NOTES for Mat 14:1-13

The ancient Persians thought that two equal powers, good and evil, act in the world. Pagans believed that among the various deities some are friendly to human beings and others hostile to them. But in reality there is only one God, and He is merciful. This Revelation is not as simple as it appears. We like to imagine scenes of an apocalyptic confrontation between good and evil; it looks more honorable to us to take part in a grand battle against a corresponding opponent. Therefore we take an allegorical description of the essence for a literal description of events.

Perhaps we have become so accustomed to life in hell that we do not see how monstrous the ordinary is. What small, empty things, in essence, led to the death of the greatest of those born of women, John the Forerunner! Well, this girl danced a provocative dance... Well, her mother wanted to maintain an appearance of respectability so that she would not be reproached for her marriage... The satanic snarl that suddenly appeared surprises us: "Give me John's head on a platter." But we, too, dispose of people's lives in exactly the same way over the most complete trifles. John was the Forerunner of Christ not only because he announced His coming and proclaimed Him. By his death he also foretold how petty envy and momentary political calculation would lead to the death of the Son of God.

When reading today's Gospel word, it is important to keep in mind that in our daily life we are the same Herodias, and our actions, dictated by petty and essentially pitiful interests, lead to catastrophic consequences.

Today's passage is one of the places in the Bible that speaks about an obvious human lack of freedom. For the sake of an oath made before his nobles, a drunken king is ready to step over both his fears and the remains of his conscience.

The evangelists' attitude toward Herod Antipas is interesting. They seem ready not to condemn him; they look at him with a certain condescension. And indeed, the king appears before us as a very unfree man: he arrests John not on his own initiative, but because John rebuked his unlawful marriage; he listens to John imprisoned in the dungeon, trying to resist the queen's intrigues aimed at having the prophet executed. And now he "has to" behead him, again against his own will.

Need it be said that a person commits the main evil when he is unfree, when he is under the power of suggestion, pressure, and circumstances that he is unable (or unwilling) to resist and that drag him into sin and death. Understanding this, one begins to value in a new way the freedom Christ gives: freedom to resist circumstances, human and demonic pressure; as one priest said, the freedom of "disobedience to evil."

Herod's reaction to John's rebukes is banal. He so does not want some preacher spoiling his mood and sticking his nose into his personal life. It would be good if he did not exist at all.

And yet even Herod, who allowed himself much and paid little regard to anyone, did not dare kill John, because he feared the people. This is not surprising, since many of those who try to appear "tough" and show off their ruthlessness are in fact inwardly weak, saturated with hidden fears and complexes. Inner instability, the desire to show off before the guests, and at the same time dependence on the "public opinion" of those gathered at the feast forced Herod first to make a rash oath and then to agree to murder. Having rejected the preaching of John the Baptist, Herod rejected the possibility of repenting of his sins, and then multiplied them. And now he would have to spend the rest of his life in fear.

Fear is Herod's first reaction when he receives the news of Christ's preaching. Thinking that John has risen, Herod is mistaken, but there is a grain of truth in his mistaken fears. For the One whom he took for the risen John truly does bring Resurrection. Even saturated with evil, Herod sensed the invincibility of good.

Christ gathers enormous crowds of people and feeds them with bread. There is enough bread for everyone, and each of the apostles even manages to gather a whole basket of leftovers. And this is the same Christ who said that a person lives "not by bread alone" and refused to engage in social reforms!

To understand this event, it is necessary to turn to the biblical parallels for such a mass feeding of people: the manna that God gave Israel in the wilderness. And also to the prophecies that in the triumph of God's Kingdom people will be filled with bread. For the first readers and hearers of the Gospel, the allusion to these sacred texts meant that God's Kingdom was already being realized in Jesus; in Him God had already come to people.

This story was undoubtedly associated for them with their own experience of divine life, into which they entered through the breaking of the bread: thanksgiving, blessing, breaking, distribution of bread, and gathering of leftovers were all actions involved in the celebration of the Eucharistic meal. In that meal, as in this story, the basic human concepts - bread, life, God - are forever connected with the person of Jesus.

Christ rejects none of those who rush toward Him. Moreover, Christ does not even require that those who come to Him already understand the meaning of His coming. He sees perfectly well that people are asking for the satisfaction of everyday needs. But the fact that the people are ready to follow Him even into the wilderness says that those who listen are ready to receive from Him something greater than relief in the conditions of earthly existence. Thus the spiritual path leading to the heavenly goal begins with something small and earthly.

Let us note that all this takes place in anxious days shortly after John's execution, when it was unclear what to expect from Herod. Christ's desire in those days to be alone is entirely natural; it is a distant echo of the solitude in Gethsemane. But this time a crowd rushed after Christ, which increased the risk of provocations from both Herod and the Romans.

Yet, despite all the dangers, Jesus drives no one away. Moreover, on His own initiative He heals the sick. The evangelist notes that He had compassion on them. Let us add only that He came to us and went up to Golgotha because He had compassion on all of us.

Caring for the people, Christ does not want to send them into the nearby villages for food. Just try to imagine what might have happened if hungry crowds, with night approaching, had rushed out for bread... So He delivered people not only from hunger, but also from many other troubles, when He proposed that the apostles feed them. He could have created some kind of food Himself, but it is important to Him that the disciples take part in this. Let us note that after blessing it, He broke the bread found by the disciples and gave it specifically to the disciples, and they gave it to the people.

It is hardly accidental that the evangelist notes that before the meal began Jesus looked up to heaven. His blessing of the bread, eaten before the face of the Heavenly Father, makes us remember the Eucharist, the fact that at the Last Supper He will call the bread His Body. There is a suggestion that at the multiplication the bread was passed from hand to hand as was customary at a Jewish meal. The one seated at the head of the meal would break off a piece from a large loaf and give both parts to his neighbor; that person would take the small piece and, breaking off another for the next person, would pass it on together with the large loaf. In that case the loaves were multiplied in the hands of those who ate, and everyone became a participant in the miracle. So too the Lord wants to see us as His coworkers.