Here in Chapter 14 we hear the rest of the story of John the Baptist including his beheading. It was told under the pretext that Herod now thinks that Jesus is John raised from the dead in verse 2. Following the story of John's death we read of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand from 2 fish and 5 loaves. We read that Jesus had compassion on the crowd, and that he challenged the disciples to feed them, but they were overwhelmed by the large crowd. Jesus blesses and breaks the bread (perhaps a foreshadowing of communion for the early church) and then the crowd is fed with 12 baskets of food left over. Interesting it does not mention what happened to the fish.
After that miraculous event then we read of Jesus walking on the water. And more than Jesus walking on the water we see Peter testing his sea legs by coming out to meet Jesus, only to lose his focus on Jesus and begin to sink as he focused on his doubts and fears. What might we do if we keep focused on Jesus?
In chapter 15 Jesus has disagreements with the rules and regulations of the Pharisees. One point he raises is that it is not what a person eats or if hands are ritually clean that matters to God, but what is spoken out of the mouth from the heart and in verse 19 a number of vile things are listed. Though in this gospel to the Jewish Christians it is not said, but elsewhere in the gospels we will read a notation that by this Jesus disclaimed the kosher food laws. There are a couple healing stories and the dialogue with the Canaanite woman is interesting as she is able to retort back to Jesus and the healing occurs because of her persistence and faith.
Then we come to one of the puzzling texts of scripture - the feeding of the four thousand. We again see Jesus with a large crowd and when it comes time to feed them the disciples seem to be puzzled about how to feed them all. Now are they so stupid that they do not remember the story from a chapter ago and the feeding of the five thousand with less bread and fish? What is going on here? Some scholars note that they had crossed the sea and now were in Gentile territory. Perhaps the disciples did not think the Gentiles would share the food or that Jesus could not perform miracles here. What do you think? Why might they doubt here after Jesus had already done this miracle before? Note that here there are 7 baskets of leftovers gathered. There were 12 baskets on the other side of the sea. Remember there are 12 disciples and 12 baskets were gathered in the other story. Later in Acts 6 we will read of the Greek-speaking disciples were concerned for the Greek-speaking widows not getting the food distribution 7 Greek-speaking disciples are chosen to be deacons to care for them. Coincidence? I doubt it.
In Chapter 16 we read again of the Pharisees asking Jesus for a sign. and though he shares some common understanding we may all know as "red sky at night, sailors delight." But then he reaffirms the sign will be the one of Jonah. We have a funny little story of the disciples misinterpretation of the point of a parable to help us understand that though these sayings seem simple sometimes we misunderstand completely.
The story turns serious as the whole gospel seems to pivot right here as Jesus asks who people say he is and who the disciples believe he is. And Peter gets it claiming Jesus is the Christ (or Messiah in Hebrew) the Son of the living God. Jesus affirms him for his insight and notes that his name is Peter which means Rock as in "Petrified" and how Jesus will build his church on this solid rock. Some scholars would note that it does not sound like Jesus but a later construct as there were no churches at this time and Jesus did not come to build a church but rather to bring in the kingdom of God.
So for the first time Jesus now tells the disciples about going to Jerusalem and his going to be killed and raised on the third day. Peter is shocked and begins to scold him. maybe he did not hear it when Jesus talked with the Pharisees twice about the sign of Jonah. But anyway Jesus puts Peter in his place by calling him Satan - remember the one who did the tempting in the wilderness with alternatives to the will of God? - here Peter is trying to offer a plan B when Jesus knows he needs to follow God's A plan. And here is a description of the eternal human struggle choosing our way instead of God's way.
There is another quotable quote in verse 24 "All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me." and then the chapter ends with an interesting note that Jesus claims that some of the followers will not die before they see the Human One coming in his kingdom. We will later see in some of the letters the hope and anticipation of that day coming soon. And some today are wondering if it is near as they see wars and natural disasters on the earth. I think it is always a state of preparedness as the day is always near. I expect it will happen tomorrow. But when we wake up tomorrow it will be today and tomorrow will be just the next day.
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