Reflection
Matthew 14:22-36
Today’s Gospel does not just describe one of the miracles of Jesus – there is a lot going on in it and it gives us a powerful look into faith, discipleship, and the divinity of Jesus. Following the feeding of the five thousand, he commands his disciples to get into the boat and cross the lake and wait for him to arrive. A storm engulfs them and they fear for their lives. Jesus appears to them walking on the water. The boat in the storm is symbolic of The Church through the centuries. As the disciples in the boat face the perils of the storm, so the Church has faced numerous trials and tribulations through the centuries up to today. It is reminiscent of the ark in Genesis facing the storms of the great flood. To carry the boat analogy further, Bishop Robert Barron uses it in his Catholicism series as a symbol of calling to discipleship. In Luke’s version of the calling of Peter at Gennesaret (the same lake in today’s gospel), Jesus “gets into his boat” (Luke 5:3), changing his life and human history forever. Likewise, when Jesus calls us to discipleship, he “gets into our boats” and changes our lives forever.
When Jesus walks on the sea, it echoes Old Testament imagery of water as a source of chaos and destruction and God’s mastery over it (Job 9:8, Ps 77:17-19). Jesus says “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid”. This evokes Exodus 3:14, where God reveals His name to Moses – “I AM who AM”. Like Matthew 8:27, where Jesus calms the seas, it is clear that only God has mastery over the elements in this way. It is also clear that the disciples see in this event who it is who stands before them – “Truly you are the Son of God”. A common misperception is that it's only in John’s gospel that Jesus reveals his true divine nature. Matthew makes clear that Jesus’ total mastery of the forces of nature can only come from God. In Jesus, God truly walks among us.
Peter, as we know, has the remarkable notion to ask Jesus to call him to join him walking on the water. This is a wonderful example of Peter’s amazing faith in Jesus and of course, his human frailty. Seeing a man walking on water would be so astonishing that most people would be rendered utterly speechless. But Peter wants to join Jesus! Mirroring our human experience, Peter at first has tremendous faith but that faith is shaken when he turns away from Jesus, realizes what he is doing and begins to sink in the water – as we so often do in the hard times in our lives. He of course turns to the “Messiah, the living son of God”, as he so famously professes Jesus to be in Matthew 16:16 and begs Jesus to save him, as we do in our times of distress. “Lord save me!” - the most common of human prayers. All people (even atheists) instinctively call to God in their deepest times of distress. This is a display of God’s unfailing mercy in our human weakness. His gentle rebuke to Peter of “O you of little faith” is not a condemnation but an invitation to deeper trust, deeper faith and deeper discipleship. Even the “rock” upon which Jesus builds his church needs the loving mercy and grace from his master (and ours).
Question for reflection: When in my life have I been in a situation similar to Peter’s in this story?