Context is everything, isn’t it?

Lately, I’ve been seeking out more context when reading the Gospels by reading the stories before and after the one I am focusing on. Most recently, I was reading a story we have all read many times: Jesus walks on water during a storm (Matthew 14:22-33). Peter, in classic Peter fashion, asks the Lord to call him out of the boat. He walks on the water, begins to sink, and is immediately saved by the Lord.

Every time I’ve read this story before, I’ve focused on Peter. But this time, I wanted more context. So, I looked up a commentary on Matthew by the early Church Fathers, and one comment completely shifted the focus of this Gospel story for me.

St. John Chrysostom’s commentary explains why the Lord allows the apostles to go through this storm. He also mentions another storm they faced earlier in Matthew’s Gospel. Talk about context! This is the second storm Jesus has allowed them to go through in a boat.

During the first storm, Jesus was physically present with them, but He was asleep. The apostles were scared, but they could still see Him. When they woke Him and He rebuked the storm, it became instantly calm.

However, during the second storm, Jesus was physically absent. The apostles must have been utterly exhausted by the time Jesus came to them because He had allowed the storm to rage almost the entire night before arriving. One translation of scripture says He didn’t come “until the fourth watch,” just before dawn. Jesus knew that the apostles, even the strongest among them, would no longer be clinging to their own strength for hope of being saved. Jesus wanted the apostles, and us, to see that our only hope is in the One whom the wind and the wave obey.

During the first storm, Jesus slept peacefully because He rested completely in the Father’s love. By waking Him, the disciples invited Him to calm the outer storm. But during the second storm, Jesus showed Peter that His peace can calm our inner storm, even while the wind keeps howling all around us.

Jesus wants to teach us, like he taught the apostles, how to let Him restore our interior peace during the storms of life.

. . .

Truth from Scripture:

“The boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, ‘Take heart, it is I; have no fear.’”

Matthew 14:24-27 RSVCE

. . .

Wisdom from the Saints:

“The disciples are tossed on the waves again. They are in a storm, fully as bad as the previous one… This had the purpose of awakening their stony hearts in a most complete way. This is how Jesus dealt with the nature of their fear, which the rough weather and the timing had produced. He cast them directly into a situation in which they would have a greater longing for him and a continual remembrance of him.”

// St. John Chrysostom