19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

My Dear People, 

 Scholars use the term theophany for a dramatic encounter with God involving a visible manifestation of his power and presence. The definition is consistent with the story before us, since the disciples come face-to-face with divine magnificence in the person of Jesus. The veil shrouding the mystery of his true identity is briefly pulled back. 


The story begins with another trip across the Sea of Galilee. This time Jesus does not accompany his disciples in the boat. Instead, he sends them ahead to the other side while he stays behind. His intention is to create an opportunity for prayer. Practicing what he preaches, he seeks solitude on the mountain in order to converse with his Father in “secret” (6:6).


The disciples, meanwhile, struggle against foul weather for much of the night. The wind blows hard against their boat and churns up angry water on the sea. Though they manage to get a few miles offshore, they have not reached their destination by the fourth watch of the night, a Roman designation for the final hours of darkness between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. Suddenly they are alarmed to see Jesus walking toward them on the sea. 


The first reaction of the disciples is of terror, for they thought they were seeing a ghost on the water. Hoping to calm their fears. Jesus approaches and responds, “It is I.” They are words of reassurance for the disciples, identifying the speaker as their Master. On another level, however, they are words of revelation, for they can just as accurately be translated “I am.”  So understood, the statement recalls the Lord’s words to Moses from the burning bush: “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). Elsewhere, too, God reveals himself as the great “I am” in the Old Testament (see Isa. 41:4; 43:2; 10-11; 45:18). For those with ears to hear, Jesus’ declaration is nothing less than a claim to divinity using the familiar words of scriptural revelation. 


Peter asks Jesus to call him out of the boat. When the Lord complies, he climbs out of the vessel and begins to walk on the water toward Jesus. Things go well at first, and Peter, too, begins to stride across the waves, his every step supported by the miracle of God. One can only admire his faith at this point. Despite what follows, Peter shows himself courageous and trusting in a way that the other disciples do not. 


But the situation quickly changed. When Peter saw how strong the wind was, he let fear overpower his faith, and he began to sink into the depths. To say that he “saw” the severity of the weather implies that he took his eyes off Jesus (see Heb 12:2). Having turned his attention away from the Lord, who enabled him to do by grace what he could never do by nature, Peter was left to rely on his own feeble power. Realizing this, all he could do was cry out, “Lord save me!” No sooner did Peter’s voice pierce through the howling winds than Jesus stretched out his hand, helped him up, and chided his unbelief with the words: “O ye of little faith, why did you doubt?” The statement is one of correction rather than condemnation. Jesus does not want to humiliate Peter for his failure, but to encourage him to a     stronger faith in the future. 


After the two climbed into the boat, the wind died down. This expression hints to another “stilling of the storm,” yet he is once again in total control of the natural order. This point is not lost on the disciples, who declare: “Truly, you are the son of God.” This is the first of three declarations of Jesus’ divine sonship in Matthew (also 16:16 and 27:54).


It is important to realize how the disciples’ confession of Jesus as the Son of God arises out of the story. They recognize that Jesus has done what Yahweh was said to do in the Jewish Scriptures. God is the one who treads upon the waves of the sea (Job 9:8: Hab. 3:15) and who stills the storms that make the waters rough (Psalm 65:8; 89:10; 107:28-30). Likewise, it is the Lord who reaches out and saves the faithful from drowning in the seas of mortal danger. He is acting as only God can act, doing what only God can do.

 

Yours in Christ, 

Fr Vincent Clemente

 

 

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