Awe - 4

Awe - 4

Matthew 14:13-33

Introduction

By the time we get to Matthew 14, Jesus has already performed numerous awe-inspiring miracles.

Healed all the sick (4:24) Cleansed a leper (8:1-4) Cured a Roman centurion’s servant (8:5-13) Cooled a fever (8:14-15) Calmed the storm (8:23-27) Exorcised demons (8:28-32) Restored a paralytic (9:1-8) Stopped a desperate woman’s twelve-year discharge of blood (9:20-23) Raised a little girl from the dead (9:18-26) Opened the eyes of the blind (9:27-30) Made the mute speak (9:32-33) Healed a man with a withered hand (12:9-13)

All of these have been designed to ignite awe in our hearts for the awesome power of Jesus over all things. Now in chapter 14, Matthew records for us two miracles that together serve as the crescendo for putting Jesus’ power on display. Both of these miracles highlight not only the power of Jesus, but the powerlessness of his disciples.

Matthew 14:13-21 - 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 text begins with “Now when Jesus heard this…” What did he hear? He had just received news of the assassination of John the Baptist at the hand of King Herod. Jesus wants to withdraw from the crowds and get some alone-time to grieve and pray. But the crowds will hear nothing of that. Jesus just cannot escape from this crowd just yet.

The crowds watch him set sail and since the Sea of Galilee is so small, they can guess his trajectory. They walk to the other side and are waiting there for him when he lands. I imagine this could have been quite frustrating for he and the disciples. They are in mourning over the loss of their friend and family member. They just want some peace and quiet. But Jesus doesn’t respond in frustration. v. 14 - “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

Apparently this goes on all day long and into the evening. At that point the disciples step in, in an attempt to avoid a catastrophe. They are in a desolate area and there is a large crowd with them, and none of them have eaten all day. There are very few towns where they are on the northern shore of the Sea, with a crowd of ~20,000 (5,000 men plus women and children). They counsel Jesus to send them away so they can “buy food for themselves.”

v. 16 - But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” How in the world are they supposed to do that? Ok, Jesus, let me just whip something up with this dirt and air that we have! They argue that they only have a little bit of food…five loaves of bread and two fish. John’s gospel tells us that this food came from a little boy…so this isn’t a feast for a crowd, it is a little kid’s lunch that his mom packed. The word for ‘loaves’ is better translated as ‘buns.’ At best this could feed 2-3 people. What about the other 19,997? This is impossible. Again, John’s gospel tells us that the disciples declare that it would take 8 months wages to feed a crowd so large. They are powerless to fix this problem.

v. 18 - And he said, “Bring them here to me.” That’s right, it is impossible for you to accomplish this. You are powerless to get it done. Give it to me and I’ll take care of it. The implications of that, the applications of that, in your life cannot be overstated. There are times you will face where you are powerless. So take what you have…your time, your energy, your ideas, your plans, your abilities, your experience…and give them to Jesus. Watch him do something incredible.

Because that is what he does here. He takes a kid’s Lunchable and multiplies it. When it says in verse 19 that “he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples” the tense of verb means that he just continued to give them the food. It was multiplying in his hands as he handed it out. The entire crowd eats their fill and are satisfied. And there were leftovers! Jesus not only meets needs, he does so in abundance.

Outside of the resurrection, this is the only miracle Jesus performs that is recorded in all four Gospel accounts. Why? What makes this one so special? Is it merely to show that he is so nice and kind to help people? It is so much more than that. It is recorded to display for the world to see what one author called Jesus’ “compassionate power.” The disciples are powerless, but Jesus holds all power.

Matthew’s account of this miracle is unique in that he does not record the crowd’s reaction to it. Typically, as I am sure you’ve noticed over the last few weeks, when Jesus is finished with a miracle, the crowd will marvel, be astonished, or even be afraid at such power. But here there is no mention of how the crowd reacted. They just eat, burp, and leave. And he goes right into the next miracle. This is because Matthew wants you to see that these miracles are linked. They develop a theme we have to come to grips with.

Matthew 14:22-27 - 22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

Once he sends the disciples away and dismisses the crowds, Jesus finally gets that peace and quiet he has been searching for. He grieves, he prays long into the night. By this point, around the fourth watch of the night, which was from 3-6am, the boat is still making its trek across the lake. But they are rowing into a headwind and the waters are getting choppy. They are, verse 24, “beaten by the waves.” The word for ‘beaten’ is the word used for ‘torture.’ The conditions on the Sea are torturous right now. And then there is Jesus.

He comes strolling up to them, walking on the water. The disciples in the boat are rightly “terrified.” They cry out in fear, thinking it is a ghost. But then Jesus speaks to them, assuring them they have no reason to fear, it’s him. Does it concern anyone else that Jesus didn’t respond by saying, “Oh come on you guys, there’s no such thing as ghosts!”? Upon finding out that it is Jesus, Peter makes a bold move.

Matthew 14:28-33 - 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

What an incredible moment for Peter? It’s all stormy and windy, the waves are crashing, the sea mist is blinding…but he takes that first fearful step out of the boat and onto the water. We don’t know how far he walked, but he did in fact walk. But he sees the wind and the storm and, as his name literally translates as ‘rock,’ he sinks like one. He cries out for saving and Jesus immediately takes hold of him and they get into the boat. The only reasonable response from those in the boat is to worship.

As we saw a couple weeks ago with the account of Jesus calming the storm in Matthew 8, there is a tendency to allegorize this story. We read an account like this and are tempted to think that the message is this…Jesus comes to us during the storms of life, and if we will just keep our eyes on Jesus, we too can walk on water. But is that really the moral of the story? Absolutely not!

Just as the disciples were powerless to feed the multitudes and Jesus had all power, so now Peter cannot walk on the water, but Jesus can. That is the point of this text…you can’t, Jesus can. That’s the point of both of these miracles…you can’t, Jesus can. You are powerless, he has all power. Jesus can…wouldn’t that be a great motto to adopt to guide your life? Jesus can. Maybe you could print that out and frame it somewhere you’ll see it everyday. Maybe write that on a slip of paper and keep it as a bookmark in your Bible, so when you sit down everyday to read, you’ll be reminded of its life-changing truth.

I can’t see how this is going to turn out. Jesus can. I can’t figure out this problem. Jesus can. I can’t fix this issue. Jesus can. I can’t repair my marriage. Jesus can. I can’t stop this addiction. Jesus can. I can’t do what I need to do. Jesus can.

We get a glimpse of this same truth in the OT book of Exodus. The Israelites had been in slavery in Egypt for over 400 years. They cry out to God for deliverance and He answers. He calls a man named Moses to confront Pharaoh and then lead His people out of bondage into freedom. In Exodus 3, Moses is a shepherd in the desert of Midian. God sets a bush on fire to get Moses’ attention. As Moses approaches, God tells him to take off his shoes for He is standing on holy ground in the presence of the Lord. God calls him to the noble task of going to Pharaoh and delivering His people. Moses is less than thrilled at the overwhelming task God sets before Him.

Moses offers multiple excuses as to why he is not the right guy for such a job. He is not a good speaker. He is not powerful enough. He is not persuasive enough. He is not the guy for this. God answers all his concerns. Moses though is not finished. Suppose I go to Pharaoh at the high court of Egypt to tell them that God has sent me. What if they ask me your name? They have gods named Horus, Osiris, and Ra. I don’t even know your name. What if the Israelites ask me your name? God responds by telling him this:

You tell them I AM has sent you. Gee God, that is so clear and helpful. Why is that name so great? Well, it is God’s covenant, personal name. Yahweh. Anytime you see the word ‘Lord’ in all caps in your Bible, it is a translation of Yahweh. But it literally translates as I AM…hinting at God’s eternal, divine nature. At his overwhelming power. But it also, I think, puts Moses’ excuses in proper context. God is “I AM”…Moses is “I am not.” I am not the guy for this. I am not powerful. I am not persuasive. I am not qualified for this. I AM.

It is this particular name for God that Jesus adopts in the NT. Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus will refer to himself as I AM 14x. Seven times he will use what is called a Predicate I Am statement…I am the vine, I am the way, truth, and the life, I am the good shepherd. And 7 more times he uses what are called the Absolute I am statements, where he just identifies himself as I am. The most well known is in John 8:58 where Jesus tells the religious leaders, “Before Abraham was born, I am.” It is a clear declaration of his divinity.

But these declarations are not just limited to John, there is one right here in Matthew 14. In verse 27 when Jesus is trying to calm them down after they see him walking on the water, he says, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” Unfortunately the English translation skews it a bit so as to make it understandable…but what Jesus actually says is “Take heart; I AM. Do not be afraid.”

That is the focal point of the entire account. The phrase ‘I AM’ is the perfect center of the text. There are exactly 91 words before and 91 words after. You may be powerless over some situation you find yourself in. You may not be able to fix something that needs fixing. You are not…I AM. You can’t…Jesus can.

Conclusion

There is an old method of doing evangelism called Evangelism Explosion. It was created by D. James Kennedy, a pastor in Florida. The tactic begins by asking another person this question: if you were to die tonight and stand before God’s judgement seat and he asked you, “Why should I let you into my Heaven?”, what would you say?

Now, the question is a total set up to force the person to see the inadequacy of their own moral goodness. Is there really anything that you could offer God in that moment that could convince the High and Holy Exalted God of the Universe to let you in? What we have been talking about is the right answer to that question. So let’s say you die tonight and stand before God’s judgement seat and He asks you, “Why should I let you into my Heaven?”

Are you good enough? I am not. Are you strong enough? I am not. Are you moral enough? I am not. Are you godly enough? I am not. Are you righteous enough? I am not. Are you holy enough? I am not.

I am not…but I know I AM. Because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, by his grace alone, I am forgiven of all that would keep me out of here. I can only get in because I have been reconciled with God. I am not…but I know I AM.

You can’t do enough good things.

You can’t undo all the bad things.

You can’t stand before God on your own.

But Jesus can. And He invites you to know Him, to love Him.