Matthew 14v2

And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.

These words of Herod are comparing Jesus and His ministry to that of John the Baptist. Herod expected a mighty spiritual manifestation brought about by John and his ministry of repentance and baptism. Jesus was to him the fulfilment of that expectation. It is also a sign of the spiritual expectancy that the whole nation of Israel felt at this time, and even more so since the prophetic ministry of John.

The spiritual senses of the people were heightened at the time, and they were more aware. Partly this can be attributed to the time that they lived in, being around the time that God had promised through Daniel that the Messiah would come (see Daniel 9v25 for the promise, which I will not attempt to explain here). Another thing contributing to the sense of expectancy in the people came about because of the fact the Israel was being occupied by the Romans at the time, and so the people were looking to God to bring them out of this situation.