Monday in the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, August 2, 2021

Matthew 14:22-36

Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side of the sea, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone. Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. 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. At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”  After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret. When the men of that place recognized him, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought to him all those who were sick and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak, and as many as touched it were healed. 

Reading this account brings to mind a comment made by St. Albert the Great: “The Savior never delayed, but proceeded from the salvation of one person to the saving of another.”  Here, after a long day during which he preached to a large crowd and then fed them (which he would have begun to do in the afternoon when the main meal of the day was taken), he makes his way onto a mountain and prays there into the darkness of evening.  Descending the mountain, he walked a few more miles across the Sea of Galilee until coming to the Apostles in their boat.  At times, studying the Gospels, we have to ask ourselves, When did he sleep?  When would we sleep if we had to follow this schedule?  St. Albert answers this question by quoting the Lord’s own words: “I am come to cast fire on the earth. And what will I, but that it be kindled? And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized. And how am I pressed until it be accomplished?” (Luke 12, 49-50).  Nothing before or since compares with his zeal.  One of the great wonders of the Gospel is that he had any Apostles at all, for, without grace and faith, they could not have kept up with him or seen any reason to do so.

And yet, the Lord finds fault with their faith.  When he approaches the boat and they recognize him as the Lord, it is Peter who cried out, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  The other Apostles simply look on.  And Peter takes a few steps, but slips into the billowing water when he looks about him and feels the wind blowing in his face.  After pulling him up and putting him in the boat, the Lord reproves him with, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  Peter would have been shivering and sputtering sea water and trying to get his breath back.  The Lord does not coddle him with reassurances that he almost made it to him, as a parent might a small child learning to walk and falling down a lot.  The Lord earnestly desires Peter and the others to grow to such faith that they can walk on the water to him.  He burns with this desire, but he will not make them.  They must grow.  Jesus had given Peter the ability to walk on the water, but he would not make him walk, and would not make up for his lack of will, for it was this lack of will which resulted in the insufficiency of his faith.  The Lord, here, wants Peter to understand this about himself, that he had far to go in the growth of his faith.  And if Peter had a ways to go, how much more the other Apostles?

At times we may be tempted to think that our faith is full up, or that we have grown in it as far as we need to do, but we all have a long way to go before it is perfect.  Our faith is also seriously tested from time to time when we experience a crisis.  These tests are meant for us to see how far we have come and how far we have to go.  We must be able to walk on the raging waters of this world in order to come to the waiting arms of the Lord.