Today’s Gospel reading (August 2, 2022 | Matthew 13:22-36) depicts the moment where Jesus walks on water. We enter the text at the end of a very long day for both Jesus and his disciples. They have just fed approximately five thousand people1 who have flocked to Jesus for healing, just when Jesus was attempting to go off and pray by himself upon learning that his beloved cousin John the Baptist had been murdered. Having forestalled this needed alone time in order to heal and feed the masses, Jesus instructs his disciples (once everyone has had their meal) to hop in a boat and traverse the sea of Galilee so that he can dismiss the crowds and finally get up a mountain to pray.
The disciples dutifully obey, remaining in the boat for several hours, well into the early morning. It gets windy. The boat starts to sway. Already on edge from a likely lack of sleep combined with some ominous weather, it’s no surprised that they’re freaked out when, some time between 3 and 6:00am2, Jesus calmly saunters towards them—on the water’s surface.
“It is a ghost!” they declare (Matt 14:26). Jesus allays their fears, invoking the phrase God uses to identify himself that we find throughout the Old and New Testaments3 “it is I” or “I am”—”ego eimi” or ἐγώ εἰμι in Greek.
Ever the one to speak out of turn and hastily express his own doubts, Peter pipes up to ask Jesus to prove it: “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water” (Matt 14:28). Jesus obliges him, saying only “Come.” Peter gets out of the boat and is able to walk across the water’s top just as Jesus does—for a moment, at least. The minute Peter becomes fearful of the mounting winds he begins to sink, begging Jesus as he becomes increasingly submerged, “Lord, save me.” Again, Jesus obliges, this time gently chastising Peter for failing to fully believe: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matt 14:31).
The scene wraps with Jesus and Peter boarding the boat with the rest of the disciples, all of whom worship Jesus and proclaim his divinity.
At Mass today my pastor reflected on the necessity of faith to keep us afloat and on track amidst the ever unpredictable waves of life. Remaining focused on Christ allows us to resist being submerged by the waters, as Peter’s temporary faltering of faith led him to be, momentarily.
I like to think of faith as spiritual floaties that keep us buoyed especially during times of doubt and uncertainty. Floaties we don in Baptism—inflated by our sponsor, the Church, our godparents, perhaps—and re-inflated by various acts of communion with God, like church attendance, receiving the eucharist, participating in acts of charity, and praying. We will all face life’s many winds, some severe enough to capsize the boats we journey through life inside of. But faith enables us to persevere despite setbacks, and keep our heads above water through doubt. We may not be able to walk on water like Jesus (or Peter), but we can rise above the suffocating depths that many aspects of this world tempt us towards by keeping our faith full.
A persistent belief in God’s love for us and in Christ’s ability to forgive and heal the parts of us that time, circumstance, and sometimes other people may wound, enables us to persevere without giving up on ourselves or those around us. The result? Our continued flourishing and the flourishing of those we love4.
As Saint Paul reminds us in Romans 5, “since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”—a statement scholars5 explain to mean that “by faith, they [those who were justified6 by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ] live in peace with God and have access to his grace7” (Rom 5:1). “Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:2-5).
Faith gives us the fuel to weather suffering, which builds our endurance—the crux and stuff of character8. Character is that collection of moral qualities, burnished by embracing and enduring life’s challenges9, accepting God’s love, and committing to being as Christ-like as we can in the world, that orients us towards what is good. Small wonder that this all increases our hope10—a “virtue by which we desire and expect from God both eternal life and the grace we need to attain it” (CCC, 1817).
We’ll drown without floaties. Yes, we can learn to swim and tread water. But ultimately we’ll tire and be unable to sustain ourselves without the help of the faith that keeps us afloat. We’re not in this alone. God keeps us buoyed. Let’s be sure we’re creating opportunities in our everyday lives to let Him fill us with his life-giving breath.
Footnotes
1.This is the Feeding the Five Thousand, where the disciples attempt to dismiss the crowds teeming around Jesus as evening comes in order that the latter might go and purchase their own dinners. Jesus dissuades his disciples from this course of action, instead inviting them to bring what little food is present in their midst (five loaves and two fish) so that he can multiply them enough to feed (as the chapter’s title implies) “about five thousand men, besides women and children” (Matt 14:13-22).
2. In the text we read “in the fourth watch of the night.” According to the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament (Second Catholic Edition RSV), the fourth watch refers to one of four “watches” dividing the hours between 6:00pm and 6:00am. The fourth is the period between 3:00am and 6:00am
3.God first reveals himself to Moses in the burning bush using this statement (ego eimi / I am) (Exodus 3:14). Here we see it appear in Matthew, through the mouth of Jesus. Later in the NT we see it appear multiple places in the Gospel of John when Jesus refers to himself thusly (8:58; 18:5, 6).
4. Technically as Christians we are supposed to “love” everyone—friends, partners, enemies alike—as Jesus loved us. Note: To love everyone does not mean to let everyone and anyone take advantage of you nor to like everyone. Love can mean setting limits. It can mean saying “no.” It may be simply defined as an acknowledgment and respect for the inherent dignity in each and every person, and an effort to recognize that no matter who we are interacting with or talking about. Crudely speaking, this may just mean “don’t be a jerk.” More on this in another post. See CCC 1822-1829 for more on the Church’s definition of love (and its equivalence with charity).
5. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (New Testament, Second Catholic Edition RSV), p. 263
6. Put (as) simply (as possible), “justification” entails a cleansing (or detachment) from sin combined with an acceptance (via faith in Jesus Christ) of God’s love (and its rightness). The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines “Justification” as “The gracious action of God which frees us from sin and communicates ‘the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ’ (Rom 3:22). Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man (1987-1989).
7. Grace being that “free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call,” as defined in paragraph 1996 of The Catechism.
8. The Catechism defines “character” as “the indelible spiritual mark of belonging to Christ” conferred by the sacraments of Baptism (CCC, 1272), Confirmation (CCC 1304), and Holy Orders (CCC 1582).
9. Rather than fleeing or avoiding challenges and thereby failing to learn and grow from them.
10. See also,The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (New Testament, Second Catholic Edition RSV), p. 263 (footnote to Rom 5:1-5): “in hope they long for the glory of God that awaits them.”
The Converted Catholic 
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