Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 14

Glossa Ordinaria: The Evangelist had previously shown the Pharisees speaking falsely against Christ's miracles and, just before this, his fellow citizens wondering at him, yet despising him. He now relates what opinion Herod had formed about Christ after hearing of his miracles, saying, At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the fame of Jesus.¹

St. John Chrysostom: It is not without reason that the Evangelist specifies the time here. He does so that you may understand the pride and carelessness of the tyrant, since he had not learned about the events concerning Christ at first, but only now, after a long time. Thus, those in authority, who are surrounded by great pomp, are slow to learn of these things because they do not pay them much attention.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Matthew says, At that time, not "on that day" or "in that same hour." Mark relates the same circumstances, but not in the same order. He places this event after the mission of the disciples to preach, though not implying that it necessarily follows in sequence. The same is true for Luke, who follows the same order as Mark.²

St. John Chrysostom: Observe what a great thing virtue is. Herod fears John even after he is dead and philosophizes about the resurrection, as it follows: And he saith to his servants, This is John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works are wrought in him.

Rabanus Maurus: From this passage, we can learn how great the jealousy of the Jews was. Herod, a foreigner, declares here that John could have risen from the dead, without any witness that he had actually risen. Yet concerning Christ, whom the Prophets had foretold, the Jews preferred to believe that he had not risen but had been stolen away. This suggests that the Gentile heart is more inclined to belief than the Jewish heart.

St. Jerome: One of the ecclesiastical interpreters asks what caused Herod to think that John had risen from the dead. It is as if we had to account for the errors of a foreigner, or as if the heresy of metempsychosis—which teaches that souls pass through various bodies after a long period of years—was in any way supported by this passage. After all, the Lord was thirty years old when John was beheaded.

Rabanus Maurus: It is a common and correct thought regarding the power of the resurrection that the saints will have greater power after they have risen from the dead than they had while still weighed down by the weakness of the flesh. This is why Herod says, Therefore mighty works are wrought in him.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Luke's words are, John have I beheaded: who is he of whom I hear such things? (Luke 9:9). Since Luke has represented Herod as being in doubt, we should understand that he was later convinced by the common rumor. Alternatively, we should take what he says here to his servants as expressing a doubt, as his words can be interpreted in either of these ways.

Remigius of Auxerre: Someone might ask how it can be said here, At that time Herod heard, given that we read much earlier that Herod was dead and that, because of this, the Lord returned from Egypt. This question is answered if we remember that there were two Herods.

On the death of the first Herod, his son Archelaus succeeded him, and after ten years was exiled to Vienne in Gaul. Then Caesar Augustus commanded that the kingdom be divided into tetrarchies, and he gave three parts to the sons of Herod. Therefore, this Herod who beheaded John is the son of the elder Herod under whom the Lord was born, and this is confirmed by the Evangelist adding the title "the tetrarch."

Glossa Ordinaria: Having mentioned this speculation about John's resurrection, and since he had not yet spoken of his death, the Evangelist now returns to the topic and narrates how it happened.³

St. John Chrysostom: This account is not presented as a primary subject, because the Evangelist's only objective was to tell us about Christ, and nothing more, unless it furthered that goal. He says then, For Herod had seized John, and bound him.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Luke does not present this in the same order. Instead, when speaking of the Lord's baptism, he introduces an event that happened long afterward. For after John's saying about the Lord, that His fan is in His hand, he immediately adds this account, which, as we can gather from John's Gospel, did not follow immediately. For John's Gospel relates that after Jesus was baptized, he went into Galilee, and from there returned to Judea and baptized near the Jordan before John was cast into prison.⁴

But neither Matthew nor Mark placed John's imprisonment in the chronological order that their own writings suggest it took place. They also say that when John was handed over, the Lord went into Galilee. It is only after many things were done there, when the news of Christ reached Herod, that they relate what happened regarding the imprisonment and beheading of John.

The author shows the cause for which he had been cast into prison when he says, On account of Herodias his brother's wife. For John had said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

St. Jerome: Ancient history tells us that Philip, the son of Herod the Great and brother of this Herod, had married Herodias, the daughter of Aretas, king of the Arabs. Later, the father-in-law, having cause for a quarrel with his son-in-law, took his daughter away and, to spite her husband, gave her in marriage to his enemy, Herod.

John the Baptist, therefore, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, rebuked Herod and Herodias with the same authority he would have used against Ahab and Jezebel. He did so because they had entered into an unlawful marriage, since it is unlawful for a man to take his brother's wife while the brother is still alive.

He preferred to put himself in danger with the king rather than neglect God's commandments by seeking the king's favor.

St. John Chrysostom: Yet he speaks not to the woman but to the husband, as he was the one principally responsible.

Glossa Ordinaria: And perhaps he observed the Jewish Law, according to which John forbade him this adultery.⁵

And desiring to kill him, he feared the people.

St. Jerome: He feared a disturbance among the people on John's account, because he knew that multitudes had been baptized by him in the Jordan. But he was overcome by his love for his wife, which had already caused him to neglect the commands of God.

Glossa Ordinaria: The fear of God corrects us, but the fear of man torments us without altering our will. Rather, it makes us more impatient to sin, precisely because it has held us back for a time from our indulgence.⁶

Glossa Ordinaria: After relating John's imprisonment, the Evangelist proceeds to his execution, saying, "But on Herod's birthday," the daughter of Herodias danced in their midst. ¹

St. Jerome: We find no one else celebrating their birthday except for Herod and Pharaoh, so that those who were alike in their wickedness might also be alike in their festivities.

Remigius of Auxerre: It should be known that it is customary for mothers, both rich and poor, to raise their daughters so modestly that they are scarcely even seen by strangers. But this shameless woman had raised her daughter in such a way that she taught her not modesty but dancing.

Herod is no less to blame, for he forgot that his home was a royal palace, while this woman turned it into a theater. And it pleased Herod so much that he swore with an oath to give her whatever she asked of him.

St. Jerome: I do not excuse Herod for committing this murder against his will because of his oath, for perhaps he took the oath for the very purpose of causing the murder.

If he claims he did it for his oath's sake, consider this: had she asked for the death of her mother or father, would he have granted it? What he would have refused in a personal matter, he ought to have rejected in the matter of the Prophet.

Isidore of Seville: Therefore, break faith with evil promises. A promise that must be kept by committing a crime is wicked; an oath by which we have unknowingly pledged ourselves to evil must not be observed. ²

It follows: And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.

St. Jerome: For Herodias, fearing that Herod might someday come to his senses, be reconciled with his brother, and dissolve their unlawful union by a divorce, instructed her daughter to immediately ask for John's head at the banquet—a reward of blood worthy of the dance.

St. John Chrysostom: Here there is a twofold accusation against the girl: that she danced, and that she chose to ask for an execution as her reward. Observe how Herod is at once cruel and compliant; he binds himself with an oath, yet leaves her free to choose her request. Yet when he knew the evil that would result from it, he was grieved. As the Scripture says, And the king was sorry, for virtue earns praise and admiration even from the wicked.

St. Jerome: Alternatively, it is the custom of Scripture to speak of events as they were commonly understood by everyone at the time. Thus, Joseph is called the father of Jesus by Mary herself; likewise, here Herod is said to be sorry because the guests believed him to be.

This man, who concealed his own inclinations and contrived a murder, displayed sorrow on his face when he felt joy in his heart. He did this, as the Scripture says, For his oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given.

He excuses his crime by his oath, so that his wickedness might be committed under a pretense of piety.

By adding the phrase "and them that sat at meat with him," he makes them all partners in his crime, ensuring that a bloody dish would be served at a luxurious feast.

St. John Chrysostom: If he was afraid of having so many witnesses to his perjury, how much more should he have feared having so many witnesses to a murder?

Remigius of Auxerre: Here a lesser sin is committed for the sake of a greater one. He would not extinguish his lustful desires, and so he resorted to luxurious living. He would not restrain his luxury, and thus he progressed to the guilt of murder, for, as it is written, He sent and beheaded John in the prison, and his head was brought in a charger.

St. Jerome: We read in Roman history that Flaminius, a Roman general, was sitting at supper with his mistress. When she remarked that she had never seen a man beheaded, he gave permission for a man sentenced to death for a capital crime to be brought in and executed during the entertainment. ³

For this, he was expelled from the senate by the censors, because he had mixed feasting with blood and had used death—even that of a criminal—for another's amusement, causing murder and enjoyment to be joined together.

How much more wicked were Herod, Herodias, and the girl who danced. She asked as her bloody reward the head of a Prophet, so that she might have in her power the very tongue that had condemned the unlawful marriage.

St. Gregory the Great: I consider it with the deepest wonder that he who was filled with the spirit of prophecy in his mother's womb—than whom no greater has arisen among those born of women—is cast into prison by wicked men, beheaded because of a girl's dance, and that a man of such a disciplined life dies for the sport of shameful men. ⁴

Are we to think that there was anything in his life that such a shameful death was meant to wipe away? God oppresses His people in the smallest matters because He sees how He may reward them in the highest ones.

And from this, we may gather what those whom He casts away will suffer, if He afflicts those He loves in this way.

John was not sought out to suffer for confessing Christ, but for the truth of righteousness. Yet, because Christ is truth, in dying for the truth, he died for Christ. ⁵

It follows: And his disciples came, and took up his body, and buried it.

St. Jerome: By this we may understand both the disciples of John himself and those of the Savior.

Rabanus Maurus: Josephus relates that John was sent in chains to the castle of Machaerus and there beheaded, but ecclesiastical history states that he was buried in Sebastia, a town in Palestine formerly called Samaria. ⁶

St. John Chrysostom: Observe how John's disciples are, from this point on, more attached to Jesus. It is they who told Him what was done to John: And they came and told Jesus. For leaving all, they take refuge in Him, and so, by degrees, after their calamity and the answer given by Christ, they are set right. ⁷

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Mystically, John represents the Law, for the Law preached Christ, and John came from the Law, preaching Christ out of the Law. Herod represents the Prince of the people, and as the Prince, he bears the name and represents the cause of the entire nation under him.

John, therefore, warned Herod not to take his brother's wife. For there are, and were, two peoples: that of the circumcision and that of the Gentiles. These are brothers, children of the same parent of the human race. But the Law warned Israel not to take to itself the works of the Gentiles and the unbelief that was united to them as if by the bond of marriage.

On the birthday—that is, amidst indulgence in things of the body—the daughter of Herodias danced. For pleasure, as if springing from unbelief, was carried in its alluring course throughout all of Israel, and the nation bound itself to it as by an oath. For the sake of sin and worldly pleasures, the Israelites sold the gifts of eternal life.

She (Pleasure), at the suggestion of her mother (Unbelief), begged that the head of John—that is, the glory of the Law—be given to her. The people, knowing the good that was in the Law, yielded to these terms for pleasure's sake, not without sorrow for their own danger, conscious that they should not have given up such great glory from their teachers.

But forced by its sins, as if by the power of an oath, and also overcome by fear and corrupted by the example of neighboring princes, the nation sorrowfully yields to the enticements of pleasure. So, among the other gratifications of a debauched people, the head of John is brought on a platter; that is, through the loss of the Law, the pleasures of the body and worldly luxury are increased.

It is carried by the girl to her mother; thus, depraved Israel offered up the glory of the Law to pleasure and unbelief. With the era of the Law having expired and been buried with John, his disciples declare what was done to the Lord, which is to say, they come to the Gospels from the Law.

Rabanus Maurus: Alternatively, even today we see that in losing the head of the Prophet John, the Jews have lost Christ, who is the head of the Prophets.

St. Jerome: And so the Prophet has lost both his tongue and his voice among them.

Remigius of Auxerre: Alternatively, the beheading of John marks the increase of the fame that Christ has among the people, just as the exaltation of the Lord on the cross marks the progress of the faith. This is why John had said, He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30).

Glossa Ordinaria: After hearing of the death of His baptizer, the Savior withdrew into the desert, as the scripture says: When Jesus heard this, He departed from there by ship into a desert place. ¹

St. Augustine of Hippo: The Evangelist relates that this happened immediately after the death of John. Therefore, the events mentioned previously, which moved Herod to say, This is John, must have occurred after this. For we must suppose that the reports that reached Herod—which caused him to wonder who this person he was hearing about could be—concerned events that took place after he himself had put John to death. ²

St. Jerome: He did not withdraw into the desert out of fear of death, as some suppose, but out of mercy for His enemies, so that they would not add murder to murder. He was postponing His death until the day of His Passion, on which day the lamb is to be slain as a sacrament, and the doorposts of those who believe are to be sprinkled with the blood.

Alternatively, He withdrew to leave us an example to avoid the rashness that leads people to surrender themselves voluntarily, because not everyone perseveres with the same constancy under the torture to which they offered themselves. For this reason, He says in another place, When they persecute you in one city, flee to another. This is why the Evangelist does not say He “fled,” but elegantly says He “departed from there” (or “withdrew”), showing that He was avoiding persecution rather than fearing it.

Or, He might have withdrawn into a deserted place after hearing of John’s death for another reason: namely, to test the faith of the believers.

St. John Chrysostom: Alternatively, He did this because He desired to prolong the economy of His humanity, since the time had not yet come to openly manifest His deity. This is also why He instructed His disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Christ. After His resurrection, however, He wanted this to be made manifest.

Therefore, although He knew in Himself what had happened, He did not withdraw until it was told to Him, so that He might show the truth of His incarnation in every way. For He wanted this to be confirmed not only by sight, but also by His actions. When He withdrew, He did not go into a city, but into the desert by ship so that no one could follow Him. Yet the multitudes did not leave Him even for this; instead, they still followed Him, not deterred by what had happened to John.

This is why the text continues, And when the multitudes heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

St. Jerome: They followed on foot—not riding or in carriages, but by the labor of their own legs—to show the eagerness of their spirit.

St. John Chrysostom: And they immediately reaped the reward for this, for the text continues, And He went out and saw a great multitude, and He had compassion on them and healed their sick. For although the affection of those who had left their cities to seek Him carefully was great, the works He performed far surpassed the reward for any amount of zeal.

He therefore assigns compassion as the reason for this healing. And it is a great compassion to heal all without requiring faith.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Mystically, at the close of the Law, the Word of God entered the ship (that is, the Church) and departed into the desert. This means that, leaving His walk with Israel, He passes into hearts that are void of divine knowledge. When the multitude learns this, it follows the Lord out of the city into the desert, which means going from the Synagogue to the Church. The Lord sees them, has compassion on them, and heals all their sickness and infirmity; that is, He cleanses their obstructed minds and unbelieving hearts for the understanding of the new preaching.

St. Jerome: Moreover, it should be observed that when the Lord came into the desert, great crowds followed Him, for before He went into the wilderness of the Gentiles, He was worshipped by only one people. They leave their cities, which represents their former way of life and various doctrines.

The fact that Jesus “went out” shows that the multitudes had the will to go, but not the strength to reach Him. Therefore, the Savior departs from His place and goes to meet them.

St. John Chrysostom: It is a proof of the faith of these crowds that they endured hunger while waiting for the Lord, even until evening. To this point, the text continues, And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past.

The Lord, intending to feed them, waits to be asked, as He always does, not taking the initiative to perform miracles but acting when called upon. No one from the crowd approached Him, both because they held Him in great awe and because, in their zealous love, they did not feel their hunger. But even the disciples do not come and say, “Give them something to eat,” for the disciples were still imperfect. Instead, they say, This is a desert place.

Thus, He also demonstrates among His other works the very thing that was proverbial among the Jews to express a miracle, as it is said, Can he furnish a table in the wilderness? (Psalm 78:19).

For this reason, He also leads them out into the desert, so that the miracle might be free from all suspicion and that no one might suppose that anything for the feast was supplied from a neighboring town. But though the place is a desert, yet He who feeds the world is there. And though the hour, as they say, is past, yet He who commanded was not subject to hours. Even though the Lord had preceded His disciples in healing many who were sick, they were still so imperfect that they could not imagine what He would do about food for them. Therefore, they add, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns, and buy themselves food.

Observe the wisdom of the Master. He does not immediately say to them, “I will give them something to eat,” for they would not have easily accepted this. Instead, Jesus said to them, They need not depart; you give them something to eat.

St. Jerome: In this, He calls the Apostles to the breaking of bread, so that the greatness of the miracle might be more evident through their testimony that they had nothing.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Some may be perplexed by this: if the Lord, according to John's account, asked Philip from where bread could be found for them, how can it also be true, as Matthew relates here, that the disciples first asked the Lord to send the crowds away to buy food from the nearest towns? Let us suppose, then, that after these words, the Lord looked upon the crowd and said what John relates, which Matthew and the others have omitted. No one should be perplexed by cases like this, when one Evangelist relates what the others have omitted.¹

St. John Chrysostom: Yet not even by these words were the disciples corrected; they still spoke to Him as if He were only a man: They answered Him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. From this we learn the discipline of the disciples and how little they cared for food. Though they were twelve in number, they had only five loaves and two fishes, for bodily things were scorned by them as they were completely absorbed in spiritual things.

But because the disciples were still focused on earthly things, the Lord begins to introduce the things that came from Himself, saying to them, Bring them here to me.

Why does He not create the bread to feed the crowd out of nothing? So that He might silence the mouths of Marcion and Manichaeus, who deny that God's creation is His own,ⁱ and so that by His deeds He might teach that all things we see are His works and creation. He wanted to show that it is He who has given us the fruits of the earth, the one who said in the beginning, Let the earth bring forth the green herb (Genesis 1:11).

This is no less a deed than that original creation. For to make so many loaves from five loaves, and fishes in the same way, is no less a thing than to bring fruits from the earth, or reptiles and other living things from the waters. This showed Him to be Lord of both land and sea.

By the example of the disciples, we also should be taught that even if we have only a little, we ought to give it to those in need. For when they were told to bring their five loaves, they did not say, “From where will we satisfy our own hunger?” but immediately obeyed.

And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke them.

Why did He look to heaven and bless? So that it would be believed of Him that He is from the Father and that He is equal with the Father. He shows His equality when He does all things with power. He shows that He is from the Father by referring everything He does to Him and calling upon Him on all occasions.

To prove these two things, therefore, He works His miracles sometimes with power and at other times with prayer. It should also be considered that in lesser things He looks to heaven, but in greater things He does everything with power. When He forgave sins, raised the dead, stilled the sea, revealed the secrets of the heart, or opened the eyes of the man born blind—which are works of God alone—He is not seen to pray. But when He multiplies the loaves, a work less than any of these, He looks up to heaven so that you may learn that even in little things, His power is from His Father.

At the same time, He teaches us not to touch our food until we have given thanks to Him who gives it to us. For this reason also, He looks up to heaven, because His disciples had seen examples of many other miracles, but none like this one.

St. Jerome: While the Lord breaks the bread, there is a sowing of food. For if the loaves had remained whole and not been broken into fragments, and thus divided into a manifold harvest, they could not have fed such a great crowd. The crowd receives the food from the Lord through the Apostles, as it follows: And he gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

St. John Chrysostom: In doing this, He not only honored them but also intended that they should not be unbelieving about this miracle or forget it after it was over, seeing that their own hands had borne witness to it. For this reason, He also allows the crowds first to feel the pangs of hunger, and His disciples to come to Him and ask Him, and He takes the loaves from their hands, so that they might have many testimonies of what was done and many reminders of the miracle.

By giving them nothing more than bread and fish, and by setting this same meal before everyone equally, He taught them moderation, frugality, and the charity by which they should have all things in common. He also taught them this by the setting itself, in making them sit down on the grass, for He sought not only to feed the body but also to instruct the mind.

But the bread and fish multiplied in the disciples' hands, from which it follows, And they did all eat, and were filled.

But the miracle did not end here, for He caused not only the loaves to abound, but the fragments also. This was to show that what was left over was greater than the original loaves, so that those who were not present might learn what had been done, and so that no one might think what happened was a fantasy. And they took up the fragments that were left, twelve baskets full.

St. Jerome: Each of the Apostles fills his basket with the fragments left by his Savior, so that these fragments might bear witness that true loaves were multiplied.

St. John Chrysostom: For this reason also, He caused twelve baskets to be left over, so that Judas might also carry his basket. He took up the fragments and gave them to the disciples and not to the crowds, who were still more imperfectly trained than the disciples.

St. Jerome: The number of the men who ate, five thousand, corresponds to the number of loaves, five: And the number of them that had eaten was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

St. John Chrysostom: It was to the great credit of the people that the women and the men stood up while these remnants still remained.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: The five loaves are not multiplied into more loaves; rather, fragments follow from fragments. I do not know whether the substance grew on the tables or in the hands that took it up.

Rabanus Maurus: When John describes this miracle, he first tells us that the Passover is near. Matthew and Mark place it immediately after the execution of John the Baptist. From this we may gather that he was beheaded when the Paschal festival was near, and that the mystery of the Lord's Passion was accomplished at the Passover of the following year.

St. Jerome: But all these things are full of mysteries. The Lord does these things not in the morning, nor at noon, but in the evening, when the Sun of Righteousness had set.

Remigius of Auxerre: The evening denotes the Lord's death; after He, the true Sun, had set on the altar of the cross, He filled the hungry. Or, the evening denotes the last age of this world, in which the Son of God came and refreshed the crowds of those who believed in Him.

Rabanus Maurus: When the disciples ask the Lord to send away the crowds so that they might buy food in the towns, it signifies the pride of the Jews toward the Gentile multitudes, whom they considered better suited to seek food for themselves in the assemblies of the Pharisees than to feed on the pasture of the divine books.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: But the Lord answered, They have no need to go, showing that those whom He heals have no need of the food of mercenary doctrine and have no necessity to return to Judea to buy food. And He commands the Apostles to give them food. Did He not know, then, that they had nothing to give?

But a complete series of types was to be set forth. For it had not yet been given to the Apostles to make and minister the heavenly bread, the food of eternal life. Their answer thus belongs to the chain of spiritual interpretation: they were still confined to the five loaves (that is, the five books of the Law) and the two fishes (that is, the preaching of the Prophets and of John).

Rabanus Maurus: Or, by the two fishes we may understand the Prophets and the Psalms, for the whole of the Old Testament was comprehended in these three: the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Therefore, the Apostles first set forth these things, because they were still occupied with them; and from these things, the preaching of the Gospel grows to its more abundant strength and power. Then the people are commanded to sit down on the grass, as if no longer lying on the ground but resting on the Law, each one reposing on the fruit of his own works as on the grass of the earth.

St. Jerome: Or, they are told to lie down on the grass—and, according to another Evangelist, by fifties and by hundreds—so that after they have trampled on their flesh and subjugated the world's pleasures under them like dried grass, they may then, through the significanceⁱ of the number fifty, ascend to the eminent perfection of a hundred.

He looks up to heaven to teach us that our eyes are to be directed there. The Law with the Prophets is broken, and in their midst, mysteries are brought forward, so that what the Gentiles could not partake of whole, they may receive as food when it is broken into pieces.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Then the loaves are given to the Apostles, because the gifts of divine grace were to be delivered through them. And the number of those who ate is found to be the same as the number of those who would believe, for we find in the book of Acts that out of the vast number of the people of Israel, five thousand men believed.

St. Jerome: Five thousand who had reached maturity partook, for women and children—the weaker sex and the tender age—were considered unworthy of being numbered. Thus, in the book of Numbers, slaves, women, children, and an undistinguished crowd are passed over without being counted.

Rabanus Maurus: The crowd being hungry, He creates no new foods but, having taken what the disciples had, gives thanks. In the same way, when He came in the flesh, He preached nothing other than what had been foretold, but showed that the writings of the Law and the Prophets were full of mysteries.

What the crowd leaves is taken up by the disciples, because the more secret mysteries, which cannot be comprehended by the uninstructed, are not to be neglected but are to be diligently sought out by the twelve Apostles (who are represented by the twelve baskets) and their successors. For baskets are used for humble tasks, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the strong. The five thousand represent those who, through the five senses of the body, know how to rightly use external things while living in the world.

St. John Chrysostom: Desiring to prompt a diligent examination of what had been done, He commanded those who had witnessed the previous sign to be separated from Him. For if He had remained present, it might have been said that He performed the miracle as an illusion and not in reality. However, no one could argue that He had done it in His absence. Therefore, it is said, And immediately Jesus compelled his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

St. Jerome: 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.

St. John Chrysostom: It should be observed that when the Lord works a great miracle, He sends the multitudes away, teaching us by this never to pursue the praise of the crowd, nor to attract them to us. He further teaches us that we should not always be mixed with crowds, nor always shun them, but that both can be done for our benefit.

This is why it follows, And when he had sent the multitude away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray, showing us that solitude is good when we need to pray to God.

For this reason, He also goes into the desert and there spends the night in prayer, to teach us that for prayer we should seek stillness in both time and place.

St. Jerome: That He withdraws to pray alone should be understood in reference not to His divine nature, which fed five thousand with five loaves, but to His human nature, which, on hearing of John's death, withdrew into the desert. This is not to say that we separate the Lord's person into two parts, but that His actions are distinguished between the divine and the human.

St. Augustine of Hippo: This may seem to contradict what Matthew says—that after sending the multitudes away, He went up on a mountain to pray alone. John, on the other hand, says that it was on a mountain that He fed this same multitude. However, since John himself adds that after the miracle He retired to a mountain to avoid being seized by the crowd, who wanted to make Him a king, it is clear that He had come down from the mountain when He fed them.

Nor do Matthew's words, He went up into a mountain alone to pray, disagree with this, even though John says, When he knew that they would come to make him a king, he withdrew into a mountain himself alone (John 6:15).¹ For the reason for His praying is not contrary to the reason for His withdrawing; in this, the Lord teaches us that we have great cause for prayer when we have cause for flight.

Furthermore, it is not a contradiction that Matthew says first that He told His disciples to get into the boat, and then that He sent the multitudes away and went to the mountain alone to pray. John, meanwhile, 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, etc. Who does not see that John is relating, as happening afterward, what Jesus had commanded His disciples to do before He retired to the mountain?

St. Jerome: The Apostles had rightly departed from the Lord unwillingly and were slow to leave Him, lest they should suffer shipwreck while He was not with them. For it follows, Now when it was evening he was there alone—that is, on the mountain—but the boat was in the middle of the sea tossed with the waves; for the wind was contrary.

St. John Chrysostom: Again, the disciples suffer shipwreck, as they had done before; but then they had Him in the boat, while now they are alone. Thus, He gradually leads them to higher things and instructs them to endure all things courageously.

St. Jerome: While the Lord remains on the mountaintop, a contrary wind immediately arises, stirs up the sea, and the disciples are in imminent peril of shipwreck, which continues until Jesus comes.

St. John Chrysostom: He allows them to be tossed about the whole night, stirring their hearts with fear and inspiring them with a greater desire and more lasting memory of Him. For this reason, He did not come to their aid immediately, but as it follows, in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking upon the sea.

St. Jerome: Military guards and watches are divided into three-hour portions. When he says that the Lord came to them in the fourth watch, this shows that they had been in danger the whole night.

St. John Chrysostom: He teaches them not to seek a speedy escape from coming evil, but to bear courageously whatever befalls them. But just when they thought they were delivered, their fear increased, which is why it follows, And seeing him walking upon the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a vision, and through fear they cried out.

For the Lord always does this: when He is about to rescue someone from evil, He first introduces things that are terrible and difficult. Since it is impossible for our temptation to continue for a long time, He increases the conflicts of the righteous just as their warfare is about to end, desiring to bring about a greater reward from them. He did this with Abraham, making his conflict the trial of losing his son.

St. Jerome: A confused noise and an uncertain sound are 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 a phantasm (or vision)?

St. John Chrysostom: Christ, then, did not reveal Himself to His disciples until they cried out; for the more intense their fear, the more they rejoiced in His presence. This is why it follows, And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. This speech took away their fear and restored their confidence.

St. Jerome: When He says, It is I, without saying who He is, it could be that they were able to understand Him speaking through the darkness of the night, or they might have known that it was He who had spoken to Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, He that is has sent me unto you (Exodus 3:14).

On every occasion, Peter is found to be the one with the most ardent faith. With the same zeal as ever, while the others are silent, he now believes that by his Master's will he can do what he cannot do by nature. This is why it follows, Peter answered and said unto him, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the water. This is as if to say, "You command, and the water will immediately become solid, and this body, which is naturally heavy, will become light."

St. Augustine of Hippo: This is as if Peter said, "I cannot do this by myself, but in You I can." Peter confessed what he was in himself and what he would receive from Him, by whose will he believed he could do what no human weakness could accomplish.²

St. John Chrysostom: See how great his warmth and faith were. He did not say, "Pray and entreat for me," but "Bid me." He believes not only that Christ can walk on the sea Himself, but that He can also lead others on it. He also wishes to come to Him quickly, and he asks for this great thing not from ostentation, but from love. For he did not say, Bid me walk upon the waters, but, Bid me come unto thee.

It seems that after having shown in the first miracle that He has power over the sea, He now leads them to a more powerful sign. He saith unto him, Come. And Peter, going forth of the boat, walked on the sea, that he might go to Jesus.

St. Jerome: Let those who think that the Lord's 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 a man.

Rabanus Maurus: Theodorus wrote that the Lord had no bodily weight regarding His flesh, but walked on the sea without weight. The catholic faith, however, teaches the contrary; for Dionysius says that He walked on the waves without His feet being immersed, having bodily weight and the burden of matter.

St. John Chrysostom: Peter overcame the greater challenge, namely the waves of the sea, but is troubled by the lesser one, the blowing wind, for it follows, But seeing the wind boisterous, he was afraid. Such is human nature: often holding up correctly in great trials, but failing in lesser ones.

This fear of Peter's showed the difference between the Master and the disciple, and thereby pacified the other disciples. For if they were indignant when the two brothers prayed to sit on His right and left hand, they would have been much more so now. They were not yet spiritual; afterward, when they had become spiritual, they everywhere yielded the first place to Peter and appointed him to lead in the addresses to the people.

St. Jerome: Moreover, he is left to temptation for a short time so that his faith may be increased, and so that he may understand that he is saved not by his ability to ask, but by the power of the Lord. For faith burned in his heart, but human frailty drew him into the deep.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Peter presumed on the Lord, tottered as a 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, when He had listened to him when he first called on Him? Immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him.³

St. John Chrysostom: He did not command the winds to cease, but stretched forth His hand and caught him, because his own faith was required. For when our own means fail, then God's power prevails. Then, to show that it was not the strength of the tempest but the weakness of his faith that caused the danger, He saith unto him, O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt? This shows that not even the wind would have been able to hurt him if his faith had been firm.

But just as a mother bird carries her chick on her wings and brings it back to the nest when it has left too early and fallen, so did Christ. And when they were come into the boat, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the boat came and worshipped him, saying, Truly thou art the Son of God.

Rabanus Maurus: This may be understood as referring either to the sailors or to the Apostles.

St. John Chrysostom: Observe how He leads everyone gradually to what is above them. He had rebuked the sea before; now He demonstrates His power even more by walking on the sea, by commanding another to do the same, and by saving him in his peril. Therefore they said to Him, Truly thou art the Son of God, which they had not said before.

St. Jerome: If, then, after this single miracle of stilling the sea—something that often happens by chance even after great tempests—the sailors and pilots confessed Him to be truly the Son of God, how can Arius preach in the Church itself that He is a creature?

Pseudo-Augustine: Mystically, the mountain represents exaltation. But what in the world is higher than the heavens? Our faith knows who it was that ascended into heaven. Why did He ascend into heaven alone? Because no man has ascended into heaven except He who came down from heaven. For even when He comes at the end of time and has exalted us into heaven, He will still ascend alone, since the head with its body is one Christ, and for now, only the head has ascended. He went up to pray because He has ascended to make intercession to His Father for us.⁴

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Or, that He is alone in the evening signifies His sorrow at the time of His passion, when the rest were scattered from Him in fear.

St. Jerome: He also ascends the mountain alone because the multitude cannot follow Him on high until He has instructed it by the shore of the sea.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But while Christ prays on high, the boat is tossed by great waves in the deep. And since 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.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: When He commands His disciples to enter the ship and go across the sea, while He sends the multitudes away and then goes up the mountain to pray, He is bidding us to be within the Church. We are to remain there in peril until He returns in His splendor to give salvation to all the remnant of Israel and to forgive their sins. Having dismissed them into His Father's kingdom and returned thanks to His Father, He will sit down in His glory and majesty.

Meanwhile, the disciples are tossed by the wind and the waves, struggling against all the storms of this world, which are raised by the opposition of the unclean spirit.

St. Augustine of Hippo: For when anyone with a wicked will and great power proclaims a persecution of the Church, then a mighty wave rises against the boat of Christ.

Rabanus Maurus: Therefore, it is well said here that the ship was in the middle of the sea and He alone on the land, because the Church is sometimes so oppressed with persecution that her Lord may seem to have forsaken her for a time.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The Lord came to visit His disciples, who were being tossed on the sea, in the fourth watch of the night—that is, at its end. For since each watch consists of three hours, the night has four watches.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: The first watch was therefore of the Law, the second of the Prophets, the third His coming in the flesh, and the fourth His return in glory.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Therefore, in the fourth watch of the night, that is, when the night is nearly over, He will come. At the end of the world, when the night of iniquity has passed, He will come to judge the living and the dead.

But His coming was with a wonder. The waves swelled, but they were trodden upon. Thus, however much the powers of this world may swell, our Head shall crush their head.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: But Christ, coming at the end of time, will find His Church weary and tossed by the spirit of the Antichrist and by the troubles of the world. And because their long experience with the Antichrist will make them troubled by every new kind of trial, they will be fearful even at the Lord's approach, suspecting deceitful apparitions.

But the good Lord banishes their fear, saying, It is I, and by the proof of His presence, He takes away their dread of impending shipwreck.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, when the disciples say, It is a phantasm, this represents those who, yielding to the Devil, will doubt the coming of Christ. That Peter cries to the Lord for help so that he would not be drowned signifies that He will purge His Church with certain trials even after the final persecution, as Paul also notes, saying, He shall be saved, yet so as by fire (1 Corinthians 3:15).⁵

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Or, that Peter alone, out of all the number in the boat, has the courage to answer and to pray that the Lord would bid him come to Him on the waters, represents the impetuosity of his will during the Lord's passion, when, following the Lord's steps, he attempted to attain a contempt for death. But his fearfulness shows his weakness in his later trial when, through fear of death, he was driven to the necessity of denial. His crying out here is the groaning of his repentance there.

Rabanus Maurus: The Lord looked back upon him and brought him to repentance; He stretched forth His hand and forgave him. Thus the disciple found salvation, which is not of him that willeth or of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy (Romans 9:16).

St. Hilary of Poitiers: That when Peter was seized with fear, the Lord did not give him the power to come to Him, but held him by the hand and sustained him—this signifies that He who alone was to suffer for all, alone forgave the sins of all. No partner is admitted into that which was bestowed upon humanity by one alone.

St. Augustine of Hippo: For in one Apostle, namely Peter—the first and chief in the order of Apostles, in whom the Church was represented—both types were to be signified: the strong, in his walking on the waters, and the weak, in that he doubted. For to each of us, our lusts are like a tempest.

Do you love God? You walk on the sea; the fear of this world is under your feet. Do you love the world? It swallows you up. But when your heart is tossed with desire, then, so that you may overcome your lust, call upon the divine person of Christ.⁶

Remigius of Auxerre: And the Lord will be with you to help you, calming the perils of your trials and restoring confidence in His protection, and this will happen toward the break of day. For when human frailty, beset by difficulties, considers the weakness of its own powers, it sees itself as in darkness. But when it raises its view to the protection of heaven, it immediately beholds the rise of the morning star, which gives its light through the whole of the morning watch.

Rabanus Maurus: Nor should we wonder that the wind ceased when the Lord had entered the boat; for in whatever heart the Lord is present by grace, all wars cease.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Also, by this entrance of Christ into the boat and the resulting calm of the wind and sea, the eternal peace of the Church is indicated, as is the rest that will come after His return in glory. And since He will then appear manifestly, they all rightly cry out now in wonder, Truly thou art the Son of God. For there will then be a free and public confession by all people that the Son of God has come, no longer in the lowliness of a human body, but that He has given peace to the Church in heavenly glory.

St. Augustine of Hippo: For it is shown to us here that His glory will then be made manifest, since for now, those who walk by faith see it only in a figure.⁷