Matthew 14


John the Baptist Beheaded

¹At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, ²and he said to his attendants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him."
³Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, ⁴for John had been saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her." ⁵Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet.
⁶On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much ⁷that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. ⁸Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." ⁹The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted ¹⁰and had John beheaded in the prison. ¹¹His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. ¹²John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

Matthew 14:1-12

Explanation:

A Prophet Martyred (14:1-12)
The parallels between the missions of John and Jesus have been building toward the climax of this paragraph. John has introduced Jesus, proclaiming the same message that Jesus would (3:2; 4:17). After Jesus promises persecution and speaks of prophets (10:17-42), he praises John in prison as his ally (11:2-19); narratives about those who reject Jesus follow that account (11:20-25; 12:1-14). But nowhere does John's fate prefigure that of Jesus so clearly as here: if Jesus himself proves to be "a prophet without honor" among his people (13:53-58), what is to keep him from the fate of John the Baptist (14:1-12; 17:12)? And if for Jesus, how much more for us who follow him (5:12)?

Herod Antipas's Guilty Conscience (14:1-2)

Antipas believes that John has returned from the dead in the temporary sense exhibited in some biblical resuscitations (1 Kings 17:21-22; 2 Kings 4:34-36), not the final resurrection, which Jewish people generally understood as a corporate event (Dan 12:2). Although Antipas had executed John, he knew very well that John was a righteous man and feared his influence. The more evil a society becomes, the more likely its members are to kill the righteous whose words or lives reproach its character, even if they recognize that the righteous speak truth.

The Powerful Can Mistake Moral Reproof for Political Pronouncements (14:3-4)

Those ensnared in adultery often become blind to common sense, including the warnings of those close to them. Antipas, son of Herod the Great (2:1) and a Samaritan mother, hence Archelaus's full brother (2:22), had functioned as tetrarch over Galilee and Perea since about 4 B.C. He had entered into a politically prudent marriage with a Nabatean princess, perhaps seeking to secure further loyalty from Nabatean subjects within his territory of Perea (Kraeling 1951:89).

But when Antipas divorced his first wife to take his brother's wife, he violated not only Jesus' teaching on the moral indissolubility of marriage (5:31-32) but also the Mosaic law concerning incest (Lev 18:16; 20:21). John thus publicly reproached a public example of immorality. But what John viewed in moral terms Antipas undoubtedly saw in political terms as well (compare Jos. Ant. 18.118; Kraeling 1951:85, 90-91, 143-45). Antipas's plans to divorce his first wife had provoked trouble with her father, the powerful Nabatean king Aretas (on whom see 2 Cor 11:32-33). This trouble ultimately led to war and public humiliation for Antipas (Jos. Ant. 18.113-14, 124-25). That many Nabateans in Perea presumably remained loyal to Aretas further extended the political implications of Herod's affair. A prophet harping on the tetrarch's misbehavior was therefore politically dangerous.

Christians today who take a stand against abortion, exploitation of the poor or racism may be taking a moral stand, but in our polarized society many will read such a stand as politically partisan even when we do not intend it in such terms. The major difference at this point is that John's society did not recognize freedom of speech; publicly denouncing a ruler's character was essentially suicidal. Israel had a long-standing tradition exempting prophets from severe punishment for their speech-a rule that only the most vicious rulers broke. Unfortunately for John, Antipas proved to be such a ruler.

God Can Use Various Means to Restrain Evil (14:5)

In another case the government might be more sensitive to justice than the masses are (compare 27:24-25), but in this case John's popularity with the people protects him from the power of a populist politician. After John's execution, when King Aretas soundly defeated Antipas in war to avenge the latter's rejection of Aretas's daughter, many people believed that Antipas's loss was divine judgment for the execution of John, which by this point had occurred some years before (Jos. Ant. 18.116-19; compare Meier 1992:233).

Antipas Ensnares Himself in Deeper Sin Through Lust and Oaths (14:6-7)

Birthday celebrations were a Greek and Roman rather than Jewish custom, which Antipas readily accommodated (compare also m. `Aboda Zara 1:3); his full brother Archelaus had also been known for drunken parties (see Jos. War 2.29). According to Josephus's briefer account of John's execution, this scene must have taken place at Herod's fortress Machaerus in Perea, near where John had often preached (compare Kraeling 1951:9-10, 92-93). This fortress included a dungeon where John was kept.

Nearly all Jews would have found Herod's lust disgusting: because the girl was the daughter of a woman with whom Antipas was sleeping, desire for her constituted incest (compare Amos 2:7). According to some accounts the girl, Salome, may have been between six and eight years old; more likely she was a virgin of marriageable age (twelve to fourteen), but possibly she was already betrothed or married to Philip the tetrarch (see Hoehner 1972:155-56; Theissen 1991:90-91).

Jewish scholars had devised ways to release people from oaths that would lead to more evil, so no one would have faulted Herod for breaking his promise: life took precedence over oaths. But Antipas is concerned about more than his oath itself. Once Herod has given his oath in front of dinner guests, his "honor" is at stake (compare Esther 1:10-19; Jos. Ant. 18.299); here short-range political considerations take precedence over the long-term ones, and Antipas remains captive to what others may think. In this account Matthew graphically illustrates his earlier principles about the dangers of lust, divorce and oaths (5:27-37).

Speaking for Righteousness Can Elicit Enmity in High Places (14:8)

Antipas had wronged his brother Philip by taking the man's wife; this was an act of adultery in God's sight (5:31-32) and also qualified as incest under the Mosaic law (Lev 20:21). But Herodias wanted vengeance on John for daring to publicly denounce her sin; John must have known that if Antipas's new wife wanted his death, she would ultimately have more influence with Antipas than he would.

John's Friends and Enemies React to His Martyrdom (14:9-12)

Jewish law forbade execution without trial, but the Romans had granted Antipas capital jurisdiction. Freely disregarding Jewish scruples, he granted execution in the least painful Roman style-beheading with a sword (see O'Rourke 1971:174). The delivery of John's head on a platter (v. 11) was a grisly conclusion to the feast presupposed by a birthday party (v. 6) and dinner guests (v. 9).

John's disciples, however, risked their own lives to show up and bury John's body in one final act of love (v. 12). With nowhere else to go, these disciples then find Jesus, the One to whom John had borne witness (3:11-15) and to whom John had sent messengers when in prison (11:2-6). In John's final direct portrayal in the Gospel, then, his martyrdom has sent his remaining disciples to Jesus, the Coming One. May all of us lay such a groundwork that after we are gone those who recall our service may look beyond us to the Lord we proclaimed.

Matthew 14


Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

¹³When 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. ¹⁴When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
¹⁵As 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."
¹⁶Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
¹⁷"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
¹⁸"Bring them here to me," he said. ¹⁹And 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. ²⁰They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ²¹The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Matthew 14:13-21

Explanation:

Feeding the Five Thousand (14:13-21)
Although Jesus attempted to withdraw to a solitary place (v. 13), he was now too popular to escape notice. This narrative teaches us about the host sponsoring the messianic banquet it foreshadows (5:6; 22:2). In the context of other attempted signs workers in the wilderness in Jesus' day, Jesus' sign in the wilderness involves a clear messianic statement (Witherington 1990:91, 100). But the narrative especially instructs us concerning God's caring provision for his people in this age (6:11; 7:9-10; 15:25-28, 29-39). It also stands in deliberate contrast to the drunken feast of the evil ruler Herod Antipas in 14:6-11 (Lane 1974:227); had we titled the former "Herod's party," we might have titled this passage "God's party."
Some problems require God's direct intervention. The disciples were right to be concerned about the people's hunger but intended to solve the problem in a purely natural way (vv. 15, 17). Our expectations of what God can do often are too small; providing food in the wilderness was technically impossible, but God had used Moses, Elijah and Elisha for feeding miracles. (The present miracle especially resembles one performed by Elisha-2 Kings 4:42-44.)

Feeding multitudes by natural means is, of course, appropriate (as in 2 Kings 6:22); rabbis also delegated to disciples the task of managing an academy's food (for example, Pes. Rab. 25:2). But few towns were nearby, and towns were generally small, at most accommodating only a few visitors in towns of a few thousand people. Further, most of the day's bread would be consumed by evening (Mt 14:15). It would have been nearly impossible for roughly ten thousand people (five thousand men plus women and children-v. 21) to fend for themselves in the countryside.

In this light, the disciples' practical objection (v. 17) merely recalls that of Elisha's disciple (2 Kings 4:43): the master's command (Mt 14:16; 2 Kings 4:42; compare 1 Kings 17:16) was impossible. But both Elisha's disciple and Jesus' disciples should have been with their master long enough to expect that what the master said he had power from God to perform. The God of the exodus, who divided waters (Ex 14:21) and provided manna from heaven (Ex 16:14-18), was at work in history again (2 Kings 2:8-14; 4:38-44; Mt 14:13-33).


God often begins with what we have. Jesus often takes what we bring to him and multiplies it (vv. 16-19). When Moses insisted that he needed a sign to take with him, God asked him what was already in his hand and then transformed it (Ex 4:1-3), using what had been merely a shepherd's rod even to part the sea (Ex 14:16). When a widow needed financial help, Elisha asked what she had in her house; she responded that she had only a small amount of oil, so he commanded her to borrow jars into which to pour the oil and then multiplied it until all the jars were full (2 Kings 4:1-7). Although God created the universe from nothing, he normally takes the ordinary things of our lives and transforms them for his honor (see, for example, Judg 6:14; 15:15-19). The narrative does not even report that Jesus prayed for the food to multiply; confident that he represents the Father's will, he merely gave thanks (the meaning of the Greek expression that some translations render "blessed"; "blessing" food merely means giving thanks for it), which was the standard Jewish custom before and normally after meals (as in m. Berakot 6:5-6; Safrai 1974-1976c:802).

God does miracles only when we need them. This miracle is greater than the manna of the exodus; none of the manna would be left over (Hooker 1983:50). But manna was never left over because it was to be provided every day, whereas this miracle is a rare one. So much was left over that each of the twelve disciples gathered food in his wicker basket (v. 20). The leftovers stress the lavish abundance of God's miraculous power in Christ (compare Theissen 1983:67); many people felt that a good host should provide enough food that some would always be left over (as in Plut. Table-Talk 7.4 and Mor. 702D-704B).

Yet the gathering of the leftovers (compare 2 Kings 4:7, 44; 7:1-2, 16-20; 1 Kings 17:16; Jn 6:12) teaches us something further. Most moralists condemned wastefulness and emphasized thrift (for example, Juv. Sat. 1.58-60; Ps-Phocyl. 138). Jesus trusted that God's provision would always be available when it was needed (compare 16:9-11), but like most moralists he refused to squander what was available. The extra bread, which was more than the amount started with, could be used for other meals.

Everett Cook, a retired Pentecostal minister running a street mission, confronted an associate who had a growth on his nose but refused to see a doctor. "God will heal me," the man insisted.

"If you needed a miracle, God would give you one," Everett retorted, "but right now he's given you a doctor and medical insurance. You need to use what he's given you."

The next time they met the man's growth was much bigger, but the man still insisted, "I am healed." The third time they met the growth had spread further, and finally the man was thinking that perhaps he needed to see a doctor.


God performed a miracle when he created the world and set its laws in motion, and we are often wise to start with natural means when those are available. God performs miracles to meet our genuine needs, but he will not perform them merely to entertain us.

God is not intimidated by the magnitude of our problem. The disciples saw the size of the need and the littleness of the human resources available; Jesus saw the size of the need and the greatness of God's resources available. Often God calls us to do tasks for him that are technically impossible-barring a miracle.

The day before I was going to call my prospective Ph.D. program to say I was not coming because I had no money, God unexpectedly met my need. And in the summer after I finished my Ph.D., I found myself still unable to locate a teaching position for the fall. After much prayer, one night I finally determined the bare minimum I needed to live on and to store my research that year, and I cried out in despair. Barring a miracle, I thought, I will be on the street this year. Less than twenty-four hours later Rodney Clapp called from InterVarsity Press and offered me a contract to write the IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament I had proposed-plus an unexpected advance that was, to the dollar, what I'd decided I needed for the year. Undaunted by the magnitude of my need, God was teaching me that he alone has the power to meet my needs.

Matthew 14


Jesus Walks on the Water

²²Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
²⁵During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
²⁷But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
²⁸"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
²⁹"Come," he said.
³⁰Then 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!"
³¹Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
³²And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
³⁴When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. ³⁵And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him ³⁶and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

Matthew 14:22-36

Explanation:

Lord of the Sea (14:22-33)
By providing for the crowds, Jesus showed himself greater than a human magician who could just heal some individuals or turn some stones into bread. At the least, Jesus was a prophet like Moses or Elisha (vv. 13-21; Ex 16:14-18; 2 Kings 4:42-44). But by treading on the sea, Jesus now takes a role that the Hebrew Bible had reserved for God alone (Job 9:8; see also Ps 77:19; Hab 3:15; Davies and Allison 1991:504). Nevertheless, as in an earlier storm scene, Matthew is interested here in teaching us not only Christology but also about the requisite faith for disciples (Mt 8:26). Of all the disciples, Peter alone begins to walk, but Jesus regards even his faith as less than what a disciple should have.

The Setting for the Miracle (14:22-24)

From the setting we already see Jesus as a man of prayer (v. 23). Rather than sticking around to reap the political benefits of his miracle, Jesus retires to prayer, which, unlike political advancement, is central to his mission (compare Jn 6:15). We also learn that the fact that disciples face difficult situations does not mean that Jesus is not the One who sent us (Mt 14:22, 24).

Jesus' Coming Should Bring an End to Fear (14:25-27)

If the disciples were still struggling against the winds at the fourth watch of the night-the Romans divided the night into four instead of the Jewish three watches-the disciples must have been exhausted. Probably accustomed to awakening around 6:00 a.m., they instead found themselves still trying to cross the lake between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. We may chide the disciples for accepting the popular notion of ghosts, but the biggest offense here is that they still underestimate Jesus' power. It has not occurred to them that he could know their plight, walk on water to come to them or catch up to them in a storm! To their credit, however, the fear issue seems to be solved once they recognize that their teacher is with them. They knew him well enough to know that if he was there, he would bring them through their storm.

Jesus Wants Us to Imitate His Works (14:28-31)

Although the proposal that Peter walk on water is first Peter's idea (v. 28), Jesus' response indicates that he approves of it (v. 29). Peter is gently reproved not for presumptuously stepping from the boat but for presumptuously doubting in the very presence of Jesus (v. 31; compare 6:30; 8:26; 16:8; 17:20; see Manson 1979:206; France 1985:239). Disciples were expected to imitate their masters, and Jesus is training disciples who will not simply regurgitate his oral teachings but will have the faith to demonstrate his authority in practice as well.

Once Jesus has given the command, walking on water is simply a matter of trusting the One who has performed so many miracles in the past. Peter's failure comes as he observes the wind (14:30), looking to his situation rather than to God's power that is sustaining him. Still, Peter knows by this point whom to cry out to; his feeble attempt to walk on water is no more feeble than our first attempts to walk on land. Our faith may be more infantile than Peter's if we have never even tried to step out in obedience to Jesus' commands or direction for our lives; many of us have less practice walking in faith than two-year-olds have walking physically.

It is important to note that while Jesus is disappointed with Peter's inadequate faith, Peter has acted in greater faith than the other disciples-he is learning. Faith cannot be worked up by formulas or emotion, but it grows through various tests as we continue to trust our Lord and he continues to teach us. Faith grows out of a relationship with the Person of Jesus, and in no other way.

Jesus Has Authority to Settle Any Crisis (14:32)

As soon as they enter the boat, the wind grows still. Stilling storms was a sign of God's authority in the biblical record (see Davies and Allison 1991:509-10). The disciples may recall an earlier occasion on which Jesus simply commanded and the storm died down (8:26); this time, however, the storm acts out of respect for him-apparently without so much as requiring a word on his part.

Jesus' Power Leads the Disciples to Acknowledge His Identity (14:33)

Their knowledge will still need to be tested outside the excitement of miracles (16:15), but the disciples nevertheless offer the correct response. When we recognize Jesus' works, thereby learning more of his character, the appropriate response is to worship him. This will deepen our relationship of faith with the Lord we love.





Jesus Heals All Who Come (14:34-36)
Jesus had welcomed the crowds (v. 13), temporal though their needs may have been (v. 14). As word continued to spread, ailing people from throughout Galilee came to Gennesaret seeking the only One who could meet their need. Those who had heard of how a woman had been healed by touching the tassel of his talliÃt, his shawl (9:20), sought similar healings for themselves (14:36). Such activity may not have been at the heart of Jesus' mission, but it reflected the heart that motivated his mission: compassion (v. 14).