Matt 14

Date: 19 January 2009

Bible (NT/OT):

Matt 13:58-14:34

The Death of John the Baptist

14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, 2 and he said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him." 3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, 4 because John had been saying to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her." 5 And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. 6 But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, 7 so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter." 9 And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. 10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

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.

Jesus Walks on the Water

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."

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."

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret

34 And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick 36 and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

Ps 15:1-2
O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does that is right and speaks truth in his heart;

Sun Tzu:

Draw them in with the prospect of gain, take them by confusion.

The Intellectual Devotion (Kidder, D. & Oppenheim N. The Intellectual Devotion, Rodale. NY, NY 2006)

The Solar System is composed of 4 terrestrial planets- Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars- and four gaseous giants- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Outside of Neptune lies the Kuiper Belt of comets of which Pluto is now a member. The Kuiper Belt also contains newly discovered UB313 (Xena), Quaoar and Sedna which are as big or bigger that Pluto but orbit a bit further out. There are 153’ish moons in our solar system.

Events:

Marla, mom and I went to Church yesterday. Great service and gospel presentation and a couple really good points (see below). Dad drove up from hunting in south Texas and we went to Perico’s Mexican Restaurant together. Relaxing afternoon watching football together then ate salmon for dinner and celebrated Marla’s birthday with a brownie cake (as she doesn’t really like normal cake).

Thoughts:

Bible:

1. because John had been saying to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her." Herod may have felt that he was above the Law because he was a worldly King, but the King of Kings has instated a moral law, a transcendental law that all humans are subject to. Our pastor did a great Job yesterday emphising that God’s hatred of sin, though the world may criticize it of being intolerant, is a good thing. Too often, when I am feeling the condemnation of my own sin or my brother’s sin, I wish that God did not take sin so seriously. It seems bad news that God will condemn those without Christ because of their sin. Maybe, because we live such sheltered lives in America, we forget just how terrible the world is. Perhaps if we witnessed the genocide taking place in Darfur or the warlords in Somalia steeling the food of the relief effort that has been meant for the starving children, perhaps then we would cry out for and rejoice in a God who doesn’t take sin lightly. A God who will not just give a “free pass” to these evil men. Thankfully, our God is a Just God, and we can be assured that these criminals will receive their due punishment; a far worse punishment than any human court could sentence…an eternal punishment.
2. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children Pretty amazing, not much to say about that.
3. 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 Though I spent a great deal of time alone this fall, it gives me great Joy to realize that I never actually was alone. The intimacy we have with Christ our king is not a worldly type of conversational intimacy. Though we can occasionally feel the spirit leading us (some more than others…me not so much), and we can unidirectional pray to God, it is a rare instance when God communicates back with the clarity of human conversation. In my opinion, part of the meaning of “living by faith” (apart from salvation by faith) is that we are not typically 100% convinced that we are doing the exact right thing at the exact right time. Is this the right job? Did I say the right thing? What should I do this summer? These questions have the ability to produce crippling anxiety. I knew people in college who were paralyzed by the decision of what Christian Camp be a counselor at, afraid they would make the wrong decision and somehow corrupt God’s plan for their lives. “Living by faith” is not being overly concerned with these questions that at the moment may seem life or death. Living by faith and the intimacy that we enjoy with Christ is based on the promise that no matter where we are or what we do, as Christians, God is working in our lives to bring about his glory and our sanctification. The Intimacy we have with God is the knowledge that he truly understands us better than anyone on earth. God has seen us through all of the hard times and all of the great times, nothing that we have done, seen or thought has been lost to antiquity. We have lived our lives before an audience of one from the beginning and when we realize this and move forward in this promise it inspires in us a confidence that the world can never understand or compete with.
4. 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?" This is one of the best examples of faith (even if it was weak faith) in the bible. The Reformers delineated the parts of a true, saving faith:
a. Knowledge: Saving faith has a direct object and content. We must first know what is to be believed. We don’t need to know everything there is to know, but we must know:
i. Who the true God is.
ii. Who the historic Christ is.
iii. Man’s predicament:
(1) Adam sinned as our federal head.
(2) We were born in trespass and sin.
(3) We have done nothing but sin against God’s standard.
(4) Wages of sin is death, eternal death in hell.
iv. What Christ did:
Christ obeyed the law perfectly. Died vicarious death on cross. Rose again, ascended, seated at right hand of God. And will come again to judge the living and dead.
b. Belief: Secondly, that content must be believed. We must believe that the facts are true, not fiction.
c. Trust: We must also place our trust in this Gospel. This is where works enter, as a demonstration of our belief not a foundation of our salvation. We live as law abiders out of thanksgiving not out of obligation.

In this chapter, we see Peter not only know and believe but also Trust…he steps out of the boat.

Sun Tzu:

1. Victories are often won by allowing the enemy to move forward easily and quickly thereby stressing their supply lines then hitting them when they are unable to get reinforcements or even food. This is very similar to what happened to the Banking industry in America. The greed for money lead the banks to move further and further into debt, issuing one bad loan after another, until they were dependent upon the very bad loans that they were making for their own survival. Justice if you ask me.