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
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
De Cons. Ev., ii, 47: This may seem contrary to that Matthew says, that having sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain that He might pray alone; and John again says, that it was on a mountain that He fed this same multitude. But since John himself says further, that after that miracle He retired to amountain that He might not be held by the multitude, who sought to make Him aking, it is clear that He had come down from the mountain when He fed them. Nordo Matthew’s words, “He went up into a mountain alone to pray,” disagree with this, though John says, “When he knew that they would come to make him a king, he withdrew into a mountain himself alone.” For the cause of His praying is not contrary to the cause of His retiring, for herein the Lord teaches us that wehave great cause for prayer when we have cause for Right. Nor, again, is it contrary to this that Matthew says first, that He bade His disciples go into the boat, and then that He sent the multitudes away, and went into a mountain alone to pray; while John relates that He first withdrew to the mountain, and then, “when it was late, his disciples went down to the sea, and when they had entered into a boat” for who does not see that John is relating as afterwards done by His disciples what Jesus had commanded before He retired into the mountain?.
Serm., 76, 5: This I am not able by myself, but in Thee I am able. Peter confessed what he was in himself, and what he should receive from Him by whose will he believed he should be enabled to do that which no human infirmity was equal to.
Serm., 76, 8: Peter then presumed on the Lord, he tottered as man, but returned to the Lord, as it follows, “And when he began to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me.” Does the Lord then desert him in his peril of failure whom hehad hearkened to when he first called on Him? “Immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him.”.
But while Christ prays on high, the boat is tossed with great waves in the deep; and forasmuch as the waves rise, that boat can be tossed; but because Christ prays, it cannot be sunk. Think of that boat as the Church, and the stormy sea as this world.
For when any of a wicked will and of great power, proclaims a persecution of the Church, then it is that a mighty wave rises against the boat of Christ.
The Lord came to visit His disciples who are tossed on the sea in the fourth watch of the night—that is, at its close; for each watch consisting of three hours, the night has thus four watches.
Therefore in the fourth watch of the night, that is when the night is nearly ended, He shall come, in the end of the world, when the night of iniquity is past, to judge the quick and the dead. But His coming was with a wonder. The waves swelled, but they were trodden upon. Thus howsoever the powers of this world shall swell themselves, our Head shall crush their head.
Quaest. Ev., i, 15: Or; That the disciples here say, It is a phantasm, figures those who yielding to the Devil shall doubt of the coming of Christ. That Peter cries to the Lord for help that he should not be drowned, signifies that He shall purge His Church with certain trials even after the last persecution; as Paul also notes, saying, “He shall be saved, yet so as by fire.” .
Serm. 76: For in one Apostle, namely Peter, first and chief in the order of Apostles in whom was figured the Church, both kinds were to be signified; that is, the strong, in his walking upon the waters; the weak, in that he doubted; for to each of us our lusts are as a tempest. Dost thou love God? Thou walkeston the sea; the fear of this world is under thy feet. Dost thou love the world? It swallows thee up. But when thy heart is tossed with desire, then that thoumayest overcome thy lust, call upon the divine person of Christ.
Quaest. Ev., i, 15: For it is here conveyed to us that His glory will then bemade manifest, seeing that now they who walk by faith see it in a figure.
