Jesus was having Herod problems again. This time, it was a younger kinsman of the old Herod—the one who tried to get the wise men to tell him where the baby Messiah was so that he could be killed. That older Herod thought he had wiped Jesus out when he slaughtered the innocents. But Jesus had escaped from that Herod by going to Egypt with his parents.
This new Herod—Herod the Tetrarch—heard reports about Jesus’ teaching, preaching, and healing, and believed he was John the Baptist raised from the dead. This was an especially strange thing for Herod to say, because he was the very person who had put John to death. Herod had put John in prison for speaking out against a relationship between Herod and Herodias, the wife of Herod’s brother Philip. Herodias’s daughter danced before the court to celebrate Herod’s birthday. When Herod asked how he might reward her for her performance, she requested John’s head on a platter.
Herod knew it was wrong to execute John, but he was weak and ordered the execution to please Herodias and save face in front of his court. Jesus heard about Herod’s fears that John had returned from beyond the grave and withdrew in a boat to a lonely place to think alone.
Jesus might have been thinking that this same kind of execution was in his own future. He could have decided, “Well, I’ve had a good run. Going home now.”
But the crowds followed him, coming on foot to seek him out. They brought their sick for him to heal. Jesus had compassion on them; he kept doing the very kinds of things that blessed people and made the so-called authorities angry.
The huge crowd was still there when evening came. The disciples told Jesus he ought to send the people away to buy food, but Jesus instructed them to feed the crowd with what was on hand. Despite the paucity of food, in Jesus’ hands it multiplied; all were fed and there were leftovers. Five thousand men were fed—a number which does not count the women and children who also ate.
While Jesus dismissed the crowd, he sent his disciples across the sea by boat. During the early hours of the morning, he walked across the water to rejoin them as they struggled against the elements. When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, they feared he was a ghost until he reassured them of his identity. Peter then attempted—and failed—to join him on the water. Then they landed at Gennesaret, on the shore of the sea of Galilee. People there had heard of Jesus and his power to heal, and brought many of their sick to Jesus.