Chapter 14
Verses 1-12 Read the Bible verses
John the Baptist was killed. King Herod had put John in prison. Herod was angry with John. John had told Herod that his marriage to his brother’s wife was wrong. Herod did not like to be told that.
Herod’s wife had a birthday party. Her daughter danced. Herod liked what she did and told her she could have whatever she wanted. She did not know what to ask for, so she talked to her mother.
Her mother hated John for what he said. She saw how she could do away with John. She told her daughter to ask for John’s head on a plate.
Herod was surprised. He did not really want to kill John. But he had promised to give the girl whatever she wanted—so he had John killed and put his head on a plate.
Chapter 14 verses 13-14 Read the Bible verses
When Jesus heard the news about John, he went off to be alone.
Jesus and John were cousins. John had been filled with the Holy Spirit from the time he was born. Jesus had great respect for John.
It seems that Jesus was wanting time to be alone with his feelings of sorrow.
The people would not leave Jesus alone. They followed around on the land and when Jesus came to the opposite shore, they were waiting for him.
Chapter 14 verses 15-21 Read the Bible verses.
The people were in a place where there were no stores or shops. There was no place to buy food.
The disciples wanted Jesus to send them away so they could go get food. Jesus told them to feed the people.
The disciples said, “We can’t! We have only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.”
Jesus took the food. He blessed it and began to break it. He kept breaking it until he had enough food to feed all 5,000 people.
There were 12 baskets of food left over.
Chapter 14 verses 22-23 Read the Bible verses
Jesus got back into the boat to go back across the lake. Then he went up into the hills to pray. Jesus gave much time in prayer. We read in many places that Jesus went alone to pray. He sometimes prayed all night.
If Jesus needed to pray—how much more do we need to pray!
Out on the lake, the disciples were in the boat. A storm came up and the wind was very strong.
At about 3:00 am, Jesus came to help them. Jesus walked across the water to their boat! When the disciples saw him, they thought it was a ghost. They had never seen a person walk on water and it was 3:00am!
Jesus spoke to them. Peter thought he would test to see if it was a real person or a ghost. If it really was Jesus, He would have the power to make Peter walk on the water, too.
It was Jesus. Peter walked on the water! As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus he was able to walk on the water, but when Peter looked at the waves he began to sink.
This is a lesson for us. Sometimes Jesus asks us to do things that are beyond our strength to do. As long as we keep our eyes on Jesus we can be successful, but as soon as we look at our problems and the hard things–we become afraid and we begin to fail. If we keep our eyes on Jesus, we can do things far beyond our natural ability.
After seeing Jesus walk on the water, they said, “You really are the Son of God!”
Chapter 14 verses 34-36 Read the Bible verses
Jesus went to another place. Large groups of people came to be healed. They felt that if they could just touch the hem (edge) of his garment (robe) they would be healed, and they were healed.
Chapter 14 verses 47-50 Read the Bible verses
The kingdom of heaven is like a net full of fish. The fishermen keep the good fish but throw the unwanted fish back into the sea.
At the end of the world, God will sort the people. God will keep the believers, and the unbelievers will be thrown into the place of fire.
Chapter 14 verses 51-52 Read the Bible verses
Jesus asked the disciples if they understood what he said. They said, “Yes.” Jesus said, “The scribe if he understands the Kingdom of God will bring out teachings of both the old and new. A scribe is a person who was able to write, and who studied the scriptures–God’s word.
Jesus was teaching the disciples new understandings about God’s word. He often used Old Testament verses and gave them a new understanding.
Chapter 14 verses 53-58 Read the Bible verses
Jesus went to his home country. The people were amazed at what he said. They thought Jesus had great wisdom. They said, “How did he get to be so wise? Isn’t he the carpenter’s son? We know his family. They are our neighbors. How did Jesus get to know all these things? Who is he trying to be?”
They were offended by him. They thought that because he had been one of them—-and they were just ordinary regular people—then Jesus must be the same and no better. They would not believe that he was special. They thought he must be showing off or pretending.
Jesus said, “A preacher has honor in every place except among his own people, because they think they know all about the preacher. They remember him when he was a little boy and can not accept that he is now a grown up with understanding—with more understanding than they have.
Jesus did not do many mighty works or miracles there because they did not believe.