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| Chapter 14 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus 2 and said unto his servants, "This is John the Baptist. He is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works show forth themselves in him." 3 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. 4 For John said unto him, "It is not lawful for thee to have her." 5 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. 6 But when Herod´s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, 7 whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. 8 And she, being beforehand instructed by her mother, said, "Give me here John the Baptist´s head on a charger." 9 And the king was sorry; nevertheless for the oath´s sake, and those who sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. 10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. 11 And his head was brought on a charger and given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother. 12 And his disciples came, and took up the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. 13 ¶ When Jesus heard of it, He departed thence by boat into a desert place apart. And when the people had heard thereof, they followed Him on foot out of the cities. 14 And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick. 15 And when it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a desert place and the time is now past. Send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals." 16 But Jesus said unto them, "They need not depart. Give ye them to eat." 17 And they said unto Him, "We have here but five loaves and two fishes." 18 And He said, "Bring them hither to Me." 19 And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves and the two fishes; and looking up to Heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 20 And they all ate and were filled. And they took up the fragments that remained, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children. 22 ¶ And straightway Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a boat and to go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up onto a mountain apart to pray. And when evening had come, He was there alone. 24 But the boat was now in the midst of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a spirit"; and they cried out for fear. 27 But straightway Jesus spoke unto them, saying, "Be of good cheer. It is I; be not afraid." 28 And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." 29 And He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, "Lord, save me!" 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand and caught him and said unto him, "O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?" 32 And when they had come into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "In truth Thou art the Son of God." 34 ¶ And when they had gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place learned of Him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto Him all who were diseased. 36 And they besought Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched were made perfectly whole. |
v1-12 Guilty Herod’s interest. This is Herod the Tetrarch, Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. He was the ruler of Galilee and Perea. Herod was often travelling or having parties so this may explain why he had not heard of Jesus. v2 "This is John the Baptist." risen from the dead, was a common suggestion by many people, even though John had never done any miracles when he was alive. v3,4 Herodias was the daughter of Aristobolus, an half brother of Antipas. She had been married to her uncle, Herod Philip, and this marriage had produced a daughter, Salome. Antipas was able to persuade her to leave her husband and marry him, though he was already married to the daughter of King Aretas. Such a marriage was adulterous and incestuous. John the Baptist had told Herod it was against the law, Luke 3:19; Mark 6:17-19. v5 Herod was frightened of the crowds but eventually Herod had arrested John. v6,7 Herodias was not satisfied with prison for John, so during Herod´s birthday party she was prepared to debase or lower the value of her own daughter by making her dance before Herod in a very suggestive, sexual, way. v8-11 The mother gets her revenge by use of the weak minded ruler. v12 The disciples of John buried the body of John. Then they came to Jesus with the news. v13-21 Five thousand fed. Mark 6:32ff; Luke 9:11ff; John 6:1ff. When the Jews give a number of people they only include the men. Women and children are not included in the counted. This is the only miracle recorded by all four Gospels. v13,14 On hearing the news about John, Jesus takes His disciples into a quite area to rest after their Mission Luke 9:1ff; Mark 6:30, the disciples also need further teaching. However, the crowds soon found Him and He gives into their requirements. v15 Evening:- The Jews have two "evenings," the first starts at 3:00 P.M. and the second starts at sundown. In v15 the writer is talking about the first evening period. v15,16 The disciples, realized it was late and wanted Jesus to send them into the villages for food. Jesus had another idea, Turning to the disciples He said "you feed them." Christ puts the responsibility onto the disciples so that they may become aware that He can provide all their needs, John 6:6,7. v17 Andrew points out that they have a small boy with five loaves and two fish, but he seems totally unaware of the divine power of Jesus. v19 Jesus instructs the people to sit on the grass, having blessed the food he distributes the food by the disciples. v20 After everyone is fed they collect 12 baskets of uneaten food which the disciples take with them in the boat. v22,23 Jesus sends, commands, the disciples to go off across the sea of Galilee, while He remained behind on the mountain. They did not ask how He was going to follow them. v22-36 Christ walks on the water. Mark 6:45-52; John 6:15-21. The disciples were about to be tested, they had just seen the miracle of food for all, Jesus wanted to see if they understood. Jesus goes up into a mountain for prayer, He takes Himself away from the world during His time of prayer. But the disciples are still under His watchful eye, from His position He can also see the disciples in their boat. Mark 6:48. v23 "Evening" see notes for v15. This is obviously the second ‘evening’ at sunset. v24,25 John 6:19 tells us that they had rowed 3-4 miles and it was about 3 to 6 a.m. (fourth watch). The disciples had by now been rowing for many hours and must have been exhausted. The sea was rough and the wind was blowing against the direction they were rowing. v25 Jesus now walks across the sea towards the boat, demonstrating the power Jesus had over the natural laws. Though the disciples had previously seen the power of Jesus over the storm, Matt 8:23-27 they thought that they were now on their own. They still had not taken in that Christ´s power could be with them in all circumstances or events. v26 All the disciples were afraid, they thought He was a ghost or spirit being, they had turned back to their superstitious minds. v27 "It is I," The disciples, though they had not recognized Him, recognized the familiar voice, they were immediately at peace. v28-33 Peter walks on water. This event is only recorded by Matthew. Did he somehow persuade the other writers not to include the record of his failure? This is another occasion when Peter speaks before thinking, this has often appeared to be the normal action of Peter, he did not examine the difficulties before committing himself beyond what he was able to do. v28 "If it is you Lord, tell me to come to you on the water." v29-31 Jesus tells Peter to come. At first Peter walks upon the water, but he takes his eye of Jesus, sees the waves and wind and his faith fails. Beginning to sink, he calls out to Jesus - "Lord, save me!." Jesus reaches out and holds onto Peter, supernatural power directly from Jesus. "Why did you doubt?" He asks. While Peter had looked at Jesus in full faith he had been given supernatural power by Jesus to walk on the water, then Peter took his eye of Jesus, he lost the faith, then lost the power to break the laws of nature and starts to sink. This miracle had shown that just faith in Jesus was all we need to do any task we are asked to do by Him. This miracle had shown that just faith in Jesus was all we need to do any task we are asked to do by Him. v32 As soon as they reached the boat the wind dropped and sea became calm. v33 The disciples are beginning to realize and accept the real identity of Jesus, though they had already thought about it, John 1:41,42 the wording still suggests some doubt, this confession was not like that of Peter, Matt 16:16. v34 Gennesaret was a fertile plain to the South West of Capernaum. v35 From John 6:22-25 There may have been some days or even weeks before this event. v36 The desire of the sick to just touch Him was probably as a result of the healing of the woman, Matt 9:20. Note that healing came with their faith. |
Easy English Translation
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