Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself (Matt 14:13).
On our way to the Feeding of the Five Thousand, a miracle which, by the way, is attested in all four Gospels – everybody knows about it, not just church people – we might want to pay particular attention to that opening line in Matthew’s account. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. Obviously, Jesus has heard something. And seeing as how he needs to get away from everyone and everything, it sounds like that something might not be good.
Last week he was teaching up a storm. Rolling out parables, one after another, about the kingdom of heaven being like a mustard seed, or yeast, or a treasure hidden in a field, or a matchless pearl. But since then, something has happened. And no, it’s not good. In fact, it is really bad. In the 13-verse gap between last week’s parables and this morning’s story, Jesus has learned of the grisly execution of his cousin, John.
Herod Antipas, the Roman puppet governor of Galilee, at his own birthday party, became so enthralled by his stepdaughter’s dancing that he promised, in front of all of his guests, that he would give her whatever she wanted. And, coached by her mother, she asked for...(read more)
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