19th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)

Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Mt 14:22-33

JESUS WALKS ON THE SEA

The emphasis here is the separation of the disciples from Jesus and their terror and fear which are not removed until Jesus miraculously comes to them. The signficance of the story for the Church may have been that although Jesus is apparently separated from the, since the crucifixion, yet he is praying for them, and will come to them again as the Son of man; they are to take heat and have no fear, although they are beaten by waves of persecution.

v. 22. Then he made the disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

Jesus compelled his disciples to leave. Why? Jn 6:15 gives us a clue. After the miraculous multiplication of the bread, the crowd wanted to take him by force and make him king. The disciples were also at that point thinking of Jesus as king in terms of earthly power. Their presence may complicate things further. It was best that he handle this potentially explosive situation alone.

v. 23. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone.

The other references to the mountain in Matthew may be found in 4:8; 5:1; 15:29; 17:1. 9. 20; 28:16.

Interestingly it is only here and at Gethsemane (26:16ff) that Matthew says that Jesus prayed.

vv. 25-26. During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear.

The Romans divided the time between 6pm and 6am into four equal period called watches: 6pm to 9pm, 9pm to 12am, 12am to 3am and 3am to 6am. The event occurred at 3am. They could see each other because the moon would probably be full.

In verse 25 it says that Jesus was walking on the sea. The Greek is “epi ten thalassan” which may be translated in two ways: “over the sea” and “towards the sea”.

In verse 26 it says that the disciples saw Jesus walking “on the sea”. The Greek is “epi tes thalasses” which is translated as “on the sea”. But Jn 21:1 uses the same phrase to mean “by the sea shore”.

The event may, therefore, be understood in two ways. The first is that Jesus ac-tually walked on the water. This would be a miraculous feat. The other is that Jesus walked through the surf (not on the water) and came so suddenly upon the disciples that they were scared to death upon seeing him.

PETER’S DOUBT AND HIS RESTORATION

The Church for which Matthew wrote had a particular reverence for Peter as the first of the apostles and the rock on which the Church is built (10:2 and 16:18). Nevertheless, this reverence did not prevent Matthew from presenting Peter’s denial of Jesus during the Passion (26:29ff). Here also Matthew presents Peter as a man of little faith, a doubter. Peter’s failure here and his restoration may be an anticipation of Peter’s failure during the Passion and his restoration after the Resurrection.

v. 28. Peter said to him in reply, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."

Peter asks Jesus’ permission to do what Jesus is doing; in the Passion he will also attempt to follow Jesus (26:58).

v. 30. But when he saw how (strong) the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Compare Peter’s fear, fall and cry with his denials of Jesus and weeping (26:69ff).

v. 31. Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Jesus restores Peter but also reproves him. Little faith (6:30; 8:26; 16:8; and 17:20) and doubt (28:17) are favorite Matthean expressions.

Peter’s restoration after the Resurrection is not recorded in Matthew. This episode may have been intended to fill that gap.

For other evidence of Peter’s restoration, see 1Cor 15:5 and Mk 16:7 and Jn 21:15ff.

v. 32. After they got into the boat, the wind died down.

In 8:23ff Jesus had already revealed himself as Lord over the winds and the sea by commanding them to obey him.

v. 33. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, "Truly, you are the Son of God."

The confession of faith of the disciples is similar to that of the centurion after the death of Jesus (Mk 15:39).

“Did him homage” = “worshipped him” = “knelt before him”.

Worship is another favorite word of Matthew. It will be used twice in his last chapter for the worship of the women and of his disciples after the Resurrection (28:9 and 17).

It may be found in 2:2. 8. 11; 4:9. 10; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; 18:26; 20:20; 28: 9. 17.