Text:
22 And immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. 23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray; and when evening came, he was there alone. 24 And the boat was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 In the fourth watch of the night Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. 27 Then Jesus immediately spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I; do not be afraid.” 28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water to come to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they had entered the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God!”
34 And when they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. 35 And the men of that place recognized him, and they sent throughout all that region, and brought to him all that were sick. 36 And they begged him that they might just touch the hem of his garment. And all that touched him were made whole.
the explanation:
{magictabs} My Parish Newsletter::
The Lord’s walking on the water comes immediately after the multiplication of the five loaves and the fish. The elements of these two events take us back to the Old Testament when the Lord brought the Hebrews out of Egypt. The desert (Matthew 14:15) recalls the Sinai desert, the multiplication of the loaves recalls the eating of the Passover lamb before the Exodus (see Exodus 12), and the walking on the water recalls the Israelites’ crossing of the Red Sea. God’s connection to His people began with the event of the Exodus from Egypt. Just as the Hebrew was connected to his God by the act of the Exodus to Canaan, so we are connected to Jesus today if we emerge from the slavery of sin and death into righteousness and holiness.
If the event of the multiplication of the loaves and the feeding of the multitudes was intended to show that Jesus was acting as the God of the Old Testament who rained manna and quails from heaven on the people of Israel wandering in the desert, then the event of walking on the water and controlling the sea and wind that immediately follows also shows Jesus’ divine authority through his ability to control the two elements that threaten the order of creation, namely, water and wind. These two elements are depicted in the Old Testament, especially in its earliest books, as the two most powerful enemies of God. They are capable of shaking creation and destroying its order (see, for example, Genesis 7; Psalms 74:12-14, 16; 89:9-10). But God enters into battle with them, subdues them and subdues them, “walking on the wings of the wind” (Psalm 104:3), and with his mighty arm he sets limits for the waters and the deep so that they cannot be transgressed (Psalm 104:6-9). It can no longer threaten the inhabited world with destruction and annihilation. This complete control over the two elements that ancient thought, Israelite and non-Israelite, considers the cause of annihilation, is one of the most important attributes of God, because God must show that He is able not only to create, but also to preserve His creation and protect it from what threatens its continuity. Therefore, the God of the Old Testament is depicted as holding the waters and the wind with a strong arm, to express that He created and preserves His creation, and that nothing can usurp it from Him, so that the waters become for the service of creation and not for its harm.
This is the thought behind this Gospel passage. Jesus is depicted as master of the sea and the winds. He walks on them, while the ship carrying the disciples is tossed about in the waves. The ship here refers to the new creation, to those who followed Jesus Christ, accepted his teachings, and believed in him. This interpretation is possible, since in ancient tradition the ship is one of the most important symbols that refer to the Church. Jesus preserves the new creation by controlling the waves of the sea that threaten to drown it and the winds that cause the sea to rage. This is a manifestation of Jesus’ divine authority. Jesus, as the God of the Old Testament, controls the elements of nature, so they do not escape his hand to destroy creation. Jesus’ divine authority is most clearly expressed in his words to the disciples, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” The verb “take heart” is only used by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, to indicate that he is the Savior. As for the expression “I am,” its relationship is clear with the name of God in the Old Testament, “Yahweh,” which is derived from the verb “to be” in the Hebrew language. In another place in the Gospel of Matthew (8:23-27) Jesus rebukes the winds and the sea and they calm down. The crowds are amazed and ask what kind of man this is, since the wind and the sea obey him. This is an indication that Jesus here acts with his authority from God.
Peter doubts. He doubts that the One who walks before him on the waters is the Master of the waters and creation, that He is the Lord. He tests Him but is afraid and begins to sink. Jesus saves him but rebukes him for his lack of faith. Peter does not believe that “He is,” that is, that He is the God who sustains His creation. Peter here represents those who follow Jesus but doubt Him when hardships become too much for them. If Jesus is “He,” then His followers need not fear.
The waves calm down and the wind ceases. Jesus is in the boat. It is in no danger. He is its guardian. Those in it acknowledge his divine authority and confess that he is the Son of God.
The Lord Jesus broke the bread in the evening (see Matthew 14:15) and then was about to dismiss the crowds to spend the night in their homes, as he had ordered the disciples to return to their headquarters in Capernaum, which was across the lake (see John 6:16). Then he “went up into the mountain apart to pray.” The Lord took no one with him because his prayer stemmed from his special relationship with the Father. It was his own and his disciples could not participate in it because they were not yet sons. The believer is the one who becomes a son of the Father through Jesus Christ, “God having predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself” (Ephesians 1:5), and he exercises his sonship by being led by the Holy Spirit, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14). Then our prayer and the prayer of the Lord Jesus become one, as the apostle Paul said, “Because you are sons of God, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba!’” (Galatians 4:6).
The disciples wandered on the lake from evening until the fourth watch, that is, the period between three and six in the morning. If the disciples were cut off from all help in the midst of confusion, bewilderment and fear, help came to them unexpectedly. The Lord Jesus Himself walked on water. This points to a profound spiritual truth. Walking on water is not a display of Jesus’ abilities, but rather indicates that God extends a helping hand where help is impossible. It is impossible for humans to walk on water, but by walking on water Jesus taught his disciples to rely on God. Where there is no hope, salvation is impossible. In this way, the believer knows that God is by his side in the depths of his confusion and fear, when he loses control and is lost.
The disciples did not recognize the Lord because it was dark in the middle of the wind, so they said that he was a ghost. They recognized him when he addressed them and said, “I am he.” The Lord did not say, “I am Jesus,” but rather deliberately used the expression that specifically refers to God in the Old Testament. “I am,” or “Yahweh” as it is pronounced in Hebrew, is the name that God gave himself in the Old Testament. By using it, the Lord Jesus is revealing to the confused disciples that he is God himself. Peter is immediately moved when the Lord Jesus reveals himself, indicating that the believer, with God, can accomplish the impossible.
Peter turned his eyes to the Lord Jesus and walked on the water, but when he turned his eyes to the wind and became afraid, he weakened and lost the ability to continue and began to drown. Rapture toward God makes difficulties easy for the believer. However, turning away from God makes the believer a victim in the face of difficulties. Lack of faith is the threshold for turning away from God. Doubting that God is active in our lives makes us vulnerable to losing our rapture toward God. Peter’s doubt about the depth of his rapture for the Lord Jesus led him to drown. Therefore, the Lord Jesus rebuked him for his lack of faith, holding him by the hand.
The Lord Jesus’ entry into the boat stilled the wind. This indicates that the feeling of the Lord’s presence brings joy to the believer. The Lord Jesus had previously rebuked the winds and the sea and calmed them before the disciples (see Matthew 8:23-27), and there they were amazed, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” But here the disciples acknowledge his divinity, as they bowed down to him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” What is distinctive here is that the divine side of the Lord Jesus became clearer to the disciples, perhaps because by witnessing the multiplication of the loaves they knew that he is the one who gives the heavenly bread and he is the one who saves from the depths of temptation from the evil one.
Adapted from my parish newsletter
Sunday, August 21, 1994 / Issue 35
Sunday, August 1, 1999 / Issue 31
|||| Message of the Lattakia Diocese::
In today’s Gospel, we notice that Jesus goes up the mountain alone to pray, while the ship was in the middle of the sea struggling against the waves because of the contrary wind. The ship, my beloved, is the church and it is also our homes, it is our families drowning in problems and quarrels, it is the souls of our youth and children torn apart by the currents of lust, greed, money, drugs and the lust of the flesh… it is our souls crushed by worries, despair and depression in the age of globalization, technology and materialism, the new gods of today’s man.
We wonder where God is? In fact, He is close to us, but He always comes in the fourth watch of the night, leaving us to row so that we may gain experience in resisting the current. He wants us to be men in life. Christ did not leave His disciples alone for long without help, but came to them to encourage them and remove their confusion. Faith is a necessary provision for us who are in the midst of the confusion of the present world. Let us trust in the loving and omnipotent Lord, and let us re-educate our souls to be familiar with the true God through solitude and prayer, which help the Christian to taste the sweetness of fellowship with the Lord and to distinguish the great difference between the calm and peace of the Lord and the noise and confusion of the world.
If we live a spiritual life, we experience and are certain that by praying to Him, “Lord, save me,” the Lord will immediately rush as a helper and savior, raise us up, and protect us from dangers. Let each one of us take refuge in Him and throw himself into His arms, for His words, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid,” are a promise to us who are cast into the sea of life and its sorrows, that He will be by our side “until the end of the age.”
Questions about the Gospel passage:
- Why did he go up to pray after he dismissed the crowds?
Because he wants to teach us that every Christian, when the time for prayer comes, is required to cast aside worldly concerns and the disturbances of human passions, and then raise his mind to “the mountain where God was pleased to dwell,” that is, heaven, to offer his prayer to God as incense (Psalm 67:16), pure and fragrant. The Lord Jesus prolonged his prayer until the evening so that we might learn that we must pray with deliberation and steadfastness, avoiding haste and haste in our prayers. - Why did the Creator of nature force them to enter the ship and leave them to be tormented by contrary winds?
The Lord did this deliberately to test their faith (allowed them to go through the trial) and accustom them to endure dangers. And to prove to them that in every danger and hardship He is the One who will rescue them and save them. He strengthens their faith and plants in their hearts trust and reliance on Him. - What is the fourth watch?
The ancient Hebrews divided the night into three equal parts called the primeval, the middle, and the twilight. In the time of Christ, they divided the hours of the night into four parts called the watch, the fourth part being between three and six hours after midnight. - Why did Peter ask the Lord to command him to walk on water?
By Peter’s request that the Lord command him to come, he demonstrated his faith that by Jesus’ command he could also walk on the sea. This very command is also proof of love, because by saying, “Command me to come to you,” he wanted to go ahead and approach Jesus, kiss him, and bow down to him before entering the boat. This is love itself. And when Peter walked on the water, wonder upon wonder, and the second of them was greater than the first. Because the Creator and Master of the sea walked on it as on dry land. Moreover, his servant also did this by the power of his divine command. - What are the important points in this passage?
We see two main points that deserve attention:- Faith is a necessary provision for those who are in the midst of the turmoil of the present world in the ship of the Church and who, even for a moment, are terrified by the strong wind of the corrupt powers of the world, are about to sink. Therefore, he must be certain that by praying, “Lord, save me,” the Lord will immediately rush in as a helper and savior, conquering the opposing forces.
- Prayer helps the Christian to break free from the worldly current and from his self-confidence in some situations, and to see more clearly God’s will through himself and his actions.
Quoted from the letter of the Lattakia Archdiocese
Sunday 5-8-2000 / Issue 27
Sunday 21-8-2005 / Issue 34
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