Friday, July 18, 2025

Matthew 14:12-16

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12 Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. 13 When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. 14 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. 15 When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.” 16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” ~ Matthew 14:12-16

Today,  we return to our study of Matthew 14 where John the Baptist has been beheaded by Herod Antipas at the behest of his adulterous wife, Herodias. This was a sad ending to John's life, but this is how the world treats those who speak the truth which condemns them. John had rebuked Herod Antipas for his divorce and incestuous relationship with his sister-in-law, and he paid the steepest price. People love their sin so much that they are willing to kill others in order to live in the sin which is destroying them.  

In v.12-13 of today's passage we read, "12 Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. 13 When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities."

John the Baptist's followers buried John in a grave because they knew a grave is a statement of faith in the resurrection. The idea of placing a body in the ground illustrates the victory Christ has gained over sin and death on our behalf. We would not have a hope of our resurrection without death. Death provides for us the picture of the seed. When the seed is put in the ground, it becomes an illustration of our faith that we will be resurrected one day from the dead. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the cornerstone of the Christian faith and it is the best attested fact in human history. It was predicted in the Old Testament over and over, and, by Christ Himself. During the forty days following His resurrection, the Lord Jesus showed Himself to be alive at various times and places to many people who told others what they had seen. Thomas not only saw Jesus' nail prints, he felt them. Then he concluded that the Lord Jesus was God. In fact, according to 1 Corinthians 15 the Lord Jesus appeared to more than 500 people at one time after His resurrection. If He had not raising from the dead it would have been easy to prove it as fake news. 

In v.14 of today's passage we read, "And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick."

The Lord Jesus often sought solitude so He could converse with His Father in heaven. It was after his cousin's death that the Lord Jesus spent much time praying. It was from that posture that He recognized the needs of the great multitude of people that had gathered around Him. When He saw the people, it was a lot more than just seeing them with His eyes, it was a perception that enabled Him to see their needs. This is where pain and prayer leads us, to have eyes to see the real needs of others. As a result, the Lord Jesus was "moved with compassion" for the people.  Compassion is a deep awareness of the sufferings of others producing a deep emotional response that moves us to act on the behalf of them. The compassion of the Lord Jesus was not just a passive feeling; it was an active force that drove Him to serve others selflessly. This deep seated compassion was what fueled the ministry of the Lord Jesus, and it is what fuels ours. Most often it is our own personal pain that propels us to act compassionately on the behalf of others. The key is that we learn to embrace the Lord first through our pain.

In v.15-16 of today's passage we read, "15 When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, 'This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.' 16 But Jesus said to them, 'They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.'"

The word "deserted" is strategically mentioned twice in this passage. "Deserted" means there was nothing or no one there. It was a place of abandonment and emptiness and loneliness. It is through our lack that the Lord Jesus reveals His abundance. Through our pain and emptiness God reveals to us that He is the answer to all of our problems and the problems of those to whom we minister. It is through our pain that we gain God's heart not only for ourselves but also for others. God's power always shows up best in our weaknesses and when we have deserted the self life we are positioned to begin to know His expressed in and to and through ours.

The disciples thought the answer for the people's hunger was found in the villages. The crowds were an inconvenience to the disciples. They thought the answer was to send them away but it is never a good idea to send people away from the Lord Jesus. All we need is in Him but we are often found scurrying in all directions for satisfaction, but He is the Bread of Life. Coming to the Bread of Life means we have come to recognize He is essential for our existence. The Lord Jesus Christ is "the life" because He is the only source of everlasting life.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:21, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Transliterated literally, it looks like this: "to live Christ, to die gain." This is not a slogan, it is a daily experience for the believer who has come to the end of himself. It is a call to share every moment, whether in joy or in pain, as an opportunity to invite Christ to live His life in us, to us, and through us. It is a life shaped by Him and His grace, marked by purpose, and filled with hope. As believers in the Lord Jesus we will have difficulties, but He brings His love and His joy and His peace to meet these difficulties. True life is found in experiencing Christ for ourselves and allowing Him to express Himself to us and through us.