NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Part IV

Verse 22: “Then Jesus immediately made His disciples get into a boat. He told them to sail to the other side of the lake. He said He would come later after saying goodbye to the crowd.

This is not the first time Jesus sought solitude so He could pray alone.¹ But because of the ensuing events, I’m convinced that He had more on His mind than just praying. He was about to show His disciples something they had never seen before to convince them that He truly was the Son of God, the Messiah. If there was anything that persuaded people in those days that an individual possessed divine qualities, it was their power over nature.

For instance, among the Greeks, Zeus was believed to be the presiding deity of the universe, ruler of the skies and the earth, and was regarded as the god of all natural phenomena in the sky; the personification of the laws of nature; the ruler of the state; and finally, the father of gods and men. By using his shield, called the Aegis, Zeus could create all natural phenomena related to the air and the sky, such as rainstorms, windstorms, and intense darkness. At his command, mighty thunders would flash and lightnings would roll, wreaking havoc; or the skies would open to rejuvenate the earth with life-giving water. However, Jesus’ disciples were about to see someone greater than Zeus.

Early church Bishop Hilary offers this insight: “The spiritual significance of this must be discerned, comparing the order or nature with the coming revelation. The historical event of His being alone in the evening anticipates a future event: His solitude at the time of the Passion when everyone else had fled in fear.”² In other words, Jesus did not panic in the storm because He already knew while things were quiet that God was in control. Oh, how fitting are the words by Horatio Spafford in the second verse of his song that goes: “Though Satan should buffet though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, that Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and has shed His own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul.”

Verse 23a: Then after saying goodbye to the people, Jesus went up into the hillside by Himself to pray.

This must not have surprised the people left on the shore with Jesus, to see Him head for the hills for solitary prayer. After all, that’s how Moses spoke with God on the slopes of Mt. Horeb in Sinai. Yet, many Rabbi’s didn’t think it was proper to imitate Moses. We read where one Rabbi says: “A man should not stand on a high place when he prays, but he should pray in a lowly place, as it says, ‘Out of the depths have I called Thee, O Lord.’³”⁴ This was no doubt the continuation of the teachings found in another earlier Jewish document.⁵

Here, even one of their esteemed Rabbis commented: “One should not stand in a place more than three to six inches high and pray. Similarly, he should not pray while standing on a bed, bench, or chair. A raised platform that has a surface area of six feet by six feet which is the minimum size of a house, is considered like an attic. Therefore, one is permitted to pray there. Similarly, if it is surrounded by walls, even if it is not six feet by six feet, one may pray there, since its height is not noticeable, because it constitutes an area unto itself.”⁶ By such thinking, people were trying their best to impress God. But for Jesus, that was man’s verbal tradition, not a law from His Father in heaven.

Early church preacher Chrysostom gives us his thoughts on this incident: “For what purpose does He go up into the hills on the mountain? To teach us that solitude and seclusion are good when we are to pray to God. With this in view, you see, we find Him continually withdrawing into the wilderness. There He often spends the whole night in prayer. This teaches us earnestly to seek such quietness in our prayers as the time and place may afford. For the wilderness is the mother of silence; it is a calm and a harbor, delivering us from all turmoils.”⁷

Oh how true! So often, the only time we earnestly pray and call out for God’s guidance is when we are suddenly in trouble and facing overwhelming odds. Jesus did not wait until He was in the middle of the problem to lift up His eyes and pray, He did so knowing that it was important to solidify His contact with the Father before things happened. If we do not pray before we go out to do His will, we may not be able to pray when suddenly caught in a storm we cannot control.

Verses 23b-24: He stayed there all alone until late in the evening, and by this time the boat with the disciples was a long way from shore, and was having trouble making progress because the strong headwinds and high waves were beating against it.

No doubt, what was about to take place out on the lake, and what would occur once He arrived at the boat’s location was already on Jesus’ mind. He was not reacting to an occasion, He was responding to an opportunity. But Jesus did not start walking before the disciples had been given an chance to use their wits and talent to overcome the obstacles now against their reaching the other shore. Listen to what Augustine has to say about this: “When all good advice fails and the rudder is useless and the spread of the sails presents more of a danger than an advantage, when all human help and strength have been abandoned, the only recourse left for the sailors is to cry out to God. Therefore, will He who helps those who were sailing to reach port safely abandon His church and prevent it from arriving in peace and tranquility?”⁸ Of course, the answer is “No!”

Chrysostom put these lines in his sermon: “This was all for their training, that they might not look for some easy hope of preservation from any earthly source. He then allows them to be tossed by the storm all night! This had the purpose of awakening their stony hearts in a most complete way. This is how Jesus dealt with the nature of their fear, which the rough weather and the timing had produced. He cast them directly into a situation in which they would have a greater longing for Him and a continual remembrance of Him.”⁹ No wonder when we look back on Church history we see many storms that believers have gone through, yet they persevered because they knew Jesus would never forsake them.

Verse 25: Between three and six o’clock in the early morning, Jesus’ followers were still in the boat as Jesus came walking toward them on the water.

Remember, Jesus had been on the other shore all day teaching, and the possibility that He took a nap before venturing out on the waves would not be out of the question. The KJV states that it was the “fourth watch” of the night. In the early era of Israel, we find where a night was divided into three parts: 6 PM to 10 PM; 10 PM to 2 AM; and 2 AM to 6 AM.¹⁰ Then the day was equally divided in three parts: 6 AM to 10 AM; 10 AM to 2 PM; 2 PM to 6 PM. Jewish historians tell us that the night’s three watches were called: “ashmurah” or “ashmorot.” The first one is mentioned in Lamentations 2:19, the middle one in Judges 7:19,¹¹ the last one in Exodus 14:24 and 1 Samuel 11:11. But later on, the subdivision of nights and days were divided into twelve equal divisions of variable duration, and probably adopted in the Exile from the Babylonians.¹²

Also, from the New Testament text it appears that this division of the night into four night-watches had been adopted by Greeks and Romans which they called, “vigiliæ.”¹³ Luke tells us about four squads of soldiers that were stationed to guard Peter in prison.¹⁴ That would be four soldiers for each of the night watches. Some Rabbis retained the three watches in the night,¹⁵ but Matthew used the Greek and Roman calculation: The first was from 6 PM to 9 PM, the second from 9 PM to 12 PM (midnight), the third from 12 AM (midnight) till 3 AM, and the fourth from 3 AM to 6 AM. Therefore, here in the text was the fourth watch between 3:00 – 6:00 AM.

One early church scholar’s impression of this incident comes from the bishop of Aquleia who says: “Who was able to walk on the sea if not the Creator of the universe? He, indeed, about whom the Holy Spirit had spoken long ago through blessed Job: ‘Who alone stretched out the heavens and walked on the sea as well as the earth.’¹⁶ Solomon spoke about Him in the person of Wisdom: ‘I dwelt in the highest places and my throne was in a pillar of cloud. I orbited the heavenly sphere alone and walked on the waves of the sea.’¹⁷⁶ David likewise declared in his psalm: ‘God, your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters.’¹⁸ So too Habakkuk noted, ‘The raging waters swept on; the deep gave forth its voice.’¹⁹⁸ What is more evident than this testimony, what is more clear? It points to Him walking on the water as well as on the ground. This is God’s only begotten Son, who long ago according to the will of the Father stretched out the heavens and at the time of Moses in a pillar of cloud showed the people a way to follow.”²⁰

Verse 26: When they saw Jesus walking on the water, it frightened them. “It’s a ghost!” they shouted in fear.

By being able to see Jesus from a distance, it must have been a clear windy night with a bright enough moon to reflect off the water. The sudden appearance of a stranger you may not know was not that foreign to Jewish teachers. However, they also taught that one should be cautious. They tell this story to prove their point: “And it happened when Joshua was near Jericho, that he looked up and behold there stood a man in front of him, . . . and Joshua fell face down on the ground. Now how could he do such a thing, seeing that Rabbi Joshua ben Levi has said that it is forbidden for a man to greet another by night, for fear that he is a demon? — It was different there, because he said to him, ‘I am captain of the host of the Lord’. But perhaps, was he lying? — We take it for granted that they do not utter the name of heaven in vain. He said to him: This evening you neglected the regular afternoon sacrifice, and now you have neglected the study of the Torah. Joshua replied: In regard to which of them have you come? He answered, ‘I have come now.’ Straightway, Joshua tarried that night in the midst of the valley.”²¹ So as in Joshua’s case, what this apparition said would go a long way in determining if the disciples thought He was a ghost or a demon.

Chrysostom had this to say about the disciples mistaking Jesus for a ghost: “This is the way He constantly deals with our fears. He does not hesitate to allow worse things to happen, even more alarming than those before. They were troubled here not only by the storm but also by the distance from the land. Note that He did not too easily remove the darkness. He did not come quickly to their rescue. He was training them by the continuance of these fears and instructing them to be ready to endure.”²²

Verse 27: But Jesus quickly comforted them. He said, “Don’t worry! It is I! Don’t be afraid.”

It is interesting to note the sequence in which these words of Jesus fall. First, in His assurance, “Don’t worry” This occurrence is similar to a story told by Jewish sailors and related to a Rabbi. The sailors told that while they were sailing a large wave lifted them up so high that, “we saw the resting place of the smallest star.” Then they heard one of the giant waves call out to the other, “Go and see the power of the master [by whose command] I must not pass the sand [of the shore even as much as] the breadth of a thread; as it is written: ‘Don’t you fear? says the Lord; will you not tremble at my presence?²³ I’m the One who placed sand as a shore for the sea, and made it an everlasting ordinance which it cannot exceed.’”²⁴ In other words, God knows what we don’t know. He knows how long the peril will last and when things will end.

Secondly, in identifying Himself as, “It is I.” This may have originally been Jesus saying in Aramaic, “This is, I AM.” That’s the name of Yahweh. That was the name given to Moses by God. No wonder after His miracle of calming the storm the disciples would realize He was the Son of God. And thirdly, to encourage them He said, “Don’t be afraid.” This makes Jesus so in character with His heavenly Father who told Israel, “Don’t worry—I am with you. Don’t be afraid—I am your God. I will make you strong and help you. I will support you with my right hand that brings victory.”²⁵

In this I see the divine succession of assurances that Christ brings to all those caught in the storms of life. First He wants us to know that all is not lost; that our experience has not become a failure so that we see no sense in going on. Secondly, He reinforces the fact that He is not just a friend or neighbor or family member here to help us out, He is the Son of God with power and authority over all forces, be they natural or supernatural. And thirdly, that we need not try and find a place to hide; to become a recluse and never want to come out again. This is what gave Peter the courage to walk on water. If faith worked for Peter, then faith can work for us.

Augustine sees a future fulfillment in what Jesus did here on the Sea of Galilee. He writes: “The fourth watch of the night marks the end of the night. One watch consists of three hours. This means that at the end of the world the Lord will come to the rescue, and He will be seen walking on the water. Although this ship is tossed by the storms of temptation, it sees the glorified Lord walking upon all the billows of the sea—that is, upon all the powers of this world. For through the voice of His Passion He gave an example of humility according to the flesh. Those waves of the sea to which He willingly submitted for our sake were stilled, in accordance with the prophecy: ‘I came to the height of the sea, and the storm swallowed me up.‘²⁶”²⁷

Verse 28-29a: Peter replied, “Lord, if that is really You, tell me to come to You on the water.” So Jesus said, “Come, Peter.”

Even after concluding that the figure on the water was Jesus, Peter was still not satisfied. He wanted the Son of Man he knew to do something that would remove all doubt; something that only the Son of God could accomplish. Jesus was not the least bit bothered by Peter’s request. Furthermore, this effort on Peter’s part was not to show others how great he was in getting an answer from the Messiah, but how awesome Jesus was as the Messiah with His answer.

Theologian Jerome believes that while Peter may have had enough faith to get out of the boat and walk over to Jesus on the water, he was unwilling to do so until Jesus gave the word for him to come.²⁸ And a fellow church theologian of Jerome gave this commentary: “What is signified by the fact that Peter dared to come to Him upon the water? Peter indeed has the principal role in the church. And what is the meaning of those other words: ‘Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water,’ if not, Lord, if you are truthful and never lie at all, let your church be glorified also in this world, for prophecy declared this about you? Let it walk upon the water, and it shall come to you, to whom it was said, ‘The rich among the people shall entreat your favor.’²⁹”³⁰

Both Peter and our Lord show us here that there is nothing wrong with asking God to give His assurance that what is being said or what we see happening is from Him. Use your imagination and look at the other disciples encouraging Peter to step out of the boat and walk closer the figure they see on the water and make sure that it is Jesus. During my ministry I’ve received correspondence from people who informed me that they believed it was God’s will for me to come and minister to their congregation or to send them some financial support for their efforts. In each case I’ve responded by telling them that I plan to talk with the Lord myself and if He approves of what is being asked then I will certainly follow through. Remember, don’t put your faith in the one who claims to speak on behalf of God, but put your faith in God to let you know it is also His will.

Verse 29b-30: Then Peter left the boat and started walking on the water toward Jesus. But while Peter was walking on the water, he noticed how the wind was making waves. He was afraid and began sinking into the water. He shouted, “Lord, save me!”

If Peter did not really believe that Jesus was in fact the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, he would have never left the boat. Peter may have been impulsive, but he wasn’t that gullible. As long as he kept his eyes focused on Jesus he had little trouble traversing the distance between himself and his Lord. But then he allowed himself to be distracted. So in his panic Peter felt much like the Psalmist who said, “God, save me from all my troubles! The rising water has reached my neck. I have nothing to stand on I am sinking down, down into the mud. I am in deep water, and the waves are about to cover me.”³¹

Here our Lord is repeating what His Father had done before. The Psalmist tells us: “God gave the command, and a strong wind began to blow. The waves became higher and higher. The waves lifted them high into the sky and dropped them into the deep sea. The storm was so dangerous that the men lost their courage. They were stumbling and falling on deck like someone who is intoxicated. Their skill as sailors was of no use. They were in trouble, so they called to the LORD for help, and He saved them from their troubles. He stopped the storm and calmed the waves.”³²

And the prophet Jeremiah could certainly commiserate with Peter since he went through a similar fright, “Water came up over my head. I said to myself, ‘I am finished.’ LORD, I called your name…You heard my voice. You didn’t close your ears. You didn’t refuse to rescue me. You came to me on the day that I called out to you. You said to me, ‘Don’t be afraid.’”³³ But in Peter’s case, the Master was disappointed in Peter’s faith. Instead of continuing to look at Jesus, Peter got his eyes on the waves.

How true this is when we face similar circumstances. There is a chorus to a song we sang in church years ago that goes like this:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.³⁴

Verse 31: Jesus immediately reached out and caught Peter by the hand. He said, “Your faith is insufficient. What caused you to doubt?”

Here we see that the Lord did not walk off and let Peter drown because his faith was not strong enough for him to finish. Instead, He reached down and took him by the hand and led him safely back to the boat. Jesus’ heavenly Father did something similar with Moses, “He was by Moses’ side and led him with His wonderful hand. He divided the water, so that the people could walk through the sea.”³⁵ It is important to notice that neither the Father nor the Son removed the threat, but they both walked with the person in the middle of the threat. So often we pray for God to get rid of what is terrifying us, instead of simply reaching out and taking hold of His outstretched hand to guide us through it to the other side. That’s why the word “overcome” is used so much by John in his writings.³⁶

In one of his sermons, Augustine made this point: “While human praise does not tempt the Lord, people are often ruffled and nearly enthralled by human praise and honors given by the church. Peter was afraid on the sea, terrified by the great force of the storm. Indeed, who does not fear that voice: ‘Those who say you are happy are placing you in error and alter the path for your feet?’³⁷ And since the soul struggles against the desire for human praise, it is good for it to turn to prayer and petition amid such danger, lest the one who is charmed by praise be overcome by criticism and reproach. Let Peter, about to sink in the waves, cry out and say, ‘Lord, save me!’”³⁸

Verses 32-33: After Peter and Jesus were in the boat, the wind stopped. Then the followers in the boat bowed before Jesus and said, “You really are the Son of God.”

Here we see the divinity of Jesus revealed in an awe-inspiring way. Therefore, His claim to be the Son of God was confirmed because He evinced the same power His heavenly Father displayed in Israel’s past. Did not the Red Sea part at the command of God the Father?³⁹ One Jewish commentator envisions this division of the sea as representing the separation of Justice and Mercy.⁴⁰ In other words, justice had been served by their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, now they began walking in God’s mercy.

And did we not read earlier where the patriarch Job say of God: “He alone made the skies, and He walks on the ocean waves?”⁴¹ And the Psalmist exclaim: “You walked through the water and crossed the deep sea, but you left no footprints?”⁴² So now His Son does the same, so why not accept Him as the Messiah. We learn from the early Jewish group called, “Essenes,” that the term “Son of God” was much discussed even amonst themselves, so the term used here by Matthew was not out of place nor previously unheard of.⁴³

What had started out as a lonely trip across the Sea of Galilee and developed into a scary time when the storm hit, had now turned out to be one of the greatest moments of the disciples’ lives. Isn’t that often the case? That’s why in the midst of the storm it would behoove everyone to start thinking about how the outcome might end up being one of their choicest experiences. Keep in mind, there can be no “Peace, be still!” unless there is a storm. There can be no rescue, until there is danger of harm.