Luke 8:22-25 (NIV) One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
This event came fairly early in Jesus’ ministry. His followers were still being surprised daily by what He could do, and were still trying to put the pieces together in their minds as to exactly who He was.
When Jesus told them to make for the far side of the lake, they obeyed without argument. They knew that Jesus never made an idle suggestion; He always had a reason for what He did. But they didn’t expect the storm.
Several of Jesus’ followers were seasoned fishermen who made their living on this inland sea. They knew how dangerous the storms were that came down from the surrounding hills. They could be deadly. But these men had a lot of experience even with the storms.
When the storm rose up, the men employed their usual tactics to weather it, not concerned enough about their safety to disturb Jesus, who was asleep on cushions in the back of the boat (Mark 4:38). But the intensity of the storm quickly ratcheted up to the point that waves were crashing over them, and putting them in danger of being swamped and sunk. At that point they woke Jesus with the grim news that they were all going to die.
They didn’t really expect Jesus to do anything about the storm. They had seen Jesus take on sickness and demons, but the wind and the waves were outside of anyone’s control except for God Himself. They merely thought that He should be apprised of their dire situation.
Jesus looked around at the towering waves crashing over the boat with spray being blown off their tops by the shrieking wind. Then He stood up and simply yelled a command to the storm that it stop. A simple rebuke, as if disciplining a child throwing a tantrum. And in an instant the wind stopped and the waves dropped to their normal height.
The change happened so quickly that the disciples nearly fell over on the suddenly steady deck. Then Jesus looked at them all, soaking wet and shivering, with eyes as wide as saucers, and simply said, “Where is your faith?” before lying down again on the cushions and quickly falling back asleep.
If the storm had scared the disciples, the fact that the storm had obeyed Jesus terrified them. They had never seen anything like it in all of their collective years on the water. They knew that Jesus was an amazing person, a miracle worker, a prophet, probably even the Messiah. But this was far beyond what any mere mortal could do. So they asked each other in hushed voices, “Who is this guy?”
Father, Jesus kept on demonstrating who He was, God in the flesh, to anyone who had eyes to see. But even His own closest disciples were slow to believe. Today there are many who will accept Jesus as a good man or a great teacher. But they stop short of accepting Him as truly God. He has proved that to me by the changes in my life that He brought when He came into my heart. Help me to show others that same great truth through my life every day. Amen.