Matthew 14:1 …Heard of the fame of Jesus…
A touchstone is used to test the purity of true gold. It also is a word that means “the criterion that determines the quality or genuineness of a thing.” So, you know that something is right, genuine, or quality by a standard, a touchstone.
Jesus is the touchstone for what people see and for what you know. You find that in John 14 where the Bible says, “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, and said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist.” We oftentimes talk about people seeing Jesus in us, but here is a place where Herod, because of his experience, saw John in Jesus. Either way, what we are talking about is testimony. We are talking about what others see, what others saw of John in this particular case.
We are not talking merely about style or temperament. For instance, Jesus Himself said in Matthew 11, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.” Those who rejected the truth couldn’t be pleased by John and the way he presented the truth or by Jesus Who is the truth. These two were very different in their temperament and their style. John wore odd clothing and ate odd things, but he still had the truth. So, we are talking about testimony, the way Jesus is shown in us.
We should personify Jesus. We should allow Jesus to live through us. I do not have a good testimony merely because some group of people approves of me. Jesus is to be the touchstone for my life and my actions. The quality of my testimony depends on how much of Jesus others see in me.
Jesus is also the touchstone for what you know, your conscience. Conscience means “with knowledge.” I realize that you do not even know your own heart, but you know more of it than I would. In any event, Herod had conscience. Herod had been told it was sin for him to have his brother’s wife. When John told him that, Herod had John thrown in prison. Later, Herod had John killed. It was obvious that John was haunting Herod Antipas.
It is interesting that Herod the Great had tried to kill Jesus in Matthew 2:16. In Luke 23 you find Herod Antipas, this same Herod, judging Jesus. Well, Jesus will one day judge Herod. Pilate, in Matthew 27:24, said that he was innocent of the blood of Jesus and he washed his hands in water. Well, good luck with that. He wasn’t innocent, and the touchstone, the determiner, of that was what he did with Jesus.
I want people to think well of me, but my testimony and my conscience, what people see and what I know, are both determined by Jesus Christ, Who He is and what He wishes in and through me. Jesus is the touchstone for what people see, your testimony, and what you know, your conscience.