Jesus Calms The Storm

ByJim Stephens

Scripture:  Matthew 8:23-27 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

23 Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. 24 Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” 26 Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm. 27 The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!” (Matthew 8:23–27 NLT)

Jesus got in the boat with his disciples and started across the lake. Suddenly a fierce storm struck the lake and the boat was in danger! Waves were dumping water into the boat faster than they could bail it out!

Important thing to note here: Just because Jesus is in the boat with you doesn’t mean you won’t run into a pretty serious storm! However, it seems that storms affect Jesus differently than they affect us a lot of the time. Jesus can sleep in the storm because he knows what to do to stop it! They were probably wise to wake him up.

Jesus’ response to their fearful shouts: “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Jesus didn’t deny that the storm was fierce or that the boat was filling with water. He did point out that faith is the antidote to fear and destruction in the storm.

Their response to Jesus calming the storm: “Who is this man?” They started off knowing Jesus as a man and it took their entire time with him to know him as the Son of God. We start off knowing Jesus as the Son of God and it takes a lifetime (if ever) to get to know him as a man. One of my primary goals as we move through the Gospels this year is that we will more than ever before discover the humanity of Jesus our Savior as well as the Divinity of Christ our Lord!

Prayer:

Father, Thanks for this picture of the tired, sleeping Jesus awaking as the powerful Master of the Storm. May we learn that Jesus is human enough to understand our fears and weaknesses (and human enough to need a nap) and divine enough to calm the storm and save us and our little boat! May our little faith grow as we grow in knowing the real Jesus!