19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)

(Mt 14:22–33)

Matthew 14:22 Immediately afterwards, he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, whilst he dismissed the crowd. 

Matthew 14:23 After he had dismissed the crowd, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. 

Matthew 14:24 Meanwhile, the boat was already many miles from the shore and was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against them. 

Matthew 14:25 Towards the end of the night, he went out to them, walking on the sea. 

The passage opens with Jesus ordering the disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side because he has to dismiss the crowd. Jesus has both the disciples and the crowd before him, and he commands both, in different ways, to leave him.

Matthew’s use here of the verb ‘compel’ (ēnágkasen), in its Greek form, indicates a genuine forcing, a sort of rupture or separation that comes about between Jesus and his followers. The disciples, therefore, are forced, compelled, obliged to board the boat without Jesus. They had arrived there with him in the same boat; now they must set off again without him. The bond between Jesus and those who had followed him seems to be broken: each to their own. They must board the boat on their own and steer it to the other shore by themselves. This compulsion is completed by the command to go ahead of Jesus to the other shore. The disciples are called upon to continue the journey by boat without Jesus and to take the helm themselves.

The boat is a symbol of the Church, which is unstable; it floats on the water but could also sink. Now it must make the crossing, yet the Lord is not there. That ‘compelling’ also conveys the full extent of the disciples’ difficulty in moving forward without the physical presence of Jesus, who urges them onto the boat so that they may take possession of it and steer it responsibly. In other words, Jesus urges them to take charge of the nascent Church, symbolised by the boat. They must ‘go ahead of him to the other side’, that is, move forward on their own, without him, so that they may come to realise their role.

Jesus, on the other hand, would remain behind to bid farewell to the crowd. At certain moments, Jesus wishes to deal alone with those who seek him and to speak his words of farewell without any interference. It is not necessarily the case that the apostles must hear everything Jesus says to the people. In the relationship between God and the individual, there is always a word that escapes the knowledge of the Church; and it is the final and definitive one.

Jesus, having left the disciples and the crowd behind, ‘went up onto the mountain, by himself’. The expression is highly significant. First of all, the noun ‘mountain’ is preceded by the definite article. According to Church tradition, this refers to the Mount of the Beatitudes. Indeed, Jesus delivered his famous Sermon ‘on the mountain’, not on ‘a mountain’. Furthermore, in the Gospels, the mountain is more a theological concept than a geographical reference; it signifies the divine realm.

Jesus could very well have remained on the lakeshore to pray, but he went up the mountain. Prayer is an act of elevation, of ascent. The verb ‘to go up’ speaks to us of the disposition present in the person who wishes to draw near to God and thus distance themselves from all that is base and defiled. Climbing involves an effort, a metaphor for the spiritual quest to attain what is lacking in man because of sin. For a believer, ‘climbing the mountain’ represents detoxifying oneself, breathing fresh air, and purifying oneself of the impurities that lurk within. For Christians, Jesus’ ascent described in this episode is realised by closing the door to one’s ‘inner room’, where one leaves out all elements that might distract one, in order to enter into conversation with God and, above all, to ask that we be given what we need.

Verse 23 concludes with a reference to time: ‘When evening came’. We find the same expression at the beginning of the account of the Last Supper. Thus, the evangelist provides a key for the reader, to indicate that what he is about to narrate is connected with Jesus’ Last Supper. ‘When evening came’ foreshadows the end of the historical Jesus’ time; the church, like a boat, will have to set sail, navigating the treacherous waters of history, whilst Jesus is no longer physically with them. But Jesus does not abandon his own. Whilst the disciples may lose sight of Jesus, Jesus does not lose sight of his disciples. He simply watches over them from the top of the mountain, from a different vantage point—not that of an earthly man, but that of the Son of God who belongs to heaven and who desires to do nothing but what is in accordance with the Father’s will.

The Church sails through the adversities of history, symbolised by the headwind that makes her journey difficult. The wind that stirs the sea is a spirit that also stirs hearts; it symbolises the challenges and uncertainties of life. The disciples’ struggle against the wind mirrors our own efforts to control circumstances, even when we face forces beyond our power. A Christian may find themselves making little progress, not through any fault of their own, but because the wind is against them. Our good God will take into account the sincere intention with which we row. No distance can hide the church from Christ’s sight. Even when we do not see him, he sees us. He knows the direction of the wind and realises that it is not favourable to the Church’s journey. The time for his intervention is coming. Not in just any way, but by taking full control over the forces of evil. When? ‘Towards the end of the night’; a reference to the Church’s final, eschatological era, before the coming of the light of the new day, within which the new creation will be established.

Jesus walking on the waters signifies that he rules over the events of history, subduing all life’s storms beneath his feet. The sea is an element of separation between human beings; the land, by contrast, is an element of connection. Jesus walking on the waters negates the sea’s role as a separator; his walking endows the sea with the characteristics of the land. The overall effect produced is harmony between land and sea. The mountain upon which Jesus ascends, where he prays and from where he observes what is happening on the sea, is the point where the three elements—land, sea and sky—converge. This act of walking on water is not merely a demonstration of Jesus’ miraculous power, but a powerful symbol of his ability to overcome the chaos and turbulence of life. It conveys the message that Jesus is the source of stability amidst the storms of life. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Mystery of the Trinity

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)