Moving Through Matthew (Matt 14:13-34)
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Last week we started Matthew 14 but we only looked at the first part which was Herod’s fear the John the Baptist had been raised. Herod had heard about this man who was doing all these thing, miracles, raising the dead, and Herod thought that the man who had told him of his sin by marrying his brothers sister, had come back to life, that he was resurrected.
I was thinking this week about the mind of Herod. He thought this Jesus was the resurrected John the Baptist. But John never healed anyone. John never performed miracles. John simply came to point to the one who could do all of those things.
Matthew told us in the third chapter when he pointed to the prophesy about John the Baptist:
Matthew 3:3 (ESV)
3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ”
The Baptist wasn’t the Lord, he was just the advert, the announcer, the proclaimer.
But now, the proclamation has been made. God’s purpose in his life was complete, and John’s life ended.
Can you imagine what it is like for John the Baptist today? He is sitting in heaven, in the presence of the one in which he fulfilled his purpose, and he has seen over the last 2000 years those who have believed in the one he was sent to proclaim.
God used John in a mighty way for his purpose. But John was just a man like you and me. He worships God just like any other believer.
So this morning we are going to look at the rest of Chapter 14. Jesus diid some mighty miracles here in Matt 14, but before we see them, I want us to look at reaction to one of them. Lets look together at Matthew 14:33
33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Something happened that caused those in the boat to see him differently. Because they just did not witness a miracle.... but now in what they witnessed they worshiped him.
The word worship here comes from the greek word that means “to kiss the hand.” Someone who would come before the king would bow and kiss the hand of the king to show him honor. It was a sign of respect, but more than just obeying with your words, it was a lifestyle. A way your carried yourself.
And when we read that those in the boat worshipped him (Jesus), it was showing honor to him alone.
This is another one of those verses we see that shows Jesus is God. As a Jewish man, worship was only for God. To worship anyone other than God broke the first first commandment.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”
So why would people worship Jesus if we are only supposed to worship the Lord God?
Because Jesus is God. Jesus is the Lord God. Look at how others worshipped Jesus in the New Testament:
*The Wise Men - Matthew 2
*The leper - Matthew 8
*Some Greeks - Matthew 15
*The man from the tombs - Mark 5
*The blind man - John 5
*The disciples at his resurrection - Matthew 28
*The disciples at his ascension - Luke 24
But that is only from the gospels. The rest of the New Testament also has many places where worship is given to Jesus Christ.
Why did those in the boat, now begin to worship him? I will answer that in moment, but lets look at these two things Jesus did leading up to the point where they worship him.
Look at 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.
Now Matthew continues verse 13 here from what happened in verse 12. Verse 12 ended the account of Herod fearing that Jesus was the resurrected John the Baptist, and we know it wasn’t true.
BY Matthew shows us that Jesus withdrew and went to a quiet place by himself. Was Jesus afraid of Herod? No. But Jesus didn’t want to place himself in a circumstance that Herod could do something to him. Why? It wasn’t his time, it was not God’s plan. God’s plan was that Jesus would go all the way to a cross to die for the sins of the world, not end up like John the Baptist. Do you remember what Herod’s father, Herod the great did? He killed every child two and under trying to find this child king that had been born. So this Herod, Herod Antipus, may have a mind to do the same thing if he fills that his throne could be overtaken.
But we know, his throne was not an early throne it was a heavenly one.
So Jesus withdrew, but the crowd, as they always did, found him. And even when he wants to be alone, by himself. Matthew writes that he had compassion on them and began to heal them.
But look at the place as it is described by Matthew: “he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place”
Now we call this miracle the feeding of the 5000. But look at how many could have been there? Men-5000, but could the woman and the children and there could have been 15,000-20,000 people or more.people go away, eat, then come back. Jesus said no, you should find them something to eat. But hey told Jesus that the only thing they could find was two fish and five loaves of bread. In this day fish and bread were common for most poor people. Making bread did not cost much and anyone can get fish if they take the time to go and pull it from the water.
Now we call this miracle the feeding of the 5000. But look at how many could have been there? Men-5000, but the women and the children and there could have been 15,000-20,000 people or more.
So Jesus took the fish and bread, he blessed it and the scripture says that Matthew 14:20
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
That is a miracle. That is something that only God can do. And God did it, because Jesus did it. (baskets)
Now before we move to verse 22 and another amazing thing that God did, teh apostle John writes of this same event but he gives us a little more information.
Turn to John Chapter 6
14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
They wanted to make him King. They thought this was the one who would overpower the Roman government than was pushing them down hard, taxing them very high. When we today recognize Jesus as King, we understand that he is King because because he is Lord of our lives and Lord of heaven, not because he is a King that rules on earth for a short time. SO again because the crowd was pushing him to take an earthly throne, he knew that wasn't what God’s plan was…he was patient and obedient to the Father and awaited his heavenly throne.
So, lets go back to Matthew 14. Putting together Matthew account with Johns account we see that the crowd was fed, the extra was taken up, the crowd then began to try to take hi as king, so he sent his disciples away in a boat to the other side, then he escaped the crowd by going to a mountain to pray.
Something we can learn here about prayer, and spending time alone with God. Sometimes it is not easy to find a place that is quiet. But you need to try. Jesus always took time to find a place to pray. He withdrew from the business, from the noise, and he spent time praying and spending time with the Father. We need to do that also. We need to find quiet, where we can read our Bible and pray. For those of you who live at A Place of Hope, finding quiet can be a challenge, but it is something that you need to look for. It what our Savior did, and we need to model it as well.
One other thing. I have heard that many people will go to the mountain here and pray. That’s ok. Maybe that is a place that is quiet and desolate. But the mountain does not have power. The power is when we connect with God through prayer.
So lets pickup in Matthew 14:23-27
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.”
The disciples were on the boat, Jesus was on the mountain praying, and a storm had come up the water. At least a mighty wind, because the Bible tells us that the waves had pushed the boat away from the land.
Fourth Watch of the night-between 3am and 6am in the....so it was in the night.
So the disciples, in the boat, teh wind was blowing and the boat was out in the middle of the and teh Scripture says that “he came to them, walking on the sea. (25)
He was walking across the water like you and I would walk down the road. The disciples look out and they are afraid. They even said, It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. (26)
But look what Jesus said from a distance as he was walking on the water....
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
He didn't say, it is me. He didn't say, it’s me Jesus. He said it is I. Why is this important? Do you remember when Moses asked God who he should he say sent him to talk with the leaders f Israel to tell them what God was going to do.
Exodus 3:13–14 (ESV)
13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
It was God who described himself as I am, and it was God here, in the form of man, looking into the boat saying it is I… The meaning behind the title I AM WHO I AM is this…I have always been and I will always be… and Jesus claims the same thing here. He then says there is not need to be afraid.
Peter then speaks up… Matthew 14:28-29
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.
How cool is that. Out in the middle of the sea, water splashing all around and Peter is walking on top of that water like David walks through the market.
He is walking out to the Lord and then something happens. He begins to sink. Now the Matthew doesn't say it here, but notice what happens just before he begins to sink....
Matthew 14:30 (ESV)
30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”
It he is looking at the wind, what is he not looking at? Jesus. He took his eyes off Jesus.
How many times do we struggle in life. The cares of this world will take our attention. We worry about school. We worry about friends. We more about making money. Our eyes are focused on all those things, when our eyes should be focused on Jesus. We don’t understand when things don’t go our way and we feel like we are sinking. It happened to Peter…he took his eyes off. Keep your eyes focused on the I Am. We all struggle with things, but when we do, put your eyes back on Jesus.
Jesus asked him why he doubted? If only he would have kept his eyes focused on Jesus, we would have walked all teh way to Jesus and back tot he boat without Jesus holding him up. Keep your eyes, keep your life focused on Jesus give Jesus your doubts, turn them over to him.
James probably had this time in mind when he wrote this: James 1:6
James 1:6 (ESV)
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
Now we come to the place we started today. In verse 32 it says that when they got to the boat, the wind stopped.
First who are those in the boat? The disciples.
They had seen the feeding of the 5000+. They had seen Jesus walking on the water. They saw Peter walking on the water. And finally they saw the strong wind stop when he put his leg into the boat.
Then what happened? Matthew 14:33
Matthew 14:33 (ESV)
33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
We talked earlier that they worshipped him and what that meant, but why did they worship him? They worship him because they now believed he was the Son of God.
This was the first time in Matthew that this title SON OF GOD was used by men. That is why they worshipped him. They could not hold back they fact that they were in the presence of God and God alone must be worshipped.
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Many people, even today see Jesus as just a man, but the Bible, the disciples and apostles, and even me claim that he is God.
And this God did something really cool for you. Just like he reached out his hand to save Peter from drowning in the water, he reaches out his hand to save you from a life that is separated from him.
Because that is what we deserve. We deserve t be separated from him and have no hope after this life is finished, but we do have hope, because of Jesus.
Peter: Lord, save me!