John the Baptist was the herald for Jesus. He preached about Jesus. He taught about Jesus. He saw Jesus! He said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." This is recorded in John 1:29. Jesus walks up to John in the book of Matthew and I just imagine the men look into one another's eyes and there is an exchange much like when they were in their mother's wombs. The Bible says John leaped in his mother's womb when Mary walked in with Jesus in hers. The exchange must have been powerful.
John thought so much of Jesus, in John 1:26-27, he answered the Pharisees, "I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose." Do you understand that John recognized Jesus was the Son of the Living God? He told the Pharisees that they were standing in a crowd of people and one of the people in that crowd is the Lamb of God! John said I am not even worthy to loosen His sandals. He did not feel that he was worthy of touching the feet of Jesus because of what John knew about Jesus. What do we think about Jesus?
How many times do we rush to ask God for a need? We pray God I need You to do X, Y, and Z. Do we stop first to honor Him? Do we acknowledge Him in reverence? When we enter His courts and into His gates we are to do so with praise and thanksgiving. We should not rush to demand something from the Messiah, our King. Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be Thy name." Hallow it, revere it. He is the Most High God and we must not just rush into prayer, "God do this! God You've gotta move! Do this... do that.... no, take a moment to honor the King. We must humble ourselves before Him. Respect Him!
Jesus approaches John and there is this exchange that we don't read about it, but we know it had to have happened. When we encounter Jesus, there is an exchange that happens. Jesus wants John to baptize Him. Can you believe that? John almost couldn't. He said, "You should baptize me!" I love that Jesus tells him, "Allow it to be. It is appropriate for us to fulfill all righteousness." Matthew 3:15 You see, Jesus did not cut corners. He did not take liberties or partake of special privileges, even though He could have because He is God! No, He fulfilled all of the law. He did it all perfectly to the letter because we never could get it right. He was made righteousness for us. Jesus did not need baptism but He always led by example.
Time has passed and we move to Matthew chapter 14. John has beheaded by Herod because he made a stupid promise to a young girl while he was drunk and full of himself. The wicked wife of Herod's, who was originally his brother's wife, wanted John the Baptist's head on a charger. He had to keep his promise and so it was. Jesus heard about it and he left in a ship to a remote area over the see of Galilee. Jesus wanted to be alone, no doubt, but when the multitude of people heard about it, they followed Him. They walked along and in our natural state, we might have told the people to go away. We may have said, "I just need to be alone. I need to get my thoughts together. I need to grieve in my own way. Please give me some time." But Jesus did not do that. In verse 14 Jesus saw the great multitude and was moved with compassion for them. He healed the sick among them. And I just wonder what it would be like if we move forward like Jesus did, and we see the multitude of people who are dying and going to hell, lost and in need of a Savior, and what if we just put our own feelings aside for a moment, our own problems, our own trials, and what if we pushed past all that to have compassion and pray for the sick to be healed of Jesus. What would that look like in our churches? What would that look like in our schools? What would that look like in our neighborhoods? What would that look like in society?
Reading on in this chapter, we see that Jesus tells His disciples to feed the people and He performs the miracle we know today as the Loaves and the Fishes. After the people had been healed and fed Jesus lovingly sends them all away and then we pick up reading in verse 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. He finally gets the quiet time He desired. He finally gets to be alone with His Father. That tells me that when we are hurting ourselves, troubled, or upset we must press on to keep working for the Master. We must not let our flesh take a vote. We need to tend to the needs of those He has entrusted into our care. And after we have met their needs and lovingly sent them away, then we can be alone to pray and rest in His presence.
The last point I want to make about this passage, though there are so many more points I could make, is what happened next. Let's read:
MATTHEW 14:24-27 (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.
These men are in a ship in the middle of the sea. It is in the night and the waves are crashing against their vessel. The wind is whipping up the waves and their ship starts rocking and they are in a situation they feel is out of their control. We have all been there. We get the call with the unexpected news on the other end of the line. We hear the doctor's report and we never saw it coming. We, like the disciples, are in a dark situation and we feel helpless to dictate the outcome. What do we do?
It is dark. It is in the middle of the night and the men see something walking on the water. They thought they saw a ghost and they began to cry out in fear. Their experience just went from bad to worse. They do not know what is coming next.
Immediately Jesus reassures them. "It is I; be not afraid." Jesus did not leave them in the dark, fearful circumstances. He immediately calmed their fears. He announced His presence and we see that it so motivated Peter that he asks Jesus to let him walk on the water too. And so Jesus lets Him. And then like all of us do, Peter took his eyes off Jesus and started looking at his circumstances. He noticed the violent wind, he felt the waves chopping against his legs, and he cried out in fear, "Lord, save me!"
We can get upset with Peter for doing that, but it is a natural thing. Jesus tells us He is with us and we feel better and we even get excited about doing something supernatural, or miraculous, for God, and then we start looking at our situation again, and we begin to sink like Peter did. But, look how Jesus responds. He IMMEDIATELY stretched forth His hand and caught Him!
Let that sink in! He immediately stretches out His nail scarred hands and catches us! He does not let us go under. He does not let us sink. He does not tell us we are on our own. He catches us! He asks why did you doubt?
Why do we doubt? It truly is that in some situations we simply lack the faith that God will do what He said He will do. The good news is that we can say, "Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief." That was what the man said to Jesus in Mark 9:24. He was the father of a child with a dumb and deaf spirit. Jesus will give us help to believe! He continues to work on our behalf all the time. Let's not give up hope when HOPE is what Jesus gives!
The beautiful end of this story is in verse 32, "And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased." Jesus brought Peter back to the ship and the wind stopped. The winds obey Jesus. The trials will rock us off course, leave us turned upside down and inside out, but when Jesus puts us back where we belong, the storm stops. Sometimes He calms the storm, others times He calms His children.
Think on these things this weekend, friends. This is Fuel For The Weekend. I hope something I shared today has given you strength for your journey and light for your way. God bless you!
~Bridgett Owens
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