Matthew 14:22–33
22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”[1]
Jesus’s walking on water is mentioned in Matthew, Mark, and in John. In these three cases, time cues point to this happening after the feeding of the 5,000 and the miracle of the loaves and fishes. They also showed it in these three Gospels that Jesus sends the Apostles on their way as he goes to the mountain to pray and is likely to separate himself from those who want to make him king immediately. In the first reading, we also have Elijah go up on a mountain to pray and he also will hear God’s voice in the weather’s turmoil.
Peter Kreeft notes:
Jesus loved company. Even when he was exhausted, he ministered to the crowds that followed him. But he also needed and sought solitude, as he did at the beginning of our story in today’s Gospel, when he went up a mountain to pray in the middle of the night. We need both human company and solitude, and there is something spiritually and psychologically wrong with us if we do not love and seek out both. They enrich each other: if we have no solitude, no inner life, we have nothing precious or powerful to share with others; and if we shun company with others, we can have no healthy company with God, for “whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).[2]
St. Thomas Aquinas really dives into the mystical aspects relating Jesus going up the mountain to pray and the danger what Apostles faced on the Sea of Galilea, where there were often such storms.
Afterwards, the danger from the time is described, for it was night, and there is greater danger from the sea at night; for that reason, he says: And when it was evening. And His Passion is signified, because in the Passion He ascended alone; “While they looked on, he was raised up: and a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1, 9). But the boat in the midst of the sea was tossed with the waves. By the boat, the Church is signified; and by the sea, the world is signified; “So is this great sea, which stretcheth wide its arms” (Ps. 103, 25). And this Church, when Christ went into it, remained in the sea, and in the world’s dangers. For when some great man attacks the Church, then it is agitated by the waves. “All thy waves thou hast brought in upon me” (Ps. 87, 8). But because Christ prays, it cannot be submerged, even though it toss and be lifted up. “The waters lifted up the ark on high from the earth” (Gen. 7, 17). Likewise, it is agitated by the wind: and this wind is an assault instigated by the devil. “Because a wind came on a sudden from the side of the desert, and shook the four corners of the house” (Job 1, 19); “The blast of the mighty is like a whirlwind beating against a wall” (Is. 25, 4).[3]
St. John Chrysostom:
It should be observed, that when the Lord works a great miracle, He sends the multitudes away, teaching us thereby never to pursue the praise of the multitude, nor to attract them to us. Further, He teaches us that we should not be ever mixed with crowds, nor yet always shunning them; but that both may be done with profit; whence it follows, And when he had sent the multitude away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray; shewing us that solitude is good, when we have need to pray to God. For this also He goes into the desert, and there spends the night in prayer, to teach us that for prayer we should seek stillness both in time and place.[4]
After Jesus prays, he walks on the water. At this point, the disciples are about 4 miles from the shore as the translation of the Gospel of John reports. In Mark we get the tantalizing detail that Jesus had meant to walk past them.
Jimmy Akin speculates concerning this detail:
Mark records that “he meant to pass by them,” perhaps intending to arrive ahead of time and playfully surprise them when they disembarked (a similar element of playfulness is indicated in his appearance on the road to Emmaus; see Luke 24:28–31). His plan changes, though, because “when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw him, and were terrified.” It appears that they do not recognize him the darkness, because he immediately assures them, “Take heart, it is I; have no fear.”[5]
Only in Matthew do we learn of the typical Peter response. A mixture of docility to the Holy Spirit to act and an awkwardness focusing on self and consequences. It really took some chutzpah for him to attempt to walk out towards Jesus. Yet he does not just strike out on his own, he asks Jesus first. None of the other apostles were seemingly tempted by such an impetuous act.
John Bergsma, in his commentary on this passage:
As soon as Peter cries out, Jesus “immediately” (Greek eutheos) reaches out his hand and catches him, suggesting an attentive solicitude for the Apostle’s welfare. The Lord doesn’t sit back and let Peter flounder around in the water awhile to teach him a lesson. Even the rebuke, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” we may understand that Jesus said with gentleness, from one who knows the weakness of our condition.[6]
How often do we, in trusting God, start to sink in our doubts? Shift the emphasis from what God can do with us to our own will and human possibilities. The plethora of “Fear nots” we get from Jesus are lost as the wind and waves of life make contact.
Venerable Fulton J. Sheen has a section in his book “Life of Christ” on why Peter began to sink, that includes this:
The deliverance was first; then the gentle rebuke; and that probably with a smile on His face and love in His voice. But this was not the only time that poor Peter would doubt the Master Whom he loved so well. He who then asked to walk upon the waters in order to come quickly to the Lord was the one who would later swear that he was ready to go to prison and even to death for Him. Courageous in the boat but timid in the waters, he would later on be bold at the Last Supper, but cowardly the night of the trial. The scene at the lake was a rehearsal for another fall of Peter.
I find it interesting that it is only after Jesus calms the wind that those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” The recent miracle of the Loaves and Fishes had certainly got them thinking more deeply on who Jesus is. His walking on water would add to this. It was the apostles familiarity with scripture which taught them that only God had control over the wind and the waves. Water was associated with death both mystically and in their daily lives as fisherman. Also, “This is the first of three declarations of Jesus’ divine sonship in Matthew (also 16:16 and 27:54).”[7]
Sources
- English Standard Version Catholic Edition
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Cycle A
- St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew
- Jimmy Akin’s Studies on Mark (3 vols.) – Verbum
- The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A – John Bergsma
- The Gospel of Matthew (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture)
- Catena Aurea Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers, Volume 1 St. Matthew – Verbum
- Life of Christ
- Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
- English Standard Version Catholic Edition (2019). Augustine Institute. ↩
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Cycle A, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time ↩
- Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Dolorosa Press ↩
- St. John Chrysostom, Abp. of Constantinople, A.D. 398. Thomas Aquinas. Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels. ↩
- Jimmy Akin. (2014). Mark, A Commentary ↩
- The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A, John Bergsma, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time ↩
- The Gospel of Matthew, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, Edward Sri and Curtis Mitch ↩
