This morning I made a connection that I hadn’t before. It may not be new to you, but I never realized that the beheading of John the Baptist and the feeding of the five thousand were linked.
Here’s the gist of it, from Matthew 14:11-13: “His (John’s) head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
“When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.”
It’s that point of linkage that hit me this morning. Jesus, hearing of John’s death, went away to be by himself. Matthew doesn’t specifically say so, but I think he went to do what we all do when we get really bad news. He went to process, and to grieve. It seems so human, so like us. It’s a word of comfort to all of us when we mourn, because Jesus knows exactly what we’re feeling.
Unfortunately, as so often happens when we mourn, the world wouldn’t leave Jesus in his grief. The crowds followed him, got stuck without food, and Jesus had compassion.
Still, this brief account of Jesus needing to get away makes him seem closer. Truly he has already walked my walk.
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