John the Baptist beheaded
1 At that time the news about Jesus reached King Herod.
2 And he said to his servants, ¡°This man is John the Baptist. John
has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at
work in him.¡±
3 Herod had, in fact, ordered that John be arrested, bound in chains
and put in prison be cause of Hero dias, the wife of his brother
Philip.
4 For John had said to him, ¡°It is not right for you to have her as
wife.¡±
5 Herod wanted to kill him but he did not dare, because he feared
the people who regarded John as a prophet.
6 On Herod¡¯s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst
of the guests; she so delighted Herod
7 that he promised under oath to give her anything she asked.
8 The girl, following the advice of her mother, said, ¡°Give me the
head of John the Baptist here on a dish.¡±
9 The king was very displeased, but because he had made this promise
under oath in the presence of the guests, he ordered it to be given
her.
10 So he had John beheaded in pris on
11 and his head brought on a dish and given to the girl. The girl
then took it to her mother.
12 Then John¡¯s disciples came to take his body and bury it. And they
went to bring the news to Jesus.
First miracle of the loaves
13 On hearing this, Jesus set out secretly by boat for a secluded
place. But the people heard of it, and they followed him on foot
from their towns.
14 When Jesus went ashore, he saw the crowd gathered there and he
had compassion on them. And he healed their sick.
15 Late in the afternoon, his disciples came to him and said, ¡°We
are in a lonely place and it is now late. You should send these
people away, so they can go to the villages and buy something for
themselves to eat.¡±
16 But Jesus replied, ¡°They do not need to go away; you give them
something to eat.¡±
17 They answered, ¡°We have nothing here but five loaves and two
fishes.¡±
18 Jesus said to them, ¡°Bring them here to me.¡±
19 Then he made everyone sit down on the grass. He took the five
loaves and the two fishes, raised his eyes to heaven, pronounced the
blessing, broke the loaves and handed them to the disciples to
distribute to the people.
20 And they all ate, and everyone had enough; then the disciples
gathered up the leftovers, filling twelve baskets.
21 About five thousand men had eaten there besides women and
children.
Jesus walks on the water
22 Immediately Jesus obliged his disciples to get into the boat and
go ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the crowd away.
23 And having sent the people away, he went up the moun tain by
himself to pray. At nightfall, he was there alone.
24 Meanwhile, the boat was very far from land, dangerously rocked by
the waves for the wind was against it.
25 At daybreak, Jesus came to them walking on the lake.
26 When they saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified,
thinking that it was a ghost. And they cried out in fear.
27 But at once Jesus said to them, ¡°Courage! Don¡¯t be afraid. It¡¯s
me!¡±
28 Peter answered, ¡°Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you
walking on the water.¡±
29 Jesus said to him, ¡°Come.¡± And Peter got out of the boat, walking
on the water to go to Jesus.
30 But, in face of the strong wind, he was afraid and began to sink.
So he cried out, ¡°Lord, save me!¡±
31 Jesus immediately stret ched out his hand and took hold of him,
saying, ¡°Man of little faith, why did you doubt?¡±
32 As they got into the boat, the wind drop ped. 33 Then those in
the boat bowed down be fore Jesus saying, ¡°Truly, you are the Son of
God!¡±
34 They came ashore at Genne sareth.
35 The local people recognized Jesus and spread the news throughout
the region. So they brought all the sick to him,
36 begging him to let them touch just the fringe of his cloak. All
who touched it became perfectly well.
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Comments Mathew, Chapter 14
• 14.1 For chapters 14 and 15 see commentaries on Mark 6 and 7.
It would seem that this series of narratives that occupy chapters 14
and 15 and the beginning of chapter 16 formed a collection dating
from the first years of the Church; an identical collection is found
in Mark and a part in Luke. As in all these texts that have been
passed on orally over a time, there were general ideas and keywords
that helped them to be linked to each other. Here bread must have
been one of the common themes.
Do not forget that bread was by far the main food and to eat bread
signified to have a meal (15:2).
On the other hand there were few needs besides food and clothing, so
religion gave much importance to everything related to food and
cooking. That explains the questions presented in these chapters and
the answers given by Jesus. Even the bread of the children (15:26)
gave the opportunity to complete the teaching about the eucharist
that was drawn from the two mira cles of the loaves.
• 13. See commentary on Mk 6:32 and Jn 6.
• 22. See commentary on Mark 6:45.
They were ter rified: thinking that it was a ghost. The apostles
shared the same fears and superstitions that their kinsfolk had.
Only in time would they reach mature faith which drives away these
paralyzing beliefs.
Command me to come to you (v. 28). Matthew is not interested in
emphasizing Peter¡¯s doubt, but his faith. Peter alone dared to
attempt some thing that seemed to be reserved for Jesus, and after
joining his companions again in the boat he was, though soaked, the
happiest of them all.
Man of little faith (v. 31). Once more Jesus¡¯ reproa ches are
addressed to his best disciples (as in 6:30; 8:26; 16:8; 17:20) ¨C in
order to convince future disciples, like us, that much is still
lacking in our faith.