April 18, 2026 – Saturday of the 2nd week of Easter
H O M I L Y
In this brief text from the Gospel of John, there are several mysterious details that are full of symbolic meaning. The scene happens immediately after the first multiplication of the bread, the narrative of which we read yesterday morning. We are still at the beginning of Jesus’ public life; and his relationship with his disciples is gradually taking shape. After the first multiplication of the bread, when the crowd wants to crown him their king, Jesus withdraws, alone, to the mountain. The disciples are already used to those nights of prayer that Jesus spent once in a while on the mountain. When it is already evening and Jesus has not returned, they know that he will spent the night there in prayer. They then go down to the shore of the lake and ready their boat to go to the city of Capharnaum, on the other side of the lake. John has then one of those small sentences full of mystery. “It was already night and Jesus had not returned to them”. The mention of the night in John usually means also trouble, lack of comprehension, absence of Jesus. The disciples are somewhat lost.
Suddenly a great wind begins to blow. As it often happens on large lakes (and the lake of Tiberiade is a very large one), strong storms can happen very suddenly. John’s narrative is extremely sober in details. What interests John is simply to show what the disciples experience internally and the relationship that Jesus is establishing with them.
The disciples have already rowed more or less five kilometers when they suddenly see Jesus walking on the water and approaching them. It is interesting to notice that John is not interested in describing a miracle, an extraordinary phenomenon. He simply says that the disciples saw Jesus walking on the see and approaching them, as if this were the most ordinary thing. In their difficulty, their thoughts and their hearts are turning to him and that faith in Him makes him present. When they see him they are filled with fear – a reverential fear. Jesus then reveals himself in all his greatness and his divinity, using the expression “I am”; which is much stronger than “It is me” ! – “I am” is God’s name. And he adds the recommendation that accompanies almost each apparition: “Don’t be afraid”.
Then the disciples want to take him into their boat, but they have already reached the shore. There is no need to imagine that the boat was miraculously transported to the lake’s shore. The most probable explanation is that, while continuing to row, they are so totally overwhelmed by the conscience of Jesus’ presence, that they are unaware of the journey they are making and of their fatigue, before the read the shore.
It is easy to apply this Gospel text to what we live either as individuals or as a community. Often we seem to journey against the current. But Jesus is always travelling with us, although we often fail to recognize him.
Armand Veilleux