Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, St. John the Baptist is beheaded by Herod. Secondly, verse 13, Christ hearing of this, fleeing from Herod, withdraws into the wilderness, and there with five loaves and two fishes feeds five thousand men. Thirdly, verse 22, having dismissed the crowd, He goes up the mountain to pray; presently, walking upon the sea, He comes to the disciples who were tossed by the waves; and when Peter, called to Him and coming, began to sink through fear of the waves, He lifts him up, saying: "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" and forthwith He calms the wind and the waves. Whereupon those who were in the boat cry out: "Truly You are the Son of God." Wherefore from the places round about the sick flock to Him, whom He heals by His very touch.
Vulgate Text: Matthew 14:1-36
1. At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, 2. and said to his servants: This is John the Baptist: he has risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works are at work in him. 3. For Herod had seized John, and bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother's wife. 4. For John said to him: It is not lawful for you to have her. 5. And wishing to kill him, he feared the people, because they held him as a Prophet. 6. But on Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. 7. Whereupon with an oath he promised to give her whatever she should ask. 8. But she, being instructed by her mother beforehand, said: Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist. 9. And the king was saddened; yet because of his oath, and because of those who were reclining with him, he commanded it to be given. 10. And he sent and beheaded John in prison. 11. And his head was brought on a platter, and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12. And his disciples came and took the body, and buried it; and coming, they told Jesus. 13. When Jesus heard of it, He withdrew from there in a boat to a desert place apart; and when the crowds heard, they followed Him on foot from the towns. 14. And coming out, He saw a great multitude, and had compassion on them, and healed their sick. 15. And when evening came, His disciples came to Him, saying: This is a desert place, and the hour is now past; dismiss the crowds, so that going into the villages they may buy themselves food. 16. But Jesus said to them: They have no need to go; you give them to eat. 17. They answered Him: We have here only five loaves and two fishes. 18. He said to them: Bring them here to Me. 19. And when He had commanded the crowd to recline upon the grass, having taken the five loaves and the two fishes, looking up to heaven, He blessed, and broke, and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds. 20. And they all ate, and were filled. And they took up the leftovers, twelve baskets full of fragments. 21. Now the number of those who ate was five thousand men, besides women and children. 22. And immediately Jesus compelled the disciples to get into the boat, and to go before Him across the sea, until He should dismiss the crowds. 23. And having dismissed the crowd, He went up the mountain alone to pray. And when evening had come, He was there alone. 24. But the boat was in the midst of the sea, tossed by the waves; for the wind was contrary. 25. And in the fourth watch of the night, He came to them walking upon the sea. 26. And seeing Him walking upon the sea, they were troubled, saying: It is a phantom. And for fear they cried out. 27. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: Have confidence: it is I, do not be afraid. 28. But Peter answering said: Lord, if it is You, bid me come to You upon the waters. 29. And He said: Come. And Peter, descending from the boat, was walking upon the water to come to Jesus. 30. But seeing the strong wind, he was afraid; and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: Lord, save me. 31. And immediately Jesus stretching forth His hand, took hold of him, and said to him: O you of little faith, why did you doubt? 32. And when they had climbed into the boat, the wind ceased. 33. But those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying: Truly You are the Son of God. 34. And when they had crossed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. 35. And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent into all the region round about, and brought to Him all who were sick; 36. and they entreated Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made whole.
Verse 1: At That Time Herod the Tetrarch Heard of the Fame of Jesus
1. At That Time Herod the Tetrarch Heard of the Fame of Jesus. — All these things that concern the beheading of St. John are narrated more fully and more completely than by any of the other Evangelists by St. Mark, chapter 6:14, and so I shall more conveniently explain them there. This Herod was Antipas, son of Herod the Great, the slayer of the infants, Matthew 2:16.
Verse 12: And His Disciples Coming Took His Body, and Buried It
12. And His Disciples Coming Took His Body, and Buried It. — "The body;" the Syriac, "selado," that is, the trunk of the body without the head, because, as Nicephorus says, book 1, chapter 19: "Herodias, fearing John's rebuke even after the severance of his head, and afraid to rejoin it to the rest of the body, had it buried apart with witnesses removed, in a more hidden place of the palace." The same is asserted by Bede, Rufinus, book 11 of his History, chapter 28, and the Tripartite History, book 9, chapter 43. See here the panic terrors of an evil conscience: for Herodias feared that, if John's head were rejoined to his body, it would rise again, and again be enlivened, and thunder forth against her incestuous marriage with Herod by preaching; just as Herod thought that John had risen in Christ and passed into Him. So terrible and horrifying to Herodias was that unconquered head of the Baptist, though it had been severed.
And Coming, They Told Jesus. — For John before his death had commanded his disciples that, when he was dead, they should pass over to Jesus; indeed, even while John was still alive some had already passed over to Jesus, as is clear in the case of Andrew, John 1:40; and so John himself had sent his disciples to Jesus to inquire whether He was the Messiah, Matthew 11:3.
Verse 13: When Jesus Heard of It, He Withdrew From There in a Boat
13. When Jesus Heard of It, He Withdrew From There in a Boat to a Desert Place Apart. — "When Jesus heard," namely that John had been beheaded by Herod, and that Herod, who up to now had been occupied partly by sloth, partly by his war against Aretas king of Arabia (for Aretas had given his daughter in marriage to Herod, as Josephus testifies, Antiquities, book 18, chapter 1, and therefore avenged her repudiation, which had been done on account of Herodias, by the war in which he cut down Herod's army), had neglected the words and deeds of Jesus: Herod, I say, now that the fame of so many and such great miracles of Jesus was growing, had heard of them, and had begun seriously to take notice of them, as Matthew recounted at the beginning of this chapter and history, and from there to suspect that Jesus was the risen John; therefore Jesus withdrew into the wilderness, and that first, to avoid Herod's fury, who, just as he had beheaded John, would now, thinking him risen in Jesus, have beheaded Him again; especially because Herod might easily have been led, or the suspicion might have been suggested to him by the Pharisees, that He either was, or was passing Himself off as, the Messiah, the king promised to the Jews and expected for so many ages: wherefore, fearing to be deprived of his kingdom by Him, Herod would have killed Him, as his father Herod the Ascalonite had attempted to kill Christ with the infants at Bethlehem, Matthew 2:16. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius.
Secondly, so that He might refresh with some quiet the Apostles returning from their mission and preaching, and wearied by much labor, as Mark teaches, 6:31. Thirdly, so that by His own example He might teach preachers and miracle-workers to flee the applause of the people and vain glory.
In a Boat, — that by it He might cross over the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias, as is clear from John 6:1; Mark 6:45. For this history is the same as the one which John narrates more fully in chapter 6, from which it is clear that these things happened around Passover. Christ therefore wished by the boat to escape the concourse of the crowds to Him, which would have brought prison and danger to His life from Herod.
Into a Desert Place. — Luke, chapter 9:10, adds, "which was of Bethsaida." Adrichomius, in his Description of the Holy Land; Jansenius and some others hold that this desert, in which Christ fed five thousand men with five loaves, is said to be "of Bethsaida," not because it was near Bethsaida on the side and shore of the city, but on the opposite shore, across the Sea of Galilee, situated between Julias and Dalmanutha. They prove this because John, 6:1, says that Christ went away across the Sea of Galilee, and Matthew, 14:34, that He crossed over. For the territory of Bethsaida extended beyond the sea into this desert on the far shore. So they.
But I say that this desert was near Bethsaida on the same shore, and so was situated between Bethsaida and Tiberias.
It is proved first because Luke expressly says so, chapter 9:10: "He withdrew," he says, "apart into a desert place which is Bethsaida." The Arabic: "into a desert place near the city which is shortened to Saida," that is, Bethsaida.
Secondly, Burchard and others in their Description of the Holy Land clearly testify to the same thing, namely that this place was near Tiberias, and called Mensa ("the Table").
Thirdly, because Nicephorus, book 8, chapter 3, writes that St. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, erected at Tiberias a δωδεκάθρονον, that is, a temple of the twelve thrones, in that place where Christ fed the five thousand men.
Fourthly, because Christ, after this multiplication of loaves in the wilderness, fleeing the crowd which wanted to make Him king, commanded the disciples to sail to Bethsaida, as being nearby. Again John, 6:23, says: "Other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they had eaten the bread, when the Lord gave thanks:" therefore this place was near Tiberias, namely between Tiberias and Bethsaida; and when they did not find Him there, they sailed by direct route across the sea, where they found Him, as John adds.
To the objection I reply: Christ is said to have crossed over and gone across the sea, that is, to have passed over the sea by boat, or to have gone by sea — not to the opposite shore, but from one land, through the sea between, into another, from one winding bay into another; for by land the route was roundabout, and so those going straight there had to cross the sea — not to the opposite shore, but to the opposite bend of the bay. So Franciscus Lucas, Maldonatus, and others. See what is said on Matthew 4:13. This bay seems to have been formed by the mountain into which Jesus withdrew, from which He afterwards descended to the crowds together with His followers, as John relates in chapter 6, verse 3. Finally, "across" is the same as "beyond," and is taken broadly: it is said when we cross from one place to another, from one gulf or harbor of the sea to another.
And When the Crowds Had Heard, They Followed Him on Foot Out of the Cities. — You will ask, how could they follow Christ on foot as He went by boat across the sea? I answer: When Christ withdrew into the boat, the crowds spread His fame through the neighboring places; stirred up by this, many flocked from every direction, and followed Christ on foot as He went by boat straight across the sea, going around the Sea of Tiberias or Lake of Gennesaret as far as Bethsaida, and from there as far as Capernaum, where they found Christ, as John narrates, 6:24 and 25. For though longer, this circuit on foot was nevertheless more convenient for so great a crowd, because there were not boats enough to carry so great a multitude. Christ's withdrawal did not blunt the crowds' desire for Him, but whetted it to follow Him through trackless and out-of-the-way places; because they saw Him as a holy, beneficent, divine man, fleeing applause and conversing with God. Thus honor follows those who flee it, as a shadow follows a body: and so let preachers also withdraw and give themselves to prayer, and the world will esteem and seek them all the more.
Verse 14: And Going Out, He Saw a Great Multitude
14. And Going Out (from the hidden place of the wilderness of Bethsaida, into which He had withdrawn), He Saw a Great Multitude, and Had Compassion on Them ("because they were as sheep not having a shepherd," says Mark 6:34. For the Scribes were not shepherds but hirelings, seeking their own gain, not the salvation of the sheep), and Healed Their Sick (in Greek ἀρρώστους, that is, the infirm, the ailing), — namely those among them who offered themselves to Christ, or were offered by others, asking for healing. Learn here from Christ to prefer the care and welfare of others to your own rest and prayer.
Verse 15: When Evening Had Come, the Disciples Came to Him
15. When Evening Had Come, the Disciples Came to Him, Saying: The Place Is a Desert, and the Hour (of the meal, the time for taking food) Has Now Passed: Dismiss the Crowds, So That Going Into the Villages (in Greek, εἰς κώμας, that is, into villages, into hamlets), They May Buy for Themselves Food, — so that they may relieve their hunger: for they went out from home fasting in the morning to be taught and healed by You, and until evening have remained fasting.
Verse 16: But Jesus Said to Them: They Have No Need to Go
16. But Jesus Said to Them: They Have No Need to Go (in Greek ἀπελθεῖν, that is, to depart into the villages to buy food); You Give Them to Eat. — Christ prepares the way to the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, and for this reason kept the crowds until evening, so that the disciples should ask Him to dismiss them; and to them He commands to give food, so that the miracle may be the more clearly attested, and Christ's benefit may be the more gratefully received, the more they see themselves to be in straits, and destitute of all food for feeding so great a multitude in the wilderness. St. John adds, chapter 6, that Jesus "said to Philip: From where shall we buy bread, that these may eat? But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He was going to do. Philip answered Him: Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not enough for them, that each may take a little."
Christ asked Philip rather than the others because Philip, among the rest, was docile and capable, but not so sharp and subtle, and therefore was accustomed to ask about many things otherwise clear, as in John 14:8, he asked Christ, saying: "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." So St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and St. Cyril, on chapter 6 of John.
Furthermore, a denarius is the same as a Roman julius, or a Spanish real, which weighs a drachma of silver: therefore two hundred denarii make fifty Brabant florins, or twenty Roman gold pieces. For the denarius was so called because it contained ten asses. An as was a Roman baiocchus, or half a stuiver. See what I have noted about ancient coins and weights at the end of the Pentateuch. With twenty gold pieces many loaves could be bought. For at Rome by now one white loaf of eight, and sometimes ten, ounces is bought for one baiocchus, which is nearly enough for one man for a single meal: therefore with one julius or denarius, which contains ten baiocchi, ten such loaves could be bought, and consequently with two hundred denarii two thousand loaves could have been bought, which would have nearly sufficed to feed two thousand men; but here there were five thousand men, besides the women and children, so that three thousand would have been left without any bread. Add that many in hunger and fasting are voracious, so that one loaf is not enough for them, but they require two and sometimes three. Truly therefore Philip said that two hundred denarii worth of loaves would not suffice to feed so great a multitude.
Verse 17: They Answered Him: We Have Here Only Five Loaves and Two Fishes
17. They Answered Him: We Have Here Only Five Loaves and Two Fishes. — These fishes were already cooked and prepared for food: for they were immediately distributed by the Apostles, at Christ's command, without any further cooking. John explains this at 6:8, saying: "One of His disciples, Andrew the brother of Simon Peter, says to Him: There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fishes; but what are these among so many?" St. Chrysostom thinks that these loaves belonged to the Apostles; Euthymius more correctly holds that they were for sale.
Verse 18: He Said: Bring Them Here to Me
18. He Said: Bring Them Here to Me, — that by blessing them I may multiply them. The Apostles obeyed, and brought them; and this prompt obedience and confidence of theirs, together with their charity and zeal to relieve the hunger of so many thousands of men, drew forth this miracle from Christ.
Verse 19: And When He Had Commanded the Crowd to Recline Upon the Grass
19. And When He Had Commanded the Crowd to Recline Upon the Grass (the Arabic: that they should sit upon the grass), Having Taken the Five Loaves and Two Fishes, Looking Up to Heaven He Blessed, and Broke, and Gave the Loaves to the Disciples, and the Disciples to the Crowds. — The first clause is more fully recounted by St. Mark, 6:39, saying: "And He commanded them to make them all recline by companies upon the green grass." These "companies" were various groups of people gathered together for the meal. Hence Luke, 9:14, calls them "banquets," that is, groups of fellow-diners, in which, for the sake of decency, the men reclined with the men, and the women separately with their little children, as Matthew here implies; for in olden times they did not sit at table on a bench, but reclined — that is, lay on the couches spread alongside the table, whence they were called lectisternia — and in place of these here there was grass. Christ commanded them to recline by companies, both that the multitude of those reclining might more plainly appear, and that everything might be done in order, and that no one might be passed over without receiving his portion of bread and fish.
Looking Up to Heaven, He Blessed. — St. John, 6:11, has it thus: "Jesus therefore took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, distributed to those reclining." Hence the heretics explain "He blessed" as meaning "He gave thanks," but wrongly; for Christ in His customary manner first gave thanks to the Father, then blessed the loaves: for Mark, 6:41, says: "Looking up to heaven He blessed, and broke the loaves." And Luke, 9:16: "He looked up to heaven and blessed them," namely the loaves, "and broke them, and distributed them." Christ therefore here "blessed," first God, praising Him and giving thanks, as John has in chapter 6, because the first part of prayer ought to be that by the praise of God we win for ourselves His favor, in order to obtain what we are afterwards going to ask; then He "blessed" the loaves themselves, that is, He called down divine grace upon them, by which they should be multiplied and receive such strength and power as to feed abundantly and mightily so great a crowd, and to strengthen and gladden them, just as if they had been fed with a sumptuous banquet of meats and wines. Therefore by this blessing Christ imparted to the loaves a certain power, not physical but moral: namely, His own appointment and ordering toward their miraculous multiplication, by which He, as it were, laid His hand — that is, His divine power — upon the loaves, so that they should immediately in fact be multiplied, He converting the surrounding air, or some other matter, gradually during the distribution, but imperceptibly and continuously, into loaves. For God does not create anything new out of nothing, but produces and transforms all things out of the matter created at the beginning of the world. In the same way He multiplied the flour and the oil of the widow of Zarephath for the merits of Elijah, 4 Kings 17:14; and of another woman, for the merits of Elisha, 4 Kings 4:5.
That these loaves were excellent and most savory, and endowed with great power to nourish, strengthen, and gladden, is clear from the fact that they were divine loaves produced by Christ through a miracle: for the works of God are perfect. So the wine made from water at Cana of Galilee was the best, as is clear from John 2:10. So God, when He blessed each of the species of things He had created at the beginning of the world, by that very blessing gave them the power of generating and propagating and multiplying themselves, saying: "Increase and multiply," Genesis 1. So Christ at the Last Supper, instituting the Eucharist, by blessing the bread, changed it into His own Body, Matthew 26:26. And of this change in the Eucharist, this multiplication of the loaves through Christ's blessing was as it were a type and a preparatory disposition; for shortly afterwards Christ delivered a long discourse about the Eucharist, which John narrates in chapter 6, and compared the Eucharist with the manna and preferred it to it, saying: "Not as your fathers ate the manna and died: he who eats this bread shall live forever," John 6:59.
St. Augustine gives the reason, in tractate 24 on John: "Whence," he says, "(God) multiplies harvests from a few grains; thence in His own hands He multiplied loaves: for the power was in the hands of Christ. For those five loaves were as it were seeds, not indeed committed to the earth, but multiplied by Him who made the earth." Hence St. Chrysostom: "Those five loaves were multiplied," he says, "in the hands of the disciples, and gushed forth like a fountain;" while, as St. Hilary says, "Fragments follow fragments, and the broken ones continually cheat those who break them." "For when the Lord breaks, a seed-bed of food is made," says St. Jerome. "You might have seen," says St. Ambrose, "by a kind of incomprehensible watering, between the hands of those dividing — hands that had not broken them — the particles bearing fruit, and fragments creeping up untouched by the fingers of those breaking them, of their own accord: even as we see continual issues flowing forth from liquid fountains, and whatever you draw from them is replenished by a kind of interest-bearing current."
Tropologically: Christ here by His deed teaches that loaves and wealth, both bodily and spiritual, given as alms to the needy are not diminished but multiplied — indeed increased a hundredfold and a thousandfold. So St. John, surnamed Eleemosynarius (the Almsgiver) because of his liberality, Patriarch of Alexandria, used to say that he had perceived by daily experience that the more he gave to the poor, the more he received from God; whence he said: "I will see, Lord, who will first fail — You giving to me, or I distributing to the needy." So Leontius in his Life. In like manner the priest Sanctulus multiplied bread for the workmen, as St. Gregory relates, Dialogues III, chapter 37. Hadrian II — the Pontiff who succeeded Nicholas I in the year of the Lord 914, and summoned the Eighth General Synod at Constantinople, in which he expelled Photius the invader of the see and restored St. Ignatius as the legitimate Patriarch; this Hadrian, I say, as Platina says, was on familiar terms with Pope Sergius, from whom, when on one occasion he had received forty denarii as a gift, he returned home and commanded his steward to give them out to the pilgrims and poor who were standing in the vestibule of his house. When the steward, having tried to carry out the order, saw that not even the smallest portion of such a paltry sum could be distributed satisfactorily, he returned to Hadrian and set forth the matter. Then Hadrian, taking the money and going to the poor, gave three denarii to each, and kept back as many again to satisfy his own household needs, while the steward marveled at the miracle. To whom Hadrian said: "You see how kind and generous the Lord is, especially to those who are liberal and bountiful to the poor." By this and other virtues he was held in such high esteem by everyone that, when there was talk of choosing a new Pontiff, all vied with one another in choosing Hadrian alone.
St. Lydwina of Holland, a singular mirror of patience and charity, although poor herself, nevertheless zealously helped the needy: wherefore, having a few coins in her purse, when she liberally gave them out, others were continually supplied from heaven, so that they never ran out but kept increasing, and for this reason that purse of hers was nicknamed "the purse of Jesus." Read her Life in Surius under April. See 2 Corinthians 9:6ff: "He who sows sparingly," he says, "will also reap sparingly, and he who sows in blessings (that is, many blessings, that is, many acts of kindness) shall reap from blessings (many acts of kindness)." This is a Hebrew idiom. For the Hebrews construe verbs of contact, such as "to sow," with the ablative and a preceding preposition: so they say "to touch in the hand," that is, "to touch the hand." Therefore when you give bread or a julius to a poor man, you do not lose it but sow it; because just as from one grain of seed many grow up, so from one loaf or one julius many come forth.
Verse 20: And They All Ate, and Were Filled
20. And They All Ate. — Five thousand men together with the women and children, of whom there was a huge number; for women are more devout, as well as more curious to see a new prophet, as Christ was, than men.
And Were Filled. — You will say: no mention is made of wine here; how then were they filled, who had drunk nothing? For without drink, a meal is a parching and dog-like affair. I reply that Christ did not give them wine, because there were fountains of water nearby to which they could go for drink. For the drink of water is natural and healthful, and sufficient for nature. But beyond that, Christ did not wish to stir up gluttony with wine. For God gives food for necessity and satiety, not for pleasure and wantonness. Thus the angel brought Elijah bread, and a vessel of water — not of wine — in the desert, 3 Kings 19:6. Thus the raven, at God's command, daily brought half a loaf to St. Paul the first hermit, but wished him to satisfy his thirst from a nearby spring of water, as St. Jerome testifies in his Life. God did the same for other saints. Indeed, from Adam to the Flood — through 1600 years down to Noah, who first planted the vine — the more religious men did not eat flesh nor drink wine, but ate fruits and drank water, and yet lived 900 years. Abstinence, therefore, is the mother of health, as also of wisdom and of holiness. See what is said on Genesis 9.
And They Took Up the Leftovers, Twelve Baskets Full of Fragments. — So they brought back more bread than they had at first brought to Christ — namely five. For twelve baskets or wicker hampers contained not five, but thirty and more loaves. It is probable that Christ first broke the five loaves with His own hands, and by breaking them multiplied them, and distributed them into these baskets, which afterwards, at His command, while they were being distributed by the Apostles to the crowds by companies, were gradually multiplied more and more: so that they brought back as many baskets of fragments to Christ as the baskets of loaves they had first received from Him. So Maldonatus.
Cedrenus, in his Compendium of History, relates that these twelve baskets were reverently stored in the Church of the Twelve Apostles, which Constantine the Great built at Constantinople.
Furthermore, baskets have been familiar to the Jews from of old: whence Juvenal:
"Of the Jews," he says, "whose baskets and hay are their furniture."
From this it is clear that the basket was of such capacity as to hold as much as the hand or arm of a man — say a Jew — can carry.
Verse 21: Now the Number of Those Who Ate Was Five Thousand Men
21. Now the Number of Those Who Ate Was Five (in Greek ὡσεὶ πέντε, that is, "about five") Thousand Men, Besides Women and Children. — Some think that the women and children equaled the number of the men; but this is hard to believe, because this desert of Christ's was far from the more populous cities and villages, and it would have been difficult for many of the little ones to make so long a journey. This feeding of the five thousand men by the five loaves which Christ blessed and multiplied, was predicted to the letter by the Sibyl, whose verses Lactantius cites in book 4, chapter 15.
Verse 22: And Immediately Jesus Compelled the Disciples to Get Into the Boat
22. And Immediately Jesus Compelled the Disciples to Climb Into the Boat, and to Go Before Him Across the Sea (across the Sea of Galilee — for Christ crossed it again and again to flee the crowds), Until He Should Dismiss the Crowds. — Christ did this: first, because He wished to withdraw, so that alone He might pray more quietly and earnestly, as is clear from the following verse; secondly, that by this means He might more easily escape the crowd, which He knew wanted to make Him king on account of the multiplication and distribution of the loaves He had done, as John teaches, 6:15; thirdly, that He might give occasion for the following miracle in calming the storm at sea.
Verse 23: And Having Dismissed the Crowd, He Went Up the Mountain Alone to Pray
23. And Having Dismissed the Crowd (bidding them farewell and blessing them, and commanding them to return home), He Went Up Into a Mountain Alone to Pray: And When Evening Came, He Was There Alone. — Matthew repeats this in order to pave the way for the following miracle, namely that Christ came down from the mountain and walked upon the sea, so as to rescue the disciples who were being tossed in the boat by the wind. Christ prays alone: first, to warn the faithful in prayer to flee such noises and distractions, and to pray to God with recollected mind in secret and silence; secondly, to teach preachers to withdraw from time to time in order to gather their spirit and converse with God, beseeching Him to confirm what they have preached, and to water, nourish, advance, and bring to perfection the seeds of His word which they have scattered in the minds of their hearers; and that He may instill a new spirit in them, so that, thus equipped, they may return to preaching with fresh and greater fervor.
Verse 24: But the Boat in the Midst of the Sea Was Tossed With the Waves
24. But the Boat in the Midst of the Sea Was Tossed (in Greek βασανιζόμενον, that is, was being buffeted) With the Waves; for the Wind Was Contrary. — The Syriac: It had already withdrawn many stadia from the land, when it was being shaken greatly. The Arabic: The waves were tossing it. Just as the ship went steadily against the waves, and the sailors rowed more vigorously, so against temptations we must press on the more stoutly, according to the saying:
"Yield thou not to evils, but go against them more boldly." [Virgil, Aeneid VI.95]
"They were walking," says St. Augustine, Tractate 25 on John, "the Apostles were making headway, and neither those winds, nor the storms, nor the waves, nor the darkness brought it about that the ship should either not advance, or be broken up and sunk; rather, amid all those evils, it went forward."
Furthermore, a tempest to each person is not only adversity, but excessive prosperity. Hear St. Augustine, Sermon 13 On the Words of the Lord according to Matthew: "To each person his own desire is a tempest. Do you love God? You walk upon the sea, the fear of the world is beneath your feet. Do you love the world? It will swallow you up; it knows how to devour its lovers, not to carry them. But when your heart is tossed with desire, in order to conquer your desire, call upon Christ's divinity." And further: "It is a mark of great virtue to wrestle with prosperity; it is a mark of great felicity, not to be conquered by felicity."
Verse 25: But in the Fourth Watch of the Night, He Came to Them Walking on the Sea
25. But in the Fourth Watch (in Greek φυλακή, that is, guard) of the Night, He Came to Them Walking on the Sea. — The Romans by night changed their sentinels every three hours, that is, the watchmen and guards of the city or army, both lest from an overly long watch they should fall asleep, and lest there be occasion for any deceit or treachery; and these were called watches or guards. Wherefore, if the night was short, they divided it into three; if long, into four watches or guards. The fourth watch therefore began at the tenth hour of the night and lasted until the twelfth. Now these things happened a little after the multiplication of the loaves and the feeding of the crowd, which took place around Passover, as is clear from John 6:4. Whence you may gather that this storm and its calming by Christ occurred around the paschal equinox, or the vernal equinox, when the night is equal to the day, twelve hours long. This storm on the sea therefore lasted nine hours, namely through three watches of the night up to the fourth, in which Christ came to the disciples tossed on the sea. "That the Lord came to them in the fourth watch of the night shows that they had been in peril the whole night," says St. Chrysostom: they therefore, sailing continuously for three watches, that is for nine hours, had scarcely completed 25 or 30 stadia (as John says in 6:19), that is, about three Italian miles: for eight stadia make one mile; a stadium contains 125 paces, and a mile a thousand paces. So the Apostles, sailing for nine hours, had scarcely crossed half the Sea of Galilee: for its breadth is six miles, but its length sixteen, according to Pliny, Book V, ch. 15. Nay, Josephus, Book III of the Jewish War, ch. 18, says it is 40 stadia wide, that is 5 miles, and 100 stadia long, that is twelve and a half miles. This is true, if with Adrichomius, Jansenius, and others you say that the Apostles crossed the whole breadth of the sea. For others more truly judge that they were furrowing it lengthwise: for this desert was situated between Bethsaida and Tiberias, from which toward Bethsaida and Capharnaum they were sailing along the length of this sea, as I showed at v. 13 of this chapter. Christ allowed the disciples to be tossed by the storm for so many hours: first, that they might grow accustomed to suffering adverse and hard things; secondly, that they might more ardently beg for God's help; thirdly, that the calming of a storm so difficult and long, soon to be accomplished by Christ, might come to them the more sweet and welcome. So St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others.
Hear Lactantius, Book IV On True Wisdom, ch. 15: "But they (the disciples of Christ), having set out with evening now pressing, began to struggle against a contrary wind, and when they were now holding the middle of the strait, then He, entering the sea on foot, followed them, as if walking upon solid ground: not as the poets lyingly describe Orion walking in the deep, who with the submerged part of his body supports the waves on his shoulder." Then he brings forward the verses of the Sibyl, in which she foretold that Christ would pacify the winds and the raging sea, would cure diseases, and would raise the dead. Hear St. Jerome: "The military stations and watches are divided into periods of three hours. When therefore he says that the Lord came to them at the fourth watch of the night, he shows that they had been in peril the whole night, and at the end of the night, and at the consummation of the world, He will grant them aid." Hear also St. Augustine, Sermon 14 On the Words of the Lord according to Matthew: "'The fourth watch of the night,' the last part of the night. One watch has three hours, and so the night has four watches, with three hours distributed to each watch. 'The fourth watch of the night' therefore means when the night is now almost ended. So will He come at the end of the world, with the night of iniquity now past, to judge the living and the dead."
Walking Upon the Sea, — by the divine power which He had as God, and by the gift of agility which He took up for a time as man, says John Major here: just as the same Christ at the time of His nativity assumed the gift of subtlety, by penetrating the closed womb of the Virgin Mother; and the gift of brightness at the time of the Transfiguration; and finally the gift of impassibility in the fast of forty days, by which it came about that He neither suffered nor felt any hunger.
Verse 26: And Seeing Him Walking on the Sea, They Were Troubled
26. And Seeing Him Walking on the Sea, They Were Troubled, Saying: It Is a Phantom. — The Syriac: because it is a false vision, that is, a specter: both because such things are wont to go about at night and in darkness, to appear and to terrify and harass men, as Delrio shows by many examples in his Disquisitiones Magicae; and because through the darkness they did not recognize that the one walking was Jesus, especially because, as Mark says (6:48), "He wished to pass by them"; as though not caring for them, nor concerned with them, but going elsewhere, so as to stir up in them fear and outcry, by which being aroused He might give Himself to be recognized by them. Whence follows:
And From Fear They Cried Out. — This cry was a confused one drawn out by dread, such as sailors usually utter when they fall into the peril of shipwreck, so as almost to despair of life. The disciples' fear here was twofold. For to the fear of the waves of the sea threatening to overwhelm the boat, was added the fear of a phantom, lest it should plainly drown the boat along with them.
Christ permitted this, that the disciples might learn to bear fears and temptations, even as these increased and were doubled, and that the deliverance and consolation soon to be brought by Him might come to them the more sweetly, the greater the desolation and near-despair of safety that had gone before; for in straits, when the matter stands on the edge of a razor, God immediately helps from on high. Whence follows:
Verse 27: And Immediately Jesus Spoke to Them, Saying: Have Confidence
27. And Immediately Jesus Spoke to Them, Saying: Have Confidence (in Greek θαρσεῖτε, that is, resume your fallen spirit, take breath, trust, be spirited and confident; the Syriac: be of good cheer; the Arabic: be strong): It Is I (your Master, whom you know, whose beneficence and omnipotence you have experienced in so many miracles wrought by Me: who therefore am not mocking you as a phantom, but intend to free you from the storm and fear), Do Not Fear. — Greek: "Do not be afraid," whether of a specter or of the waves. By this word of Christ — both externally sounding in their ears, and still more interiorly cast into the minds of the disciples — Christ took away their dread, and instilled serenity, security, and joy, so that they fully trusted they would be delivered by Christ from every danger.
From this passage learn that this is the distinction between the good and evil spirit, that the good at first terrifies, but soon consoles, calms, and gladdens, as Christ does here: but the evil spirit at first brings on sensual joy, but soon sends in sorrow, anguish, and despair.
For God alone can slip into the mind and there give it sure signs of His own presence — signs unknown to us and known only to one who has experienced them — by which He makes the soul certain that it is He Himself speaking interiorly, and not an angel or a demon; such signs the Prophets had, when they heard future things from God: for otherwise they would have exposed both God and themselves to mockery, when they announced some future event as though revealed to them by God, unless they had been certain concerning it — namely, that it had truly been revealed to them by God, and not by the devil assuming the likeness of God. So it happened here with Peter: for he himself asks from Christ signs of security both interior and exterior, which should exclude all doubt from the soul, and by these Peter was certain that this was the voice of Christ, not of some phantom or demon. This will become more evident from v. 30.
Verse 28: But Peter Answering Said: Lord, If It Is Thou, Bid Me Come to Thee Upon the Waters
28. But Peter Answering Said: Lord, If It Is Thou (Jesus, our Master and Lord), Bid Me Come to Thee Upon the Waters. — Calvin accuses Peter of rashness and folly: "For Peter was in doubt," he says, "whether the one who appeared was Christ, or rather a specter of a demon. For the demon might have been able, while pretending to be Christ, to command Peter to come to him, and thus drown him in the sea, as Delrio in the Disquisitiones Magicae relates that many specters have done." The Fathers and interpreters on this passage answer in two ways. First, that Peter from the voice, gesture, bearing, and still more from the interior prompting of Christ, recognized that this was not a phantom, but Christ Himself, as I said at v. 27; so that what he says, "If it is Thou," is not the voice of one doubting, but of one rejoicing and further desiring that Christ should come quickly, so that he may be joined as closely as possible to Him whom he loved supremely, as He miraculously approached through the sea. Thus St. Hilary: "Consider in Peter, he says, that in faith he went before the others." And St. Chrysostom: "Do you see, he says, how vehemently Peter burned? Do you see how great his faith even now was? None loved Jesus as he did. He showed not only charity, but also faith. For because he believed not only that Christ walked upon the sea, but also that He could grant this to others, he dared to ask this — that he might be with Him the sooner." And St. Jerome: "With the same fire of faith, he says, as always, now too, while the others keep silence, he believes that he can do through his master's will what He could do through His nature. 'Bid me come to Thee upon the waters.' Do Thou but command, and immediately the waves will be firm; the body, which of itself is heavy, will become light." See Abulensis here, Question 166, where he asserts that Peter knew for certain that He who was walking on the sea was Christ; and therefore at His call and command he boldly entered the sea, and when he was sinking, confidently invoked Him, saying: "Lord, save me."
Secondly, if you altogether wish the "if it is Thou" to be the words of one doubting, it must be said — by means of the "bid me come to Thee upon the waters" — that Peter was asking this to be commanded him not simply, but with efficacy: that is, so that Christ should command him not only externally, but also internally, and by this command of His should impart to his spirit such boldness, confidence, and security that he would not doubt that, at Christ's command, he could walk safely upon the waters: whence shortly afterward, at His command, testing the water with his feet beside the boat, he straightway felt that it did not yield, but that he walked upon it; wherefore, trusting and secure, he went on upon the waters to Christ. So Jansenius.
If It Is Thou, Bid Me Come to Thee Upon the Waters. — Wittily St. Augustine, sermon 14 On the Words of the Lord according to Matthew, presents Peter speaking thus: "If it is Thou, I do not marvel that Thou dost suspend solid flesh upon the surface of the liquid element. For what wonder is it, if the creature serves its Creator? At this I do not marvel; do Thou what I may marvel at: let Peter walk. Do what I may marvel at: bid me come to Thee upon the waters." etc. And further down: "Thou art God, I am a man. Thou hast willed to have from mine the weakness in the flesh which Thou bearest; let me also have from Thine the power, that the wave may carry me. Lord, if it is Thou, bid me come to Thee upon the waters. For how shall there be no way for me in the sea, if Thou shalt command — Thou who for our sake wast made the way?"
Verse 29: But He Said: Come
29. But He Said: Come. — By this word Christ imparted certainty and security to Peter's mind, as I have already said. Whence follows:
And Peter, Going Down Out of the Boat, Walked Upon the Water to Come to Jesus. — This was done in one of three ways: either that Christ by divine power held Peter up, lest he should sink, as an Angel held Habakkuk by the hairs and snatched him away to Babylon (Daniel 14:35); or that [the water] did not cooperate with the weight of Peter's body, so as to press him down and submerge him beneath the waters; or that the water itself did not yield place, but stood solid and firm under Peter's feet, like ice or crystal. So John Major here.
Verse 30: But Seeing the Wind Strong, He Was Afraid
30. But Seeing the Wind Strong, He Was Afraid, and When He Began to Sink He Cried Out, Saying: Lord, Save Me. — The Arabic: But he saw the strength of the wind, and feared, and was near to being submerged, and cried out. The strength of the wind therefore cast fear into Peter, fear [produced] diffidence, diffidence [produced] danger. For him whom faith was carrying upon the waters, diffidence submerged. The cause was the small faith in Peter, as Christ reproaches him: for he feared that by so great a wind and waves, with Christ permitting, he would sink: for he had not yet received the strength of faith and charity from the Holy Spirit, which he afterwards received at Pentecost. Hence also in Christ's passion, being struck by the strong wind of the Jews' temptation, he fell and denied Christ; of which denial this temptation was the type and, as it were, the prefiguring significance. So Theophylact.
Christ permitted this, that Peter might recognize his own weakness and that of his faith, and might humble himself, and seek its increase from Christ, and become the rock of faith, according to that saying: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church," Matthew 16. And: "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren," Luke 22:32. So St. Jerome, Theophylact, and others.
Peter, says St. Chrysostom, Homily 51, "what was greater — namely, to descend from the boat upon the seas — with great courage [he did]: this Christ granted him, saying: 'Come.' From those [words] therefore he did it. But by the force of the winds and the impetus of the waves, being overcome, he feared what was lesser." For this is the condition of human nature, that having sometimes overcome more difficult things, it succumbs in lesser ones. Finally St. Augustine, Sermon 14 On the Words of the Lord: "In Peter walking upon the waters," he says, "are figured those firm in faith; in him doubting, those infirm [in faith]."
Lord, Save Me. — From this it is clear what I said at v. 28, that Peter did not doubt that He who appeared was Christ; otherwise he would not have invoked Him in such great peril, but rather God who is in heaven, as shipwrecked men are wont to do; but he doubted only whether Christ would permit the wind, by its own nature and powers, to overwhelm him as he walked upon the waves — even though Christ had given him assurance, saying "Come," by which word He was guaranteeing that he would not sink: but the violence of the wind, shaking Peter's sides, beat this faith out of him and blew it away. Beautifully St. Augustine, sermon 14 already cited: "That wavering, brethren, was, as it were, the death of faith. But when he cried out, faith rose again. He would not walk unless he believed, nor would he sink unless he doubted. In Peter, therefore, is to be considered the common condition of us all: that if the wind of any of the temptations tries to overturn us, or the wave to submerge us, we should cry out to Christ."
Verse 31: And Immediately Jesus, Stretching Forth His Hand, Took Hold of Him
31. And Immediately Jesus, Stretching Forth His Hand, Took Hold of Him, and Said to Him: O Thou of Little Faith (the Syriac: O thou endowed with scant faith), Why Didst Thou Doubt? — In Greek, εἰς τί ἐδίστασας, that is: Into what didst thou divide thy mind in two? Didst thou consider two things, and, ambiguous between the two, hesitate and waver? For two things were set before Peter here: namely, the force of the wind inspiring in him fear of being submerged, and the voice of Christ instilling in him trust and security against being submerged. But the force of the wind was more sensible [perceptible to the senses], and therefore more vehement than the voice of Christ: for it snatched Peter's mind to itself, so that, intent upon it alone, and not thinking of Christ's promise, he wavered and feared to sink, when rather he ought to have listened with his whole self and attended to the voice of Christ assuring him, and thus to resist the temptation and fear which the force of the wind was inspiring. Properly therefore in Peter there was here a defect of trust, but this arose from a defect of faith. The same thing happens to anyone tempted in any temptation.
For nearly every temptation arises from diffidence toward God, in that a man trusting in himself or in human helps does not trust in God, nor at once has recourse to Him through prayer. Hence, therefore, let the tempted man learn to turn his mind away from the thing which the temptation puts before it, and to turn it wholly to God, and to fix it on Him, and to implore His help as a suppliant. Beautifully and truly St. Chrysostom: "Just as if a chick," he says, "before it is able to fly, going out of the nest, should fall to the ground, and its mother swiftly, having caught up the fallen chick, restores it to the nest: so did Christ then deal with Peter." Let the tempted man therefore invoke Christ: thus he will resist the temptation and overcome it. Hence faith in Greek is called πίστις, because it is about "that which stands" (περὶ τὸ ὄν), that is, concerning what is station and rest; since faith itself makes our mind stand firm in doubtful matters — [the mind] which before was tossed and wavering. So Clement of Alexandria, book V of the Stromateis: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for," Hebrews 11:1; see what is said there. Indeed, in Latin too faith [fides] is so called "because that which has been said comes to pass [fiat]," says Cicero, book I of the De Officiis. For if Peter had believed the word of Christ, he would not have doubted, nor would he have begun to sink.
Verse 32: And When They Had Gone Up Into the Boat, the Wind Ceased
32. And When They Had Gone Up (Christ and Peter walking on the sea) Into the Boat, the Wind Ceased. — John, 6:21, says: "They were willing (the disciples who were sailing) to receive Him into the boat." Hence St. Chrysostom, Euthymius, and Theophylact are of the opinion that Christ did not wish this, but together with Peter, to confirm his faith, walked for a great distance upon the waters; and only when they were near the shore did He go up into the boat. More correctly Jansenius and others: "They were willing," they say, "because recognizing Christ from His voice, and certain that it was not a phantom (for had it been, they would not have wished to receive it into the boat), they were willing," that is, they invited Christ into the boat; and Christ, yielding to their will and invitation, entered the boat with Peter. Thus, just as "they were willing," so also in actual fact they received Christ "into the boat," thinking that in His presence they would sail prosperously — but in their customary way, little by little. But Christ, present in the boat, effected that which John immediately adds: "And straightway (with Christ received into the boat) the boat was at the land" toward which they were going — namely Bethsaida, as Mark 6:48 says, which was Peter's native town. This was a new miracle of Christ, that from the middle of the Sea of Galilee — a journey of three miles — they completed suddenly and as it were in a moment, and landed at the shore of Bethsaida. Four, therefore, were Christ's miracles here. First, that He Himself walked upon the waters. Second, that He raised up the timid Peter, who was beginning to sink, and made him walk with Him. Third, that on entering the boat, He at once stilled the wind and the storm. Fourth, that He suddenly transferred the boat from the middle of the sea to the shore. So mystically does Christ by His grace make us tread upon the high things of the world, still our temptations, and grant us the port of eternal happiness.
Tropologically, Theophylact: "If we have received Christ into our boat — that is, into the heart — we shall at once," he says, "be found in the land to which we wish to go, that is, in heaven."
Verse 33: Truly Thou Art the Son of God
33. Now They Who Were in the Boat (the disciples, together with the sailors, astonished at so many miracles of Christ), Came and Adored Him, Saying: Truly Thou Art the Son of God. — The Arabic: Thou art in truth the Son of God. Cajetan and Jansenius are of the opinion that the rude crowd of sailors did not recognize the mystery of the Trinity, and that consequently they were calling Jesus the Son of God not by nature but by reason of the excellence of His virtue and dignity, as if to say: We believe Thee to be the Messiah, whom we know is called the Son of God on account of His singular dignity and love, by which, beyond all others, He will love God preeminently as a Father, and in turn will be loved by Him as a Son. But even granting that the sailors understood it thus, surely the Apostles, who were the passengers in the boat, and who had now lived for a long time with Christ, from so many of His discourses and miracles knew Him to be the natural and only-begotten Son of God, says Abulensis; and being confirmed in Him and in that faith through this fresh miracle of the stilled storm, they cried out: "Truly Thou art the Son of God," namely by nature.
Allegorically and tropologically, St. Augustine, sermon 14 On the Words of the Lord according to Matthew: "Think of the boat," he says, "as the Church (and the faithful soul); of the sea, as this world; of the wind and the waves, as persecutions. Because the waves rise, the boat itself can be tossed; but because Christ was there, it cannot be sunk. But in these temptations let the yardarm be raised, so that suspended from the mast it may figure the Cross; to this yardarm — that is, to the Cross of Christ — let simple conversation and pure confession be bound like gleaming sails, and let our sails be washed by the waves, and let the garment be stretched, that it may be found without spot or wrinkle." Whence he at last concludes: "Finally, after this ship was built in Jerusalem, and launched into the middle of this roaring sea, while the rolling billows of waves and the blasts of raging winds carry it this way and that, it came to the shores of all the nations, and whatever foreign merchandise it found it brought home." Thus far St. Augustine word for word, but with some phrases omitted for the sake of brevity.
Verse 34: And When They Had Crossed Over, They Came Into the Land of Genesar
34. And When They Had Crossed Over, They Came Into the Land of Genesar. — Mark: "into the land of Genesareth." St. Chrysostom and Lyranus are of the opinion that this is the land of the Gerasenes, whose inhabitants drove Christ away from them on account of the swine which He had drowned in the lake, at the end of Matthew 8 — as though they had by now come to their senses, the fame of Christ's miracles spreading ever more widely, and had eagerly received Christ; and therefore Christ, knowing this, returned to them as though to a harvest now ripe for the Gospel. But Gerasa (of which Matthew 8 speaks) is one place, and Genesar (of which the present passage speaks) is another. For Gerasa, or Gergesa, was across the Sea of Galilee toward Arabia; Genesareth, on the other hand, was on this side of the sea, near Capharnaum and Bethsaida. For Christ, having in the desert of Bethsaida fed five thousand men with five loaves — men who on that account wished to make Him king — Christ, I say, fleeing from them, ordered the disciples to cross over and to return to the nearer shore of the bay or of the mountain of Bethsaida (as I said at v. 13), where the land of Genesareth was — namely Bethsaida and Capharnaum. Hence Mark says, chapter 6: "He compelled the disciples to go up into the boat, that they might go before Him over the strait to Bethsaida." For since Bethsaida was in the region of Genesar, those who sailed toward Bethsaida were sailing into the land of Genesar. John chapter 6 says that the disciples too came to Capharnaum, which city was on the same bank. And so everything agrees rightly. The name Genesareth signifies "flowering valley." This city was formerly called, and from it the whole neighboring region as well, Cenereth or Ceneroth; thence by a soft inflection it was called Genesar and Genesareth, from which the lake, or Sea of Galilee that borders it, was called the Sea of Cenereth, or the pool of Genesareth. For the Chaldee, for "Cenereth," renders "Genesar." So Andreas Masius, on Joshua 19:33. Hear Josephus, Book III of the Jewish War, chapter 18: "By the lake of Genesar there extends a region of the same name, admirable at once in nature and in beauty. Besides the mildness of the air, it is watered by a most abundant spring, which is called by the natives Capharnaum. The length of the region along the shores of the lake of the same name extends thirty stadia, and its breadth is twenty." Adrichomius holds, and St. Jerome in the Places of the Hebrews hints, that Cenereth, or Genesareth, is the city of Tiberias; but the Chaldee, Franciscus Lucas, and others reject this. Add that Tiberias is far distant from Capharnaum and Bethsaida. Finally, Cenereth was in the tribe of Naphtali, as is clear from Joshua 19:35; but Tiberias was in the tribe of Zebulon. Finally, Cenereth was situated near Capharnaum, as I said at v. 13.
Verse 35: And When the Men of That Place Had Known Him
35. And When the Men of That Place Had Known Him, They Sent Into All That Region and Brought to Him All That Had Any Disease, and Besought Him That They Might Touch but the Hem of His Garment. And as Many as Touched It Were Made Whole. — In Greek, διεσώθησαν, that is, "they were saved"; the Syriac, "they were healed." This signifies the breadth both of the sick men's faith and of Christ's beneficence and miracle: for it was easy for anyone to touch Christ who offered Himself; and His touch healed all who touched Him. For "hem" the Syriac renders "wing," that is, as the Arabic has it, the extremity of the garment. For the flesh of Christ is so efficacious and healthful that it even communicates its own power to the garment by which it is covered. Hence St. Chrysostom gathers: "If those who touched the hem of Christ were healed, how much more those who touch the whole Christ — nay, who eat Him in the Eucharist! For what theriac is more efficacious than the flesh and divinity of Christ?" St. Gregory Nazianzen in Oration 11 relates that his sister Gorgonia was healed of a most grave and incurable disease by the touch of the Eucharist.
Finally, Christ on the occasion of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, by which He fed the five thousand men, wove in that sublime discourse on the spiritual and Eucharistic Bread, which St. John narrates at length in chapter 6.
And here end the acts of Christ, from the second Passover to the third — that is, the acts of the second year of Christ's preaching, as is gathered from John 6:1, where it is said that these things happened around the Passover. For this was the third Passover of Christ already preaching. For John has recounted Christ's first Passover in chapter 2:13; the second in chapter 5:1; and the third, finally, in chapter 6:1 already cited. There remains therefore the third and last year of Christ's preaching — that is, His deeds from the third Passover to the fourth, in which He suffered and was crucified, as is clear from John 13:1; Matthew 26:1; Luke 22:1: which Matthew recounts from chapter 15 to the end of his Gospel.