consciences and to give us a hope of participation in resurrection blessings when we will have the fullest communion with Him. His plan for the achievement of that greater goal often includes our embracing some measure of present discomfort with faith in the One who has reached down to us and embraced us in our sin. Through Him we have been made well, not only for a moment, but forever.