Jesus often slipped away for time alone with his Father because it restored him. He invited his disciples to get away for a rest after busy seasons of ministry, too. But everywhere they went they met people with needs. The crowds began to anticipate where Jesus might go next and sometimes they got there ahead of him.

Jesus was always able to put his personal needs aside to care for others. He even overcame his grief at the death of John the Baptist when he needed to feed a crowd of several thousand hungry people. He never said no to anything his Father asked of him.

The Death of John the Baptist

John the Baptist’s job was calling people to turn from their sins, but he got into trouble when he questioned some of King Herod’s choices. Herod had divorced his first wife and married his sister-in-law Herodias after she divorced her first husband – Herod’s  brother Philip.

“John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.” Luke 9:18-20

Herod wanted put off doing anything about John so he kept him around, but Herodias wanted John dead and she lobbied for his execution. What a miserable two years that must have been for John the Baptist, locked away from the wide open spaces where he loved to preach and baptize people.

John’s story reached its conclusion when the daughter of Herodias danced her way into Herod’s favor one night at a banquet. The king recklessly told her she could have anything she wanted and her mother persuaded her to ask for John the Baptist’s head on a platter. To his great regret, Herod kept his pledge and gave her what she asked for.

John had no time for goodbyes or last words. His only consolation in his last moments was that he had been faithful to God all of his life and he had fulfilled his mission to introduce the Messiah to the world.

Jesus and His Disciples Retreat

Matthew implies that Jesus was sad about John’s death and wanted to get away by himself, so he went by boat to a solitary place. When people heard he had left they set off to find him. Imagine thousands of people walking for miles around the north end of the Sea of Galilee, looking for Jesus.

By the time he landed the crowd was waiting for him. Setting aside whatever other plans he had for that day he began teaching and healing people. And he kept it up until evening when his disciples intervened.

“The disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a remote place, and it’s getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.’”  Matthew 14:15-16

Matthew’s account leaves out the fact that the disciples had just returned from their first missionary trip and were trying to tell Jesus all about it before he took them across the lake.

“The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.

So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. ’” Mark 6:30-34

It would have been nice for Jesus and the disciples to have the day off, but Jesus couldn’t ignore all those needy people who had walked so far to find him.

Feeding the Five Thousand

The disciples were tired even before they began that day of ministry, but now Jesus asked them to do the impossible.

“Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, ‘Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.’

He replied, ‘You give them something to eat.’” Luke 9:12-13

John 6:6 says, “He asked this only to test [them], for he already had in mind what he was going to do.”

To their credit, the disciples didn’t throw up their hands and walk away. They went to look for resources and brought them to Jesus.

“Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’” John 6:8-9

Jesus asked the disciples to organize the crowd into groups that could be served easily. Then he took the loaves and fish, looked up to heaven, gave thanks, and distributed the food until the thousands of people had enough to eat.

The disciples’ day wasn’t over yet. Jesus wanted to make sure none of that heaven-blessed food went to waste so they took twelve baskets and filled them with the broken pieces of bread and fish that were left over.

Walking on Water

The crowd wasn’t in a mood to disperse after Jesus fed them. They started talking about making him king – probably without thinking about the consequences – and he decided to send them home while he retreated into the hills to pray.

He sent the disciples with their baskets down to get into the boat on the lake and travel ahead of him to Bethsaida. It was another nighttime boat ride across a big, unpredictable stretch of water.

In the middle of the night the boat was caught in a storm, while they were still far from their destination. The disciples strained at the oars, rowing against the wind, and making no headway. Jesus saw their predicament and came down from the mountain to help them.

This was the second time the disciples had been caught in a storm at night, but this time Jesus wasn’t in the boat with them. Then —

“Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said and cried out in fear.” Matthew 14:25-26

Faith Over Fear

The disciples were terrified when they saw Jesus but when he spoke to them they calmed down and Peter’s heart went out to Jesus. He wanted to go to him and he believed he could walk on water to do it.

“Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’

‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’

‘Come,’ he said.

Then Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” Matthew 14:27-29

Peter was doing well until took his eyes off Jesus and noticed where he was – on a deep lake in a big storm. Fear gripped his heart and he began to sink beneath the waves.

“[Peter] cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’” Matthew 14:30-31

Jesus and Peter climbed into the boat and the wind died down. The disciples were once again stunned by Jesus’ power, but this time instead of asking “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:41) they worshiped him and called him by his name.

“Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’” Matthew 14:21

The Ministry of Healing

Jesus and his disciples completed their crossing and landed at Gennesaret, but there was still no rest for Jesus and his weary disciples.

“As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went – into villages, towns or countryside – they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.” Mark 6:54-56

It’s hard to fathom how much energy Jesus poured out during this season of ministry. But seeing so many broken people made whole re-invigorated him. He kept going because he only had a little while to do all he could for people. And his disciples kept up with Jesus because — they must have sensed — they only had a short time to learn all they could from him.