And immediately he compelled the disciples to go on board ship, and to go on before him to the other side, until he should have dismissed the crowds.
Jesus has just fed thousands in a lonely place, and now He suddenly puts His own disciples into a boat without Him. Matthew's word for what He did is strong, and the other Gospels explain why.
Where the ESV says Jesus "made" the disciples get into the boat, older translations say He "constrained" them. One writer follows that word through the New Testament.
The word "constrained" appears three other times in our English version (Matt. 14:22; Acts 28:19; 2 Cor. 5:14). In the first two places it means to force or compel. The Lord "forced" the disciples to get into a ship, using His authority to make them do as He commanded.
Matthew does not say why the disciples had to be forced. John's account of the same evening explains it.
The way the story is told seems to imply that the disciples were unwilling to obey... The miracle of the loaves had stirred up great excitement in that lonely place. The crowd wanted to take Him by force and proclaim Him the Prophet and King of the Jews. The disciples had not taken in enough of their Master's spirit to judge that sudden impulse correctly. They would most likely have sided with the mob and put Him on the throne of David.
He moved them away to protect them.
They would readily and eagerly have gone along with what the people wanted, but He thoughtfully moved them away from the place of temptation.
The crowd's enthusiasm was real, but it was the wrong source for a throne.
But the Lord would not take the kingdom from zeal like this. This could not be the source of the kingdom of the Son of man. The beasts may take their kingdoms from the winds beating on the great sea, but Jesus cannot (Dan. 7)... Besides this, before the Lord could take His seat on Mount Zion, He had to climb the lonely mountain. And before the people could enter the kingdom, they had to go down to the stormy sea.
(In Daniel 7 wild beasts rise out of a sea whipped by winds. The Son of Man does not.)
Earlier that day the disciples had wanted the crowd sent off to find their own food.
They would have sent them away to buy bread for themselves. That would have sent thousands away hungry, as witnesses against Christ. He sent those thousands away happy and satisfied, as witnesses to the tenderness of His heart and the divine glory of His person.
Commentators read this verse as a turning point in Matthew's account. The crowd goes one way, the disciples another, and the Lord takes a third place entirely.
The crown was not yet to flourish on His head. Because of their unbelief He had to leave His ancient people. He would take a new place on high, and call out a remnant into a new order of things. Rejected as Messiah on earth, He would not be made king by the will of man to satisfy anyone's worldly desires. He would go above, and there carry out His priesthood before God. It is an exact picture of what the Lord has done. Meanwhile, if the crowds of Israel are sent away, His chosen ones enter a scene of trouble. Their Master is absent through the night of man's day.
Commentators apply the picture to believers now. Christ sent His own into the storm, but He did not leave them alone in it.
He went up on a mountain by Himself to pray. He was there alone — a beautiful picture of the Son of God, our high Priest at the right hand of God today. No one was with Him, yet His thoughts and sympathies were with those He had made cross the sea. He knew all about the contrary winds and the raging waves that battered the ship and tested their faith. And He did not leave them to struggle on alone.
Meanwhile the wind is against us, and we toil at the oars with difficulty and trouble, outwardly left to the Lord. But He always intercedes for us, and gains mercy and grace for us in the time of need.
- Compelled. The word means to force. Jesus used His authority to put the disciples in that boat, and Matthew's wording hints they did not want to go.
- Compelled away from danger. The crowd wanted to crown Him by force. The disciples would likely have joined in, so He moved them out of reach of the temptation.
- Compelled by a refusal. He would not take a kingdom from the heated will of men. The throne on Mount Zion waits; the lonely mountain comes first.
- Compelled toward a storm. One picture of the present time: the crowd of Israel sent away, Christ alone on high, His own tossed on the sea below.
- Compelled, but not forsaken. From the mountain He saw the contrary wind. The One who sent them into it prays for them in it — and comes to them across it.
And having dismissed the crowds, he went up into the mountain apart to pray. And when even was come, he was alone there,
Jesus has just fed thousands in a lonely place. Now He sends the crowds away, sends His disciples across the lake, and climbs the hill alone. Commentators read this quiet moment on two levels. It shows a dependent Man at prayer, and it pictures where He is today.
The crowd He had just fed had a plan for Him, and His withdrawal was a refusal.
The loaves and fishes had become too important to these men. They wanted more of this food that came so easily, so they planned to force kingship on this Prophet. We have just heard Him say, "I do not receive testimony from man," and again, "I do not receive glory from men." So it is no surprise that He will not receive a kingdom from the hands of men. The glory of the greatest earthly kingdom that man can build is only tinsel before Him. So He went off alone to a mountain, while His disciples set out to cross the lake. They would gladly have gone along with what the people wanted, so He thoughtfully removed them from the temptation.
The move from the crowd to the mountain marks a turn in the story.
The crown was not yet to flourish on His own head. He must leave His ancient people because of their unbelief. He must take a new position on high, and call out a small remnant into another state of things as well. He was rejected as Messiah on earth. He would not be a king by the will of man, to satisfy anyone's worldly desires. Instead He would go above, and there exercise His priesthood before God. It is an exact picture of what the Lord has done.
This chapter records two withdrawals, to two different places.
Now the scene changes, and we see the Lord in an entirely new position, setting out fresh truths. In the earlier scene He was in "a desolate place by Himself" (verse 13); here He is "on the mountain by Himself" (verse 23). There we learn, in a picture, that Christ is completely outside the course of this world. Here we learn that He has entered a new world. The mountain position speaks to us of the place He has taken on high. What is more, though He is on high, His heart of love is still occupied with His people as they pass through this world. We read, "He went up … to pray." In the place of glory He intercedes for His people.
He was alone on the hill, but not out of touch with His own.
The storm tossed the disciples on the sea through the dark watches of the night. They were deeply tried and tested while their Lord was away. But He never for a moment lost sight of them, never took His eyes off them.
He had just multiplied five loaves. The next thing He does is pray.
He would now dismiss the huge crowd and go away to speak to His Father in prayer that night. He had just shown His divine power in feeding the crowd with those five loaves and two small fish. Now, as a dependent man, He would bow low before His Father in prayer. None of His disciples, then, should be ashamed to confess their dependence on the God of all grace and the Father of mercies.
Matthew hardly ever shows us the Lord at prayer, which makes this one mention stand out.
But in Matthew's Gospel the only recorded occasion of prayer, apart from Gethsemane, is in the chapter before us. That fits the way this Gospel traces God's dealings with Israel. Rejected as King, the Lord has gone on high as Intercessor. In the "fourth watch" He will come out to help and save the distressed, storm-tossed remnant of Israel.
The scene is not only a picture to study. It is also a habit to copy.
And who would want to be without those sweet and holy lessons learned in secret? Who would want to lack the training of a Father's hand? Who would not long to be led away from under the eye of man, and above the influence of earthly and natural things? Who would not long to be brought into the pure light of the divine Presence, where God's own judgment sees and weighs self and everything around? In a word, who would not want to be alone with God? Not alone as a nice-sounding phrase, but really and practically alone — above all, alone like Jesus on the mountain.
- Refused — He would not take a crown from the hands of men who only wanted more bread; He sent the crowd away instead.
- Withdrew — He left the nation in its unbelief and took a new position on high. There He exercises priesthood before God, not kingship on earth.
- Interceded — the mountain speaks of where He is now. He went up to pray, His heart still occupied with His people below.
- Depended — the One who had just fed thousands by divine power bowed at once as a dependent Man. No disciple need be ashamed to do the same.
- Watched — He was alone, but never took His eyes off the storm-tossed boat. He will come at the fourth watch to save.
but the ship was already in the middle of the sea tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
It is night. The boat is far from land, driven back by a wind it cannot beat. The One who sent it there is alone on the mountain. Commentators read this scene both as plain history and as a picture of what the Lord's people meet while He is away.
These writers quote an older translation: "in the midst of the sea," "the wind was contrary." Here that wording shows why rowing failed.
Matthew and Mark dwell on the condition of the vessel. It was "in the midst of the sea," that is, away from land; and "tossed with the waves; for the wind was contrary" (Matt. 14:24). With the wind against them, sailing was out of the question. They turned to their oars, John tells us, but failed to get across the lake. Human effort to reach the shore they wanted proved useless. They had rowed twenty-five or thirty stadia, and Josephus says the lake at its widest was forty.
The verb behind "beaten" or "tossed" is strong. The New Testament uses it elsewhere for real pain.
Revelation 9:5 uses the verb and the noun for the torment of a scorpion's sting. Matthew 14:24: "tormented by the waves."
The Lord is up the mountain praying while the disciples fight the wind below. One writer reads that gap as a picture of the whole present time.
It is a picture of what the world is for the servants of the Lord while He is absent. He was up on the mountain. He was there in prayer — just what He is doing now. He is in the presence of God interceding; and meanwhile His servants are here, and everything outward is against them. For there is one who is in power, allowed for a season, and his constant effort is to oppose and thwart the servants of the Lord.
Another writer sees the night, the storm and the wind as a portrait of the present age.
While He is away, night and storm reign and His own are in distress; the wind is contrary. Could we find a better description of the present age than a stormy sea, a contrary wind and a dark night? … Scripture states the character of this age in emphatic and plain terms. How strange, then, that the greater part of the professing church can teach exactly the opposite. They call it an age of peace, light and progress.
The disciples were where the Lord had put them, and the water stayed rough. One writer refuses to treat Christ's prayers as a promise of calm.
Note that the intercession of Christ does not necessarily give peace to the Church while He is absent. The wind remains contrary, and they were toiling at the oars, though they were going and working according to the Lord's will. In fact, being in the place the Lord sets us in, and working by virtue of His intercession, often stirs up the opposition of the adversary. This lasts until He enters the ship in present power and silences and binds the adversary himself. Otherwise it is toiling against a contrary wind. … I repeat, a contrary wind and Christ's intercession go together.
The Lord was away from the boat, but not for a moment inattentive to it.
This answers exactly to His present position toward the nation of Israel. He has left them and gone on high to begin the blessed work of intercession. Meanwhile the disciples — a picture of the faithful remnant — were tossed on the stormy sea through the dark watches of the night. They were deeply tried and tested while their Lord was away. But He never lost sight of them for a moment, never took His eyes off them. And when they were brought, as it were, to their wits' end, He appears for their relief, hushes the wind, calms the sea, and brings them to the haven they wanted.
Commentators differ on whom the little boat pictures. Some read the disciples as the faithful remnant of Israel; others apply the scene to the Lord's servants now. One writer will not read the boat as the church at all.
The frightened disciples, expecting the deep to swallow them up at any moment, could hardly picture the true believer, who knows his position in Christ. He too is above the storm. He may be storm-tossed, like this little ship upon the sea. Satan's power may always be at play around him, and the wind may be contrary. Yet through it all he does not fear. He sings the song that is heard above the howling wind: "For I am sure that neither death nor life … will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
- Contrary — the wind is against them, not just strong. Sailing was impossible, and rowing got them nowhere.
- Tormented — the word behind "beaten by the waves" is the New Testament word for torment. Scripture does not soften what the night cost them.
- Sent — they were in that storm because the Lord put them there. Being in His will drew the opposition; it was no sign they had missed it.
- Interceding — the contrary wind and Christ's prayers run together. His intercession is not a promise of calm water; it is why they can row at all.
- Coming — He never took His eyes off them, and He came when they were at their wits' end. The storm has a fixed end: He enters the boat, the wind drops, and they reach the shore He sent them to.
But in the fourth watch of the night he went off to them, walking on the sea.
The disciples had been fighting the wind for hours in the dark, with their Master away on a mountain praying. He came at the last stretch of the night, and He came by a road no one had ever travelled.
The night ran in four fixed periods, so naming the fourth one tells us how late it was.
Under the Romans there were four night watches, matching the changes of the Roman guards, each lasting three hours, from sunset to sunrise. They were sometimes called evening, midnight, cock-crowing and morning.
He did not come at the first sign of trouble.
How they longed for the presence of the One who had once stood up in the boat during a similar storm and rebuked the wind and the sea. But He came to them not in the second watch, nor in the third watch. It was not until the dark hour before the dawn that the bright and morning Star appeared.
Distance and darkness had not hidden them. He was watching the rowing long before He stepped onto the water.
On the mountain in prayer, He must have stayed there some time, for darkness settled on the scene, and hours passed before He rejoined the twelve. At last He went down into the storm, and it was about the fourth watch of the night that He drew near to them. He saw them toiling, and He came to them. Blessed Master! As then, so now He sees His people in all their troubles and difficulties, and in His own way He sustains and delivers.
The sea that was wearing out the disciples held Him up. Commentators read it as a picture of hostile power.
He walks on the sea as His by double right: in Godhead He created it, and in manhood it forms part of His vast domain… The sea is often used in Scripture to represent the restless forces of evil. At its creation He shut it up behind doors when it burst out as if it had come from the womb. Here, in the double rights of His divine-human Person, we see the Lord Jesus Christ with all the powers of evil pictured beneath His feet.
They had known Him in a storm before, but always in the boat with them. This time He arrives on the surface of the trouble.
They had known Him as the One who was with them in the storm; now they see Him as beyond all weariness and above all storms. That is His position today. He is not only apart from the world, He is above the world, and beyond the reach of its storms. The storm of Calvary has spent itself. Death no longer has dominion over Him. He walks upon the waves.
Commentators read the whole scene — crowd dismissed, Christ on the mountain, disciples alone at sea — as a map of the age we live in.
The Lord makes His disciples leave without Him, while He sends the crowd away. When they are gone, He goes off into a mountain to pray. This is exactly what the Lord has now done. The disciples are tossed on the stormy sea of the world. Jesus has sent Israel away and has gone up to heaven to intercede for us. Meanwhile the wind is contrary, and we row on with difficulty and trouble, outwardly left to the Lord. But He always intercedes for us, and gets mercy and grace for us in time of need.
Commentators differ on who the men in the boat stand for. One reading ties them to the faithful remnant of Israel.
We must take the disciples as a picture of the Jewish remnant… We have to read the incident in this light, though that does not forbid applications in other directions.
He had once stilled a storm with a word. This time He does something different.
Why did He not at once still the raging of the sea, as in Matthew 8:26? Who can explain all His ways with His people? On one occasion He stopped the storm. This time He comforted them in it, and by His grace made them stronger than it… What we need is simple faith in His goodness. Whatever form His dealings take, all must be well. It is not always best to be lifted right out of the circumstances that distress us, though weak flesh and blood would gladly have it so.
- Night — The four watches ran from sunset to sunrise. The fourth is the last stretch before dawn, after a night of rowing.
- Watched — He was on the mountain, but His eye never left them; He saw them toiling before He moved toward them.
- Delay — He passed by the second watch and the third. The lateness of His coming is part of the discipline, not a sign of neglect.
- Path — The sea that fights His people is the floor under His feet. He created it, and He walks it with all the powers of evil pictured beneath Him.
- Presence — Sometimes He stops the storm. Here He walks into it and makes His people stronger than it. He may carry you through instead of lifting you out.
And the disciples, seeing him walking on the sea, were troubled, saying, It is an apparition. And they cried out through fear.
It is the fourth watch of the night. The boat is far from land, and the men in it see a figure moving toward them across the water. Why did the arrival of the very Person they needed produce screams instead of relief?
Older translations call what they saw "a spirit" or "an apparition." The ESV calls it "a ghost." One writer notes that not one of the apostles recognised Him.
When the Lord came across the sea He looked for a response from His disciples. He would have passed them by, hoping the sight of Him would stir some appeal to Him, for they all saw Him, as Mark tells us. Yet the apostles did not recognise their Master. We read that they cried out in fear, for they supposed they saw a phantom. The vision on the waves, they thought, was not real — an apparition — the creation of their own imagination.
They thought a spirit was coming. What they missed is the very thing that makes Him able to help them.
He came down onto the waves. He came from the eternal peace of heaven into the storm where His loved ones were struggling. The winds blew and the waves tossed around Him. When His disciples saw Him, they were frightened and supposed that He was a spirit, but He was not a spirit. HE WAS A MAN, AND HE IS A MAN. This is the amazing thing. The children share flesh and blood, so He, the Lord of Glory, shared the same. That way He would know from His own experience how fierce the storms are that hit our weak humanity. He was tempted in every way we are, apart from sin. So He can help us with a sympathy that is perfectly human though divine.
Their eyes reported something real. The trouble was that sight was all they had.
The very thing that is the source of the deepest comfort when it is believed becomes a cause of fear when it is only a matter of sight — even when the sight is Jesus Himself! We can trust ourselves so little, and we owe so much to God and His word. The word that reveals Jesus is completely different from our own thoughts and our own sight, even when that sight is real.
One writer reads the whole scene as a picture of the present time.
It is a picture of what was about to happen. He would go up to God to begin His present ministry of intercession. That left His disciples to face the rough seas of this stormy world while He was away. The twelve found the crossing rough and hard, as followers of a rejected and crucified Lord have always found life and witness here. Many a storm has Satan raised in the hope of destroying all witness to the Name he hates.
The storm was not a sign that they had gone the wrong way. He Himself had put them in that boat.
The elements seemed all against them, and it was very trying. It was the fourth watch of the night, and they had been through all the other watches. But if He compels them to enter a ship He will take them through. They do what the Lord tells them, without hesitating, but their hearts must have been tested. If they went in the only boat, how was He to join them? The lake was only seven miles across. The fact that they had got only half-way over shows what a storm it was, and how little progress they were making. But His way is in the sea.
One writer applies their fear to the way people meet the Lord's return.
His return came in the fourth watch of the night, just before dawn. The Lord comes nearer step by step. His person is seen dimly in the distance. The disciples are afraid and cry out in terror, instead of shouting for joy that He is coming. All of it applies to our own time. There are many in the Christian world for whom the coming of the Lord, and the events tied to it, bring no joy but fear and terror to the heart... The true believer, however, knows no fear in the fourth watch, for he waits and watches for His coming.
- Sent — He Himself put them in the boat. The storm came inside obedience, not outside it, and He who sent them will take them through.
- Seen — They saw Him with their own eyes and still panicked. Sight alone gave them a phantom of their own imagining. Only His word tells us who He is.
- Solid — What they feared was a spirit; what came to them was a Man, one who entered the storm and so can sympathise with ours.
- Sovereign — He walks on the very sea that was beating His people. His way is in the sea.
- Soon — Read as a picture: He is on high interceding, we are on rough water, and at the fourth watch He comes. Meet Him with joy, not with the disciples' cry of terror.
But Jesus immediately spoke to them, saying, Take courage; it is *I* be not afraid.
It is the fourth watch of the night. The boat is far from land, the wind is against it, and the men on board have just cried out in terror at what they think is a ghost. What reaches them first is not a rescue but a voice.
The disciples did not drift into this trouble. He had put them in the boat and sent them ahead.
In verse 22 we read: "He made the disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side." He had sent them, and He allowed these difficulties to come! Oh, if we meet problems on the road the Lord has sent us down, we can take heart. He never forgets His own. He comes to stay with them, as He came to help the disciples. But they did not recognize Him. Is that not something we experience also? The problems are so big that we do not recognize the Lord coming to help us.
Notice the order. He speaks first, before He stills the storm.
So too, before He stilled the storm, His voice came through the roar of the wind, telling His frightened disciples, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid" (Matt. 14:27). So it is good for us to learn this. The Lord does not only rescue the godly out of their troubles. He also supports them by His word in the very middle of them.
The same command turns up again and again, in every kind of trouble.
"Do not be afraid," He said to His disciples when the storm rose up, threatening to swallow them (Matt. 14:27). "Do not be afraid," when shipwreck is certain (Acts 27:24)... "Do not be afraid," when death has already done its work (Mark 5:36).
The middle phrase, which the ESV gives as "it is I," is literally "I am."
In His answer to the terrified disciples the Lord said, "Be of good cheer, I am." It is well known that this is the right rendering of the words. We see Him as a Man and yet the great "I Am" in a scene that shows, in picture, all the power of evil under His feet. He walks upon the sea as His by double right: in Godhead He created it, and in Manhood it forms part of His vast domain.
Commentators differ on how much the grammar itself proves. One writer sets this verse beside another place where the same words only identify the speaker.
In John 9 we read of the blind man that some said, "It is he," others said, "No, but he is like him," and he kept saying, "I am the man." These two cases are enough to show that in ordinary speech "I am" does not have to mean more than a statement of identity.
The first word He speaks is a single Greek word, and one writer gives it in plain English.
They were alone, without their Lord in the boat. But unknown to them, He had been watching them in their toil and fear, though they had no idea He was doing so. ... Then, at once, Jesus spoke to them. What did He say? "THARSEITE!" "Cheer up! It is I; do not be afraid!"
They were looking straight at Jesus when they screamed.
The very thing that gives the deepest comfort when it is believed becomes a cause of fear when it is only a matter of sight — even when that sight is Jesus! So little can we trust ourselves, so infinitely are we indebted to God and His word. I say that the word that reveals Jesus is a completely different thing from our own thoughts or our own sight, even if that sight were of Him.
One writer reads the night as a picture of where the Lord is now.
This answers exactly to His present position toward the nation of Israel. He has left them and gone on high to take up the blessed work of intercession. Meanwhile, the disciples were tossed on the stormy sea through the dark hours of the night. They were deeply tried and tested while their Lord was away. But He never for a moment lost sight of them, never withdrew His eyes from them. And when they were brought, as it were, to their wits' end, He appears to help them. He hushes the wind, calms the sea, and brings them to the harbour they longed for.
- Sent, not stranded. He put them in that boat; the storm lies inside His orders, not outside them.
- Watched, not forgotten. From the mountain He never took His eyes off them, even while they thought themselves alone.
- Spoken to, before rescued. The voice comes first — He supports His people in the trouble, not only out of it.
- "I am." The One walking on the sea owns it twice over, as its Creator and as Man.
- Steadied by word, not sight. Their eyes on Jesus produced screams; His word steadied them. Faith rests on what He says.
And Peter answering him said, Lord, if it be *thou*, command me to come to thee upon the waters.
Peter speaks at night, in a storm, moments after a voice over the water told the disciples not to be afraid. His words are not a demand for proof. Everything he is about to do rests on who is standing out there.
Everything hangs on one word: "if." Leaving the boat is either the wisest thing Peter ever did or the maddest.
Here was the point: "If it is You." If it were not He, the wildest mistake Peter could make would be to leave the ship. But suppose it really was Jesus — that blessed One, that most glorious and most gracious One, whom Peter saw moving calmly over the surface of the troubled sea. Then surely the very highest, the very happiest, the very best thing he could do was to leave every earthly and natural support and come out to Him.
Peter did not yet know much. What he did know was enough to move him.
Peter's knowledge at first is very superficial. "Lord, if it is You," he says. But it is enough for the start. If it is He, His word is enough to make Peter leave the ship.
Peter does not simply climb over the side. He waits for a command.
If He shows Himself to His people, it is to draw them to Himself in the place outside. But we will be drawn out of the systems of men in one way only: with Christ Himself before our souls as our one Object, and Christ's word as our only authority. This is beautifully set out in Peter. He seems to say, "If I am to leave the ship, if I am to walk on the water, it must be Yourself as my Object, and Your word as my authority."
Christ answers with one word: "Come." It goes to the man who asked for it.
The "Come" of Christ is an answer to the one who says, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." The word for the path is the answer only to the heart that wants the path.
There are two ways to be with Christ in a storm. Peter asked for the second.
Notice, it is "to You on the water." It was not Jesus coming to Peter in the ship, blessed and precious as that is, but Peter coming to Jesus on the water. It is one thing to have Jesus come into the middle of our circumstances, quieting our fears, calming our anxieties, settling our hearts. It is quite another thing for us to push out from the shore of circumstances, or from the ship of nature's devices, and walk in calm victory over them, simply to be with Jesus where He is.
Was this a dare, or a test of what faith can do? Rossier says neither.
"Command me to come to You." In asking this favour Peter had no thought of running an experiment. He was not showing off his cleverness at overcoming obstacles. What he wanted was to go to Him. Christ attracted him, and for the moment he thought nothing of wind or waves.
Commentators differ on whether Peter should have spoken at all. Some hear love running ahead of itself.
This was hardly presumption, or his Master would not have said, "Come." It was rather the eagerness of affection.
Others hear a man setting terms for his Master. The Lord grants what he asks, to show what was in him.
It makes all the difference whether the Lord, out of His own heart, tells me to come. It is another thing when the Lord acts on my own impulsiveness, and puts me to the test to show whether it is my own thought, my own haste. It was so, certainly, with Peter, and this was what Peter had to learn — the blessedness of waiting, the danger of dictating.
The boat was the only known way across. One writer sees a larger picture in Peter leaving it.
The Jewish system... was like a ship, quite suited to men who are "after the flesh." As the result of His coming, the disciples were to step out of that "ship" into a path of pure faith... Peter was "out of the ship," with Christ as his Object and His word as his authority.
- Person. "If it is You" makes the identity of Christ the hinge. Wrong about Him, and leaving the boat is madness; right about Him, and it is the best thing Peter ever did.
- Word. Peter waits for a command. Christ's word is the warrant for the path, and He gives it to the heart that wants it.
- Object. He is not testing a miracle. He wants to be where Jesus is, and for that moment the wind and waves do not matter.
- Ship. Christ coming into our circumstances is one blessing. Going out to where He is, leaving every natural support, is another.
- Caution. Commentators differ — some hear love's eagerness, others a man dictating to his Lord. Either way, the answer came back in one word: "Come."
And he said, Come. And Peter, having descended from the ship, walked upon the waters to go to Jesus.
Peter alone asked to leave the boat, and he got a one-word answer. Commentators read what follows both as a lesson in how faith works and as a picture of the whole Christian life.
Peter did not step out on impulse. He waited for the Lord to answer.
He had the authority of his Lord for leaving the ship. That word "come" — a word of mighty moral force — fell on his heart and drew him out from the ship to go to Jesus. Christ's word was the authority for entering on that strange, mysterious path, and Christ's realised presence was the power to pursue it. Without that word he dared not start; without that presence he could not proceed. Walking on the sea was strange, unearthly, above and beyond nature — but Jesus was walking there, and faith could walk with Him.
How little he needed is part of the point.
The widow of Zarephath gave her all on the strength of one verse from God. Abram in Genesis 15:5 built all his hopes on five words from God — "so shall your offspring be." Matthew surrendered all on the authority of two words, "Follow Me," from the lips of the Lord Jesus. And Peter risked his life at the sound of one word — "Come" — from the same blessed lips.
The boat was the only visible way across. Peter left it anyway.
It was a serious thing to leave the place of apparent security to walk where there was no way, but, as I said, the word of Christ was enough for him. He knew its power. At His word he had let go the net; at His word he sets out... In asking this favour Peter had no thought of making an experiment. He was not showing off his cleverness in overcoming obstacles. What he wanted was to go to Him. Christ attracted him, and for the moment he thought nothing of wind or waves... Faith leaves the boat, the only apparent shelter, not counting it the true place of safety, and sets out on a divine word to reach Jesus, whose presence is worth more to him than getting to the other shore.
Nothing in the storm changed when he stepped down. His footing was a word, not better weather.
The wind was not hushed, the waves as threatening as ever; but had not Peter heard that word "Come"? And was it not enough? It was ample, coming from the Lord and God of all... As long as Jesus and His word were before his heart, there was no failure any more than danger.
The verse says he walked. It does not say he was strong. He borrowed the strength the whole way, and the size of the waves made no difference.
As long as his eye was simply on that blessed One, he walked the water as safely as Christ Himself. There was no question about the power that was there; it was plain. How could a man walk on water except by supernatural power?
Peter could not have crossed the calmest sea apart from divine help. But that help was more than enough to hold him up safely on the wildest sea.
Several commentators read the boat as a picture. What Peter did on the water, believers would soon do in principle.
The Jewish system was like a ship, quite suited to men who are "after the flesh." Much of it consisted of "the law of commandments expressed in ordinances" (Ephesians 2:15). As the result of His coming, the disciples were to step out of that "ship" into a path of pure faith... Peter was "out of the ship," with Christ as his Object and His word as his authority.
Mackintosh turns the picture on the reader. He asks not what is allowed, but what we want.
There was nothing wrong in remaining in the ship. But the question is, "What are we aiming at?" Is it the fixed purpose of the soul to get as near as we can to Jesus?
Readers remember Peter for what went wrong in the next verse. That reverses the emphasis of this one.
We want to be more occupied with his success than with his failure. Affection for his Master led him out of the boat. Faith in his Master made him superior to nature... It is a picture of a Christian walking through a world where everything is opposed to him, supported by power from on high.
- Word. "Come" was Peter's whole warrant. Without it he dared not start, and His presence carried him once he had it.
- Enough. One syllable was all he needed. Five words carried Abram; two words called Matthew away from everything.
- Borrowed. He could not have crossed even a calm sea on his own. The same power held him up in the storm.
- Outside. He left the boat, the only known way across. That step pictures leaving an old system for a path of pure faith. Christ was his Object; His word was his authority.
- Success. Affection drew him out and faith lifted him above nature. That success, not the sinking, is what the verse records.
But seeing the wind strong he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, Lord, save me.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught hold of him, and says to him, O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?
Peter had asked for the word "Come," and he got it — then he saw the wind and began to sink. The Lord's hand reaches him before His question does, and the question is not why did you leave the boat, but why did you doubt.
Peter left the boat because the Lord told him to come. Notice what the reproof does not say:
But Peter failed. Yes; and what then? Does that prove he was wrong in obeying the call of his Lord? Did Jesus reprove him for leaving the ship? Ah, no; that would not have been like Him. He could not tell His poor servant to come, and then rebuke him for coming... He does not say, "O you restless forward one, why did you leave the ship?" No, but "why did you doubt?" Such was the tender reproof. And where was Peter when he heard it? In the arms of his Lord!
Peter sank when he saw the wind. But walking on water was never a question of the weather:
Why did he sink? Was the water any less solid when it was rough than when it was calm? Certainly not. Without divine power, you could not walk on the stillest mill-pond any better than on the stormiest wave that ever surged. The power of Christ can sustain you and me in the most difficult circumstances. And nothing but the power and grace of Christ can sustain us in the easiest circumstances.
The Lord's words measure Peter's faith. He had faith — and now he finds out how much:
Yes, there was faith then, but it was little faith, and now that little faith became obvious. He thought he was a man of great faith. This was exactly the lesson Peter had to learn. "O you of little faith." It was himself. It was not Thomas... it was not John, it was no one else, it was Peter. He never thought of it. On the contrary, he was quite sure he was a man of great faith, and now he gets this thoroughly healthy lesson. How humble he would be! How tender with others!
The Lord's question names the thing that little faith produces:
The Lord also shows what marks little faith — doubt. There is not a word in the Bible to create a doubt, not one. The Spirit of God never put a doubt into the heart of man... What is the root of doubting? Making little of Christ... To whom did Christ show His grace more? To the man of little faith most of all.
The hand comes before the question in this verse. Peter's failure did not put him out of reach:
This beloved servant of Christ broke down in his course... "Lord, save me!"... No poor failing creature can ever appeal to that love in vain... Wonderful grace! If Peter failed to reach his Lord, his Lord did not fail to reach him. If Peter failed in faith, Jesus could not fail in grace. Impossible.
The disciples who stayed in the boat never risked this failure. The Lord does not judge Peter the way they might have:
He gets no rebuke for a rash venture. The other disciples might have given him that. Many people are in no danger of this kind of failure, and they would use it to excuse themselves from ever trying such a thing. But the Lord says only, "Why did you doubt?"... At his cry there is a hand stretched out to him, and he is held up. It is not the ship that rescues him, nor is he taken out of the path, but supported in it.
One writer ties this rescue to what Paul wrote about the Lord's faithfulness:
Even when he had lowered himself to the level of those who lack faith, the Lord did not abandon him. He cried out in his desperate need, "Lord, save me."... The Lord remained faithful to the one who had followed Him in obedience to His word... This rescue by the Lord matches what the apostle Paul wrote: "if we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself" (2 Tim. 2:13). The Lord was the same in Peter's triumph and in Peter's failure. Only the disciple changed, for doubt had crept into his heart.
- Doubt, not daring. The Lord rebukes Peter's doubting, not his leaving the boat. He will not call a man to come and then blame him for coming.
- Doubt has no excuse. The rough sea changed nothing, since no one walks on calm water either. Doubt never comes from God's Spirit; it starts by making little of Christ.
- Doubt exposes size. "Little faith" is real faith shown at its true size. Doubt is its mark, and the man who thought himself strong learns to be humble and tender with others.
- Doubt meets a hand. Peter failed to reach his Lord. His Lord did not fail to reach him, and the hand holds him up in the path instead of taking him out of it.
- Doubt is one-sided. Only Peter changed between his walking and his sinking. The Lord who answered his cry was the same before and after.
And when they had gone up into the ship, the wind fell.
Peter is back on board, and the storm that had battered the disciples all night simply stops. Matthew records no command and no rebuke — so what does the Lord's presence alone do that a night of effort could not?
The calm needs no spoken word. It comes with Him, and one writer reads it as a small picture of something still to come.
Then He entered the boat, and the wind ceased. The Lord had rejoined them, and the elements were still. So will it be in the future, when He appears to and for His earthly people. He will in the fullest sense make the storm a calm, so that the waves of it will be still (Psalm 107:29).
Something bigger than the weather ends the moment He steps aboard.
And as they came into the boat, the wind ceased. Satan's power was at an end as soon as Jesus was in the boat. When He comes back to earth again there will be peace, and not before. The great need of the world is to have the King back.
Commentators read the scene as a picture of a later day, when He comes back to His people.
Jesus enters the boat, and the wind stops. It will be the same when Jesus returns to the remnant of His people in this world. Then all who are in the boat will worship Him as the Son of God, together with the remnant of Israel... For when He returns, the world will recognise Him. It is a fine picture of the result of Christ's rejection.
The same writer notes what the boat itself stands for, and how the Lord returns to it changed.
But Jesus will step into the boat again — back into the earthly and human order, though now glorified and not humbled. Then the wind will stop. All in that boat will own Him as Son of God. And the world that once rejected Him will own His power and His presence, and gladly.
Two men step into the boat, not one. One writer carries that detail forward into the day of His return.
Peter and his Lord come back to the boat together. Then the wind ceases. Those in the boat come and worship Him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." This is again not hard to understand. When He returns to Israel, we shall be with Him still, and for them and for us the wind will be at rest. Satan's power will be over. He himself will be shut up in the bottomless pit, and the power of Christ will be supreme over all.
One writer sets John's account beside Matthew's. There was more than calm.
As soon as the Lord got into the boat, the wind ceased. John 6:21 adds, "immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going." How beautiful! How calm everything is as soon as you get into the presence of the Lord! And now they worship Him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
His coming did two things at once. It ended what threatened them, and it finished the journey.
He came to His disciples, and they received Him into the boat. They heard His word, and His word stopped the storm, so that there was peace at once. What threatened to destroy them was taken away... When Jesus came to them, they found they were exactly where they wanted to go. How did all this come about? Through His power, that Almighty power that resides in the person of Jesus. His disciples were slow to believe it was so then, and they have always been slow to believe it from that day to this.
The point of the account is not that storms never come, but who is in the boat when they do.
Faith has the right to know the presence of the same Jesus. It is the same in smooth waters, in calmed waters, and in waters that still rage and swell with no voice to command them. He may be active in one case and asleep in the other. But He is just as much in the boat, whether He is acting or sleeping.
- Presence. Matthew records no rebuke — the wind stops because He is aboard. The Lord had rejoined them, "and the elements were still."
- Power. What ends is not just bad weather. "Satan's power was at an end as soon as Jesus was in the boat."
- Preview. The boat holds His people in a rough world. The calm pictures His return, when "the world will recognise Him."
- Partnership. Peter and his Lord come back together — a reminder that at His return "we shall be with Him still."
- Port. The calm was not the whole gift. He brought them where they were going: "they found they were exactly where they wanted to go."
But those in the ship came and did homage to him, saying, Truly thou art God's Son.
A boat full of frightened men turns into a place of worship. Jesus steps in, the wind drops, and the men who were terrified fall at His feet and call Him the Son of God.
The storm did not end because the disciples grew braver. It ended when He came aboard, and Peter, who had already known Him under other names, learned a new one.
As soon as the Lord got into the ship the wind ceased, and John 6:21 adds, "Immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going." How beautiful! How calm everything is as soon as you get into the presence of the Lord! And now they worship Him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." Peter had learned Him as Messiah in John 1. He had learned Him as Son of Man, and Lord over the fish of the sea, in Luke 5. Now he sees more of the moral glories of His person, and he gets another most precious lesson: this One who is the Messiah, and the Son of Man, is also the Son of God.
Their worship is remarkable because of what came before it. They had been slow, unresponsive men, and the rescue arrived in a form they never expected.
The Lord came over the waves looking for faithfulness and trust in the hearts of the disciples. Instead He found deadly dullness and hearts that felt nothing... So Jesus found no response in the apostles to the labours of His love. They were struggling in vain against the storm. When He rescued them from its fury, they were completely astonished. If they expected deliverance at all, they did not expect it in that way. However, their hard hearts were melted, and "those in the boat worshiped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God.'"
What the disciples did carries weight because of how Jesus responded to it. He let it stand.
How did our Lord respond to those who worshipped Him? Did He accept their worship, or did He rebuke it as "idolatry"?... The disciples saw our Lord walking on the rough waters of the Sea of Galilee, and they were afraid. Our Lord calmed their fears and joined them in their ship. Then the astonished disciples worshipped Him. Did our Lord rebuke them? Was it idolatry, which should have been sternly rebuked? No, He accepted their worship.
Their words are not the birth of a new belief. Something they already held broke over them, and their minds ran to worship, not to argument.
It was not that they did not believe this before. But they were overwhelmed by the greatness of the miracle, and awed by the power and presence of the Lord then among them. So their hearts bowed down before Him in holy adoration and believing love, as the very Son of the eternal Father, and as such possessing all the power and glory of the Godhead. Can we suppose that their minds were taken up with speculations such as daring men have since invented to deny and dishonour both Father and Son? Or did their simple, childlike, God-given faith at once embrace the blessedness of the mystery — that the Jesus whom they saw, and at whose feet they fell, was the Son of the Father in truth and love?
Commentators also read the sequence as a map of a much longer stretch of time. First the departure: He leaves the crowds and goes up the mountain alone.
He must leave His ancient people because of their unbelief, and take a new position on high, and call out a remnant to another state of things also. Rejected as Messiah on earth, He would not be a king by the will of man to gratify the worldly desires of anyone, but go above, and there exercise His priesthood before God. It is an exact picture of what the Lord has done.
Then the return — and the worship in the boat becomes a preview of what a nation will one day say.
Jesus having entered the ship, the wind ceases. So it will be when Jesus returns to the remnant of His people in this world. Then also He will be worshipped as the Son of God by all who are in the ship, with the remnant of Israel. In Gennesaret Jesus again exercises the power which will one day drive out from the earth all the evil that Satan has brought in. For when He returns, the world will recognise Him.
- Storm. The Lord came to them over the waves, looking for faith and trust. He found dull hearts and men struggling in vain against the wind.
- Presence. The wind ceased when He stepped in, not before. Calm belongs to His presence, not to better conditions.
- Melting. Their worship grew out of hard hearts and shock. A rescue they never expected melted men who had shown no response to His love.
- Confession. They were not forming a new opinion. An old belief overwhelmed them: the Jesus at whose feet they fell is the Son of the Father, with all the power and glory of the Godhead.
- Acceptance. He did not refuse their worship. One day the world will recognise Him too, and the calm will last.