of great val ue, he went away and sold ev ery thing he had and bought it.
The Parable of the Net
47
“ Once again, the king dom of heav en is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fish er men pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and col lect ed the good fish in bas kets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The an gels will come and sep a rate the wick ed from the righ teous
50 and throw them into the blaz ing fur nace, where there will be weep ing and gnash ing of teeth.
51
“ Have you un der stood all these things?” Jesus asked.“ Yes,” they re plied.
52
He said to them,“ There fore ev ery teach er of the law who has be come a dis ci ple in the king dom of heav en is like the own er of a house who brings out of his store room new trea sures as well as old.”
A Prophet Without Honor
13:54-58pp— Mk 6:1-6
53
When Jesus had fin ished these par a bles, he moved on from there. 54 Com ing to his home town, he be gan teach ing the peo ple in their syn a gogue, and they were amazed.“ Where did this man get this wis dom and these mi rac u lous pow ers?” they asked. 55“ Isn’ t this the car pen ter’ s son? Isn’ t his moth er’ s name Mary, and aren’ t his broth ers James, Jo seph, Si mon and Ju das? 56 Aren’ t all his sis ters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took of fense at him.
But Jesus said to them,“ A proph et is not with out hon or except in his own town and in his own home.”
58
And he did not do many mir a cles there because of their lack of faith.
John the Baptist Beheaded
14:1-12pp— Mk 6:14-29
14
MattheW 14:14 | 1559
At that time Her od the te trarch heard the re ports about Jesus, 2 and he said to his atten dants,“ This is John the Bap tist; he has ris en from the dead! That is why mi rac u lous pow ers are at work in him.”
3
Now Her od had ar rest ed John and bound him and put him in pris on be cause of He ro di as, his broth er Phil ip’ s wife, 4 for John had been say ing to him:“ It is not law ful for you to have her.” 5 Herod want ed to kill John, but he was afraid of the peo ple, be cause they con sid ered John a proph et.
6
On Her od’ s birth day the daugh ter of He rodi as danced for the guests and pleased Her od so much 7 that he prom ised with an oath to give her what ev er she asked. 8 Prompt ed by her moth er, she said,“ Give me here on a plat ter the head of John the Bap tist.” 9 The king was dis tressed, but be cause of his oaths and his din ner guests, he ordered that her re quest be grant ed 10 and had John be head ed in the pris on. 11 His head was brought in on a plat ter and giv en to the girl, who car ried it to her moth er. 12 John’ s dis ci ples came and took his body and bur ied it. Then they went and told Jesus.
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
14:13-21pp— Mk 6:32-44; Lk 9:10-17; Jn 6:1-13 14:13-21Ref— Mt 15:32-38
13
When Jesus heard what had hap pened, he with drew by boat pri vate ly to a sol i tary place. Hear ing of this, the crowds fol lowed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus land ed and saw a large crowd, he had com pas sion on them and healed their sick.
13:47 – 52 Similar to the parable of the weeds( Mt 13:24 – 30), this parable describes the ingathering of the righ teous and wicked and their subsequent fates. The kingdom of heaven will consist of those who follow Jesus.
13:47 a net A net with floats on one end and weights on the other. Fishermen cast the net into the sea and allowed the weighted end to sink to a sufficient depth. When they pulled it in, the net scooped up everything in its path. 13:50 weeping and gnashing of teeth See note on 13:42. 13:52 new treasures as well as old The disciples were beginning to understand the new things Jesus was teaching in conjunction with the traditions from the Scriptures they already knew.
13:53 – 58 Following his teaching in parables, Jesus travels to his hometown. Because of their familiarity with Jesus, the people of Nazareth reject him as a prophet.
13:54 his hometown Jesus’ base of ministry was Capernaum, but he had grown up in Nazareth( 2:23). Where did this man get this wisdom The people know that, unlike their rabbis, Jesus has no formal training; he was raised as a craftsman. 13:57 And they took offense at him Their offense comes from Jesus’ claim to be something that they assume he is not. 13:58 because of their lack of faith Jesus does not need to prove his authenticity with signs; the people have already rejected his message.
14:1 – 12 Matthew begins this section by recounting the death of John the Baptist. Since Herod mistakenly identifies Jesus with John, Matthew provides the background to the story. See the event line“ Jesus’ Early Life and Ministry” on p. 1530.
14:1 Herod the tetrarch Refers to Herod Antipas; a tetrarch is one who rules over a fourth of the kingdom. See note on Lk 3:1. See the table“ Political Leaders in the New Testament” on p. 1916. 14:6 the daughter of Herodias Identified as Salome by the first-century Jewish historian Josephus( Josephus,
Antiquities 18.136). 14:9 was distressed Refers to Herod’ s fear of the crowd( Mt 14:5); he didn’ t want to incite a rebellion.
14:13 – 21 Matthew’ s Gospel records two mass feedings( compare 15:32 – 39). In addition to caring about his followers’ spiritual needs, Jesus also evidences concern for their physical well-being.