Tuesday, January 14, 2014

January 14, 2014: Matthew Chapter 14

The Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 14
Originally posted January 17, 2008

General Comment: Chapter 13 was difficult. We were introduced to the parables, enjoyed them and thought we understood them, but then we were confronted with what seemed an impossible imposition on our reason: That Jesus used parables deliberately to keep the people from understanding his message. After learning what Isaiah's words implied about the people of Judah's rejection of God, we could understand Matthew's use as a way to explain the unexplainable rejection of Christian preaching by the Jewish people of his time. Parables were a favorite teaching tool. They used familiar scenes - agriculture and fishing motifs, and familiar character types. The message in Jesus' parables was fairly uniform - looking forward to the future new age of God's Reign, the ingathering of all who heard Jesus' message and believed in the possibility of the hope of a new world. From a questionable beginning, to the surprise of its appearing, the vision of something better caught the imagination of many in the towns and villages of Galilee. Crossing the sweep of time and distance, changing history, the vision lives on even  in our own age.

Matthew Chapter 14:1-12 The Death of John the Baptist

The story of John's death has been adapted by Matthew from the more extensive report  which first appears in Mark's Gospel, written some 15 or more years earlier. We have already mentioned the likelihood that John was killed by Herod Antipas for political reasons - the fear of an uprising by John's followers and the crowds which believed the intervention of God was imminent. John's radical demand for holiness no doubt included a scathing criticism of the royal family of Herod Antipas, who ruled Galilee and Perea as Techrach from 4 BCE to 39 CE. Herod had married Herodias, the divorced wife of his step brother, Herod Philip, and also a niece to both men. It was not the divorce that bothered John, but the marriage of a close relative was a violation of Torah (Lev. 18:16; 20.21 ) The lives of all the Herods would make a interesting Soap Opera.

No doubt Herodias was deeply angered by John's criticism and the shame it brought upon her. It appears that even Herodias had a conscience. But rage can easily overcome a conscience, and Herodias would find the opportunity for revenge. How much of the story is history and how much is legend is unknown. The characters are real, as is the Herod family decadence, and the intricacies of royal plots fill the annuls of Kings and Queens across the full span of recorded history. 

When Herod heard of Jesus' preaching and healing ministry in Galilee his first thought was that he was John the Baptist resurrected. Apparently there was a view, probably limited, that the resurrected person would acquire special powers. Whatever the case, Herod's understanding is not a Christian view, but one of speculation born of Jewish sectarian religious thought of the time. The normative view was that resurrection would only occur when God's Reign was fully established in the world, and would be accompanied by the last judgment. 

John's influence lived on long after his death. His disciples are found in Ephesus and were evangelized by the early Christian evangelists from Jerusalem. Even at the end of the first century it is apparent in John's Gospel that there is tension between John's community and that of the Baptist's followers who believe that he is the real Messiah who will return and reclaim Israel for God. Today small, Aramaic speaking communities of the Mandean sect that trace their heritage to John the Baptist exist in Southern Iran and Iraq and number about 20,000. They follow a moral and purity code similar to that of Judaism.

Matthew 14:13-21 Feed the Five Thousand

As in MT 10:10:23, where Jesus learns of the Pharisees' plotting against him, John's death and Herod's possible interest in finding him lead Jesus to withdraw by boat to the other side of the sea of Galilee (also know as a lake) to be alone. By the time he reached shore the crowds were already waiting for him, along with his disciples. Important to the meaning of this story, is that Jesus has crossed over into the Gentile territory of Trachonitis. That Jesus has compassion for them and heals their sick, and then will provide food to so many, regardless of their level of commitment, speaks to the universal nature of Jesus' view of God's openness to all people and not just those of Israel. This is a lesson the disciples  needed to see. Their resistance to helping the Gentile crowd is representative of the earliest history of Jewish Christianity which would essentially require a conversion to Christianity based on Jewish custom and practice. This is as much a criticism of those elements in Matthew's time as it is of the disciples. Jesus will demonstrate that these Gentiles are as welcome to this "bread" (teaching/revelation) as they are. The scarcity of quantity, 5 barley loaves about the size of one's fist, and 2 salted fish, which will become the resulting 12 baskets of left over, broken pieces. They are but a foretaste of the great Messianic Banquet and abundance in the New Age of God to come. Jesus says that everybody is welcome to the table, a witness to the notion of the distributive justice of God.

On a more practical level, there may be other lessons; scarcity does not preclude generosity; even the poor Gentiles, shunned by Pharisees and other Jews of the time are, in God's view, worthy of compassion expressed by more than empty words. The story gives substance to other words of Jesus, "...love your neighbor as yourself."

Matthew 14:22-33 Jesus Walks on the Water!

Jesus instructs the disciples to return to Galilee while he dismisses the crowd and finds a place to pray, finally to accomplish his goal for being here in the first place. He finds needed solitude on a mountain side and prays. It is a good image for us to hold in our minds of this human Jesus. It would be naive to think that he did not need that time to be open to God's leading and encouragement. Regardless of our view of Sonship or divinity, the intensity and urgency of ministry could not be sustained without reliance on some power, some connection with that which he understood to be greater than he. He drew strength from these times apart. I recall speaking with a man whose wife had died, and the subject of prayer came up. He was not much of a pray-er, he said. He didn't think it was very effective. But in his grief he felt driven to move beyond himself for support. As he said, "I learned that when I was up against that wall, there was nowhere else to go, so I prayed." Whatever prayer was to him, it sustained him in the darkest of hours. It worked for Jesus, too.

The story before us is one of trust and confession. In the midst of the storm at sea, when danger battered the fragile boat, Jesus appears to the disciples like some spectre crossing the waves. The disciples are terrified, more of the apparition than the storm. In a moment of testing Jesus calls Peter out to him, but Peter, after a few steps, took his eyes off Jesus, looked at the threatening waves, and began to sink, crying out to Jesus to save him. Jesus does save him and questions the strength of his faith. The experience concludes with the disciples confession of faith, that Jesus is the Son of God.

The experience of the storm and Jesus' saving act is replete with symbolic meaning and metaphors. Whatever our understanding of miracle is, especially one related to nature, we don't want to lose what Matthew's community and we need to hear in another debate. Matthew's community, as we have already seen, is storm-tossed, assailed on all sides and in danger of sinking. What will sustain them? What will save them? Matthew uses this story from the oral tradition and reminds his flock that they cannot be distracted from the essential focal point, the author of their existence as Christians, and that is Jesus and his teachings. Remember, the boat on the waves was a symbol of the early church. Jesus has brought them this far and, no matter the peril, Jesus still speaks to them, and perhaps to us  on occasion, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." Matthew's community was not naive. This was not a matter of protection from physical harm. It was a promise of, "No matter what, I am in it with you."  It's good to have somebody walk through the storm with us, isn't it?

Matthew 14:34-36 Jesus in Gennesaret


Jesus and his disciples return to Galilee, coming to Gennesaret on the northwest side of the sea. As with other stories, wherever Jesus goes these days, the crowds gather. And where the crowds gather, Jesus portrays the meaning of the Reign of God, the Age to come, through his compassionate healing. Though he is often tired and in need of retreat, he never tires of this. As he says on another occasion to those who would hold him back, "...It is for this reason that I came out."

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