THURSDAY 25 March 2021 “Hope in Despair”

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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends around the world on this Thursday March 25.

We’ve all experienced it… sudden, unexpected, bad news. What do you do when that happens? Let’s look together at Matthew 14 today and see what Jesus did when He was shocked one day with the news that His good friend John the Baptist had been brutally killed.

Matthew explains John had been imprisoned by King Herod who didn’t like the fact that John was brazenly and boldly speaking out and he was calling out King Herod for the unashamed affair he was having with his brother’s wife!

Political power and unaccountability unfortunately go together in many parts of the world, don’t they? Somehow the politically powerful sometimes feel they are above the laws which govern the rest of us. That was happening in Jerusalem as King Herod was flaunting his adulterous affair and no one seemed to be saying or doing anything about it…no one except the flamboyant, unafraid John the Baptist.

But then suddenly John’s voice grew quiet… not much is heard from deep in dungeons of solitary confinement. And then King Herod followed the path many high profile people do… he threw a party to flaunt his power, his pride, even his sin.

Matthew tells us one of the entertainers was the daughter of Herodias, the woman with whom Herod was having his public, unashamed affair. Her dancing entertainment was applauded and Herod, perhaps having had too much to drink, promised with an oath to give her anything she requested. Seeking advice from her mother, Matthew records that the girl said “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.’ (Matt. 14:8) The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and John was beheaded in prison. His head was brought into the banquet room on a platter and given to the girl who carried it to her mother. John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.”

I imagine you remember the horrific pictures we saw of ISIS beheading people in the middle east a few years ago. Even the word, ‘beheading’, stirs up something inside of us which seems so barbaric, beyond violence, beyond wicked… almost indescribable evil. The sight of a man’s head on a platter being brought into a banquet festivity is beyond our ability to imagine… yet that’s how John the Baptist met his death. A mockery of all that is decent, moral, and just. But that’s what happens when leaders live in open immorality and rejection of God, isn’t it? We’ve seen it all too often around the world in our day!

We don’t know exactly where Jesus was nor what He was doing when John’s disciples found Him and broke this horrific news to Him. Matthew records: “When Jesus heard what happened, He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.” (Matt. 14:13) I presume that means Jesus borrowed one of the fishing boats along the Sea of Galilee shoreline and rowed out into the lake to be alone with His grief.

Of course He wasn’t alone… God the Son was meeting with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, to once again discuss the harsh reality that we are a deeply wicked human race, who in our rejection of God and our embrace of Satan have become almost indescribably evil, so very far from what God designed in the utopia of Adam and Eve and the garden of Eden.

I wonder if there was any discussion of aborting the Redemption Plan that Jesus had come to earth to accomplish? Is it possible God considered extreme possibilities as He had done before, like when God poured out the great global flood and destroyed all wicked humanity except one family. (Genesis 6) Or the day God rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed all the wickedness which had consumed the people of those towns. (Genesis 19)

Meanwhile, Matthew tells us word spread of what had happened, and crowds began to grow on the shoreline, all of them looking out at the lone figure in the rowboat on the lake. Were they feeling compassion for Jesus or were they once again lining up with their needs, their expectations of what Jesus might do that day to help them with their pain, disregarding His broken heart? Matthew writes “When Jesus landed and saw the large crowd, He had compassion on them and He healed their sick.” What does that tell us about the limitless love of God for a broken humanity, and our unquenchable need for God’s help in our pain?

Do you remember Psalm 139 tells us God sees us, always, no matter our situation, and in His complete understanding of our situation, God cares. He profoundly cares, He loves, He hears our cries, He sees our grief, and He is deeply moved to respond.

As Jesus rowed ashore that day, still deeply grieving the horrificness of what had happened to His friend John, evidently He did as He so often did… He stepped out of the boat, out of His private solitude and He waded into the pain, into the brokenness of the crowd... and He began embracing the broken hearted, healing the cripples, calming the grieving, opening blind eyes and binding the dark spirits. Jesus did what He always does… He brought HOPE into the despair of that day.

Let’s pause right here. I invite you to look into the mirror, deep into your own eyes. Then look into the eyes of your family, your friends, your neighbors. What do you see? Pain, questions, fear, anxiety, worry, anger, bitterness, woundedness? Why?

Now close your eyes and listen… not just for a few seconds, but a long listen. Long enough to hear the quiet sniffles, the whimpers, the soft sighs. What do those sounds mean to you? What do they mean to God? What is happening deep inside you and all those around you and me?

Now invite Jesus into what you’ve seen and heard. The same Jesus who climbed out of that little boat and walked into the crowd that day… let Him embrace you, touch your heart, right at the point of your need. And then I invite you to turn and join Jesus as together you help others in your crowd, giving to them the hope and help Jesus has given to you.

And here’s a song that I think will help you, as you step into the grief of our world. . .

Today’s Scripture is Matthew 14:1-14.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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