John the Baptist beheaded 1
Feeding the five thousand 13
Jesus and Peter walk on Water 22
Touching Jesus to be made well in Gennesaret 34
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¶ At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,
2 And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him. |
1 - Herod the Tetrarch "Herod Antipas, one of the three sons of Herod the Great, and own brother of Archelaus (Mt 2:22), who ruled as ethnarch over Galilee and Perea." "The word tetrarch properly signifies a person who rules over the fourth part of a country; but it is taken in a more general sense by the Jewish writers, meaning sometimes a governor simply, or a king;" see verse 9. (Adam Clark's Commentary). |
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For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for
Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.
4 For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. 5 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. 6 But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. 7 Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. 8 And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. .9 And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. 10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. 11 And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother. 12 And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus. |
Why did Herod make the dreadful choice to kill John? Why did he silence
the one who had brought him the way of salvation? For fear v1,
pride v9, for physical lust vs3,6,
and undoubtedly under the influence of alcohol.
How are we, who live in the final time of earth's history, to be like John? See lu0304. This role is also depicted in re2004be. |
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¶ When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert
place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on
foot out of the cities.
.14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. 15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. .16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. 17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. 18 He said, Bring them hither to me. 19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. 21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. |
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- Departed "The disciples had returned, filled with the joy
of their success as heralds of the gospel, when the tidings reached them
of the death of John the Baptist at the hand of Herod. It was a bitter
sorrow and disappointment. Jesus knew that in leaving the Baptist to die
in prison He had severely tested the disciples' faith. With pitying tenderness
He looked upon their sorrowful, tear-stained faces. Tears were in His own
eyes and voice as He said, 'Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place,
and rest awhile.' Mark 6:31." (Ministry of Healing, p. 56.).
14 - Compassion See on 2co0103. 16 - Give ye them to eat The lesson was not about taking initiative or being willing to help. It was to teach the disciples (and us) that we can give to others only the blessings that God gives to us. As we feed on the Scriptures, we will be able to share the bread of life with others. We thus work with Him. See v19. |
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¶ And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship,
and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes
away.
.23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. 24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. |
Into a ship 22
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Constrained They wanted to make Him king. See parallel
passages at mr0645ff,
jn0622ff.
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28 And Peter
answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the
water.
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And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked
on the water, to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. .33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. 28 - Peter answered He often spoke up this way mt1621, mt2633, jn1810, jn2002, ga0211. 30 - Wind ... afraid He took his eyes off of Jesus who didn't hesitate to respond to the plea for help. 31- Little faith In v28 we thought he had a lot of faith, and encouragement for us to seek a deep relationship with our Lord not trusting in some good fortune to feel that we have enough faith. 33 - Worshipped As at later times mt2020, lu2452. Earlier the Wise Men had worshipped mt0211. Had He been only a god, such an action would have been in violation of the commandment ex2001. Illustration
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¶ And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.
35 And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased; .36 And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole. |
34
- Land of Gennesaret See on lu0501.
A little more information is in Mark's account mr0653. 35 - Diseased See on mr0134. |
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