Matthew
14:13-36
I
feel very blessed to have the honor of teaching on this passage. It is a super
encouraging and even fun passage. I like the title, the King is in control. That
is what we will be reminded of today. Jesus is Lord overall.
Before I jump into today’s passage, I would like to offer an observation about chiasms. Carl has used this recurring structure in scripture to draw us to the central point in both books and individual chapters. A few weeks ago, when he introduced this chiastic structure with respect to the book of Matthew, I was prompted to think about God’s affinity for chiastic structure. When I say God’s affinity, I just mean that God likes chiasms. It is kind of “how He rolls.”
I never heard the word chiasm before Carl shared the concept, but I do remember seeing the idea highlighted years ago with respect to human beings as the pinnacle of all of creation. Most people in our culture tend not to see what is in the middle as being the most important. We tend to think of whatever is at the extreme, the biggest or strongest or fastest, as being the most important.
Think of pictures from the Hubble space telescope. We are just awed by the magnitude of the universe and the galaxies and nebulae and other things that I don’t even know the names for. Going the other way though, it is possible to go just as small on a logarithmic scale getting down to subatomic particles like quarks and neutrinos. I’m not going to go into all the math and 10 to the power of positive whatever and 10 to the power of the minus whatever. If that sort of thing is interesting to you, there are many resources that can get into the details at many different levels.
The long story short is that human beings are essentially at the logarithmic midpoint of the sizes of creation between the largest thing (the whole universe) and the smallest subatomic building blocks. God’s most amazing creative work, that which He made in His own image, is placed in the middle of the size spectrum of the universe. For me, that is just another way of relating to chiastic structure and thinking, “Yep, God really digs it.” He really does like to put the important stuff, the boom, in the middle.
Let’s pray and jump into today’s passage.
Lord God, teach us from Your Word today. We need Your insights and understanding. We love You. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
When Jesus heard what had
happened, He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this,
the crowds followed Him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a
large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick. – Matthew
14:13-14
The “what” that had happened was the death of John the Baptist. About a year earlier, John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother's wife, and Luke 3:19 tells us John had also rebuked Herod for all the other evil things he had done. The entire family of the Herodians were involved in a great many wicked schemes. At the time of John’s rebuke, Herod responded by throwing him in prison.
If you remember our passage from last week, being manipulated by his wife Herodias, King Herod had John the Baptist executed. Herod had John killed because of a silly oath he had made in front of his dinner guests on his birthday. The enormity of this evil act is stunning, and it no doubt grieved Jesus deeply. As many of us would do, if someone close to us were killed, we would want to pull back from business as usual, to get alone with God, and that is exactly what Jesus wanted to do.
I have heard it said that one of the hardest things about deep grief is that the world just keeps going on. After suffering a terrible loss, folks may come around you for a time, but this will pass soon enough while the loss lingers in the grieved heart. This is exactly what happens to Jesus. He pulls back even just momentarily to rest and be comforted, but the crowds heard about his departure and followed him.
It says they followed from their towns, plural. That’s interesting because news would have had to travel on foot. You can envision as the first group that left went through each town and village along the lake, it just kept growing and growing and growing. I think this exemplifies what Carl pointed out last week about Nazareth. It wasn’t that the people didn’t know Jesus was doing miracles. Everyone was talking about it.
When Jesus lands, He has a choice of what to do. He could have turned them away, but He does not. He is the manifestation of God. (Colossians 1:15) Jesus is God. God is love. (I John 4:8, 16) Jesus has compassion on the people who come to Him. He heals their sick.
Jesus will do the same for any of us who come to Him. He will accept us and not turn us away. In John 6:37, Jesus says it plainly, “Whoever comes to Me, I will never drive away.” Other translations say, “I will never reject them (NLT); I will never cast them out (ESV, NKJV, KJV).” Jesus is the Lord our Healer. As Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” And how could I forget Psalm 103:2-5, “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.” This is our Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen.
As evening approached, the disciples came to Him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food." – Matthew 14:15
The disciples are compassionate but also pragmatic. They want the people to be cared for. They don’t want them to stay out in the open countryside at night. They just don’t see themselves as part of the solution. And, they don’t want to be part of a problem.
I think that is often where I limit God. I would say that in many situations, particularly where there are unexpected developments, I’m looking to avoid becoming a burden or an inconvenience. I think the disciples’ thinking was along this line. It is kind of a “do no harm” mentality. “Doing no harm” is a good thing by the way, not a bad thing.
Jesus, however, is going to do something wholly unexpected.
Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
"Bring them here to me," he said. – Matthew 14:16-18
What! Excuse me? Uh, Jesus? We don’t have anything to give them. I mean, there’s someone’s lunch over there, but what is that to all this multitude? Jesus’ disciples are just slack jawed, flabbergasted, stunned. What can He mean, “You give them something to eat?”
In the account of this event in the other gospels, the disciples point to their meager portion of loaves and fish stating the obvious. It’s not enough. We would have to go and buy food. They expound on how much it would cost to feed such a crowd. We do not have the money, they say.
In the feeding of the four thousand, the disciples say where can we get so much bread? Even if we had the money, there’s no bakery out here in the wilderness anyway. Their compassion for the crowd was pragmatic. Their evaluation of their resources is likewise pragmatic.
What is pragmatism? What does pragmatic mean? It’s like The Princess Bride, you keep using that word, does it mean what you think it means? Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines pragmatic as, “relating to matters of fact or practical affairs often to the exclusion of intellectual or artistic matters: practical as opposed to idealistic.” The same dictionary defines pragmatism as “a practical approach to problems.”
I happened to read Hebrews 11 this week as a part of my regular daily reading. I’ve mentioned it a few times before that I’ve been reading through the J.B. Phillips translation of the New Testament. I do recommend reading and rereading Scripture. I also would recommend reading different versions. It can be refreshing and help you see the depth of the Scriptures.
In the NIV, Hebrews 11:11 says, “And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered Him faithful who had made the promise.” By faith Sarah was enabled to bear children even though she was past childbearing age. That is neat.
The J.B. Phillips translation says it like this, “It was by faith that even Sarah gained the physical vitality to become a mother despite her great age, and she gave birth to a child when far beyond the normal years of child-bearing. She could do this because she believed that the one who had given the promise was utterly trustworthy.”
Abraham was 100 years old. Sarah was 90. Ninety! She wasn’t just past childbearing age. She was way, way past childbearing age. I don’t mean to bring back difficult memories for anyone and I don’t even know what I’m talking about really, but the Phillips translation points out that Sarah gained the physical vitality needed to bear a child. Apart from God, such a birth, even if pregnancy were possible, would be impossible.
How could she do it? “Because she considered Him faithful who had made the promise.” “She could do this because she believed that the one who had given the promise was utterly trustworthy.”
It is good to have these examples of the faith to reflect upon. There is almost an absurdity to faith, especially to those who do not believe. If God did not reveal Himself to us [through His miraculous Creation and through His inerrant Word and by His Holy Spirit], surely we would not believe.
And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. – Matthew 14:19-21
I don’t know what to add. You have the facts there before you. It was a miracle, a miracle of an enormous magnitude. Five loaves and two fish fed as many as 10,000 people.
Interestingly, my study bible does point out that the Jews did not permit women and children to eat with men in public. Therefore, the women would have to be in a separate group. Again, I think we can see Jesus compassion even in the direction to have them sit down. Other gospels explain that He had them sit in groups of about fifty. That would have avoided a stampede for one thing. It also puts everyone on equal footing. If the women and children were expected to be in a separate group, then everyone was in separate groups.
I will point out one more thing. They picked up the excess. This seems surprising. Here is Jesus just making food out of thin air. Why pick up the leftovers? Jesus can just make more. Maybe we should save five loaves and two fish for the next miracle? Is that the right formula? This miraculous feeding of the five thousand was not a ministry in and of itself. It was part of Jesus’ demonstrating his divine power, and yes, meeting a need.
I don’t want to get into too much of an aside, but the Old Testament prophet Elisha was the successor to the prophet Elijah. Do you remember him? Elisha asked for a double portion of God’s spirit when Elijah was taken up into heaven. Then, Elisha went on to perform twice as many miracles as Elijah. It was a sort of numerical fulfillment of Elisha’s prayer. It turns out that Jesus performs a miracle similar to each of Elisha’s but on a far greater scale. Elisha asked his servant to put 20 loaves of bread out to serve 100 men. The servant balked at the idea saying, “How can I do that?” It is not enough to feed them. Now, we see Jesus multiply five loaves and two fish to feed thousands. The Jewish people would have known this. Back in Matthew chapter 12, we heard Jesus say that One who was greater than Solomon was here. Now, with this miracle, we see that One who is greater than Elijah and Elisha is here. Not a little bit greater, a lot greater. More on that in a moment.
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. – Matthew 14:22-23
This departure certainly seems abrupt. Immediately. Time to leave. You can imagine the people just finishing up their meal. They had eaten until they were satisfied. They were pleasantly full perhaps still sitting in groups waiting to see what might happen next. Perhaps talking excitedly among themselves. The account of these events in the gospel of John sheds a little more light on why there was such an abrupt end to the miraculous day.
John (6:15) explained that Jesus knew what was on the people’s hearts. In fact, they intended to come and make Him king by force. But that wasn’t why Jesus came. He wasn’t on earth to begin a great earthly kingdom. He was here to establish an eternal kingdom that we could be a part of. And so, Jesus dismisses the crowd. No doubt as much to their surprise as to the surprise of the disciples to be sent off immediately in the boat. I mean weren’t the disciples likely thinking, um Jesus, how are you going to join us on the other side of the lake? Where are we going to meet?
It is now that the needs of those who followed Him have been met. Jesus finally has a moment to himself. He uses it wisely to go up on the mountainside to pray. In the solitude of the late evening and early night, Jesus prayed. So, for you night owls, you don’t always have to get time with God in the morning. Jesus Himself gives us examples of both alone time with God before sunrise and after sunset.
Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. – Matthew 14:23-26
Jesus had to get across the lake somehow. He could have walked along the shore. Instead, he walks across the water. This is another comparison miracle between Jesus and Elisha. Elisha made a borrowed axe head float, something that likely weighed five to ten pounds. Jesus as a full-grown man is able to walk on top of the water. Certainly, he weighed more than 100 pounds, probably close to 150 pounds. Elisha caused the axe head to float long enough so the man who lost it was able to pull it out. In the account found in John’s gospel, he specifies that Jesus walked three or three and a half miles. The Sea of Galilee is not an enormous body of water. It is 8 miles wide and 13 miles long. So again, Jesus’ miracle here is another scale above any miracle by Elisha. He’s walking in the middle of the lake! He’s been walking on the water for an hour or more.
They could see Jesus because it was shortly before dawn. The wind was against the boat, so Jesus could gain on them even though he was walking. According to John, the sea was rough which makes it seem even more remarkable that Jesus was walking on the water. Incredible. How do you get traction on water? Is it anything like walking on ice? There are only two people that know as we’ll see in a minute.
In Luke’s account, Jesus is about to pass the boat when they see Him. I think that makes their alarm all the greater. It would have been startling enough to see him at a distance. I would say a shock or surprise is what makes us jump or even cry out. Imagine you are out in a boat in the wind and waves. You do not see that there is someone walking on the water until He’s right up on top of you. I think I would cry out in fear. I do not think I’d be able to articulate, “It’s a ghost.” The best I’d be able to come up with would be, “Yaaahaaa” or something. Of course, once one person cries out, then it is easy to just join right in.
There is a verse missing, I think. It is the one where it says Jesus burst out laughing. You have to admit, this seems like the greatest prank of all time. The beauty of a prank is that it cannot be anticipated. No one would expect their friend and teacher to come walking out on the water. No, I am just kidding. In fact, there is no verse about Jesus laughing. That’s one aspect we can look forward to about experiencing when we see Him face to face. The gospels don’t give us a view of Jesus’ joy and mirth, but though He is a man acquainted with sorrow, Jesus is the most joyful person because joy is one of the fruit of the Spirit. Hebrews also talks about how Jesus endured the cross and scorned its shame for the joy set before Him. I am certain we will see our Lord smile and laugh in due time. I do not know exactly what it will be like, but it is going to be wonderful. It will bless our souls.
But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." – Matthew 14:27
Jesus does not laugh at their expense. He immediately calms their fears. I let this verse stand alone because it is a good one to remember. No matter what you are going through. No matter how bad things get. Jesus is speaking to you, too. Take courage! Jesus is with you. Do not be afraid.
"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" – Matthew 14:28-31
Much has been written about Peter’s lack of faith. I think about it the other way round. Peter had a lot of faith. He was willing to step out of the boat in the first place. I do not think I would even have asked. Peter had great faith in Jesus. Faith that it was in fact Jesus on the water. Faith that Jesus would be willing to call him out onto the water. Maybe let that one sink in for a minute. Peter had faith that if the person walking on the water was Jesus, then Jesus would want Peter to come out to Him. It was not until the Last Supper (John 14:12) that Jesus told the disciples that they would do greater things than He had done.
Peter walked on water. So that makes two people in the history of the world who have walked on water, Jesus and Peter. Peter got to do that because he asked. That was certainly a special privilege.
It is also true that Peter took his eyes off Jesus once he got out on the water. As a fisherman, Peter was well aware of the predicament he was putting himself in. He’s on the water. Rough water that brought their boat to a standstill such that a person walking on water was moving faster than the boat. Peter let “the things of this world” take precedence over his faith in Jesus at that moment. That was the moment he started to sink.
How are you doing right now? Are you starting to sink a little, or maybe even more than a little? If so, then follow Peter’s example and cry out! Lord, save me! Immediately, Jesus reached out and caught him. Jesus will catch us, too.
I do not know if many of you will remember this song. I haven’t heard it in quite some time. It was recorded by Scott Krippayne. I didn’t know much about him, so I did look him up real quick. He’s better known as a songwriter than a recording artist. More than 150 of his songs have been recorded by others which seem pretty remarkable to me. For the younger boys in our congregation, it turns out that he won a Daytime Emmy for writing the theme music for PAW Patrol. Okay, I digress. I was talking about a song he wrote. The title is “Sometimes He Calms the Storm.” I’m going to read through it because I think it is instrumental to our understanding about different ways Jesus catches us.
All who sail the sea of faith
Find out before too long
How quickly blue skies can grow dark
And gentle winds grow strong
Suddenly fear is like white water
Pounding on the soul
Still we sail on knowing
That our Lord is in control
Sometimes He calms the storm
With a whispered peace be still
He can settle any sea
But it doesn't mean He will
Sometimes He holds us close
And lets the wind and waves go wild
Sometimes He calms the storm
And other times He calms His child
He has a reason for each trial
That we pass through in life
And though we're shaken
We cannot be pulled apart from Christ
No matter how the driving rain beats down
On those who hold to faith
A heart of trust will always
Be a quiet peaceful place
Sometimes He calms the storm
With a whispered peace be still
He can settle any sea
But it doesn't mean He will
Sometimes He holds us close
And lets the wind and waves go wild
Sometimes He calms the storm
And other times He calms His child
And so, for each of us, however our circumstances turn out, let us hold fast to faith like Sarah, not only faith for physical vitality, but faith for spiritual vitality, placing our faith freshly in Christ for each moment. I fail at this constantly, but let us each time we miss an opportunity come again to Jesus who will not reject us. He loves us.
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." – Matthew 14:32-33
These are Jesus closest followers. They have been with Jesus more than anyone. They have heard his teachings many times. They have seen the miracles. They have been sent out by Jesus and given authority over evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and sickness. And yet, we are still two chapters away from Peter’s confession where Jesus asks the disciples who do they think that He is. Peter answers that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16) This moment in the boat on the lake seems to be a special moment for the disciples. This is the first moment where it is recorded that the disciples worshiped Jesus.
What a privilege it is to be able to draw near and to worship Jesus. I mentioned the J.B. Phillips translation earlier. I would like to return to it again. This time to Hebrews 12 (v.22-24). It says …
You have been allowed to approach the true Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have drawn near to the countless angelic army, the great assembly of Heaven and the Church of the first-born whose names are written above. You have drawn near to God, the judge of all, to the souls of good men made perfect, and to Jesus, mediator of a new agreement, to the cleansing of blood which tells a better story than the age-old sacrifice of Abel.
It is this Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, the Son of God, who has made this possible. He is worthy of worship.
When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed. – Matthew 14:34-36
We come now to the close of our passage for today. Contrast what happens here to what the people of Jesus’ hometown did. They doubted, they took offense at Jesus, and they did not experience many miracles.
The people at Gennesaret sent word to all the surrounding areas. Jesus is here. The people came to Him. They sought His healing. And they were healed.
I will close with one more thought from Hebrews at the end of chapter 11. Remember, chapter 11 contains the hall of faith. It talks about many heroes of the faith from the Old Testament. After mentioning them, it says (Hebrews 11:39-40) …
All these won a glowing testimony to their faith, but they did not then and there receive the fulfilment of the promise. God had something better planned for our day, and it was not his plan that they should reach perfection without us.
We too with the believers of the Old Testament and those followers of Christ since His first coming while they were on the earth have not yet experienced the complete fulfillment of the promises of God. We have not yet seen Christ face to face, but we will. And there are glories yet to come. As I John 3:2 explains, “what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Let us rest upon this hope and continue to place our faith in Christ every day. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, You are amazing. Thank You for coming to save us. Thank You for all the miracles You performed to establish You identity for us. Most of all, thank You for the resurrection. You have truly overcome this world. We worship You. Amen.
Before I jump into today’s passage, I would like to offer an observation about chiasms. Carl has used this recurring structure in scripture to draw us to the central point in both books and individual chapters. A few weeks ago, when he introduced this chiastic structure with respect to the book of Matthew, I was prompted to think about God’s affinity for chiastic structure. When I say God’s affinity, I just mean that God likes chiasms. It is kind of “how He rolls.”
I never heard the word chiasm before Carl shared the concept, but I do remember seeing the idea highlighted years ago with respect to human beings as the pinnacle of all of creation. Most people in our culture tend not to see what is in the middle as being the most important. We tend to think of whatever is at the extreme, the biggest or strongest or fastest, as being the most important.
Think of pictures from the Hubble space telescope. We are just awed by the magnitude of the universe and the galaxies and nebulae and other things that I don’t even know the names for. Going the other way though, it is possible to go just as small on a logarithmic scale getting down to subatomic particles like quarks and neutrinos. I’m not going to go into all the math and 10 to the power of positive whatever and 10 to the power of the minus whatever. If that sort of thing is interesting to you, there are many resources that can get into the details at many different levels.
The long story short is that human beings are essentially at the logarithmic midpoint of the sizes of creation between the largest thing (the whole universe) and the smallest subatomic building blocks. God’s most amazing creative work, that which He made in His own image, is placed in the middle of the size spectrum of the universe. For me, that is just another way of relating to chiastic structure and thinking, “Yep, God really digs it.” He really does like to put the important stuff, the boom, in the middle.
Let’s pray and jump into today’s passage.
Lord God, teach us from Your Word today. We need Your insights and understanding. We love You. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
The “what” that had happened was the death of John the Baptist. About a year earlier, John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother's wife, and Luke 3:19 tells us John had also rebuked Herod for all the other evil things he had done. The entire family of the Herodians were involved in a great many wicked schemes. At the time of John’s rebuke, Herod responded by throwing him in prison.
If you remember our passage from last week, being manipulated by his wife Herodias, King Herod had John the Baptist executed. Herod had John killed because of a silly oath he had made in front of his dinner guests on his birthday. The enormity of this evil act is stunning, and it no doubt grieved Jesus deeply. As many of us would do, if someone close to us were killed, we would want to pull back from business as usual, to get alone with God, and that is exactly what Jesus wanted to do.
I have heard it said that one of the hardest things about deep grief is that the world just keeps going on. After suffering a terrible loss, folks may come around you for a time, but this will pass soon enough while the loss lingers in the grieved heart. This is exactly what happens to Jesus. He pulls back even just momentarily to rest and be comforted, but the crowds heard about his departure and followed him.
It says they followed from their towns, plural. That’s interesting because news would have had to travel on foot. You can envision as the first group that left went through each town and village along the lake, it just kept growing and growing and growing. I think this exemplifies what Carl pointed out last week about Nazareth. It wasn’t that the people didn’t know Jesus was doing miracles. Everyone was talking about it.
When Jesus lands, He has a choice of what to do. He could have turned them away, but He does not. He is the manifestation of God. (Colossians 1:15) Jesus is God. God is love. (I John 4:8, 16) Jesus has compassion on the people who come to Him. He heals their sick.
Jesus will do the same for any of us who come to Him. He will accept us and not turn us away. In John 6:37, Jesus says it plainly, “Whoever comes to Me, I will never drive away.” Other translations say, “I will never reject them (NLT); I will never cast them out (ESV, NKJV, KJV).” Jesus is the Lord our Healer. As Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” And how could I forget Psalm 103:2-5, “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.” This is our Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen.
As evening approached, the disciples came to Him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food." – Matthew 14:15
The disciples are compassionate but also pragmatic. They want the people to be cared for. They don’t want them to stay out in the open countryside at night. They just don’t see themselves as part of the solution. And, they don’t want to be part of a problem.
I think that is often where I limit God. I would say that in many situations, particularly where there are unexpected developments, I’m looking to avoid becoming a burden or an inconvenience. I think the disciples’ thinking was along this line. It is kind of a “do no harm” mentality. “Doing no harm” is a good thing by the way, not a bad thing.
Jesus, however, is going to do something wholly unexpected.
Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
"Bring them here to me," he said. – Matthew 14:16-18
What! Excuse me? Uh, Jesus? We don’t have anything to give them. I mean, there’s someone’s lunch over there, but what is that to all this multitude? Jesus’ disciples are just slack jawed, flabbergasted, stunned. What can He mean, “You give them something to eat?”
In the account of this event in the other gospels, the disciples point to their meager portion of loaves and fish stating the obvious. It’s not enough. We would have to go and buy food. They expound on how much it would cost to feed such a crowd. We do not have the money, they say.
In the feeding of the four thousand, the disciples say where can we get so much bread? Even if we had the money, there’s no bakery out here in the wilderness anyway. Their compassion for the crowd was pragmatic. Their evaluation of their resources is likewise pragmatic.
What is pragmatism? What does pragmatic mean? It’s like The Princess Bride, you keep using that word, does it mean what you think it means? Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines pragmatic as, “relating to matters of fact or practical affairs often to the exclusion of intellectual or artistic matters: practical as opposed to idealistic.” The same dictionary defines pragmatism as “a practical approach to problems.”
I happened to read Hebrews 11 this week as a part of my regular daily reading. I’ve mentioned it a few times before that I’ve been reading through the J.B. Phillips translation of the New Testament. I do recommend reading and rereading Scripture. I also would recommend reading different versions. It can be refreshing and help you see the depth of the Scriptures.
In the NIV, Hebrews 11:11 says, “And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered Him faithful who had made the promise.” By faith Sarah was enabled to bear children even though she was past childbearing age. That is neat.
The J.B. Phillips translation says it like this, “It was by faith that even Sarah gained the physical vitality to become a mother despite her great age, and she gave birth to a child when far beyond the normal years of child-bearing. She could do this because she believed that the one who had given the promise was utterly trustworthy.”
Abraham was 100 years old. Sarah was 90. Ninety! She wasn’t just past childbearing age. She was way, way past childbearing age. I don’t mean to bring back difficult memories for anyone and I don’t even know what I’m talking about really, but the Phillips translation points out that Sarah gained the physical vitality needed to bear a child. Apart from God, such a birth, even if pregnancy were possible, would be impossible.
How could she do it? “Because she considered Him faithful who had made the promise.” “She could do this because she believed that the one who had given the promise was utterly trustworthy.”
It is good to have these examples of the faith to reflect upon. There is almost an absurdity to faith, especially to those who do not believe. If God did not reveal Himself to us [through His miraculous Creation and through His inerrant Word and by His Holy Spirit], surely we would not believe.
And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. – Matthew 14:19-21
I don’t know what to add. You have the facts there before you. It was a miracle, a miracle of an enormous magnitude. Five loaves and two fish fed as many as 10,000 people.
Interestingly, my study bible does point out that the Jews did not permit women and children to eat with men in public. Therefore, the women would have to be in a separate group. Again, I think we can see Jesus compassion even in the direction to have them sit down. Other gospels explain that He had them sit in groups of about fifty. That would have avoided a stampede for one thing. It also puts everyone on equal footing. If the women and children were expected to be in a separate group, then everyone was in separate groups.
I will point out one more thing. They picked up the excess. This seems surprising. Here is Jesus just making food out of thin air. Why pick up the leftovers? Jesus can just make more. Maybe we should save five loaves and two fish for the next miracle? Is that the right formula? This miraculous feeding of the five thousand was not a ministry in and of itself. It was part of Jesus’ demonstrating his divine power, and yes, meeting a need.
I don’t want to get into too much of an aside, but the Old Testament prophet Elisha was the successor to the prophet Elijah. Do you remember him? Elisha asked for a double portion of God’s spirit when Elijah was taken up into heaven. Then, Elisha went on to perform twice as many miracles as Elijah. It was a sort of numerical fulfillment of Elisha’s prayer. It turns out that Jesus performs a miracle similar to each of Elisha’s but on a far greater scale. Elisha asked his servant to put 20 loaves of bread out to serve 100 men. The servant balked at the idea saying, “How can I do that?” It is not enough to feed them. Now, we see Jesus multiply five loaves and two fish to feed thousands. The Jewish people would have known this. Back in Matthew chapter 12, we heard Jesus say that One who was greater than Solomon was here. Now, with this miracle, we see that One who is greater than Elijah and Elisha is here. Not a little bit greater, a lot greater. More on that in a moment.
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. – Matthew 14:22-23
This departure certainly seems abrupt. Immediately. Time to leave. You can imagine the people just finishing up their meal. They had eaten until they were satisfied. They were pleasantly full perhaps still sitting in groups waiting to see what might happen next. Perhaps talking excitedly among themselves. The account of these events in the gospel of John sheds a little more light on why there was such an abrupt end to the miraculous day.
John (6:15) explained that Jesus knew what was on the people’s hearts. In fact, they intended to come and make Him king by force. But that wasn’t why Jesus came. He wasn’t on earth to begin a great earthly kingdom. He was here to establish an eternal kingdom that we could be a part of. And so, Jesus dismisses the crowd. No doubt as much to their surprise as to the surprise of the disciples to be sent off immediately in the boat. I mean weren’t the disciples likely thinking, um Jesus, how are you going to join us on the other side of the lake? Where are we going to meet?
It is now that the needs of those who followed Him have been met. Jesus finally has a moment to himself. He uses it wisely to go up on the mountainside to pray. In the solitude of the late evening and early night, Jesus prayed. So, for you night owls, you don’t always have to get time with God in the morning. Jesus Himself gives us examples of both alone time with God before sunrise and after sunset.
Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. – Matthew 14:23-26
Jesus had to get across the lake somehow. He could have walked along the shore. Instead, he walks across the water. This is another comparison miracle between Jesus and Elisha. Elisha made a borrowed axe head float, something that likely weighed five to ten pounds. Jesus as a full-grown man is able to walk on top of the water. Certainly, he weighed more than 100 pounds, probably close to 150 pounds. Elisha caused the axe head to float long enough so the man who lost it was able to pull it out. In the account found in John’s gospel, he specifies that Jesus walked three or three and a half miles. The Sea of Galilee is not an enormous body of water. It is 8 miles wide and 13 miles long. So again, Jesus’ miracle here is another scale above any miracle by Elisha. He’s walking in the middle of the lake! He’s been walking on the water for an hour or more.
They could see Jesus because it was shortly before dawn. The wind was against the boat, so Jesus could gain on them even though he was walking. According to John, the sea was rough which makes it seem even more remarkable that Jesus was walking on the water. Incredible. How do you get traction on water? Is it anything like walking on ice? There are only two people that know as we’ll see in a minute.
In Luke’s account, Jesus is about to pass the boat when they see Him. I think that makes their alarm all the greater. It would have been startling enough to see him at a distance. I would say a shock or surprise is what makes us jump or even cry out. Imagine you are out in a boat in the wind and waves. You do not see that there is someone walking on the water until He’s right up on top of you. I think I would cry out in fear. I do not think I’d be able to articulate, “It’s a ghost.” The best I’d be able to come up with would be, “Yaaahaaa” or something. Of course, once one person cries out, then it is easy to just join right in.
There is a verse missing, I think. It is the one where it says Jesus burst out laughing. You have to admit, this seems like the greatest prank of all time. The beauty of a prank is that it cannot be anticipated. No one would expect their friend and teacher to come walking out on the water. No, I am just kidding. In fact, there is no verse about Jesus laughing. That’s one aspect we can look forward to about experiencing when we see Him face to face. The gospels don’t give us a view of Jesus’ joy and mirth, but though He is a man acquainted with sorrow, Jesus is the most joyful person because joy is one of the fruit of the Spirit. Hebrews also talks about how Jesus endured the cross and scorned its shame for the joy set before Him. I am certain we will see our Lord smile and laugh in due time. I do not know exactly what it will be like, but it is going to be wonderful. It will bless our souls.
But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." – Matthew 14:27
Jesus does not laugh at their expense. He immediately calms their fears. I let this verse stand alone because it is a good one to remember. No matter what you are going through. No matter how bad things get. Jesus is speaking to you, too. Take courage! Jesus is with you. Do not be afraid.
"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" – Matthew 14:28-31
Much has been written about Peter’s lack of faith. I think about it the other way round. Peter had a lot of faith. He was willing to step out of the boat in the first place. I do not think I would even have asked. Peter had great faith in Jesus. Faith that it was in fact Jesus on the water. Faith that Jesus would be willing to call him out onto the water. Maybe let that one sink in for a minute. Peter had faith that if the person walking on the water was Jesus, then Jesus would want Peter to come out to Him. It was not until the Last Supper (John 14:12) that Jesus told the disciples that they would do greater things than He had done.
Peter walked on water. So that makes two people in the history of the world who have walked on water, Jesus and Peter. Peter got to do that because he asked. That was certainly a special privilege.
It is also true that Peter took his eyes off Jesus once he got out on the water. As a fisherman, Peter was well aware of the predicament he was putting himself in. He’s on the water. Rough water that brought their boat to a standstill such that a person walking on water was moving faster than the boat. Peter let “the things of this world” take precedence over his faith in Jesus at that moment. That was the moment he started to sink.
How are you doing right now? Are you starting to sink a little, or maybe even more than a little? If so, then follow Peter’s example and cry out! Lord, save me! Immediately, Jesus reached out and caught him. Jesus will catch us, too.
I do not know if many of you will remember this song. I haven’t heard it in quite some time. It was recorded by Scott Krippayne. I didn’t know much about him, so I did look him up real quick. He’s better known as a songwriter than a recording artist. More than 150 of his songs have been recorded by others which seem pretty remarkable to me. For the younger boys in our congregation, it turns out that he won a Daytime Emmy for writing the theme music for PAW Patrol. Okay, I digress. I was talking about a song he wrote. The title is “Sometimes He Calms the Storm.” I’m going to read through it because I think it is instrumental to our understanding about different ways Jesus catches us.
All who sail the sea of faith
Find out before too long
How quickly blue skies can grow dark
And gentle winds grow strong
Suddenly fear is like white water
Pounding on the soul
Still we sail on knowing
That our Lord is in control
Sometimes He calms the storm
With a whispered peace be still
He can settle any sea
But it doesn't mean He will
Sometimes He holds us close
And lets the wind and waves go wild
Sometimes He calms the storm
And other times He calms His child
He has a reason for each trial
That we pass through in life
And though we're shaken
We cannot be pulled apart from Christ
No matter how the driving rain beats down
On those who hold to faith
A heart of trust will always
Be a quiet peaceful place
Sometimes He calms the storm
With a whispered peace be still
He can settle any sea
But it doesn't mean He will
Sometimes He holds us close
And lets the wind and waves go wild
Sometimes He calms the storm
And other times He calms His child
And so, for each of us, however our circumstances turn out, let us hold fast to faith like Sarah, not only faith for physical vitality, but faith for spiritual vitality, placing our faith freshly in Christ for each moment. I fail at this constantly, but let us each time we miss an opportunity come again to Jesus who will not reject us. He loves us.
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." – Matthew 14:32-33
These are Jesus closest followers. They have been with Jesus more than anyone. They have heard his teachings many times. They have seen the miracles. They have been sent out by Jesus and given authority over evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and sickness. And yet, we are still two chapters away from Peter’s confession where Jesus asks the disciples who do they think that He is. Peter answers that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16) This moment in the boat on the lake seems to be a special moment for the disciples. This is the first moment where it is recorded that the disciples worshiped Jesus.
What a privilege it is to be able to draw near and to worship Jesus. I mentioned the J.B. Phillips translation earlier. I would like to return to it again. This time to Hebrews 12 (v.22-24). It says …
You have been allowed to approach the true Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have drawn near to the countless angelic army, the great assembly of Heaven and the Church of the first-born whose names are written above. You have drawn near to God, the judge of all, to the souls of good men made perfect, and to Jesus, mediator of a new agreement, to the cleansing of blood which tells a better story than the age-old sacrifice of Abel.
It is this Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, the Son of God, who has made this possible. He is worthy of worship.
When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed. – Matthew 14:34-36
We come now to the close of our passage for today. Contrast what happens here to what the people of Jesus’ hometown did. They doubted, they took offense at Jesus, and they did not experience many miracles.
The people at Gennesaret sent word to all the surrounding areas. Jesus is here. The people came to Him. They sought His healing. And they were healed.
I will close with one more thought from Hebrews at the end of chapter 11. Remember, chapter 11 contains the hall of faith. It talks about many heroes of the faith from the Old Testament. After mentioning them, it says (Hebrews 11:39-40) …
All these won a glowing testimony to their faith, but they did not then and there receive the fulfilment of the promise. God had something better planned for our day, and it was not his plan that they should reach perfection without us.
We too with the believers of the Old Testament and those followers of Christ since His first coming while they were on the earth have not yet experienced the complete fulfillment of the promises of God. We have not yet seen Christ face to face, but we will. And there are glories yet to come. As I John 3:2 explains, “what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Let us rest upon this hope and continue to place our faith in Christ every day. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, You are amazing. Thank You for coming to save us. Thank You for all the miracles You performed to establish You identity for us. Most of all, thank You for the resurrection. You have truly overcome this world. We worship You. Amen.
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