Matthew Chapter 14
2020 - I am worn out, though not out of time. This is a lot of reading and a lot of information. I noticed today that as I have read these three chapters each time, I was focused entirely on history and geography. I have not read these chapters, or indeed the previous few chapters, for lessons or wisdom or application. So much goes on here that advances the narrative of Jesus ministry and travels, much of it confusing and requiring a lot of untangling, that I never get past that part and down to what is really being said. That needs to change. Next year, God willing, I will not get bogged down in the narrative, but instead read for meaning and application.
Yesterday was Matthew 10, and today is 14. 11-13 were previously covered. Gives some idea of the non-chronological arrangement of the Gospel of Matthew. Chapter starts with "At that time...: Not really very specific, but at least we know where we are. Herod the tetrarch hears of Jesus miracles, and attributes them to John the Baptist, whom Herod had beheaded. (2022 - A tetrarch is the governor of 1/4 of a province. So there were three other governors at the time.) Herod is superstitious, likely believing this was some kind of revenge visited on him. We get the story of how John's beheading came about - through the sordid manipulating of this Herod by his "wife", who encouraged her own daughter to perform, if not naked then nearly so, for Herod and his guests. The drunken Tetrarch made a stupid oath and promise, and then regretted doing it, but did it anyway. Herodias did what women do to get their way. She manipulated. Women don't threaten violence, they manipulate. This is still true today. John is beheaded in the prison, not in public, because Herod was such a coward. Brave enough to keep a promise he didn't want to keep, cowardly enough to keep it as much a secret as possible because he knew how wrong he was.
2022 - What an ignominious end of the greatest prophet. He was beheaded because of the lust of a man sleeping with his own brother's wife and lusting still more after his niece. Both mother and daughter were willing to use sex and position to bring about injustice. My sense of justice just screams that it is wrong for a good man to die because of the corruption of others. It is like a good man being murdered for his watch by a man who's spent 90% of his life in prison. So very wrong. But could it be that in John's case, the more demeaning the death, the greater the reward? The same principle seems to apply to Jesus himself, who died naked on a cross with the worst criminals of his time. He was counted as one of them. Perhaps, though it seems 180 degrees from how it ought to be, we ought to hope for such a death. Because in both cases, the men were the best of men, and their deaths the worst of deaths - BECAUSE of who they were.
John's disciples are allowed to retrieve the body and bury it. When Jesus hears of this, he retires by boat to a desolate place, but the crowds learn where he is, and seek him out. It seems as if the boat Jesus was in didn't get very far from shore, and maybe some ran along the bank, watching, and reporting to those that saw that it was Jesus out in that boat. So by the time they anchored, a crowd was already gathered. It seems there were villages around there, but none really close to where Jesus was. So according to Matthew's gospel, the feeding of the 5000 is right after Jesus hears of John's death. The very same day.
When Jesus sees the crowds, he has compassion and heals their sick. They stay with him all day. As evening comes, the disciples urge Jesus to send the people away to the surrounding villages to buy food for themselves, but Jesus says they'll just feed them here. All they have is the five loaves and two fish. Jesus blesses this meager amount, and has the disciples begin distributing it. With this food, they feed 5000 men, plus the women and children, and everyone eats their fill. Then there is more left over than there was when they started.
Remember that these were likely very poor people, who sometimes went hungry for lack of money to buy bread, and Jesus has just fed them for free. All of them. They do understand that Jesus has just provided food at no cost for thousands of people.
After they eat, Jesus dismisses the crowd, and sends them away. He has already sent his disciples away by boat. They were to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus goes up on the mountain to pray. He is there alone, finally. A rare thing by this point in his ministry. The boat is long gone, and has encountered strong opposing winds. Jesus shows up, walking on the water, in the fourth watch of the night - between 3 and 6 am. They think he is a ghost and are very afraid.
But Peter decides he wants to try this, so he asks Jesus to call him onto the water. Jesus does, and Peter walks all the way to him, but then sinks. Jesus rebukes him for his lack of faith. They go back to the boat, and the storm ceases. The disciples worship Jesus, saying "Truly you are the Son of God".
I don't remember if it was Matthew that told of Jesus calming the storm earlier, but one of the gospels did. So this was the second time Jesus had shown that he commanded the weather, and now they'd seen him walk on water. Their eyes were finally seeing and understanding because they recognize now who this is with them. The first time, they'd been amazed, but didn't make any connection to the Messiah.
They land at Gennesaret. I think this is the place Jesus had previously cast out Legion into the pigs. The name is similar, but is it the same? Because Matthew says that the people heard Jesus was there and brought their sick to him to heal. This is quite different from the last time, when they had asked him to leave. In Mark 5, it was the Gerasenes. That was just one chapter before where we are in Mark today. So that close together, Mark gives different names entirely for the place where Legion lived and the place they go after feeding the 5000. So it would seem pretty clear that this is a different place.