Gospel [Matt. 14:22-34 (§59)]

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Fathers, brothers and sisters:

On this Sunday we are still basking in the Uncreated Light which still mystically shines out from Mount Tabor on this final day of the Afterfeast of the Transfiguration which we celebrated here last Monday. In our Gospel reading today we hear the continuation of the story we heard last week where our Lord was performing perhaps His most famous miracle of the Gospel – the feeding of the 5000 from 5 small loaves and 2 fish. We next hear another famous miracle of the Gospel which occurred straight after this, where our Lord walks upon the water. To interpret today’s Gospel reading let us turn to our holy Father, St Jerome of Stridon.

And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

In his commentary on St Matthew’s Gospel, St Jerome focuses in on this word ‘constrained’ or as it is otherwise translated, ‘compelled’, ‘made’ or ‘forced’. This highlights, St Jerome says –

That they withdrew from the Lord unwillingly, since for love for their teacher they do not want to be separated from him even for a moment of time.

See then already the depth of the disciples’ love of the Lord. They could hardly bare to be parted from Him, even for a single moment. As we enter into the ship of the Church, we should ask ourselves whether we feel the same? Or rather do we allow love of worldly things to come before this desire to be always together with the Lord in our hearts?

And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

Interestingly and with great relevance for us hearing this verse in the Afterfeast of the Transfiguration, St Jerome makes a direct link to the Feast of the Transfiguration.

If the disciples Peter, James and John, who had seen the glory of the transfigured one, had been with him perhaps they would have gone up on the mountain with him, but the crowd cannot follow to the heights. He can only teach them near the sea on the shore and feed them on the desert.

We think also of the parallel to this right at the start of chapter fourteen, immediately before last week’s Gospel reading when the Lord also went into a place apart to pray on His own after He had heard of the martyric death of His Forerunner, St John the Baptist. Our Lord again sets us an example and shows us how we should pray. We will recall that in Chapter 6 of the Gospel on the Mount of the Beatitudes, our Lord said –

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

And here again, at both the beginning and the end of this chapter our Lord puts these words into practice.

But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.

St Matthew then brings us back to the disciples who were now in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, that huge in-land lake, and were now in severe jeopardy being tossed to and fro on the water. They must have been asking themselves why He had insisted on them being on their own. They would also have recalled what had happened when the last storm had arose on the Lake just before they had come to the country of the Gergesenes. However, that time, back in chapter 8 they had had the Lord asleep with them in the boat. Now they were on their own in the middle of the lake and the Lord was no where to be seen.

And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

These ‘watches’ which are referred to in this verse St Jerome clarifies were divided into periods of three hours and were used in the military as well as by seamen. Thus, he draws out a deeper spiritual meaning

He is showing that they were in danger through the whole night. Then, at the end of the night and at the consummation of the world, he will bring help to them.

We can also see here a further parallel with what occurred on Mount Tabor. There, the Lord had shone with an otherworldy Light and had manifested more clearly to them the full Glory of His Divinity. Here also we see our Lord’s divinity manifested to His disciples by the effortless way with which He walks upon the water.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

The disciples by this stage after so many hours of being tossed about in the boat, must have been beside themselves with fear and no doubt thought that they must be seeing things or even a ghost. But the Lord in that moment, instantly provides reassurance and talks directly to them –

Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

Interestingly, the Greek words behind “it is I” are actually “ego eimi” which could also be translated, “I am” which the disciples would have instantly recognised from the Scriptures is the exclusive way in which God speaks of Himself to the People of Israel. The disciples, as St Jerome says –

Could have recalled that he was the one who they knew had spoken to Moses: ‘You are to tell this to the sons of Israel: He who is has sent me to you’ (Exodus: 3:17)

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

St Jerome next reflects on the person and character of Peter. We have often commented in our homilies on the immediacy and most endearing impulsivity of St Peter. We can think of all of those times that Peter speaks, that Peter acts first. Of all the apostles he is always the most demonstrable in the fervour of his love.

Therefore with the same ardor of faith that he always has, now too, while the others are silent, he believes that by the will of his Master, he can do what Jesus was able to do by nature.

As ever St Peter’s faith and love of the Lord shines out on that dark, misty night in the middle of the Sea of Galilee.

And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

See now how now the wonders and miracles above the laws of nature are not restricted to our Lord as God Incarnate but now are shared with the rest of the Apostles. Peter now through his faith in Christ walks on the surface of the water. However, no sooner had he started to walk but then he fails. As St Jerome says –

The faith of his heart was burning, but human weakness dragged him into the depths. Therefore, he is abandoned for a little while in temptation, that his faith might increase …

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

We can think here also of how much this scene resembles the Ikon of the Descent into Hades and of Christ’s hand reaching out to grab the hands of Adam and Eve in Hades extended towards Him. The dark, stormy waters of the Sea of Galilee become a type of the dark depths of Hades. St Jerome pointedly reminds us of how if Christ complains that the great leader of the Apostles St Peter possessed little faith what will he say to us, who, in his words, ‘do not even have the smallest particle of this little faith’.

And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

Finally, and to the disciples’ great relief when Christ safely returns Peter into the boat and steps aboard Himself, the wind immediately calms. How powerfully they must have realised the awesome nature and divine power of this Man who they had been following realising fully that this is none other than the Son of God.

Dear Fathers, brothers and sisters: in this life we are all at different times like those disciples cast out in the night in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. All around us is in chaos, all is uncertain we are pushed right to our furthest limits. But even in the midst of such temptations we should remember that word from the Holy Apostle Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians –

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

So often in times of temptations, trial and turbulence we look to ourselves or to the different things of this world to different self-help strategies or even to drugs and alcohol. Yet, today’s Gospel reading reminds us that in times of difficulty and temptation we must look to Christ, not trusting in our own strength, and then even if our faith fails, there, exactly at that point where all hope seems lost, there Christ our Saviour reaches out His hand unto us, as He did until Peter.

Amen.