Life Project Blog

…and the crowds went with Him!

Matthew 14:13-21

When 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. (14:13)

When Jesus heard about the brutal murder of John the Baptist in Herod’s jails, He withdraw from the public spotlight, and Matthew begins a new section in his narrative, a section in which Jesus seeks to spend time working with His disciples so that they might come to understand both His identity and His mission.

But the people were loathe to let Him step into the background, and when they heard that He had departed from Nazareth and was headed to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, the word spread quickly, and by the time Jesus and the Twelve arrived, there was a very large crowd waiting for them. Notice in the text that Jesus, who was trying to get away from crowds, took pity on them and healed all who needed healing, rather than either sending them away or moving on Himself.

As it was getting late, and they were in a remote location, the disciples suggest to Jesus that He send them on their way so they would still have time to buy something to eat in the nearby towns, but Jesus had another idea: Why don’t you guys give them something to eat?

Sadly, they only had a few loaves of bread and two fish with them, but Jesus told the crowd to take a seat in the grass and then began to multiply the food on hand, and they ended up feeding 5,000 men, plus women and children. How many people in total were fed with a few loaves of bread and two fish? Although I know of a few scholars who have somehow calculated the “exact” number, I’ll just leave it at 5,000 “plus” and be satisfied that we have a major miracle on our hands.

Oh yes, I almost forgot; they also had 12 baskets of leftovers…

So much has been written about this series of events, so many sermons, lessons… and so much speculation about the circumstances of Jesus’ attempted withdrawal, Herod’s intentions toward Jesus in light of his fear that Jesus was John come back from the dead to get him, not to mention moralizing about the miracle itself. Let’s approach it a little differently…

What is actually in the text?

1. It’s getting late in the day, and the people are in a remote place; there isn’t even a McDonald’s nearby.
2. The disciples, good men that they are, notice that there might be a problem coming along with the lack of food for this large crowd of people, and suggest that Jesus send them on their way while they can still buy something to eat.
3. Jesus, who has withdrawn to “disciple” the disciples, throws the challenge back on the Twelve: You find them something. No problem right? After all, there are only 5,000 plus hungry mouths to feed.
4. The disciples attempt to deflect this impossible task by pointing out (accurately) that they only have five loaves of bread and two fish. In their defense, I’m not sure that five loaves of bread and two fish are quite enough to feed 13 grown men after a long journey and a very full day with the crowd. Yet, it would seem they have overlooked something in their human thinking; they were in the presence of the Kingdom of heaven.
5. Jesus took care of the rest.

Could it be that Jesus is trying to teach the disciples that in our very rational and reasonable human thinking, we tend to forget that we have more than human potential to help us deal with the challenges we face? It seems worth considering to me.

Matthew 14:1-12

This passage is the last in the section of Matthew’s Gospel that began in 11:2 in which we have seen the growing misunderstanding and rejection of Jesus and His message of the Kingdom of heaven. In this passage, we see just how twisted and extreme the misunderstandings became, and how deadly their results would become. Yes, John would be seen at Herod’s party, but not all of him would be there…

According to the first century Jewish historian Josephus, Herod ordered the arrest and imprisonment of John the Baptist because John had publicly denounced Herod’s wedding to his sister-in-law, Herodias. As we see from 14:6-11, Herod, who was afraid to have John killed, found himself in a position from which he could not extricate himself without having him beheaded, and so it came to pass that John the Baptist was murdered at Herod’s command, and his head was brought to Herod’s birthday party on a platter and presented to his niece who was also his step daughter. Two things really jump off the page for me in this story: One is the curious way that Matthew tells the story; it is a “flashback”. Second is Herod’s reaction to Jesus’ miracles, assuming as he did that Jesus’ miraculous abilities must mean that He was John the Baptist risen from the grave.

This dude was a loon, no getting around that!

Yet that isn’t what Matthew is really getting at.

Focus on the very depth of Herod’s misunderstanding of what is going on around him; it doesn’t seem to occur to him who Jesus might really be, but then Herod wasn’t a Jew, was he? He had been afraid to kill John not because of who John was, but because he had been popular with the masses. Yep, that’s right; Herod’s fear was motivated by nothing more than politics. Nevertheless, his fear that Jesus could be John come back from the grave is very real indeed, and as the story goes on, it will result in a very odd political alliance between the Jewish religious leaders, who want Jesus out of the picture, and Herod, their enemy, who also wants Jesus out of the picture.

Oh the tangled webs we weave…

So then, why does Matthew introduce this story in the unusual manner that he did?

You might recall that when Jesus learned of John’s imprisonment in 4:12, Jesus responded with a decisive move, taking His ministry out of the shadows and into full public view. When Jesus learns of John’s death, He makes another decisive move, this time, stepping back from full public view, and as a result, Matthew’s narrative moves into its next main section that extends from 14:13 -16:20 in which the main emphasis is on Jesus teaching His disciples exactly who He was, and what the purpose of His mission was, for make no mistake; His disciples were not yet clear on either of these things.

We will pick up the story next time, and see what happens when Jesus tried to step out of the public spotlight…

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Matthew 13:44-46

Jesus continued His discourse with two very short and very similar little parables, each dealing with someone who found something of exceedingly great value and who sold everything he had in this life to buy what he had found. It would seem that the thing that was found, the treasure or the pearl was far more valuable than the entire net worth of the one who found it.

Yes, the Kingdom of heaven is just like that!

Do you remember when Jesus said that the person who loses his life will find it, and the one who finds his life will lose it? These two parables provide us with an explanation of that statement, for in both cases the one who found the treasure divested himself of his life’s savings, belongings, possessions; everything… to obtain the one real treasure that made the effort worth it. In the end, each one was enriched beyond measure.

Yes, the Kingdom of heaven is just like that.

I wonder how many other people might have come upon these same treasures, but were afraid to sell everything in order to acquire them? I wonder how many came along and said, yes, I would love to have this, but the price is much too high?

Yes, the Kingdom of heaven is just like that!

Yes, I wonder…

Matthew 13:36-43

Jesus told the Parable of the Weeds to the crowd in 13:24-30, and we covered it a couple posts back. At the end, I gave a simplified and “practical” or “every day” kind of explanation and mentioned that it has apocalyptic implications. For the most part, I just left it at that, knowing that A) you wouldn’t believe me if I went into it further, and B) that Jesus spoke about in this passage. Jesus isn’t as easy to argue with as I am!

Last time, I mentioned that everything about the Kingdom is apocalyptic, both because it reveals things in the here and now, and because it has eternal significance, as you will shortly see.

The disciples ask about the parable and Jesus holds nothing back:

He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. (13:37-39)

Can you see the “here and now” in this? The here and now is everything except for the last sentence, which is the end, when Jesus returns. We are living in that messed up field, in which good seed has been planted by the Gospel, and in which the weeds planted by the nasty neighbor, the enemy of the farmer (Jesus) has sought to sabotage the crop (Satan). Like the wheat of the field, we struggle with the weeds that try to choke us off. But when the harvest comes…

“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” (13:40-43)

Sometimes apocalyptic passages reveal things about the present that have future implications. These verses however do the opposite; they speak of the future in a way that has implications about the present. Take special notice of the weeds in the Kingdom in 41b:

…and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.

Are there “weeds” in the Kingdom today that cause “sin “? Are there “weeds” in the Kingdom today who do evil?

At this point, we might run into a problem if we don’t recognize that fact that there is another Biblical term for the Kingdom, and that term is the “church”. Are there such “weeds” in the midst of the church today?

I would have to say that, “Why yes, there are weeds in the church today, and that these “weeds” cause tremendous harm to both the citizens of the Kingdom, and to the very Kingdom itself.

OK dear reader, are you getting the hang of this whole “apocalyptic” business now? Present things have future implications, and future things have present implications, for both of them reveal considerably more than it would seem at first. Apocalyptic = Revelation.

Now that we are understanding this revelation of the Kingdom, I would offer an “editorial opinion”:

I hear and read a great deal of criticism of the church today, and I also offer some of my own periodically. These weeds have created chaos to a certain degree, filling the church with hierarchies, forms, rules, ceremonies, rituals, and many other abuses that tear people away from Christ; I get that. Yet I grow weary of those who blame the Kingdom (Church) for the subversion of the weeds planted by Satan. Can’t they see that they are playing Satan’s game?

Look carefully: The harvest, the ones who “will shine in the Kingdom of their Father” are not the ones who allow themselves to be choked off and separated from the Kingdom, they are ones who persevere, who resist the devil to the end.

We might ask ourselves where the constant critics are in this picture…

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

Matthew 13:33-35

Jesus continues His teaching of parables; there are two more in these few verses. As before, He begins with the words, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” denoting that 1) this is a parable (Is like) and 2) that the subject is indeed the kingdom of Heaven.  As we read these parables about the Kingdom of Heaven we would be well advised to keep in mind that everything about the Kingdom of Heaven has a strong apocalyptic implication. I would also mention once again that “apocalyptic” doesn’t mean the “End”, it means “to reveal” and what is revealed may or may not be about the “End”.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed is a simple one, since a mustard seed is so small, so apparently insignificant, and yet it can grow into a very large bush. We might say that the mustard plant is in a sense, counter-intuitive, since when we see one, we would likely assume it has a large seed as other bushes normally do, but it is actually one of the smallest of seeds.

In the world’s terms, the Kingdom of Heaven isn’t all that significant, in fact a great many liken it to a fairy tale as they scoff at the very idea of such a thing. But the Kingdom of Heaven is the most counter-intuitive of all things, because its power is found in its apparent weakness and insignificance.

The Parable of Yeast is similar to that of the mustard seed, for when we put a small amount of yeast into the flour to make the dough for bread, little would we suspect that such a small amount yeast would find its way into the entire dough mixture, becoming something so powerful that it entirely changes the nature of the dough. The Kingdom is like that because it comes into the world, and changes everything; no wonder it is opposed so fiercely!

The section ends with Matthew yet again showing us how this speech of Jesus’ ties into Israel’s history of prophecy.

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

Matthew 13:24-30

The last thing anybody wants when they are planting seeds is to discover later that their seeds included the seeds of weeds, so seed providers are very careful to ensure that their seed packages are clear of such an infestation. In this parable, a farmer had good wheat seeds, free of weeds, but his enemy came into the field under cover of night and infested the man’s fields with weeds nice guy.

Jesus began the story by saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is like that. I’m sure I don’t really need to explain this to anybody, but obviously, the Gospel is represented by the seeds, the enemy is Satan, and the weed seeds are the notions, cares and philosophies of this world. As the Gospel message begins to grow inside a person, the weeds of the enemy grow and seek to choke out the pure message of hope. In the end, when the time has come for harvest, the Harvester will pull out the weeds so they can be burned, and the wheat will be harvested.

You might want to take note of the apocalyptic implications of this, for when Jesus returns, those weeds in the harvesting fields will be separated from the harvest and burned.

We might also note, in light of the previous passage, that the parables Jesus is using to explain the Kingdom are really not very hard to follow, unless of course, you just don’t want to follow them.

Matthew 13:1-23

This passage contains the Parable of the Sower, and in many translations, it has this as a heading, added by the translators. Yet, while the parable is in this passage, the passage is not entirely about the parable. You will no doubt recall that we are right in the middle of a section of Matthew’s Gospel that has the growing rejection of the Jews as its theme; consequently, if we view the passage outside of this theme, we will be taking the passage out of its context, and that is never a good idea.

That is how it is usually taught, however.

The scene opens shortly after Jesus had Pharisees for lunch, as we saw last time; He and the disciples went out to the Sea of Galilee, and the crowds were so big, he addressed them from a boat out on the water. Why shouldn’t the crowds be huge? In the last scene, He had healed everybody who needed healing… on the Sabbath, no less. I’m sure the news spread quickly and since everyone had the day off from work, they came out for the show. Maybe if they were lucky, a Pharisee or two might be crazy enough to challenge Him again!

In verses 3-9, He told the crowd the Parable of the Sower. Beginning at verse 10, we have His aside with the disciples; remember, they are in a boat, and the crowd is ashore… They asked Him why He was speaking to the people in parables. Before we look at the answer He gave, a parable is a metaphorical story that uses common frames of reference to deliver an inconvenient or uncomfortable truth in a non-threatening way, and has been used by the wise to communicate with and instruct others for about as long as people have been writing things down; they are used pretty much universally, and we still use them today, although in our time we usually call them “illustrations”.

In our passage, Jesus answers this way:

He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. (13:11-12)

I hope that the first thing you recognized in reading these two verses is that He hasn’t answered their question yet; this is a set up for the answer that will become apparent as He goes along. In short, what He is telling them so far is that they have been chosen as His disciples to have everything reveled to them, but the crowd hasn’t been. Consequently, He speaks to them in a way that requires a certain level of discernment before a person comprehends. He continues:

This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand. (13:13)

Just looking at this, you might expect that Jesus is quoting an Old Testament passage here, but He is not quoting anyone (yet). However, this is the answer to their question; He is speaking to the people in parables because they are not ready to deal with Truth, for they are in open rebellion against God. Why do I say this? Simple Jesus is not the kind of Messiah they are looking for, for they want a Messiah to deal with their political problems (i.e. the Roman occupation) not their spiritual problem of sin. Since God’s plan isn’t what they want, they rebel.

If you are in the habit of sharing your faith, you will recognize this as something quite common in our time, for it is fairly common to find a person who is quite open to the Gospel, as long as Jesus is the kind of Savior who will solve the person’s earthly problems, say financial or career problems, or their relational problems, or their problems with substance abuse or other addictive issues. Yet when their sin is mentioned, they are no longer interested, for they don’t see that as an issue, because they are “a good person”.

Jesus continues quoting from Isaiah 6:

In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’ (13:14-15)

At the beginning of this passage, I reminded you of the overall theme in which this falls, that of Israel’s growing rejection of Jesus; do you see it now? It is nothing new in Israel’s history, and Matthew has once again tied the story of Jesus into Israel’s history, even though in this particular case, it is on the negative side of history. The people, by and large, want what they want, when they want it, and if God doesn’t deliver, they turn their backs on Him.

Jesus taught in parables, and those who were seeking relationship with God could very easily understand His teaching, and those who didn’t particularly care what God was doing if it wasn’t what they wanted would have no clue.

If you are wondering about the actual parable, you can read it in verses 3-9, and if you are curious about its meaning, Jesus explains that in verses 16 ff.