Famine & Feasting
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 47:54
0 ratings
· 5 viewsThe feasts of tyrants produce famine, while Christ provides feasting in the wilderness.
Files
Notes
Transcript
Call to Worship
Call to Worship
11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.
12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.
15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.
16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
Adoration
Adoration
Confession
Confession
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Message
Message
13 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.
14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
15 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.”
16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”
18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
19 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.
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
The feasts of tyrants produce famine, while Christ provides feasting in the wilderness.
The feasts of tyrants produce famine, while Christ provides feasting in the wilderness.
Unbelieving proximity breeds contempt and hostility.
Unbelieving proximity breeds contempt and hostility.
We saw last week that Jesus’ family saw Christ clearly, yet they were unmoved.
They understood what He was claiming and they were not impressed.
This kind of proximity is dangerous because it has a tendency to harden a person into contempt.
Contempt that looks down their nose at Him thinking themselves better than He because of position, privilege, or upbringing.
But proximity doesn’t just breed contempt, it can also breed hostility.
Hostility from those who feel threatened in their position.
Rulers and tyrants in high positions hear the message that God has sent His Son into the world to rule, they feel the prick of a challenge.
Matthew gives us a bit of a parenthesis in his gospel account.
Jesus gives the teaching of the parables, His family rejects Him, and then Matthew starts to give a comparison between kings.
Now think for a moment:
How do kings present to others their splendor?
They give feasts.
They provide lavish and elegant meals.
As the Queen of Sheba said of Solomon…
8 Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”
You can see what a king is like by the subjects that live in His kingdom.
You can also see what a king is like by their interaction with the truth.
Famine at the feast of unrepentant tyrants.
Famine at the feast of unrepentant tyrants.
Riches isn’t always riches.
Riches can actually be a demonstration of poverty.
Lavish food galore, yet starving.
17 For you say, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,” not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
So the kingdoms of this world are described.
Though they claim they’re rich, they’re poor.
Though they claim they need nothing, they’re pitiable.
1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus,
Jesus’ fame is spreading beyond His hometown.
Now a tetrarch means “ruler of four” or essentially “a petty ruler with less authority than a king” (UBS5 notes).
Rome was in control of Judea at this time, and they would set up lesser authorities to rule.
The Herod mentioned here should not be confused with Herod the Great that we saw in Matthew 2, when he killed the children.
Herod Antipas was his son. And he was wicked like his father.
Notice his concern…
2 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.”
John the Baptist never did any miracles in his ministry.
This may be the reason Herod Antipas believed Jesus to be John back from the dead.
Why would Herod be concerned with this?
Unrepentant tyrants haunted by guilt.
Unrepentant tyrants haunted by guilt.
Guilt has a strange way of making a person paranoid.
Matthew gives us a flashback of John being put into prison for calling out Herod and his current wife.
3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
History tells us that Herod divorced his first wife.
He took Philip’s wife, Herodias as his own.
Herod put John the Baptist, Jesus’ crazy homeschooled cousin, in prison because he was calling out his sin publicly.
His guilt came from walking in sin.
His guilt came from walking in sin.
Guilt comes when we know we’ve done something wrong.
Guilt is the feeling of standing under the condemnation of another.
1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.
It causes us to run when nobody chases.
The wicked run because their guilt attests to their failure.
It makes them flea from anyone that may condemn them.
His guilt from condemning an innocent man.
His guilt from condemning an innocent man.
John the Baptist we’re told is the last of the Old Testament prophets.
He is the Elijah who proceeds.
13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
An insightful Jewish reader would immediately remember a man in the OT like Ahab, who was a wicked and weak ruler during the time of Elijah (1 Kings 16-22).
Ahab was wicked and led Israel away from Yahweh.
Worse yet, he was so weak that he was controlled by a woman like Jezebel.
Jezebel a wicked and ruthless woman that destroys the weak for her own political game.
Just like every wicked seed of the serpent from the garden of Eden, Jezebel seeks Elijah’s life.
And so we will see here with Herodias.
3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
John the Baptist’s preaching was relentless.
His continual appeal to the sinfulness of Herod’s actions.
Herod knew that John did nothing wrong.
It’s even worse because Herod Antipas would often use his Jewish background as a way to gain political power.
Now I want to pause here and notice what John is preaching toward Herod…
I can hear people of our large evangelical churches cry out…
“But John, you need to be more winsome!”
“Don’t focus on such a side issue!”
“You need to keep the ‘main thing the main thing’!”
We need to take a cue from JTB here because all truth is God’s truth.
And it’s especially been entrusted to the Church of Jesus Christ to be the conscience of the nations.
We are called to call out wickedness from whatever sphere it comes from.
But especially those in high places.
5 And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.
He feared his message.
He feared his message.
Herod was afraid of the message because John’s message was a sign of his impending doom coming his way.
He feared the political consequences of his preaching.
He feared the political consequences of his preaching.
John’s message made Herod look bad.
He feared the public opinion.
He feared the public opinion.
Those who fear the court of public opinion cannot fear God.
If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
You either fear God or fear people.
You cannot fear both at the same time.
6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, 7 so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.
This is as scandalous as you may imagine.
Herodias’s daughter, Salome, according to Josephus.
A 12 year old niece paraded before party guest’s.
She was made to dance by her mother as a means of gain for Herodias.
Her seductive dancing pleased Herod.
This led him to make a promise to her that she may have whatever she wished.
We still see these kinds of gross misuses of power. Literally just this week the U.S. House Committee on Ethics voted to withhold information protecting sitting U.S. House members who had sexual harassment or related misconduct. Overwhelmingly, Democrats and Republicans voted (357-65) to withhold the information.
Salome should have never been in a position like this.
Herod should have never promised at all.
This gross display of immorality is always home for the most vile and wicked schemes.
Unrepentant tyrants suppress the truth.
Unrepentant tyrants suppress the truth.
What does a tyrant do to a guy he can’t suppress?
8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”
Tyrants are all the same.
Their goal is power and they use suppression.
Herodias will request the head of JTB.
This has always been the case for the prophets of God.
Those who speak on behalf of God to men are always hated by tyrants.
The prophets live not for ever, but the word takes hold. Sometimes God raises up many faithful ministers out of the ashes of one. This hope there is of God’s trees, though they be cut down…
Illustration – John Knox and Bloody Mary
John Knox who grew up as a Catholic in the halls of the Abbey. Knox was convinced that Scripture alone was to be the churches foundation. Mary, Queen of Scots was a hard nosed Catholic and she thought that her mild manner would sway Knox. Knox referred to the Catholic religion of holding to the Pope as the head of the Church as “according to the appetites of their princes…”
“Madam, a subject born within the same may lawfully resist a tyrant.”
Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God. One man with God outweighs the might of lords.
But the word of God is not bound!
Application –
9 And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given.
Herod’s sorrow is like the sorrow of Pharoah.
He saw what he needed to do yet was unmoved in his action.
He felt bad but was unchanged.
He’s sorry about the consequences it might have toward him, but not for John’s sake.
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke b. Background: Herod’s Execution of John the Baptist (14:3–12)
“Like most weak men, Herod feared to be thought weak”
10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.
John the Baptist lost his head that day.
But he did not lose!
This is what the people of God have always believed about the interaction with the kingdom of men.
Herod serves as an incredible link between John the Baptist and Jesus.
Herod first took John’s life, which signaled to Jesus the increasing hostility toward Him.
But Herod is also seen in the end of Jesus’ life.
7 And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.
8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.
9 So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer.
Jesus answers Pilate multiple times.
But never Herod.
Jesus Christ will not be mocked.
11 And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate.
12 And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other.
The enemies of God become friends.
They’re joined together in their hatred of Christ, like the rest of the world.
This world is ruled by weak tyrants manipulated by ruthless harlots, whereas the kingdom of heaven is ruled by the all-satisfying Savior.
Feasting in the wilderness from the abundant King.
Feasting in the wilderness from the abundant King.
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.
Throughout the gospels, Jesus always withdraws to spend time in prayer with His Heavenly Father.
But here the situation is a little different.
John has been beheaded and hostility is increasing.
But fame is also increasing and Jesus will not be exalted to be king in the way the people want.
So he withdraws into the wilderness.
The desert.
The presence of Christ and his gospel makes a desert place not only tolerable, but desirable; it makes the wilderness an Eden
13 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.
Jesus lost his friend (John the Baptist), he is tired and weary and tried to find time alone “by himself” (Matt 14:13), the crowds heard it and came to Him.
When he saw them he wasn’t annoyed, he wasn’t upset, he fed them.
He satisfied them (Matt 14:20) with what they temporarily wanted because he cared for them.
The heart of Christ was to care for those who are needy, and dejected.
And he did it with one person’s lunch.
14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Abundance springing from compassion.
Abundance springing from compassion.
The same Christ that stood on the hillside of Galilee is the same Christ that sits in the Heavens today.
The same Christ that felt great compassion toward hungry, dejected crowds.
The same Christ that is so radically different from this kings of this age.
Not tyrannical but life giving.
Not oppressive but full of mercy.
Application
A problem begins to arise when you put a crowd in the wilderness.
People became hungry.
15 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.”
The disciples are pragmatists.
They see a problem and they want to practically solve it.
16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
Abundance through provision.
Abundance through provision.
Notice how small the meal the disciples provide to Jesus.
17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”
An ordinary meal around the sea of Galilee, the way we would regard PB&J.
This ordinary meal is made extra-ordinary at the hands of Jesus.
18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 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.
Jesus blessed this small Galilean lunch, and it became a banquet.
The provision of our Lord is over and abundantly more than we can even imagine.
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Jesus equates Himself with the manna that fed the people of Israel in the wilderness.
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
The manna that sustained Israel in the wilderness, is standing before them.
Jesus says that he is the bread of life, that truly satisfies.
Abundance overflowing to all.
Abundance overflowing to all.
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
The feasts of tyrants produce famine, while Christ provides feasting in the wilderness.
The feasts of tyrants produce famine, while Christ provides feasting in the wilderness.
Benediction
Benediction
