Matthew 14 – When Stress Strikes

Stress can come to us from many directions: Work, Family, Life-changes, Death of a family member or friend, Disappointments, etc. When it piles up from multiple directions, the wisdom of the world says you are in danger of a mental/emotional breakdown.

Jesus was not immune to stress. Unlike us, though, He knew how to deal with it and defuse it. The explosions that come from our stresses never came to Him. He handled His stress – but that does not mean that He did not feel it. You cannot read the accounts of Jesus in Gethsemane without realizing that He felt the stress of the looming cross.

At the time of Matthew 14, at least three different stress factors came together:

• Herod beheaded John the Baptist (Matthew 14:1-12)
• His 12 disciples returned from their 1st “limited commission” (cf. Mark 6:29-30)
• The pressure of the crowd did not allow them even time to eat (cf. Mark 6:31)

Matthew does not list all of these events, but Mark clearly puts them together.

Death of John

Jesus and John were associates, even though they did not work together directly. They were related through their mothers. John’s ministry was to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus and to introduce Him to the world as God’s messenger who would baptize in the Holy Spirit and in Fire. John always spoke highly of Jesus, but during the time he was imprisoned by Herod he did send his disciples to ask Jesus if He were the coming one – or if he should wait for another. Apparently John was somewhat disillusioned with Jesus, as in this post.

Though John may have become disillusioned while he was in prison, Jesus spoke very highly of John. They never viewed themselves as rivals, though John’s disciples seemed at times to resent the growing popularity of Jesus. John told them, “He must increase and I must decrease.” John never lost sight of his mission – to prepare the way for Jesus.

Herod arrested John because he told Herod it is not lawful for him to have his brother’s wife. He had seduced Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and sent his own wife back to her father, the king of Arabia. In doing this, he not only divorced his wife, he also committed incest by marrying his brother’s wife, which was expressly forbidden in Leviticus 20:21.

If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless.

After John’s death, Jesus departed from Galilee to go across the sea to Perea. This was the region ruled by Philip, Herod’s half-brother and former husband of Herodius. This was on the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee. He thus removed Himself from the jurisdiction of Herod.

The Press of the People

More was involved in this move, though. Mark 6:30-31 adds that the disciples were reporting to Him what they had done on their “limited commission” and that so many people were coming and going around Him that “they did not even have a chance to eat.”

Accordingly, Jesus said, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” They went by ship; the crowd went on foot. The land route was quicker; when they arrived the people were already there waiting for Him. Jesus had compassion on them and healed their sick. He also taught, though the content of His teaching is not recorded in Matthew or elsewhere.

What we sometimes overlook is that this work of ministry, healing and teaching, was also draining to Jesus. After a period of healing Matthew says this fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases” (Matthew 8:17, citing Isaiah 53:4). In some way, He bears our diseases when He heals us – and takes up our infirmities when He helps us in our weakness. Just how this is, I do not pretend to know – but there it is. When the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of His garment, he felt power go out of Him. Healing was not something Jesus did with no drain of energy; it cost Him.

Toward the end of the day, the disciples wanted Jesus to dismiss the crowd so they could go into the nearby villages and find food. Jesus astonished the Twelve by telling them to feed the crowd of above 5,000 men (not counting women and children). The disciples objected that they only had 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish. Jesus said, “Bring them here to me.” In His hands, this was enough to feed the crowd with 12 baskets full remaining over.

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd. After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. – Matthew 14:22-23a

Renewed Temptation

Why did He send everyone away so He could pray? John 6:14-15 gives a clue. When the people saw the miracle of the loaves and fish, they wanted to make Jesus king by force. He sent His disciples away to get them away from such thinking. The Twelve would readily have become the leaders of a movement to put Jesus on an earthly throne. Jesus had no interest in such a kingdom. Satan had offered Him one in Matthew 4:8-10; now the people offer Him one. Jesus separated His disciples from the crowd – and retired to pray.

The crowd renewed the temptation first offered by the Devil – to receive a crown without bearing the cross. He rejected it in Matthew 4, and He rejects it again here in chapter 14. This temptation is not over, though. It will arise again from the inner circle and also in Gethsemane.

Peter’s Panic

In the evening, as He prayed, the disciples toiled in a storm as they headed toward Bethsaida at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee. As it was on the east side of Jordan, it was still in Perea. Jesus went out to them walking on the sea. He would have passed by them, Mark says (6:48). They saw Him, thought it was a phantasm or ghost, and cried out in fear. He answered to reassure them – and impetuous Peter said, “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.”

He did, and Peter did – at least for a bit. The stress of the winds and waves overcame his faith, and he began to sink. When he cried out to Jesus, of course Jesus saved Him.

Jesus & Peter: Two Different Reactions to Stress

Here we see two different reactions to stress. Faced with the death of John and an implicit danger to Himself from Herod, Jesus took His disciples away from the crowd for time alone together with God. Perhaps even the brief respite from the crowd during the voyage along the coast to Perea gave Him time enough to relief the stresses facing Him at that time.

At any rate, when He arrived and the crowd was waiting, He was able to minister to them with healing and teaching. He even went beyond that to providing food for the multitude, much to the surprise of the Twelve.

When this led to another stress factor as they wanted to make Him king by force, He removed His disciples from the temptation to join the crowd (which would have been strong). He sent the people away, and retired to the mountain to pray. With stress relieved, He went to cross the sea and rejoin His disciples. In all of this, Jesus kept His focus on God, His mission, and protecting His disciples.

On the other hand, Peter lost focus, even if only momentarily. Starting to sink into an angry sea can get you refocused rather quickly, can’t it? When he kept his eyes on Jesus, he walked on the water. When he became distracted by the tumult around him, he lost his focus and began to sink.

I think the same thing happens to us. We need to have the faith Jesus had, a faith that always focused on His Father (and ours). Over and over we are warned about losing focus to the things of the world – its pleasures and demands, its goals and dangers. When we lose that focus is when we begin to sink. Our sinking may not be as immediately apparent as Peter’s was – but we begin to sink. What we need to do is to 1) recognize that we are sinking and 2) return our focus to the only one who can save us.

With the right focus, emotional breakdown can usually be averted. At least, the Christian has more resources with which to resist the one who seeks to rip our lives apart by stress.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

1. John did not use the word “adultery” in condemning Herod’s sin with Herodius. Should we? Or is there something else going on here in view of Leviticus 20:21?
2. How would the death of John create stress for Jesus?
3. How would His disciples returning from the limited commission create stress for Him?
4. When is it necessary to “come apart and rest a while”?
5. Do you find it strange that Jesus and His disciples had no food with them at their destination where the crowd was waiting?
6. What caused Peter to ask Jesus to bid him to come to Him on the water?
7. How do you deal with stress in your life? How does this compare with the way Jesus handled it? Are we like Peter in that we call on Jesus in panic, but not always?

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