Day #290

Sermon - Audio
Matt 14, Mark 6, Luke 9:1-17 - Reading
Matt 14, Mark 6, Luke 9:1-17 - Audio

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Daily Reading: Matt 14, Mark 6, & Luke 9: 1-17

Matt 14

14.1 Matt. 14:1 Herod the tetrarch. Herod Antipas was the Roman ruler over the region where Jesus ministered. He was only 17 years old when his father, Herod the Great, died. The kingdom was divided among three of Herod's sons—Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip II (see note on 2:22). Herod Antipas was made tetrarch (the ruler of a fourth part of a kingdom) of Galilee and Perea and had a long rule (4 b.c.–a.d. 39) (ESV Study Bible)

14.6-7 When Herod's birthday came a great celebration was held in his honor at the palace at Machaerus. Herodias had her daughter (named Salome in Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18.136) perform a dance for Herod Antipas. She was only 12 to 14 years old, but in that debased setting it likely was a sensual dance, which pleased Herod. (ESV Study Bible)

14.18-20 “To eat together was a symbol of unity. Jesus acted as host to a large family gathering, and thus welcomed the crowd into a new community. While the menu was not out of the ordinary, perhaps we should see this meal as a deliberate foretaste of the Messianic banquet (for which see 8:11–12); sit down (19) is a relatively formal word for reclining at a banquet. It is also hardly accidental that the verbs in v 19 (‘take’, ‘give thanks’, ‘break’, ‘give’) are those used in the NT accounts of the Last Supper. The meal did, of course, satisfy hunger (20), but Matthew apparently sees it also as a symbolic act of communion in the newly established kingdom of heaven. (New Bible Commentary)”

14.21 5,000 is a symbolic number. It is the number of men that Joshua used to defeat Ai in the conquest of Canaan. “That a large crowd was anxious to follow Jesus there may suggest, as Jn. 6:14–15 makes clear, that this was no chance gathering but a deliberate popular movement to force Jesus into political action (see on v 21 below). Matthew, however, does not draw attention to this. For him, the story was a vivid expression of the compassion and the miraculous power of Jesus. Jewish readers could hardly have failed to note the parallel to two feeding miracles in the OT, the provision of manna in the desert (Ex. 16) and Elisha’s similar multiplication of loaves (2 Ki. 4:42–44). Jesus is again seen as the ‘one greater’ (cf. 12:6, 41, 42) than the ancient prophets. (New Bible Commentary)”

14.15 “The Roman military divided the night into four watches of three hours each, from 6:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. The fourth watch would have been between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m., which means the disciples had been battling the storm for over nine hours (ESV Study Bible)

14.31 Peter becomes an example of little faith and of doubt, an object-lesson for disciples who are tempted to take their eyes off Jesus and to take more notice of the threatening circumstances around them.

Mark 6

6.1-6 “hese powers of the kingdom seem to have had very little effect on some of those who saw them or heard of them, to judge from this next story. This shows that signs in themselves will never produce faith, for faith is a personal commitment and choice. Perhaps that is why Jesus gave signs so sparingly, and only in answer to faith. He was not trying to convince the unbelieving, for that would be impossible.

When Jesus came to his home town (probably meaning Nazareth, though he had actually moved to Capernaum, beside the lake, before this) those who heard him were amazed at his teaching and miracles, but this did not lead to faith in him. They repeated in puzzlement the names of his family members: had he not even worked there himself as a carpenter once? How could such a familiar figure do and say such things? The trouble was that they were too busy arguing about him to listen to his words. So even the Son of God could do no miracles there, apart from healing a few sick folk, humble enough and needy enough to believe in him. That does not mean that God’s power is absolutely limited, but that God has chosen to act only in response to faith. Usually, Mark says that people were amazed at Jesus; here, he says that Jesus was amazed at them. The people of Nazareth were so familiar with Jesus that they enjoyed no blessing: a danger perhaps facing some of our churches today? Familiarity, the proverb says, breeds contempt. (NBC)

6.7-13 Jesus committed to the Twelve his power to expel demons, but we can see from v 12 that their main task was preaching the gospel that leads to the expulsion of demons and healing of the sick. Anointing with oil is symbolic here, not medical, as it seems to be in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10). There is no record of Jesus ever having used oil, and there are plenty of examples in the NT of healing without it. Jas. 5:14 is therefore not a universal rule, but an outward aid to faith; there is nothing magical in the oil itself. (NBC)

The rest of this chapter is repeat.

Luke 9: 1-17

This too is repeated from Matthew.