Matthew 14:13-16:12
New Catholic Bible
13 Jesus Feeds Five Thousand Men.[a]When Jesus received this news, he withdrew from there in a boat by himself to a deserted place, but when the people learned of it, they followed him on foot from the towns.[b] 14 When he came ashore and saw the vast crowd, he had compassion on them and healed those who were sick.
15 When evening approached, the disciples came up to him and said, “This is a deserted place and the hour is now late. Send the people away now so that they can go to the villages to buy some food for themselves.” 16 Jesus replied, “There is no need for them to depart. Give them something to eat yourselves.” 17 But they answered, “All we have here are five loaves of bread and two fish.” 18 Jesus said, “Bring them here to me.”
19 Then he ordered the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.[c] 20 They all ate and were satisfied. Then they gathered up the fragments that were left over—twelve full baskets. 21 Those who had eaten numbered about five thousand men, in addition to women and children.[d]
22 Jesus Walks on the Water.[e] Then Jesus instructed the disciples to get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. 23 After he sent them away, he went by himself up on the mountain to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. 24 Meanwhile, the boat was already some distance from the shore, battered by waves and a strong wind.
25 During the fourth watch[f] of the night, Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the water they were terrified, and they cried out in their fright, “It is a ghost!” 27 But Jesus immediately spoke to them, saying, “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”
28 Peter answered, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you across the water.” 29 He said, “Come!” Then Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he realized the force of the wind, he became frightened. As he began to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught hold of him, saying, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 After they got into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Those in the boat fell to their knees in worship, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”[g]
34 Jesus Heals the Sick at Gennesaret. After they had completed the crossing, they landed at Gennesaret.[h] 35 When the people there recognized him, they sent word of his presence throughout the region. They also brought him all those who were sick 36 and begged him to let them touch only the edge of his cloak. All who touched it were completely healed.
Chapter 15
Traditions That Falsify the Law of God. 1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 [i]“Why do your disciples ignore the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before eating.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone says to his father or mother, “Anything I might have used for your support is dedicated to God,” 6 then he is excused from his duty to honor his father or mother.’ To uphold your tradition you have made God’s word null and void. 7 You hypocrites! How rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said:
8 ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
10 Clean and Unclean.[j] Then he called the people to him and said to them, “Listen and understand. 11 It is not what goes into one’s mouth that defiles a person; what comes out of the mouth is what defiles him.”
12 The disciples approached and said to him, “Do you realize that the Pharisees were greatly offended when they heard what you said?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Leave them alone. They are blind guides. And if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said to him, “Explain that parable to us.” 16 Jesus replied, “Are even you still without understanding? 17 Do you not realize that whatever goes into the mouth passes through the stomach and is discharged into the sewer? 18 But what comes out of the mouth originates in the heart, and this is what defiles a person. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander. 20 These are the things that defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not make anyone unclean.”
21 The Faith of a Pagan Woman.[k] Jesus then left that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.[l] 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out to meet him and cried out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David. My daughter is sorely tormented by a demon.” 23 But he did not say a word to her in reply.
So his disciples came and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt at his feet, saying, “Lord, help me!” 26 He answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She replied, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, you have great faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.
29 Jesus Heals Many People.[m]After leaving that region, Jesus walked along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and going up onto the mountain, he sat down. 30 Large crowds flocked to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. 31 The crowds were amazed when they observed the mute speaking, the crippled made whole, the lame walking, and the blind with their sight restored, and they gave praise to the God of Israel.
32 Jesus Feeds Four Thousand Men. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I am moved with compassion for these people, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”
33 The disciples said to him, “Where can we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to feed such a great crowd?” 34 Jesus asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”
35 He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward, they picked up seven baskets full of what remained. 38 Those who had eaten numbered four thousand men, not counting women and children. 39 And when he had sent away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.
Chapter 16
The Demand for a Sign.[n] 1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to put him to the test they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘Tomorrow there will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning you say, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4 An evil and adulterous[o] generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.
The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.[p] 5 In crossing to the other side of the lake, the disciples had forgotten to bring bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Be careful, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They talked about this among themselves and concluded: “It is because we brought no bread.”
8 Aware of what they were saying, Jesus said, “O you of little faith, why are you talking about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand and the number of baskets you collected? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many baskets you gathered? 11 How could you fail to see that I was not speaking about bread when I said, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees’?” 12 Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the yeast used in bread but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Footnotes
- Matthew 14:13 Exegetes have named this the “Section of the Loaves” because of the frequency with which the word “bread” is used therein. It seems to symbolize the teaching and salvific acts of Jesus, with a particular reference to the founding of the Church.
- Matthew 14:13 At the time of the temptation in the desert, Jesus had refused to renew the miracle of the manna either for himself or to attain his own success. Moreover, six times in the Gospels (two of which are in Matthew) we read an account like this one. Thus, the first generation of Christians attached a particular importance to the deed. It is first of all an act of mercy, a sign of the goodness of God, who satisfies material and spiritual hunger at the last days. It is also the manifestation of Jesus as the new Moses, as the new founder of the people—he too feeds the crowd in the desert (Ex 16); he acts like the great men of God such as Elisha (2 Ki 4:42-44). In addition, something even more mysterious is part of this extraordinary moment. How can one not discern in this account a climate of Liturgy? For Christians the giving of bread announces the joy of the Eucharist: the Lord present in the assembly, satisfying every hunger with the Bread of Life that is himself (see Jn 6).
- Matthew 14:19 Note the resemblance of this verse to that of the institution of the Eucharist (Mt 26:26). Obviously in the eyes of the primitive Church this meal was a prelude and prefiguration of the Eucharistic banquet, which in its turn recalls the Messianic banquet. Particularly allusive are the breaking of the bread and the action of the disciples in distributing the bread.
- Matthew 14:21 In addition to women and children: women and children were not permitted to eat with men in public. Hence they were in a place by themselves and would greatly increase the number given for the men: 5000!
- Matthew 14:22 For people of the Bible, raging waves and the dead of night evoke the forces hostile to God and his faithful. In calming the storm, Jesus has manifested himself as the master of the powers of evil. To follow him means to escape from their clutches. This is a dangerous path at times in which we must risk everything for him because it is he. “It is I,” he says, and in these words any Christian, after the Ascension and Resurrection, would detect echoes of “I am,” the decisive self-disclosure of God (Ex 3:14; Isa 43:10; 51:12). In Peter himself, the first among the disciples, we discern the drama of every believer: strong when he entrusts himself totally to the Lord, yet threatened and uncertain when he does not take refuge in him alone.
- Matthew 14:25 Fourth watch: 3:00–6:00 A.M. The Romans divided the night into four watches: (1) 6:00–9:00 P.M., (2) 9:00–midnight, (3) midnight–3:00 A.M., (4) 3:00–6:00 A.M. The Jews divided the night into three watches: (1) sunset–10:00 P.M., (2) 10:00 P.M–2:00 A.M., (3) 2:00–sunrise. Apparently, the apostles labored for several hours against the storm waves. Their enthusiasm of the previous evening for an overly earthly Messianism had greatly evaporated in the face of hard labor and the fear of being shipwrecked.
- Matthew 14:33 Son of God: the apostles probably used this title in a Messianic way (see Mt 3:17; 11:25-30) but with superficial understanding. Since Jesus’ divine nature was hidden during his life on earth, the disciples did not yet grasp his divinity at this time (Phil 2:5-8). But they were beginning to realize that he was the Messiah.
- Matthew 14:34 Gennesaret: the plain northwest of the lake of the same name.
- Matthew 15:2 The “oral” tradition consisted of practices and regulations meant to fill out the written Law of Moses; many Pharisaic Jews did not hesitate to claim that this tradition, like the Torah, had been revealed on Sinai. The oral tradition allowed for a vow by which a man could free himself from his obligations to his own parents: the material goods meant for them were promised to God and thus declared “sacred offerings.”
- Matthew 15:10 Every ancient religion attempted to distinguish clearly the two notions of clean and unclean as regards objects and affairs of life. The Book of Leviticus proposes a developed code of ritual purity, which was above all a way of expressing the grandeur of God and of establishing laws of respect in the behavior of human beings. However, as time went on, this great inspiration was lost in a soulless formalism. In the tightly regulated life of the Jews of the first century A.D., the dispositions of the heart held such a small place that even the apostles have trouble understanding the teaching of Jesus. He unmasks hypocrisy. How can one not be shocked by his words, which overturn even the religious assurance of humans!
- Matthew 15:21 The Israelites regarded themselves as children of God because they were heirs of the promises made to the patriarchs and depositaries of the divine revelation. On the contrary, they called the Gentiles dogs out of contempt for their idolatrous and immoral practices. Jesus makes use of these two terms but softens the second, which in the Greek is “little dogs,” i.e., pet dogs in the home. His point was that the Gospel was to be offered first to the Jews. The woman understood his implication and was willing to settle for the “crumbs.” Jesus rewarded her faith.
- Matthew 15:21 Tyre and Sidon: these were Phoenician cities; Canaanite was the ancient name of their populations.
- Matthew 15:29 This second miracle of the loaves has many analogies with the first multiplication of the loaves. Therefore, some exegetes speak of a duplication, i.e., a different reporting of the same episode. However, there are so many diverse circumstances in the two episodes that Matthew and Mark believe in two distinct miracles.
- Matthew 16:1 The preaching, works, and extraordinary miracles of Jesus constituted a convincing proof of his Messiahship. The Pharisees and Sadducees demand a sign from heaven, like the stopping of the sun. Jesus flatly refuses to do so. He offers only the sign of Jonah, which foreshadows the mystery of his Death and Resurrection (see Mt 12:38-42).
- Matthew 16:4 Adulterous: i.e., unfaithful to the Lord.
- Matthew 16:5 The disciples at first misunderstand their Master, for whom the nourishment of humans is not reduced to bread alone. Jesus wishes to preserve his own from legalism. The yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees is the rigid teaching of specialists of religion who snuff out freedom, joy, spontaneity, and commitment.
