Matthew 14:27 (WEB)
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Cheer up! It is I! Don’t be afraid.”
Fathers and councils · 50
Augustine of Hippo
“And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit;” and so on, down to the words, “They came and worshipped Him, saying, Of a truth Thou art the Son of God.”” — editor's note: Matt. xiv. 23–33.
Read the whole comment“But He giveth us strength against these pestilent opinions by His own voice, “Be of good cheer, it is I; be not afraid.”” — editor's note: Matt. xiv. 27.
Read the whole comment“…as, when He fed the five thousand men with five loaves, and the four thousand with seven; when He walked on the waters, and gave Peter power to do the same; when He changed the water into wine; when He opened the eyes of a man that was born blind, and many besides, which it would take long to mention.” — editor's note: Matt. xiv. 25–29.
Read the whole comment
John Chrysostom
““Straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I; be not afraid.”” — editor's note: Matt. xiv. 27.
Read the whole comment
Jerome
“Our riches are to meditate in the law of the Lord day and night, to knock at the closed door, to receive the ‘three loaves’ of the Trinity, and, when the Lord goes before us, to walk upon the water of the world.”” — editor's note: Matt. xiv. 25–33.
Read the whole comment
Catena Aurea on Matthew
- John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Desiring to occasion a diligent examination of the things that had been done, He commanded those who had beheld the foregoing sign to be separated from Him; for even if He had continued present it would have been…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
These words shew that they left the Lord unwillingly, not desiring through their love for their teacher to be separated from Him even for a moment
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
It should be observed, that when the Lord works a great miracle, He sends the multitudes away, teaching us thereby never to pursue the praise of the multitude, nor to attract them to us. Further, He teaches us that…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
That He withdraws to pray alone, you should refer not to Him who fed five thousand on five loaves, but to Him who on hearing of the death of John withdrew into the desert; not that we would separate the Lord’s person…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
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.…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
Rightly had the Apostles departed from the Lord as unwilling, and slow to leave Him, lest they should suffer shipwreck whilst He was not with them. For it follows, “Now when it was evening he was there alone;” that…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Again, the disciples suffer shipwreck, as they had done before; but then they had Him in the boat, but now they are alone. Thus gradually He leads them to higher things, and instructs them to endure all manfully.
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
While the Lord tarries in the top of the mountain, straightway a wind arises contrary to them, and stirs up the sea, and the disciples are in imminent peril of shipwreck, which continues till Jesus comes.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
But He suffers them to be tossed the whole night, exciting their hearts by fear, and inspiring them with greater desire and more lasting recollection of Him; for this reason He did not stand by them immediately, but…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
The military guards and watches are divided into portions of three hours each. When then he says that the Lord came to them in the fourth watch, this shews that they had been in danger the whole night.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Teaching them not to seek a speedy riddance of coming evil, but to bear manfully such things as befal them. But when they thought that they were delivered, then was their fear increased, whence it follows, “And…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
A confused noise and uncertain sound is 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…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Christ then did not reveal Himself to His disciples until they cried out; for the more intense their fear, the more did they rejoice in His presence; whence it follows, “And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying,…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
Whereas He says, “It is I,” without saying who, either they might be able to understand Him speaking through the darkness of night; or they might know that it was He who had spoken to Moses, “Say unto the children of…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
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…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
See how great his warmth, how great his faith. He said not, Pray and entreat for me; but “Bid me;” he believes not only that Christ can Himself walk on the sea, but that He can lead others also thereon; also he…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
Let those who think that the Lords 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 man.
Read the whole comment - Rabanus MaurusCatena Aurea on Matthew
Lastly, Theodorus wrote that the Lord had not bodily weight in respect of His flesh, but without weight walked on the sea. But the catholic faith preaches the contrary; for Dionysius says that He walked on the wave,…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Peter overcame that which was greater, the waves, namely, of the sea, but is troubled by the lesser, the blowing wind, for it follows, “But seeing the wind boisterous, he was afraid.” Such is human nature, in great…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
Moreover he is left to temptation for a short season, that his faith may be increased, and that he may understand that he is saved not by his ability to ask, but by the power of the Lord. For faith burned at his…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
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…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
He bade not the winds to cease, but stretched forth His hand and caught him, because his faith was required. For when our own means fail, then those which are of God stand. Then to shew that not the strength of the…
Read the whole comment - Rabanus MaurusCatena Aurea on Matthew
This may be understood either of the sailors, or of the Apostles.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Observe how He leads all gradually to that which is above them; He had before rebuked the sea, now He shews forth His power yet more by walking upon the sea, by bidding another to do the same, and by saving him in…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
If then upon this single miracle of stilling the sea, a thing which often happens by accident after even great tempests, the sailors and pilots confessed them to be truly the Son of God, how does Arrius preach in the…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Mystically; The mountain is loftiness. But what is higher than the heavens in the world? And Who it was that ascended into heaven, that our faith knows. Why did He ascend alone into heaven? Because no man has…
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
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.
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
Also He ascends into the mountain alone because the multitude cannot follow Him aloft, until He has instructed it by the shore of the sea.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
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…
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
That He commands His disciples to enter the ship and to go across the sea, while He sends the multitudes away, and after that He goes up into the mountain to pray; He therein bids us to be within the Church, and to…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
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.
Read the whole comment - Rabanus MaurusCatena Aurea on Matthew
Whence 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 oppressed with such persecution that her Lord may seem to have forsaken her for a season.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
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.
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
The first watch was therefore of the Law, the second of the Prophets, the third His coming in the flesh, the fourth His return in glory.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
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…
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
But Christ coming in the end shall find His Church wearied, and tossed by the spirit of Anti-Christ, and by the troubles of the world. And because by their long experience of Anti-Christ they will be troubled at…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
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…
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
Or; That Peter alone out of all the number of those that were in the vessel has courage to answer, and to pray that the Lord would bid him come to Him upon the waters, figures the frowardness of his will in the…
Read the whole comment - Rabanus MaurusCatena Aurea on Matthew
The Lord looked back upon him, and brought him to repentance; He stretched forth His hand, and forgave him, and thus the disciple found salvation, which “is not of him that willeth or of him that runneth, but of God…
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
That when Peter was seized with fear, the Lord gave him not power of coming to Him, but held him by the hand and sustained him, this is the signification thereof; that He who alone was to suffer for all alone forgave…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
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…
Read the whole comment - Remigius of AuxerreCatena Aurea on Matthew
And the Lord will be with thee to help thee, when lulling to rest the perils of thy trials, He restores the confidence of His protection, and this towards the break of day; for when human frailty beset with…
Read the whole comment - Rabanus MaurusCatena Aurea on Matthew
Nor should we wonder that the wind ceased when the Lord had entered into the boat; for in whatsoever heart the Lord is present by grace, there all wars cease.
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
Also by this entrance of Christ into the boat, and the calm of the wind and sea thereupon, is pointed out the eternal peace of the Church, and that rest which shall be after His return in glory. And forasmuch as He…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
For it is here conveyed to us that His glory will then be made manifest, seeing that now they who walk by faith see it in a figure.
Read the whole comment
Cross-references · 10
Cited together in Letters Letter 30.
Cited together in Letters Letter 30.
Cited together in Letters Letter 30.
Cited together in Letters Letter 30.
Cited together in Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 14:22–33 (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Rabanus Maurus on Matthew 14:22–33 (4) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 14:22–33 (9) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Jerome on Matthew 14:22–33 (7) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Letters Letter 30.
Cited together in Letters Letter 30.