Matthew 14:26

Mat_14:26

And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled.

Christ walking on the sea

Here are presented two points.

I. Human need.

II. Divine help. These two facts are involved in the two aspects of humanity.

I. I ask you to consider the attitude of man towards the supernatural and the unknown. They cried out for fear. This was the cry of men tossed and toiling on the wild deep, in the gloom of night. Very startling must have been to them the appearance of that form, advancing through the shadow and over the sea. But that was a cry of our common nature; it was a spontaneous human utterance from a mysterious depth, which under all forms of civilization, and all kinds of religion, abides in the soul of man. Every man awakens to the conviction that there is something beyond this world. It may not be a very practical conviction; thousands may live without any steady appreciation of that to which such a conviction points. But there are occasions when it is suddenly realized. There are three conditions of nature which are especially adapted to stir these feelings of mystery and awe, and all three are involved in the circumstances of the text. These are night, the night sky, and the sea.

1. Witness the common terror of the dead night-time and the dark, not a mere childish superstition, but a solemn awe creeping over the innermost fibres of the heart, In thought from the visions of the night, said Eliphaz, when deep sleep falleth on men, etc. Even the sceptical mind has acted upon the conviction that something must people that undefined space into which the visible world melts away.

2. Or, again, who has ever looked up through the darkness and gazed upon those orbs of light and glory that shame all splendours of the earth, without the spontaneous conviction of powers and intelligences dwelling outside these beaten ways of our traffic and our thought? What influences rain upon us from those starry depths? What unseen messengers glide down these awful solitudes?

3. Or, once more, consider that element in which the greatness and the mystery of nature and of life are represented. What suggestions of the supernatural and the unknown rise upon us from the bosom of the sea. What intimations beyond our sight; what a conviction of our impotence. Regarding thus this attitude of human need, what help has been found for it?

Two answers have come-one from the side of human sentiment, the other from human reason.

1. One answer elicited in this attitude of human need appears in various forms of superstition. Rock-temples and bloody altars, and human sacrifices proclaim the fact that human nature does not all gravitate to sense and the darkness of annihilation. The superstitious sentiments need some explanation.

2. The answer that comes from the side of reason. Law, force, order, are sublime facts, but not enough for human nature. You cannot by scientific explanation of the seen repress mans earnest inquiry about the unseen. To our human need, and our attitude towards the supernatural, Christ has come. There is only one voice that can say, Be of good cheer, be not afraid.

II. Consider the attitude of man respecting the natural and the known, and here you will observe the conditions of human need and divine help. These men who cried out for fear had been toiling in rowing. We are troubled here amidst the perplexities and trials of daily life. In one way or another many of us are toiling in rowing-the toil of pleasure-or we are rowing through heavy waves of care. Our need calls for Divine help. In seasons of gloom, looking out upon the world around us through shadows, we discern objects at which we shudder. That which excites our fears may be a blessing; but we know it not, and need the assurance that can bid us be of good cheer. (E. H. Chapin)

Jesus no phantom

I. It is too common an error to make a phantom of Christ.

1. How often is this done in the matter of sin and the cleansing of it. Our sin is real to us; but is Christ as real to us?

2. In the matter of our acceptance with God after pardon. Our shortcomings real; equally real the righteousness of Christ.

3. In the matter of sanctification.

4. In times of trial.

5. In time of death.

6. In Christian work.

II. We make Christ a phantom most when he is most really Christ. When He walked on the waves there was more of Christ visible than on land; His Godhead visible. In the pardon of great sin you see most of Christ; so in great distress and danger.

III. Our greatest sorrows arise from our treating our Lord as unreal. TO some Christ is an indifferent spirit. Many a poor sinner imagines Him to be an angry spirit and cries out for fear.

IV. If we could but be cured of this desperate mischief, our Lord Jesus Christ would have a higher place in our esteem, and many other beneficial results would follow:

1. Knowledge.

2. Worship.

3. Service. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Eastern belief in Spirits

The belief is quite general in the East that there exists a class of beings whom they call Jins, both male and female, good and bad, which hold an intermediate position between angels and men, were created before the latter, are made of fire, or perhaps of gas, and are capable of assuming a variety of forms, or of becoming invisible at pleasure. They eat, drink, and marry-sometimes human beings-as well as die, though they live several centuries. Many events are accounted for in the East by the agency of the Jins; so that they do not exist in stories alone, but are recognized as active agents in human affairs, (Van Lennep.)

The magic of the Saviours voice

It is a wonderful organ, this human voice-wonderful in itself, and no less so in its effects. It is wonderful as an exponent of individual mind and character, being somehow very closely connected with a man, and contributing largely to constitute that aggregate of special qualities we call individuality. So much so, that one is known, is revealed and recognized, by his voice almost as much as by anything outward.. And it is wonderful as an instrument for affecting others. The Saviours voice on this occasion operated like a charm; it wrought like magic upon them. It is amazing what power the living voice, especially a long-known and much-loved voice, has to touch the heart, and to awaken confidence and peace, and emotions of all kinds, that may have been long dormant in the soul. (A. L. R. Foote.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 14:26-27. And when the disciples saw him, they were troubled — “It is well known that it is never entirely dark on the water not to urge that the moon might perhaps now be in the last quarter, as it must have been, if this was about three weeks before the passover.” By that little light, therefore, which they had, the disciples, seeing him, but not perfectly discerning who he was, were much terrified: saying, It is a spirit, Οτι φαντασμα εστι, It is an apparition: for they justly supposed that no human body could be supported by the water. Although the original word here used is not spirit, but apparition, yet that the Jews in general, particularly the Pharisees, believed in the existence of spirits, and that spirits sometimes appeared, is evident from Luk 24:37; Luk 24:39, and Act 23:8-9. And they cried out with fear — Through their dread of what might be the consequence: for, Mar 6:50, they all saw him, and were troubled. We see here, that even appearances and approaches of deliverance may be the occasions of trouble and perplexity to God’s people, who are sometimes put into great fear when they are most highly favoured. See Luk 1:29, and Exo 3:6. To allay the fears of his disciples, Christ immediately drew near and spake to them, in a tone of voice with which they were all perfectly acquainted, saying, θαρσειτε, Take courage: it is I — Your Lord and Master; be not afraid — Either of me, who am your friend, or of the violent tempest, which cannot hurt you while you are under my protection.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 14:26. Ἐτάραχθησαν, they were troubled) We often take Christ for another rather than for Christ: cf. Mat 14:2. The disciples now feared not only the sea, but also the Lord.—φάντασμα, an apparition) φάντασμα and φάσμα are identical in meaning. See Wis 17:15; Wis 17:4. Nor does φαντασία greatly differ from them. Ibid. Mat 18:17.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_14:26 ff. Ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης (see critical notes): upon the sea. There, just at that spot, they saw Him walking as He was coming toward them over the sea (Mat_14:25). Observe the appropriate change of cases. For genitive, comp. Job_9:8. περιπατῶν … ἐπὶ θαλάσσης, Lucian, Philops. xiii. ἐφʼ ὕδατος βαδίζοντα, 14 :hist. ii. 4, al.

φάντασμα] They shared (Luk_24:37) the popular belief in apparitions (Plat. Phaed. p. 81 D: ψυχῶν σκιοειδῆ φαντάσματα; Eur. Hec. 54; Lucian, Philops. 29; Wis_17:15). Comp. the nocturnos Lemures in Horace, Ep. ii. 2. 209.

Mat_14:27. ἐλάλ. αὐτ.] ἀπὸ τῆς φωνῆς δῆλον ἑαυτὸν ποιεῖ, Chrysostom.

Mat_14:28-31 are not found in any of the other Gospels, but their contents are entirely in keeping with Peters temperament (ὁ πανταχοῦ θερμὸς κ. ἀεὶ τῶν ἄλλων προπηδῶν, Chrysostom).

βλέπων] not: as He perceived, but: as He saw; for, when on the sea, He was in immediate contact with the manifestations of the storm.

καταποντίζεσθαι] pro modo fidei ferebatur ab aqua (Bengel); namely, by the influence of Christs power, for which influence, however, he became unreceptive through doubt, and accordingly began to sink.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 14:26 . φάντασμα : a little touch of sailor superstition natural in the circumstances; presupposes the impression that they saw something walking on the sea.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A spirit, as it is here taken, is that which a man imagineth to himself vainly in his mind, persuading himself that he seeth something, and seeth nothing.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 26. It is a spirit] That the spirits of the dead might and did appear, was a doctrine held by the greatest and holiest of men that ever existed; and a doctrine which the caviliers, free-thinkers and bound-thinkers, of different ages, have never been able to dispove.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But straightway Jesus spake unto them,.... Directly, the very moment, as soon as ever they cried out, and he perceived the consternation they were in, as one truly affected towards them, and concerned for their welfare; he called out aloud unto them, not coming with any intention to fright them, but to save them;

saying, be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid: take heart, be of good courage, do not be affrighted at my appearance, from whom you have nothing to fear; nor be afraid of the storm and tempest in which you are, I will deliver you; for it is I, your Master, Saviour, and Redeemer, and not any hurtful spirit; who am able to save you, and am come for that purpose. Christ may be sometimes near his people, and they not know him; as the Lord was in the place where Jacob was, and he knew it not, Gen 28:16 and as Christ was standing by Mary Magdalene at the sepulchre, and she took him to be the gardener: and for want of a distinct knowledge of Christ in his person, offices, and grace, persons have wrong apprehensions of him, and are filled with dread and fears, concluding they have no interest in him; that he is a Saviour, but not of them; that their sins are so many, and of such a die, and attended with such aggravating circumstances, that though he is able to save them, he never can be willing to receive such vile sinners as they are: but when Christ makes himself known unto them, as the able and willing Saviour, and their Saviour and Redeemer, then, instead of dreading him as a judge, their fears vanish, their faith increases, and they are ready to do anything he shall order them; as Peter says in the next verse, who was willing to come to Christ on the water, when he knew who he was, if he was but pleased to bid him come.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

Ver. 26. They were troubled] Ere they were helped: things often go backward, before they come forward with us. Deus plagam sanaturus, graviorem infligit: he knows how to commend his mercies to us.

And they cried out for fear] For fear of him, in whom was laid up all their comfort. But pessimus in dubiis augur, timor. -How often are we mistaken, and befooled by our fears!

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They were troubled - They were afraid. The sight was remarkable. It was sufficient to awe them. In the dark night, amid the tumultuous billows appeared the form of a man. They thought it was a spirit an apparition. It was a common belief among the ancients that the spirits of people after death frequently appeared to the living.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spiritan apparition (Revised Version, fantasma estin)and they cried out for fear.

A first lesson on the spiritual presence.

The answer of the disciples to the sight of Jesus walking on the sea revealed the fact that they shared the superstitious sentiments of their age. They said, "It is a spirit." "Orientals continue to believe, as of old, in supernatural agencies, not only in the all-pervading and all-controlling providence and personal influence of the Deity, which they have ever pushed to extreme fatalism, but also in the existence and activity, either for good or for evil, of spirits and invisible beings, who people the air." Our Lord desired to guide his disciples to worthier apprehensions of spiritual things, through the proper apprehension of himself as a spiritual Being and a spiritual Messiah. Our Lord had wrought many miracles which displayed his power, and revealed him as

(1) Lord of Nature in all her moods;

(2) of death in all its stages;

(3) of devils in all their forms of mischief;

(4) of souls in all their spiritual needs.

Now, by this walking on the sea, he would reveal to them something of the mystery which belonged to his own Person. And this particular revelation was called for by the fact that the disciples had encouraged the attempt of the people to make their Master a merely earthly king. (Joh_6:15)

I CHRIST"S BODILY PRESENCE DID BUT ILLUSTRATE HIS SPIRITUAL PRESENCE. It should be clearly seen that our Lord was with his disciples in a double sense. He was with them spiritually, just as he is still with us; but, besides that, he was with them in bodily relations, in ways that could be apprehended by their senses. That bodily presence was given to teach them what the spiritual presence is and involves. The record of that bodily presence is preserved that it might do the same thing for us. Christ, by coming on the sea, taught the disciples two things.

1. That he would be with them when they could not see him.

2. That they must not wonder if he came to them in strange forms and manifestations. He was teaching them how to use their wings in the spiritual atmosphere, as the mother bird teaches her fledgelings.

II CHRIST"S BODILY PRESENCE WAS PRESENTLY TO PASS INTO A SPIRITUAL PRESENCE. The first suggestion was the loss of bodyweight which enabled Jesus to walk on the water. The second suggestion was the passing of the bodily into the spiritual at the Resurrection. The third was the passing of the spiritual body beyond the apprehension of the senses at the Ascension. The illustrative bodily presence has gone now, and gone forever; the reality of the spiritual presence of Christ is the possession and the glory of his Church today. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See how the disciples take their deliverer to be a destroyer: their fears were highest when their deliverer and deliverance were nearest. God may be coming with salvation and deliverance for his church, when she for the present cannot discern him.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26. A spirit. An apparition, an unreal appearance of a real person. The word 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 (Luke 24:37). Cried out. In fright.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

26. ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου ἔκραξαν. Note the article. Not merely cried out from fear, but the fear which necessarily resulted from the appearance made them cry out.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26. And the disciples seeing Him walking on the sea, were troubled, saying that it is a phantasm; and they cried out from fear.] Mk. has: “And seeing Him walking on the sea, they thought that it is a phantasm; and they cried out (ἀνέκραξαν). For all saw Him and were troubled.” Mt. slips here into Mk.’s genitive, ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης. See Gould on Mar 6:48.

(M)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A spirit [φαντασμα] . Of which our word phantasm is a transcription. Rev., rather stiffly, apparition. Wyc., phantom.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.