Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped him, saying, Of a truth you are the Son of God.
All Commentaries on Matthew 14:33 Go To Matthew 14
Jerome
AD 420
These words show that they left the Lord unwillingly, not desiring through their love for their teacher to be separated from Him even for a moment For this also He goes into the desert, and there spends the night in prayer, to teach us that for prayer we should seek stillness both in time and place.
That He withdraws to pray alone, you should refer not to Him who fed five thousand on five loaves, but to Him who on hearing of the death of John withdrew into the desert; not that we would separate the Lord’s person into two parts, but that His actions are divided between the God and the man.
While the Lord tarries in the top of the mountain, straightway a wind arises contrary to them, and stirs up the sea, and the disciples are in imminent peril of shipwreck, which continues till Jesus comes.
The military guards and watches are divided into portions of three hours each. When then he says that the Lord came to them in the fourth watch, this shewsthat they had been in danger the whole night.
A confused noise and uncertain sound is the mark of great fear. But if, according to Marcion and Manichaeus, our Lord was not born of a virgin, but was seen in a phantasm, how is it that the Apostles now fear that they have seen aphantasm (or vision)?.
Let those who think that the Lords body was not real, because He walked upon the yielding waters as a light ethereal substance, answer here how Peter walked, whom they by no means deny to be man.
Moreover he is left to temptation for a short season, that his faith may be increased, and that he may understand that he is saved not by his ability toask, but by the power of the Lord. For faith burned at his heart, but human frailty drew him into the deep.
Also He ascends into the mountain alone because the multitude cannot follow Him aloft, until He has instructed it by the shore of the sea.
