the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 3 of 5
Matthew 14:1-21
Ch. 11 shows us John the Baptist in prison. We learn here that he had been thrown there by Herod (son of the Herod in ch. 2). And for what reason? John had fearlessly reproached him because he had married the wife his brother had repudiated. Now the faithful witness pays with his life for the truth he had had the courage to declare before the king. His death occurs in the midst of the scene of pleasure and feasting in the royal court; it is the frightful outcome of the pleasure that is offered to the wicked (cf. James 5:5-6). Herod could well be sorry at this moment, but he had for a long time wanted to put John to death (v. 5), for hatred of the truth and of those who utter the truth always go together (Galatians 4:16). Humanly speaking, John’s end is tragic and horrible; in God’s eyes it is the triumphant fulfilment of "his course" (Acts 13:25).
We read between the lines what it must have been for the Lord Jesus to hear the news of the death of His fore-runner. Was not this already the announcement of His own rejection and His cross? It seems that His sadness made Him feel the need to be alone (v. 13). But already the crowds throng Him again, and His heart, thinking only of others, is moved with compassion for them. He performs for their benefit this great miracle of the first multiplication of the loaves.
