Matthew 14 – You of Little Faith

Matthew 14 contains three distinct stories connected together in a sequence. Herod heard about Jesus and thought he was John the Baptist, whom he had executed. When Jesus heard about John’s execution, He withdrew to a solitary place where He ended up feeding a crowd. Immediately after that, he sent His disciples off in a boat and joined them mid-cruise.

John the Baptist was a hellfire and brimstone preacher, unconcerned with whose toes he stepped on. And that included Herod Antipas, the Roman-appointed ruler of Galilee. Herod had married his brother’s wife, and John condemned the action. He ended up in jail, and Herod, after making a rash promise, executed him.

Feeding a Multitude

When Jesus heard about what had happened to John, he withdrew to a solitary place. Mark adds that His disciples had just returned from a mission trip, and the withdrawal was, at least in part, to give them a bit of R&R (Mark 6:30-32).

While He was in this solitary place with His disciples, a crowd gathered. And Jesus, full of compassion for them, healed many, and took the opportunity to teach as well (Mark 6:34). Then He instructed His disciples to feed them.

The disciples were understandably distressed by this. They did not have access to nearly enough food to feed that crowd. But Jesus took what they had, blessed it, and served it. The crowd ate until they were full, with 12 baskets of leftovers—maybe one for each of the disciples.

Walking on the Water

Immediately after feeding the 5000, Jesus sent His disciples across the lake, dismissed the crowd, and spent some time in prayer. Later that evening, He came to His disciples as they crossed the lake in a storm, walking on the water.

Peter saw Him and asked to do the same thing, to walk on the water. Jesus invited him to jump out of the boat and walk toward Him. And Peter did. At least for a short time. But then he took his eyes off Jesus, looked at the storm around him, and began to sink.

Jesus gently chided Peter, asking him why he doubted, why he had so little faith. He doubted because he had suddenly realized what he was doing was impossible. But was it? Is anything Jesus invites us to do impossible? We should look at why we can rather than why we can’t.