Heads Up

A letter to a fellow pastor and friend from John Newton – former slave and slave-ship captain, “glad preacher” of the Gospel and author of Amazing Grace. ( Newton, J., Richard Cecil. (1824). The works of the John Newton London: Hamilton, Adams & Co.)

In Matthew 14.13, after the death of John the Baptist “Jesus withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.” Matthew 14-16 can be appropriately titled, “The Withdrawal of the King.”

What a collection of characters we have encountered in this story: At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” For Herod had…

Matthew 14 teaches us several things about John’s character. Mark makes the point that John was a righteous man, explaining that “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.” Although…

When people read the Gospels for the first time, especially if they do so superficially, as most do, the Gospels seem to be mere collections of stories and teachings with little to connect them besides the obvious flow of events that mark the life of Jesus Christ. Even the order of events is sometimes puzzling.

After Jesus had finished telling the parables of the kingdom in Matthew thirteen, He asked the disciples, “Have you understood all these things?” (Matthew 13.51). They answered, “Yes.” I find that answer amusing, since the parables of the kingdom have always been one of the most puzzling sections of the Word of God to most…