TEXT: Matthew 14:1-2 – “1At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus 2 and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.”
Even when Jesus was here on the Earth, people misunderstood who He was. They attributed Him to be many different things – a great Teacher, a Prophet, some thought Him crazy, others thought He was a charlatan trying to deceive the people.
Those same thoughts and accusations remain until today. I like how C. S. Lewis has boiled it down to only three ways we can see Jesus – He is one of these three – a Liar, a Lunatic, or Lord. We cannot accept Him in any other way.
- Liar – He was one who knew He was just a man and yet continued to
proclaim Himself as the Messiah.
- Lunatic – He thought that He was the Messiah, but was in the same
category as one who thinks they are Napoleon today.
- Lord – He knew who He was, and He was not deluded – He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
In our passage today we see that when Herod first hears about Jesus and the miracles and His ministry it stirs up his deepest fears. Possibly Herod had been tormented since the casual oath he had made. Possibly he had been living in the terrors of guilt and fear from this deed.
Whatever it was, when the news about Jesus came – he immediately fears that John the Baptist had returned from the dead. If this Jesus could heal, could raise the dead, could store sight, hearing, and movement – if John had caused him fear before – this becomes a haunting continual nightmare. This could be why he so desperately wanted to see Jesus when Pilate offers.
In our next two lessons, we will ponder what Matthew tells us about
- John being mistreated by Herod Antipas, and
- John the Baptist is murdered by Herod Antipas.
I want to end today by challenging you to search your heart and mind
– which of the three “L’s” mentioned above are you.
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