In this passage we see the remarkable humanity of Jesus. Being fully human, He understood well how much people need rest. In the Gospel one can find places where Christ withdraws into the mountains to pray and be alone with the Father. Therefore He sends the disciples to a deserted place where they could rest from the crowd, which was so large that they did not even have time to eat. The disciples go away, but the number of people needing help does not become smaller. Seeing these "sheep without a shepherd," the Lord had compassion and Himself remained beside them.

When our strength leaves us and we understand that we urgently need rest and solitude, it can be so frightening to leave those who need us and be alone with the Father. But if we nevertheless decide to do this, the Lord stands in our place and solves the problems for which our own strength is no longer enough.

We will never understand fully what miracle took place two thousand years ago. We can only name some aspects of this incomprehensible event. In the Nativity, an astounding revelation of God about Himself is given to us: it turns out that the One God has an Only-Begotten Son, and this does not contradict the unity of God. But beyond this, the Son, being "greater" than the whole world, enters and is contained within this world, coming into it as a human Child. He is born into this world like all children, having passed through all the stages of development in the womb, and this is the One in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. He receives His human body from the Virgin, who preserved her virginity even in the Nativity.

Further, it turns out that not all time is the same, since there exists a "fullness of time": that moment when God's age-old care in educating humanity leads to the appearance, in this world lying in evil, of such a young Virgin who was able to receive into herself the whole fullness of God's grace... One can keep listing and listing further... But it is better simply to rejoice in this miracle and bring this joy to all people, who so need joy.

Today's reading, telling of another miracle performed by Jesus, continues the theme begun by the description of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. The connection between the two accounts is indicated by the evangelist himself, while also noting that the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves was not enough for the apostles to understand something very important about Jesus' person and His ministry (vv. 51-52). Today's passage speaks of an event that happened during the storm that arose when Jesus' disciples, leaving the Teacher on the eastern shore of Lake Gennesaret, set out for the opposite shore, wanting to reach Bethsaida (vv. 45-48). Storms on Lake Gennesaret can be strong enough to endanger relatively small fishing boats, and the apostles, caught on the lake in such a storm, found themselves in a difficult and dangerous situation.

And once again Jesus Himself completely changes the situation, this time by His very appearance (v. 51). Here, as in the description of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, there are also no details or particulars. Jesus simply appears, and the wind immediately dies down, as though He carries with Himself some other, new world with other laws that act in this world too, bringing it under their authority.

In describing what is happening, the evangelist in effect emphasizes that Jesus does not need to do anything for the miracle to take place. It is enough for Him simply to be present where His intervention is needed, and that is enough, because Jesus bears in Himself the Kingdom of God, about which He constantly tells everyone ready to hear Him. He not only tells, but also shows everyone ready to see what this Kingdom is like, where five loaves are enough to feed several thousand people, and where one can walk on water as on firm ground.