Matthew 14:6-14 - He had compassion on them

14:6-12

We now come to the event where John ended up being beheaded, and it again displays the weakness of Herod.The daughter of Herodias was dancing and Herod found this very pleasing. Herod then made a rash promise to give her whatever she wanted. Her mother was also a manipulating woman, and had no doubt been offended by John’s habit of reminding them of their sin. So she saw an opportunity in the situation and told her daughter to ask for head of John the Baptist. The daughter duly did this, and Herod was now in a complete bind. Herod was focused on himself, self-centred, so what motivated him above all was not wishing to lose face, so he ordered the beheading of John the Baptist. John’s disciples took his body and buried it, then they went to Jesus. We need to be dedicated to Jesus above all else.

14:13,14

On hearing the news Jesus withdrew to a quiet place, or at least He tried to. The crowds learnt where He was and chased after Him. When momentous events, whether momentous on a personal level, or momentous on a national or global scale, we need to be careful how we react. We need to seek God first, to still our hearts before Him. Otherwise we can be led by events, by crowd emotion, by our own emotion, and not by the Holy Spirit. 

The crowd did find Jesus. Despite His desire from peace and quiet, Jesus did not react angrily. Instead He had compassion upon the people and healed the sick.