Jesus Calms the Storm

Take Every Passage to Prayer - Volume 2, The Gospels
^{Sunday July 14, 2024}

Matthew 8:18, 23-27, Mark 4:35-41, Luke 8:22-25

Father, I don’t want to be a believer who panics with every wave of adversity in my life. “Oh, no! I’m going to die! God is not faithful! He doesn’t have this! Woe is me!” Father, do You know who I want to be? The believer who can sleep in the boat when the storm is raging, confident that You have everything under control. Please help me to stop responding to adversity with a heart of panic but to face that adversity with the peace that comes from knowing that everything is under Your loving and all-powerful sovereign control. Amen.

Father, Jesus just had a conversation with disciples about them not being fully committed to the work of the Kingdom of God. Human nature being what it is, I can imagine the other disciples feeling pride because they weren’t making excuses why they couldn’t commit to the ministry. However, Jesus knew that even His most loyal disciples, those who are condemning the other disciples, did not have the kind of faith that they thought they had. Jesus intended to illustrate the point.

It was the evening. Jesus had spent much of the day teaching. It was now time to cross the Sea of Galilee to escape the crowds as had already been planned earlier. Jesus and His disciples got into a boat. The text tells us that other boats were also boarded, evidence that Jesus’ ministry team has become quite large.

After the boats were launched, Jesus, the Son of God, commanded a violent storm to form over the lake. He then shut His eyes to get some sleep at the back of the boat, not in the slightest bit concerned about the waves that soon crashed over the side of the boat.

Terrified , they woke up Jesus and accused Him of being unfaithful and uncaring. How could He sleep when everyone else is frantically trying to keep the boat afloat? Father, this is something we all do. It is something I have done as well. We pray asking for You to rescue us in a time of danger. However, we don’t see an immediate resolution. Therefore, we blame You for being unfaithful and uncaring. How can we judge these disciples?

The text tells us that they referred to Jesus as the “Lord” (Matthew 8, ??????, the one who owns me, such as a servant is owned by his master), the “Teacher” (Mark 4, ??????????, one who teaches about our relationship with God), and the “Master” (Luke 8, ?????????, a superintendent or overseer). The disciples are using terms that suggest they have complete trust in Him even though they obviously do not. It’s as if they knew what was really going on – that their lack of faith has just been deliberately exposed by Jesus. Now they are trying to appease Him by declaring Him to be their Lord, Teacher, and Master even though they don’t really believe Him to be in their hearts.

Jesus makes His point:

“Do you have so little faith? Why are you so afraid (NIV)?”

The men who, a few hours before, had most likely criticized the other disciples for lacking commitment to the ministry of Jesus now had their own lack of faith exposed for all to see. Despite all of the miracles they had witnessed, they clearly didn’t believe Jesus to be the Son of God before the storm. Why else would they say

“What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him (NIV)!”

Father, we might describe our faith in excellent terms when the waters of our lives are calm and gentle. However, when the storms of life come, our true faith is revealed. If we doubted You in the storms, we also doubted You in the calm, though we might not have known it.

The text tells us that Jesus stood up in the boat and commanded the wind and the waves to be quiet and still. The air and the water knew who Jesus is. They’ve been obeying His commands since creation. In fear of Him, they immediately obey Him. We are now about to see how demons, who also knew that Jesus is the Son of God, fear Him as well. Amen.