Two banquets and a storm: John's death, the feeding of the five thousand and the Son of God on the sea

Matthew 14 is part of the Gospel traditionally ascribed to the apostle Matthew, the tax collector. Many scholars think instead that an unnamed Jewish Christian wrote it in Greek, probably in the 80s of the first century, drawing on Mark. Others argue for the 60s. The Gospel is addressed to readers who knew the Scriptures of Israel, and it presents Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. Chapter 14 shows him as the shepherd who feeds his people and the Lord who rules the sea, and it shows the cost of speaking for God in the death of John.

The chapter is closely tied to the other Gospels. The death of John is told in Mark 6:14-29, in more detail, and Luke 9:7-9 mentions Herod's perplexity without the execution. The feeding of the five thousand is the one miracle of Jesus' ministry reported in all four Gospels (Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15). The walking on the sea appears in Mark 6:45-52 and John 6:16-21, but Peter's walking on the water is found only in Matthew. On the common view that Matthew used Mark, he has shortened some narratives and added material of his own; on other views the differences have other explanations. The Jewish historian Josephus also writes about Herod Antipas and John, saying John was put to death at the fortress of Machaerus because Herod feared his influence. His account differs in emphasis and some family details from the Gospels, and scholars generally treat them as complementary reports from different angles.

The setting is Galilee about AD 29. Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great, ruled Galilee and Perea as tetrarch from 4 BC to AD 39, a Roman client under Tiberius. Matthew calls him 'tetrarch' in verse 1 and 'the king' in verse 9. He had married Herodias, who had been married to a half-brother, and John had said this was unlawful. Matthew places the feeding only in a 'solitary place' reached by boat.

The chapter is narrative, and its meaning is carried by arrangement as much as by speech. Matthew places two meals side by side: Herod's birthday banquet, where a king's oath leads to the death of a prophet, and Jesus' meal in the wilderness, where a compassionate Lord feeds the crowd. The contrast is intended. One table is a place of fear, display and murder; the other a place of compassion, blessing and abundance.

• The second principle is to attend to Old Testament echoes that the narrative itself invites. The wilderness setting, the hungry crowd and the bread recall the manna in Exodus 16 and Elisha's feeding of a hundred men with twenty loaves in 2 Kings 4:42-44. The storm and the sea recall the Psalms, where God alone rules the waves (Psalm 77:19; 107:23-30) and Job 9:8, where God alone treads on the sea. These are echoes, not formal citations, and they gain force from the response of the disciples.
• Third, Matthew's tone is restrained. He does not explain the miracles. He narrates them and lets the response, worship and confession, interpret them.

Finally, the chapter should be read as part of a larger movement. The death of John is a preview of what will happen to Jesus (17:12), and the two meals point forward to the Last Supper (26:26-29).

Verses 1–12

Herod the tetrarch hears about Jesus and says to his servants that this is John the Baptist, risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him. Matthew then looks back. Herod had arrested John because John said it was not lawful for him to have Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. Leviticus 18:16 and 20:21 forbid taking a brother's wife. Matthew says Philip, while Josephus names her first husband Herod; the family connections of the Herodians are complex and the difference is generally put down to this. Herod wanted to kill John but feared the people, who regarded John as a prophet. On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias dances, pleases him and he promises with an oath to give her whatever she asks. Prompted by her mother she asks for John's head on a platter. The king is grieved, but because of his oaths and his guests he orders it. John is beheaded in prison, and his head is brought on a platter. John's disciples bury the body and tell Jesus. The tale shows a weak ruler captured by his own oath and a prophet killed for speaking the law. It is the first death of a messenger of the kingdom that Matthew narrates, and it casts a shadow on Jesus' own path.

Verses 13–21

Jesus withdraws by boat to a solitary place. The crowds follow on foot. He 'had compassion on them and healed their sick'. When evening comes the disciples suggest sending the crowds away to buy food. Jesus replies, 'You give them something to eat.' They have five loaves and two fish. He has the crowd sit on the grass and takes the loaves and fish, looks up to heaven, blesses, breaks and gives them to the disciples, who give them to the people. All eat and are satisfied, and twelve baskets of pieces are gathered. About five thousand men are fed, besides women and children. The verbs 'took, blessed, broke, gave' are the same series used at the Last Supper (26:26) and at Emmaus (Luke 24:30). Matthew does not turn the meal into a sacrament, but the pattern is deliberate. The disciples are not spectators. Jesus gives to them to give to the crowd. The twelve baskets may recall the twelve disciples, or the twelve tribes.

Verses 22–33

Jesus makes the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead while he dismisses the crowds. He goes up the mountain to pray alone. The boat is far from land, battered by waves, and the wind is against them. In the fourth watch of the night, between about three and six in the morning, Jesus comes to them walking on the sea. They think he is a ghost and cry out in fear. He says, 'Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.' The words 'It is I' are in Greek ego eimi, an ordinary way to say 'I am he', and they also echo the divine name in the Greek Old Testament (Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 43:10). Whether Matthew means a divine claim here is debated, but the surrounding context, with God treading on the sea, is suggestive. Peter says, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' Jesus says, 'Come.' Peter gets out of the boat and walks toward Jesus. When he sees the wind, he is afraid, begins to sink and cries out, 'Lord, save me!' Jesus reaches out and takes hold of him, 'You of little faith, why did you doubt?' When they climb into the boat the wind dies down. The disciples worship him and say, 'Truly You are the Son of God!' This is the first time in Matthew the disciples confess him as Son of God. Mark records only their astonishment and notes that their hearts were hardened (Mark 6:51-52). Matthew's version stresses the worship.

Verses 34–36

They land at Gennesaret, on the west shore. People recognize Jesus, send word to the region and bring all their sick. They beg to touch the fringe of his cloak, and all who touch are healed. The fringe (kraspedon) recalls the tassels commanded in Numbers 15:38-39, which Jesus, as a Jew, presumably wore. The healing comes from the person, not the garment.

The chapter touches several large themes.

• The first is the cost of prophetic witness. John is killed because he told a ruler the truth about a marriage, and the ruler is shown as controlled by an oath, a guest list and his wife's design. The Old Testament pattern of prophets opposing kings, such as Elijah and Ahab (1 Kings 21) and Jeremiah and Zedekiah, runs through this story.
• The second theme is God's provision. The God who fed Israel in the wilderness with manna (Exodus 16) and who gave Elisha bread for a hundred is now acting through Jesus to feed a crowd. The same God has compassion, as the Psalms say, on the hungry (Psalm 146:7; 132:15).

• The third theme is God's rule over the sea. In the Old Testament the sea is a place of chaos and danger, and the Lord stills it (Psalm 65:7; 89:9; 107:29). Jesus' walking on it presents him acting as God acts.
• The fourth theme is faith and its weakness. Peter's request, his steps and his fear show faith that is real but wavering, and the rescue shows Christ's grace to those who falter.
• The last theme is worship. The Gospel has shown the magi worshiping the child (2:11) and now the disciples worship Jesus as Son of God. In the context of Jewish monotheism, worship is directed to God alone, so the scene is a strong sign of how the first believers understood him.

The chapter shows Jesus in three roles. He is the compassionate Shepherd of Israel. The crowds in the wilderness are like the sheep without a shepherd of 9:36, and he feeds them, as Ezekiel 34 promised that God would feed his flock. He is the new Moses and a greater Elisha in the manner he provides bread, though the Gospel does not use these titles here. And he is the Lord of the sea, doing what Job 9:8 says only God does, and saying words that may echo the divine name. The description of this as an echo rather than a proof is deliberate, but the disciples' worship and confession show how they took it.

The death of John is also Christological. Jesus later says that Elijah has come and they did to him whatever they wished, and the Son of Man will suffer in the same way (17:12). John is the forerunner in death as in preaching. The two banquets prepare the reader for a third: the Last Supper, where Jesus again takes, blesses, breaks and gives, and gives his own body and blood (26:26-28). Between the banquet of a king who kills a prophet and the meal of a king who gives himself, Matthew places the feeding in the wilderness, where Jesus gives bread to many.

Matthew's confession, 'Truly You are the Son of God', anticipates Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi (16:16) and the centurion's at the cross (27:54). Each time, a witness sees Jesus' identity at a moment of power or humiliation, and the Gospel sets these side by side.