Matthew 14:1-21

John the Baptist told Herod that the relationship with his brother's wife, Herodias, was adultery. Instead of repenting, Herod had John put in prison. He did not put him to death though, for fear of what John's followers might do in retribution. On Herod's birthday, Herodias' daughter danced for Herod and he was so pleased that he promised her anything she wanted. Her mother coached her to ask for the head of John. Herod agreed to it and it was done. When Herod heard the news of Jesus' preaching and healing, he thought Jesus might have been John come back to life.

So here we have Herod entering into an adulteress relationship. When confronted about the sinfulness of his current arrangement, he decides to throw the one man who had the courage to call him on it in prison. Instead of repenting and ending the relationship, he tried to ignore the problem by getting rid of the one reminding him of the problem. We should all have someone in our life who loves us enough to hold us accountable when we're doing something wrong. When someone confronts you about something they see in your life, don't blow them off. Consider what they have to say and take the matter to God. Then thank God you have a friend who loves you enough to confront you in the first place.

Herod gave in to the request to murder John even though he didn't really want to. The people closest to us can also tempt us to do the wrong things. It takes a strong person to stand up to the pressure, but Jesus has promised to give us the strength to do just that. Better still, keep yourself clear of people you know may steer you in the wrong direction. That may mean losing some friends, but if they're only going to drag you down, maybe that's not so much of a loss.


After Jesus received word of what happened to John, He decided to go off by Himself for a while. However, a large crowd of people heard of His plans and got to the place before He did. Even in His time of grief, Jesus saw their need and healed the sick that had come. When it became late, the disciples wanted to send the crowd away so they could go get food in the villages. Jesus told the disciples to feed the crowd. They couldn't understand how they could do this since all they could find were two fish and five small loaves of bread. Jesus took what little food they had and blessed it. Then He gave it to the disciples to distribute to the people. Everyone in the crowd (some estimates put it at 10-20,000) had enough to eat and there were still twelve baskets of leftovers.

God can do much more than we ever imagined with whatever little we bring to Him. Never be afraid that what you have to offer isn't enough. Bring to God whatever you have and He will multiply it according to your faith.