Mat 14:22-32 | PNT | STEP | Straightway . After satisfying to the full the wants of the multitude. Compare . Jesus constrained his disciples . They were loath to go without their Master. Yet he wished to be alone. He had come to the "desert place" for retirement; the multitude followed, and sought after the miracle to proclaim him King. His disciples probably sympathized. Hence he sent them, too, away, and stayed to pray and reflect alone. To go before him unto the other side . John says, toward Capernaum ( ).

Matthew 14:22-32

Straightway. After satisfying to the full the wants of the multitude. Compare Mr 6:45-56 Joh 6:15-21.

Jesus constrained his disciples. They were loath to go without their Master. Yet he wished to be alone. He had come to the "desert place" for retirement; the multitude followed, and sought after the miracle to proclaim him King. His disciples probably sympathized. Hence he sent them, too, away, and stayed to pray and reflect alone.

To go before him unto the other side. John says, toward Capernaum (Joh 6:17). When he had sent the multitudes away. They were in an excited condition; hence, great prudence, perhaps an exercise of some constraining power, was necessary.

He went up into a mountain apart to pray. The refuge of Christ in every great crisis was lonely prayer. In the midst of the sea. About twenty-five or thirty furlongs, or three and a half miles from the shore (Joh 6:19), about the middle of the lake.

For the wind was contrary. The wind came rushing down from the mountains, and in attempting to make land at Bethsaida, where the Lord had directed, it was in their faces. Sudden gusts are common on the Sea of Galilee. Thompson says he encountered one of such fury that no rowers could row a boat across the lake. There had now arisen one of those sudden and violent squalls to which all inland waters, surrounded by lofty hills intersected with deep gorges, are liable. In the fourth watch. The Jews, who used to divide the night into three watches, latterly adopted the Roman division into four watches, as here; so that, at the rate of three hours to each, the fourth watch, reckoning from six p.m., would be three o'clock in the morning.

Jesus went unto them. The Lord saw their trouble from his mountain-top, and through the darkness of the night, for his heart was all with them; yet would he not go to their relief till his own time came. A spirit. An apparition, an unreal appearance of a real person. The Greek word "phantasma" is not that unusually rendered "spirit". He would appear to them at first like a dark, moving speck upon the waters, then as a human figure; but in the dark, tempestuous sky, and not dreaming that it could be their Lord, they take it for a spirit, "pneuma" (Lu 24:37).

Cried out. In fright. It is I. Literally, "I am". The same language used by Jesus in Jerusalem (Joh 8:58), for which the Pharisees would have stoned him, and in the Old Testament to designate Jehovah (Ex 3:14). Here I should prefer to give it this meaning: Christ says not merely, "It is I, your Friend and Master"; he says, at least implies, it is the "I AM", who is coming to you, the Almighty One who rules wind and waves, who made them, and whom they obey.

Be not afraid. How often has he to speak this word of encouragement, even to his own! almost always when they are brought suddenly, or in an unusual way, face to face with him. See Ge 15:1 21:17 Jud 6:23 Mt 28:5 Lu 2:10. Bid me come unto thee. Peter is led by no praiseworthy motives, but rather by vain glory. And he said, Come. I suppose the Lord bade Peter to come in order to teach him a lesson. When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid. He stepped into the water, but the roaring winds and rushing billows were too much for his faith. O thou of little faith. Peter's act did not exemplify his faith, but his doubts. True faith never attempts wonders merely for the sake of doing them. It is a fact that ought to be noted that the Gospels narrate the failures in miraculous power on the part of the apostles as well as their success. No book of myths would do this. At the same time it is always made plain why they failed. The wind ceased. They were safe, for the Lord was with them. Under his arms there is always safety.