The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 81

we murmur instead of being grateful. The transport of reaction finds expression, as usual, through Peter. We need not try to account for the extra.ordinary request he now made, further than by saying that it wo.s due to the sudden jc,y of meeting the Friend in whom we.a all safety, after e. night of such tension and toil and disturbance of thought. And the Lord approved Peter's impulse, else he would not bave bid him oome, and eventually does not rebuke him for attempting the thing, but for nr,t succeed- ing. Impulse has its fit place, only it needs to be strongly backed. There are things now that need to be done, but which will seem o.s impossible as walking on the sea except to the eye of warm feeling. This unreasoning impulse of Peter'e, too, penetrated more deeply into the nature of miracle than a good deal of our would-be wisdom pene- trates. For it saw no reason why the miracle should not be evinced in Ptter's person as well as in Jesus'. And our Lord, by ascribing Pater's failure solely to lack of faith, implies that any one with faith enough could walk on the sea just as 1:e himself did. ]:!:e himself did it by faith. But did our Lord mean that if only a man believed he could walk on the water, this would give him power to do so? Certainly not. Faith is needed, but a legitimate occasion is also needed. It is harmony, identification with God and his will, that give power to work miracle. The miracles of our Lord are, therefore, a great promise to human nature; in the Person of Jesus it was shown what that nature is capable of when in its right and normal relation to God. But the results of faith did not last one moment beyond the faith itself. Peter's fear for one moment excluded faith ; the waves shut him off from God, a.nd at once he sank. We do not by once believing receive the Spirit in retention as our own; the Spirit proceedeth from the Father a.nd the Son, and only while connected with the Son does the Spirit flow from_ him to us. We fail and sink as soon as we separate ourselves and begin to live by ourselves and for ourselves. We are strong with a strength far beyond our own when we live in God; with his will at heart and intending to work as his ha.nd. in the world. But that is the perfect human condition, habitually realized by our Lord a.lone. There is a lower condition consistent with salvation-the condition in which Peter, conscious of his weakness and seeing his danger, cries, "Lord, save me I" Is there any pa.rt of your life, any matter of thought or conduct in regard to which you feel that you are sinking, and must shortly be overwhelmed altogether? then consider the prompt, will- ing, efficient help that answers the cry. The lasting result of this incident on the disciples was their deepened conviction of our Lord's Divinity. How are we to arrive at that conviction; to feel that our proper attitude is one of worship, and that in his presence we are secure against all calamity; that for rest of mind and spirit, for educa- tion of conscience, for fulness of help in all for which we are insufficient, we need go no further than him? I do not suppose that this one miracle would have convinced that boat's crew; but their minds had been gradually accumulating material for under- standing him, and this incident was but a more brilliant light set in front of that material, e.nd which gave the right reading of it. The same material, or nearly the same, is available for us. Let us be patient, sincere, and hopefuL These men who were with him from day to day did not all at once reach the joy of recognizing in the Friend they had learned to love their God and Saviour ; but their experience of his love, his truth, his wisdom, his power, gradually separated him in their thoughts from a.11 othars and gave him the highest place.-D.