Matthew part 23

Tragedy and Strength

In the next chapter, Matthew returns to the narrative of Jesus’ life giving us the account of John the Baptist’s death. This account is a bit of an interruption to the flow, but a helpful one. Matthew gives us a glimpse into the mindset of the political powers of the area. The story of Jesus, especially the many miracles being performed, would certainly have traveled to the upper echelon of society. But how would the people in charge respond to such stories? Let’s take a look as we read Matthew 14.

The Death of John the Baptist

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

Matthew 14:1-12

Herod believes Jesus must be a resurrected John the Baptist or perhaps some ghost of John that is performing miracles as punishment for Herod’s crimes. Matthew recounts the story of John’s death attributing the execution to John’s preaching against Herod. Now, Herod was fine with killing John, except he was afraid of how the crowd would react. John’s reputation was that of a prophet of God—which he was, of course.

Herod kept John alive to avoid a rebellion, but kept him in jail to avoid further spread of his message.

But Herod finds a loophole to get rid of John. His stepdaughter/niece performs a dance for a company of guests providing such entertainment to the quite possibly inebriated nobility that Herod offers anything in the kingdom. Her mother, who cannot stand John, prompts the girl to ask for John’s head. Herod has kept John safe from harm because of his reputation (Mark adds that Herod enjoyed listening to John despite being confused by John’s message), but now he has made an oath and must keep it. John is beheaded. His disciples will eventually claim the body and bury it.

Herod fulfills the request in order to save face with his colleagues.

Now, this little narrative detour provides us with a principle that we sometimes forget in our modern day. Political powers will always try to do what is necessary to keep their position. Keep in mind Herod is in middle management. He is called “king,” but “tetrarch” is the more accurate term. A ‘tetrarch’ is a type of king, but we might use the word ‘governor.’ Rome allowed certain provinces to maintain a hereditary monarchy, so long as the monarch pledged allegiance to Rome. Herod’s line is on the Jerusalem throne because they pledged allegiance to Rome after Rome conquered the Middle East. The large caveat for any local ruler, however, was they must keep the population under control. Rebellion would not be tolerated. If the local governor could not keep the people in line, the emperor would find someone who could. This scenario reminds us:

Political powers will tolerate God’s messengers only so long as it is politically expedient to do so.

We should not expect to be treated in any other way. Unfortunately, church history is filled with examples of local Christians who believed they were safe from political persecution until it was too late. We should accept times of peace as the blessings they are, but never allow ourselves to fall into the trap of false security.

After Jesus hears about John’s death, he will withdraw to a deserted place. He is sad. But he cannot remain secluded. Let’s read the account.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Matthew 14:13-21

Unfortunately, there is little time for Jesus to grieve. When he returns to shore, a great crowd has followed him to his retreat. He has a mission to fulfill, and despite recent events, he must attend to those he has come to save. As we consider what it means to follow Jesus, we must understand that sometimes in life, we have to keep stepping forward anyway.

Despite the hardships of the day, we keep stepping forward.

Despite the unlovability of people around us, we keep loving anyway.

Despite the lack of sleep or grueling hours, we keep working anyway.

Many times we will feel tired or stressed, and in this age, we are told to focus on “self-care.” We shouldn’t overdue ourselves. And while we certainly do not want to harm ourselves, we also have to acknowledge that sometimes we just can’t rest. There’s work to be done.

If we really are in a spiritual battle, then we must be like the soldier who keeps watch anyway. They keep fighting anyway. They are tired, worn, filthy, and in dire need of rest, but the enemy is still coming, and they must fight anyway.

Peter uses this same imagery in 1 Peter 5:8.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8

Despite all that may be going on in your life, “be sober-minded; be watchful,” because there is a fight to face. Paul tells young Timothy to be ready “in season and out of season,” meaning be ready even during those times you don’t think you need to be ready.

I am very aware this type of thinking goes against much of what is said these days concerning work ethic and comfort, but the reality is we must be ready to serve when opportunity comes. We must be ready to share the story of Jesus when someone is ready to listen. And we must be willing to demonstrate the love and mercy of God even if we really just want to rest and let someone else take care of the matter.

We cannot sit idly by when God opens an opportunity for us.

In fact, if we look at the disciples’ reaction to the crowd and the time of day, they make perfect sense.

“Jesus, you have had a rough time. Your cousin has just been killed. You have worked all day. We don’t have food for these people, anyway, so just send them away.”

But Jesus takes this opportunity to give the disciples one more object lesson. He tells the disciples to gather what they can. They have some bread and a couple of fish—not near enough for such a large crowd. Jesus takes what they have, offers a blessing, and then has the disciples pass out the food. When they are finished feeding the crowd, and note the crowd “was satisfied”—they were full!—the disciples take up the leftovers and have 12 baskets of leftovers. They have one basket for each of them. Each disciple has a reminder of a very important lesson that echoes into our overworked, under appreciated society.

On the days when we think we just can’t go on fighting this spiritual battle, we can look to Jesus for strength and provision.

The disciples said, “No, we can’t do this, Jesus.” Jesus said, “Sure you can.”

Sometimes our weak bodies will say, “You can’t do this.” Jesus will say, “Let me give you strength.”

Sometimes our minds will only hear the voices that tell us to quit. Jesus will say, “Don’t stop! The miracle is coming!”

The miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000 is not a reminder that God can provide for the potluck, or even that God will provide for our daily food. This miracle is to remind us that all our provision comes from God. If we find ourselves in a desolate place, literal or figurative, we can ask God to give us provision. If we find ourselves with a workload that seems like too much, we can ask God for strength and wisdom.

Sometimes we do need to learn to say ‘no’ so we can focus on the more important matters. But sometimes we just need to understand there is work to be done, and “in our weakness, His is strong.”

As we face the day, and especially when we face the day with little strength, remember what the Lord told Israel through Isaiah:

Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
    and my right is disregarded by my God”?

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:27-31