“And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.”
He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them — the seeing from the shore communicates Jesus' awareness of the disciples' struggle even at distance and in darkness. Walking on the lake — the same Greek verb (peripatōn) used for ordinary walking, applied to the surface of the sea. He was about to pass by them is a theophanic phrase: in Exodus 33:22 and 1 Kings 19:11, God passes by in glory. Jesus' sea-walking is a divine self-manifestation — he is not merely rescuing the disciples but revealing himself.
Church Fathers on Mark 6:48
But it is with reason that we wonder how Mark says, that after the miracle of the loaves the disciples crossed the sea of Bethsaida, when Luke relates that the miracle was done in the parts of Bethsaida [Luke 9:10], unless we understand that Luke means by the desert which is Bethsaida not the country immediately around the town, but the desert places belonging to it. But when Mark says that they should 'go before unto Bethsaida,' the town itself is meant.
But when He had dismissed the crowd, He goes up to pray, for prayer requires rest and silence.
But how could they understand this, except from His going a different way, wishing to pass them as strangers; for they were so far from recognizing Him, as to take Him for a spirit.
Read all 13 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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