“They recognised Him”
- Mar 21, 2025
- 6 min read
Matthew 14:34-36: “When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognised Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.”
Jesus has a vision for us to go beyond the normal routines of life!
It’s to become what God wants us to become in Christ. It's about also crossing over (see last weeks blog!), and going somewhere we haven’t been before, or doing something we haven’t done before as His Kingdom people.
Let’s not forget that verse 22 - "going to the other side" - also signified Jesus' mission to reach beyond the familiar and comfortable boundaries, and to display that His Kingdom life was all-embracing. The other side of the Sea of Galilee was predominantly Gentile territory. Why would Jesus want to go there and take his disciples with Him?
For the Jews, the ‘other side’ would have been considered unclean and definitely not the place to go as a Jew. Jesus, by crossing the sea into this region, was breaking down cultural and religious barriers, demonstrating that His message of the Kingdom was for all people, not just the Jews.
He was prepared to cover the distance between that longed for place and the people He wanted to meet. It would be the dawn of a new day and a new work of grace!
I belief it’s a reminder of that distance between us and God; no man-made leap can overcome this. This can only happen by grace through faith. What distance is there today between you and God and that longed for blessing?
Looking at this last section of the story in verses 34-36, you must notice the people in the town did three things:
1) They recognised who Jesus was.
2) They sent word to all the surrounding area.
3) They brought the sick to Him.
We will hopefully cover the first two today, but first let us just be still and worship our Lord and King.
They recognised who Jesus was
No sooner had Jesus and His disciples arrived on the ‘other side’, the people there recognised Jesus and responded by bringing themselves and those that were sick to Him. The disciples had just recognised Jesus as the "Son of God" (v33) and worshipped Him. Although, I have to remind you that in this story there was also a time they didn’t recognise Him. See verse 26!
We must bring ourselves to the Lord again and recognise who He is!
Romans 12:1 (MSG): "Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life –and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him."
A wonderful definition of worship by Archbishop William Temple: "Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose - and all of this is gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable."
What an amazing statement. There’s so much to dwell on here. But I was taken by the phrase, "the surrender of will to his purpose." This is where we find the disciples in this passage - and I trust ourselves!
I’ve no doubt this was one of the reasons why Jesus encouraged the disciples to make the journey across the sea. They then began to receive wonderful blessings He intended they would receive.
‘Recognise’ in the Greek means, ‘I come to know by directing my attention to Him.’ This isn’t a superficial acquaintance but a real knowledge of who Jesus is. Do you really recognise who Jesus is? When was the last time? What is your response?
What must we do as a consequence? Worship Him and surrender to who He is!
The wonderful thing about giving yourself in full surrender to God is that you then position yourself to discover all that God created and redeemed you to be.
I've learnt over the years that God can’t give you you, until you give Him you. Therefore, if He can’t have you, then you can’t have you!
It all begins by recognising who Jesus really is: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9-10).
The living sacrifice is a full and comprehensive presentation of self in every moment, in every activity of your life.
Florence Nightingale wrote in her diary, "I am 30 years of age, the age at which Christ began His mission. Now no more childish things, no more vain things." Years later, as she ended her heroic life of service, she was asked how she had accomplished so much. She said, "I can give only one explanation and that is this: I have kept nothing back from God."
Wow! What a way to grow in our walk with the Lord, "keep nothing back from Him!"
This is what God longs for us to do today, one of the greatest miracles that can ever take place in your life.
Taking Eugene Peterson's paraphrase, "Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him."
‘They sent word to all the surrounding country’
I believe Jesus is the ‘Son of God,’ do you? If you do, what have you done with the news? When was the last time you shared this glorious fact with someone?
We must look to openly sharing the gospel with others. Being prepared to declare that “Jesus is Lord!” This is a foundational truth of everything we believe.
“Jesus is Lord” is a declaration of allegiance and trust, and this is what this story is about. Therefore, we must stand on this very foundation and live accordingly.
A day will come when everything that exists will know that Christ is Lord over all things. We are told in Philippians 2 that "Every knee should bow." And "every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."
It is all about Him.
Philippians 2: 9-11: "God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord".
And God is calling us to get that right in our lives, right now.
Dallas Willard said, “We don’t believe something by merely saying we believe it, or even when we believe that we believe it. We believe something when we act as if it were true.”
Living in light of this is extremely important because it captures the essence of this story and what must become true in and through us!
Can we be open and honest here?! I wonder whether through this story we’ve discovered that we’ve been depending more on the “boat” and not on the Saviour.
The key to being totally secure, while everything around you is falling apart, is knowing and having Christ your Saviour with you.
As things around us shake and become stormy, the “boat” will fail, whatever that means to you, so we will need to discover our only confidence must be in Christ alone.
In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
The people in Gennesaret got it right! They recognised who He was and therefore what He could do, and they were not going to let the occasion pass them by. So, "They sent word to all the surrounding country."
If only we had the same faith and response!
I am left with a oh wow! Powerful verses in Matthew 14:34-36 that I had not recognised before, and challenging message. It has left me needing and wanting to ask God to show me how much I recognise Him and fully trust Him.
I was drawn to the surrender of will to His purpose, as surrender was a word that arose in a devotional I read this morning, and a question to ask God to reveal the parts of my life that need to be refined, and then surrender to the work He wants to do inside me.