Good guess, but that's not who Jesus is!

Matthew 14:1-33

  Cousin Fergy called. He was pretty worked up. Said he and Gerty had had a near death experience. They were flying home in a small commercial plane from a possum-hunting trip. Their pilot was a real smart aleck. As they approached the airport he didn’t identify who he was to the control tower. He just said, “Guess who?” It had already been a long night and the air traffic controller was in no mood for an idiot pilot. So instead of directing him to the proper runway, he switched the lights off and replied: "Guess where!"

There are some times in life when you want more than a guess. Where you’re going to go when you die is one. How you’re going to get there is another. And is Jesus the way or not? 

  Last week Matthew gave us two questions people in Nazareth were asking about Jesus:

1. Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?

2. Where then did this man get all these things?

Matthew deals with some common guesses and ushers us into Part Two of his gospel.

The Gospel According to Matthew

Part One – Jesus’ Fame

Who is he?  (This is my beloved son.)

What did he do? (A light has dawned.)

Why did he come? (Lord of the Harvest)

  Transition – Unbelief in Nazareth

Part Two – The End Game

Part Three – Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

Matthew 14:1-33. Page 1152.

The Death of John the Baptist

 1 At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus. 2 “He is really John the Baptist, who has come back to life,” he told his officials. “That is why he has this power to perform miracles.” 

3 For Herod had earlier ordered John’s arrest, and he had him tied up and put in prison. He had done this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. 4 For some time John the Baptist had told Herod, “It isn’t right for you to be married to Herodias!”  5 Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid of the Jewish people, because they considered John to be a prophet.

 6 On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced in front of the whole group. Herod was so pleased 7 that he promised her, “I swear that I will give you anything you ask for!” 8 At her mother’s suggestion she asked him, “Give me here and now the head of John the Baptist on a plate!” 9 The king was sad, but because of the promise he had made in front of all his guests he gave orders that her wish be granted. 10 So he had John beheaded in prison. 11 The head was brought in on a plate and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. 12 John’s disciples came, carried away his body, and buried it; then they went and told Jesus. 

  This is not the same Herod who killed the baby boys in Bethlehem after the Magi passed through.  This Herod was that Herod’s son. He would have assumed that that baby king was no more. What Herod was hearing about were the teachings and the miraculous powers of Jesus and his disciples. If anything bizarre were going on in his domain, Herod would want an explanation.  

  He searched his worldview and found one in legend, an historical precedent: the founder of Rome had died and risen from the dead.   In Herod’s mind it was a fit. Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead. A feat like that would presumably exempt him from the rules that bound mortals and explain his powers. Good guess, but dead wrong.

 People do this all the time. They encounter something they can’t explain and they try to make it fit into a category that fits what they do know. Jesus can’t be God so he must be something else: a great teacher, a prophet, a revolutionary, a mystic or an extraterrestrial.  If none of those, he may have been a charlatan or a regular guy who’s abilities got blown out of proportion by his followers.  Good guesses, but they miss by a mile.

   
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

13 When Jesus heard the news about John, he left there in a boat and went to a lonely place by himself. The people heard about it, and so they left their towns and followed him by land. 14 Jesus got out of the boat, and when he saw the large crowd, his heart was filled with pity for them, and he healed their sick. 

15 That evening his disciples came to him and said, “It is already very late, and this is a lonely place. Send the people away and let them go to the villages to buy food for themselves.” 

16 “They don’t have to leave,” answered Jesus. “You yourselves give them something to eat!” 

17 “All we have here are five loaves and two fish,” they replied. 

18 “Then bring them here to me,” Jesus said. 19 He ordered the people to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 Everyone ate and had enough. Then the disciples took up twelve baskets full of what was left over. 21 The number of men who ate was about five thousand, not counting the women and children. 

The disciples made a better guess but still missed. They relied too much on personal experience. They’d been with Jesus when he went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction (Matthew 9:36-37).

 As far as the disciples’ experience went, Jesus was a great prophet who performed miracles. They had it partially right, but they didn’t fully appreciate who Jesus was. They believed but their belief was shortsighted, too confined, incomplete. They’d never seen him do anything as mundane as feeding people. That wasn’t in their playbook  . Healings – yes. Sandwiches – no. Pray in a foxhole – yes. Pray in the barn – no.

 The disciples were ready to send the crowds away. He had healed the sick. The miracles were done. Game over. They didn’t have a category for what was about to happen. Jesus was going to perform a completely new kind of miracle. He was going to feed 5000 with five loaves and two fish. It opened a new understanding of who Jesus is, a give-us-this-day-our-daily-bread God.  Jesus is the go to guy for everything – not just miracles.

 It’s one thing to pray when there’s a crisis, but Jesus is Lord of all. He has God’s power for everything. He holds it all together.

Jesus Walks on Water

22 Then Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people away.  23 After sending the people away, he went up a hill by himself to pray. When evening came, Jesus was there alone;  24 and by this time the boat was far out in the lake, tossed about by the waves, because the wind was blowing against it. 

25 Between three and six o’clock in the morning Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the water. 26 When they saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and screamed with fear. 

27 Jesus spoke to them at once. “Courage!” he said. “It is I. Don’t be afraid!” 

28 Then Peter spoke up. “Lord, if it is really you, order me to come out on the water to you.”

 29 “Come!” answered Jesus.

So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water to Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he was afraid and started to sink down in the water. “Save me, Lord!” he cried. 

31 At once Jesus reached out and grabbed hold of him and said, “What little faith you have! Why did you doubt?” 

32 They both got into the boat, and the wind died down. 33 Then the disciples in the boat worshiped Jesus. “Truly you are the Son of God!” they exclaimed. 

 In this story, Jesus caught the disciples off guard. He was doing something they wouldn’t have guessed in a million years – walking on water. So they tried to figure out who or what he was and they concluded he was a ghost.

 They confused God and the occult. The occult includes: Divination, Magic and Spiritism. [Chart] Today, there is an "explosion of occultism" in the world: In the USA, there are 10,000 Astrologers, and 40 million people consult the horoscope. http://religion-cults.com/Occult/O-Overview.htm.

Occult Chart
1. Divination

   The attempt to "foretell or explore the future", to shape our lives according to what is coming
 

Examples: Astrology, horoscope, zodiac, psychics, Tarot cards, crystal ball, palm reading, telepathy, numerology, clairvoyance

2. Magick

    The attempt to control the present, our lives, the lives of others, or events of nature, by ceremonies, charms, or spells believed to have supernatural powers.

Examples: [Not magic for entertainment.] White magic, black magic, sorcery, ghosts, witchcraft, Wicca, witchdoctors, Satanism, spells, curses, potions, superstitions, charms, fetishes, talismans, amulets 

3. Spiritism

    The attempt to communicate with the dead, to receive information and help from them.

 Many people think Jesus fits somewhere on this chart but he doesn’t. Not one of these has anything in common with Jesus. He is his own category. There is no overlap. None.

 As Jesus hinted to the disciples, he shares a category with God the father. Their spheres are superimposed over one anther. When God sent Moses back to Egypt, Moses asked who he should say sent him.  God said to Moses, “I am who I am. Say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you (Exodus 3:14).’” When Jesus identified himself by saying, “It is I,” he was mimicking what God had told Moses. He was saying, ”I am God. There is nothing occult about me.” 

And so like the disciples we worship Jesus and exclaim, “You are truly the son of God.” And Mathew says to us, “Please, no more guessing.”

Youth Message

What will Jesus do for you?

 When I let go of this rock, what’s going to happen? What makes that happen? Gravity and where does gravity come from? There are planetary causes but ultimately it comes from how God designed the universe to work. Without gravity, we’d all fly off into outer space. Gravity is a reminder that God exists and that he cares what happens to us.

 Sometimes people wonder if it’s okay to ask God for something that isn’t very important. For example, is it okay to ask God to help you clean your room? That’s a good question because why should God help you clean up your mess. 

 So how do we know if we can ask God for help? I’ve devised a little test. If I drop this rock, and it falls to the ground it means it’s okay to pray about something because he still cares. So let’s try it out. Yep, it’s okay to ask God to help you clean your room. What about these:

Not be afraid in the dark

Obey when you don’t want to

Help you get better when you’re sick

Help you learn a new skill

Help you wait till suppertime

Help you be kind to someone who is mean to you

Help you be respectful to your grandparents

Help you know what’s right and wrong

Help you win a game

Help you save money

Help you spend your money wisely

Help you get even

Each of you can have one of these prayer rocks to remind you to pray about everything.