And the sea arose, by reason of a great wind that blew.
η τε θαλασσα ανεμου μεγαλου πνεοντος διηγειρετο
12 Church Fathers comment on this verse · 13 commentaries
Why, then, did He not get into the boat? To make the miracle more astonishing, and at the same time to reveal His divinity to them more clearly.
He also wished to show that, when He gave thanks, He did this not because He needed help, but out of condescension to them.
Therefore He permitted the storm to arise, so that they would always seek Him. Then He suddenly stopped it, to show His power. He did not get into the boat, to make the miracle more astonishing.
He permits them to experience the storm so that, when calm comes after the storm, they may rejoice more at what happened, and so that an indelible remembrance of this may be imprinted in their hearts.
"And when they had entered the boat, they went over the sea toward Capernaum." See the commentary on Jn 6:16.
"And it was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them. And the sea arose because a great wind was blowing." Much that is profitable is given here at the same time, and what happened impels the disciples to a more ardent seeking of the Savior.
The deep darkness of night terrifies them, spreading over the stormy water like smoke and depriving them of the ability to know where at last they should steer the boat. The fierce wind also troubles them greatly, rushing noisily over the waves and already raising them to an extraordinary height.
Yet even when all this had occurred, it is said, "Jesus had not yet come to them." In this especially lay the danger, and the absence of Christ increased the fear of those sailing.
Therefore those who are not present with Him are necessarily exposed to storms. They are as if cut off from Him, or else they are withdrawing through departure from the divine laws. Because of sin, they distance themselves from Him who is able to save.
Therefore, if it is grievous to be in spiritual darkness, and if it is hard to sink in the bitter sea of pleasures, let us receive Jesus. This will free us both from dangers and from sin unto death.
A visible proof of what has been said can be seen in what happened. It will, of course, be found in the disciples.
Observe that Christ does not appear to those in the boat immediately after they sail, nor at the beginning of the danger, but when they have already gone many stadia from the land.
For the grace of Him who saves does not come at once, at the very beginning of the circumstance that frightens us. It comes when fear reaches its highest point, when the danger is already in force, and when we find ourselves, so to speak, in the midst of the waves of afflictions.
Then Christ unexpectedly appears, removes fear, and frees us from every danger. By ineffable power He changes terrors, as it were, into joyful stillness.
So also, when Christ appears to us and shines upon us, we easily accomplish works beyond our hope. When we were in danger in His absence, we no longer need any labor for the performance of profitable works in His presence.
Truly, Christ is the cessation of every danger and the accomplishment of feats beyond hope for those who receive Him.
"A strong wind was blowing, and the sea was rising," Jn 6:18. Darkness increased, understanding weakened, and danger increased.
"When they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia," Jn 6:19. Meanwhile they went forward and continued sailing. Neither the winds, nor the storm, nor the waves, nor the darkness prevented the boat from going forward. They did not make it sink, but amid all these troubles it continued its course.
For although injustice increases, and love grows cold in many, and the waves rage, and darkness increases, and the winds are violent, the boat sails. "He who endures to the end shall be saved," Mt 24:13.
Nor should the number of stadia itself be passed over. It cannot be that the saying means nothing: "When they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, then Jesus came to them," cf. Jn 6:19.
It would have been enough to say "twenty-five" or "thirty," especially since this was an estimate, not an assertion. Could the Truth have suffered from an estimate, if He had said, "about thirty stadia" or "about twenty-five stadia"?
But He passed from twenty-five to thirty. Let us consider the number twenty-five. Of what does it consist? From what is it formed? From the number five.
This number five pertains to the Law. There are the five books of Moses. There are the five porches where the sick lay, see Jn 5:2. There are the five loaves that fed five thousand men, Jn 6:8-13.
Therefore the number twenty-five signifies the Law, for five multiplied by five, that is, five times five, gives twenty-five, five squared. Yet before the coming of the Gospel, this Law lacked perfection.
Perfection is contained in the number six. For this reason God created the world in six days. The number five itself is multiplied by six, so that the Law may be fulfilled through the Gospel. Thus six multiplied by five forms thirty.
So Jesus came to those who fulfill the Law. And how did He come? Stepping upon the waves, trampling underfoot all the disturbances of the world, and passing over all the heights of the age.
This will happen until time runs out and the life of the world is completed. Sufferings increase in this world, evil increases, sorrows increase, and all these things rise up. Jesus comes, stepping upon the waves.
And yet the sufferings are so great that even those who have believed in Christ and strive to endure to the end, cf. Mt 24:13, fear lest they fall.
Although Christ steps upon the waves, trampling the vanity and arrogance of the world, the Christian feels fear. Was this not foretold by Him?
For when Jesus walked upon the waves, the disciples were afraid, cf. Jn 6:19. In the same way, Christians, though they have hope for the age to come, are often troubled over the collapse of human affairs when they see the greatness of this world being trampled.
They open the Gospel, they open Scripture, and they find that everything there was foretold. For all this has been done by the Lord.
"He had not come to them," that is, He had not appeared to them, as He did afterward, but sent them a trial. You will find all this at the end of the fourteenth chapter, Mt 14:22-33.
John omitted the rest, since it had been related by others. He narrates only what they omitted. Following other interpreters, we have shown that this walking of Jesus Christ on the sea is the same as that about which Matthew and Mark wrote, Mk 6:47-53.
But Chrysostom supposes that it is different from that one. Probably that event occurred earlier. Then, several days later, the people wished to seize Jesus Christ, as is said here. When He learned of this, He again went to the mountain with the disciples and withdrew there alone.
That is, He alone rested there, and in view of this the disciples went down from there to the sea. Entering the boat, they set out for Capernaum, thinking that Jesus Christ would again walk across the sea on foot and come to them a little later.
For this reason this evangelist said: "And immediately it became dark, and Jesus had not come to them." Everything else happened as he wrote.
During that walking on the sea, the disciples were frightened and cried out. During this one, they were only afraid, since because of habit their fear was less. There, when Jesus Christ said, "It is I; do not be afraid," the disciples still did not believe.
Therefore Peter said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the waters," Mt 14:27-28. But here they believed at once, because they were already accustomed to this. Then the wind did not become calm until Jesus Christ entered the boat.
Now, as soon as His voice was heard, stillness came. He did not even enter the boat, but while they wished to receive Him, the boat suddenly came to shore, and He Himself was behind it.
“It is I.” He did not add who He was, but acted so that they recognized Him by His voice. Or He did this so that they might remember that He is the very One who, as they knew, said to Moses: “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: I AM has sent me to you” (Ex 3:14).
Meanwhile the disciples were overtaken by a fierce storm on the sea at night. The Lord did not forget them. Leaving His prayer, He went to help them. He came to the sea, stepped upon the waves, and His feet did not sink.
When the disciples saw Him walking, they took Him for a phantom. Only His voice strengthened them: “It is I; do not be afraid.” This time they were not so fainthearted as in the earlier storm.
With the Lord’s permission, Peter himself stepped onto the sea to meet the approaching Lord. Yet he did not endure the voluntary test. Overcome by little faith, he nearly sank, but he received help from the Savior.
The Lord went up into the boat. Immediately it reached the shore, and thus the Lord came again to Capernaum.
So many great miracles were gathered into this brief span of time. They strengthened the disciples’ faith in the Lord amid that troubled hour. They also prepared them for new truths, which both the disciples and others were to hear from Him.
But in the Evangelist John this last feature is not indicated. According to him (Jn 6:16), the disciples’ crossing to the other side took place of itself when evening came.
According to the Evangelist Mark (Mk 6:45), the disciples’ voyage was directed toward Bethsaida, the western one. There is no contradiction with the Evangelist John, who says that the disciples set out for Capernaum (Jn 6:17).
Western Bethsaida lay not far from Capernaum. Moreover, the Evangelist Mark speaks here only of the direction toward Bethsaida.
He does not determine precisely the place where the disciples landed on the western shore. He says that they came to the land of Gennesaret (Mk 6:53; Mt 14:34), that is, in general, to the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
As may be seen from Jn 6:17, Jesus Christ, having commanded the disciples to set out alone for the western side of the sea, promised to come to them in the boat at some point on the shore.
From this one may conclude that the disciples first had to keep a coastal course toward the northern end of the sea.
But suddenly a northeast wind arose and began driving the boat southwestward into the depths of the sea. In this condition they probably wished to reach as soon as possible the place to which they had been commanded to sail by the Lord.
Nevertheless, they struggled until the fourth watch, but did not reach the shore. At that time, when they were in the midst of the sea (Matthew and Mark), having sailed about twenty-five or thirty stadia (John), they saw Jesus walking on the waters.
Mark adds that He was making His way past them (Mk 6:48). Exhausted by the struggle with the waves and by fear for their lives, they did not believe their eyes.
They took Him for a phantom, and fear seized them still more. But Jesus Christ encouraged them with His voice.
Here follows the account belonging to the Evangelist Matthew alone, concerning the Apostle Peter walking on the waters (Mt 14:28-31).
The Evangelists end the story differently. First of all, John seems to contradict Matthew and Mark.
According to the latter, the disciples received Jesus, and in Matthew also Peter, into the boat, and the wind ceased. John says, “They wanted to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were going” (Jn 6:21).
It might seem that the meaning is this: the disciples only wanted to receive Jesus into the boat, but this proved unnecessary, because the boat reached the shore.
Yet it is not necessary to represent the matter in this way. “They wanted” is contrasted with their previous state, their fear that they were seeing not Jesus, but a phantom.
That fear had now passed, and they wanted to receive Him into the boat, whereas before they wanted to flee from Him.
“Immediately” is contrasted with their previous very prolonged and unsuccessful struggle with the waves. It is not necessary to understand the word as meaning that Christ did not have to sail several stadia with the disciples.
Five or ten stadia still remained to the shore. “Immediately” means only that the sailors, now with Jesus, reached the shore as quickly as before they had long and unsuccessfully striven to reach it.
What the first Evangelists indicated by the words “and the wind ceased,” John expresses with the words, continuing the same thought: “immediately the boat reached the shore.”
Then Matthew and Mark seem to contradict one another. The first says that the disciples worshiped the Lord and confessed Him to be the Son of God after they were convinced of the miracle of Jesus Christ walking on the waters.
The latter says (Mk 6:51-52) that the disciples’ heart was hardened, and that they had not understood the miracle of the loaves, but only wondered and were amazed at the new miracle.
From this, however, it follows only that the disciples, struck by the greatness of the miracle, bowed before the Lord and confessed Him as the Messiah.
At the same time, they wondered that Christ performed such extraordinary and unheard-of deeds. The Apostle Peter, from whose words Mark speaks here, observes such a disposition and reflection in the depth of the disciples’ souls.
He considers it a defect, a hardening of heart. According to him, the miracle of the feeding was so great that after it there should have been no room for any questions.
They should not have questioned the power or possibility for Jesus Christ to perform even such a miracle as walking on the waters.
Since the first three Evangelists say that evening had already come before the feeding (Mt 14:15), a second evening must be understood here. Among the Jews, the first was from three to six o’clock, and the second from sunset until nightfall.
In the time of Christ the Jews divided the night into four watches of three hours each. The fourth watch was from three to six o’clock in the morning.
The whole sea from east to west measured forty stadia. According to John, therefore, the disciples were in the middle of the sea.
But by the expression “in the midst of the sea,” the Evangelists Matthew and Mark only mean that the disciples were far from shore. Consequently, amid the disturbance of the sea, they were in danger.
Christ noticed this undisguised excitement, and also the danger that the people's enthusiasm might turn into violence. By an open uprising against the Roman government, in an attempt to make Him king, it could hasten His death.
He also saw that His disciples were not untouched by this worldly and dangerous excitement. It was necessary to act decisively. Therefore He commanded the disciples to enter the boat and go before Him across the lake, toward Capernaum or western Bethsaida.
It was even necessary to use some compulsion. They naturally did not wish to leave their Teacher among the enthusiastic people on that deserted shore. On the contrary, they wished to be present, because it seemed to them that something great was about to happen to Him.
On the other hand, it was easier for Him to dismiss the people when they saw that even His closest followers and disciples had been sent away. Thus, as twilight thickened, He succeeded in gently and gradually persuading the people to leave Him.
When all, except the most enthusiastic, had gone to their homes or caravans, He suddenly left the rest also. He quickly withdrew from them to the summit of the mountain, that He might pray there alone.
He felt that a fearful and solemn turning point was approaching in His life on earth. By communion with His heavenly Father, He wished to strengthen His soul for the difficult work of the next day and the heavy hardships of the many following weeks.
Earlier also He had spent a night in mountain silence, in solitary prayer. But that was before the choosing of the beloved apostles, and before the good signs of the first and joyful period of His ministry.
With wholly different feelings, the divine High Priest ascended the rocky ledges to this majestic mountain altar. In the temple of the night, it seemed to raise Him nearer to the stars of God.
The murder of His beloved Forerunner brought nearer to His consciousness the thought of His own approaching death. The storm that began to howl in the mountains, the wind rushing with a roar through the ravines, the lake raging before Him with foaming waters, and the boat, which He could see in the moonlight breaking here and there through the clouds, tossed by fierce waves, all corresponded strikingly to His present state of soul.
But there, on the deserted summit of the mountain, in that stormy night, He could receive strengthening, peace, and ineffable blessedness. For there He was alone with God.
The miracle of calming the storm and the Lord's walking on the waters is the same as that described by the Evangelists Matthew, Mt 14:24 and following, and Mark, Mk 6:47 and following. The Evangelist Luke omits it.
John describes it somewhat more briefly, not only than the first evangelist, but also than the second. In general he agrees with them entirely, but includes a particular feature that completes their accounts.
The strong wind drove the boat into the middle of the sea, according to Matthew and Mark. The disciples had sailed twenty-five or thirty stadia. The whole sea was forty stadia wide, according to Josephus, Jewish War 3.10-11.
Then the Lord deigned to come to them in a miraculous manner over the enraged waves of the sea. "They were afraid," and so forth. See the notes on the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark.
"They wished to receive Him into the boat, and immediately," and so forth. John omits the account of Peter walking on the water, which Mark also omits. He also omits the further features of the event after the Lord entered the boat.
John completes them by saying that the boat immediately came to the shore toward which they were going. This is a new miracle, which the first evangelists do not note in the general account of the miracle.
In this, there appears to be a discrepancy between John and the first evangelists. To resolve it, St. Chrysostom supposed that these were different events. But the time, place, and particular features of the evangelists' accounts show that they narrate one and the same event.
John's narrative is only shorter, and it supplies those accounts with a new feature. For this reason it seems to differ.
It seems that one need not bind oneself strictly to the literal meaning of the word "immediately," ἐυθέως. Compare the note on Mt 24:29.
John does not say that the Lord did not enter the boat. If he had wished to say this, the construction of the sentence would have had to be different, namely: they wished to receive Him into the boat, but the boat immediately came to shore.
Only with this "but" would the thought be that the Lord did not enter, or did not have time, so to speak, to enter the boat before it reached shore. In John, however, the construction is different.
This means that, in John's thought, the Lord entered the boat, as also in Matthew's narrative. Suddenly the wind ceased, and the boat reached the shore toward which they were sailing. Those in the boat were in extraordinary amazement, according to Mark, and expressed their faith in the Lord as Messiah, according to Matthew.
Having crossed over in this way, according to Matthew and Mark, the disciples came with the Lord into the land of Gennesaret, and then to Capernaum, according to John, which was located in that region. The phrase concerns the whole crossing, not only the end of the crossing.
Verses 16-21. According to St. Mark, Jesus ordered the disciples to sail toward Bethsaida, Mk 6:45. According to St. John, "they went over the sea toward Capernaum." Capernaum is not far from Bethsaida, and almost in the same direction for those sailing from the northeast.
In the storm, the sailors could scarcely reach the shore, somewhat south of Capernaum, where they arrived together with the Lord, Jn 6:24, 59. The Sea of Galilee is up to twenty-five versts long, up to seven versts wide, and seventeen to twenty fathoms deep. It can become very stormy.
When the disciples were in the middle of the lake, the storm intensified. "The sea arose because a great wind was blowing," as the ancient translation has it. The later translation says, "it was stirred up." The latter is closer to the letter of the original, διηγηρετο, while the former is closer to the thought of the scene.
The boat was beaten and tossed by the waves. Jesus saw the distress of the disciples from the mountain of prayer.
About the "fourth watch," that is, the morning watch, by our reckoning around the fourth hour after midnight, Mk 6:48, 47; Mt 14:23-25, the disciples "saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat, and they were afraid." They "supposed it was a ghost," Mt 14:26.
"It is I; do not be afraid," Jesus says to them. According to St. Matthew, Peter volunteered to go to Jesus on the water, but became frightened and was saved from death by Jesus, Mt 14:28-31.
Then Jesus entered the boat with the disciples, and the wind ceased, Mt 14:32. Or, as St. John says, "and immediately," ευθειος, "the boat was at the land," that is, the boat came to shore.
John writes: ηθελον ουν λαβειν αυτον εις το πλοιον. Chrysostom thinks that although the disciples wanted to receive Him, they did not receive Him into the boat. This opinion does not agree with the narrative of St. Mark, Mk 6:51, and Matthew, Mt 14:31.
Chrysostom was so carried away by it that he even supposed two different events in the evangelists. But there is no need for this if John's words are understood thus: they wished to receive Him. This would only mean that a circumstance known from other accounts is left unstated.
Meanwhile, ἦθελον λαβειν, according to usage in Plato and Xenophon, means that they rejoiced to receive Him.
The Lord commands the disciples to enter the boat and withdraw from the crowd. We may dare to think He did this so that, as men not yet fully enlightened, they would not be infected by the crowd’s excitement. Among them the thought was growing and taking shape that the Lord Jesus should be proclaimed king.
The Lord’s own disciples did not at once understand the teaching about the Kingdom of God. This is evident from the request of the mother of James and John, Mt 20:22-23; Mk 10:35-37, 40. It is also evident from the question of all the disciples before His Ascension: “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6.
Therefore, in a moment of popular excitement, the disciples could have been carried away by their very love for the Lord. They might have been drawn into actions not in accord with His teaching and His will. For this reason He temporarily removes them from the crowd.
That same night He reveals Himself to them, and to them alone, as Master of the world and of the powers of the earth. For a time they are subjected to temptation. Around them is darkness, “it was dark,” and the sea is troubled.
Yet the Lord, even from afar, speaking according to His humanity, “saw them distressed in rowing,” Mk 6:48, and preserved them. Compare Chrysostom on Jn 6 and homily 43 on Mt 14:23-24.
In Mk 6 it is said, “the boat was in the middle of the sea.” This agrees entirely with John the Evangelist, for the Sea of Tiberias is forty to fifty stadia wide, or about seven versts. A stadium equals 606 English feet.
Matthew the Evangelist recounts the miracle of walking on the waters in the greatest detail, Mt 14:25-34; cf. Mk 6:47-53. In him we find the account of the trial of the Apostle Peter’s faith.
Peter did not endure the test completely. Yet by the strength of his faith he had already become first among the Apostles. Peter’s denial was the same momentary wavering as that which he experienced while walking on the waters.
According to the Synoptic Gospels, the Lord entered the boat with the disciples. John the Evangelist supplements this narrative with verse 21, saying that when they wished to receive the Lord into the boat, the boat immediately reached the shore toward which they were going.
Thus the eyewitness of the events, himself a participant in them, lets us understand something. For human perception, only a moment passed between the Lord’s appearance near the boat and its arrival at its destination. The Lord was already among His disciples and went ashore with them.
The greatness of Him who had called them to Himself was gradually disclosed to the disciples. Their hearts had burned at His words, yet He had not yet revealed to them all His glory.
Here, on the Lake of Tiberias, the Lord prepares their understanding for the reception of higher mysteries. He reveals Himself as Lord and Master of the powers of the world, and discloses to them who He is.
Very soon after this, the three chief Apostles, Peter, James, and John, were counted worthy to behold with mortal eyes the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor, Mt 17:1-9; Mk 9:1-9; Lk 9:28-36.
Tabor is a solitary mountain in the Valley of Jezreel, within Galilee. It lies not far from the southern end of the Lake of Tiberias, to the west of it.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 7 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS