Matthew 8:23-27
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
My 2 cents:
ReplyDeleteOn the surface of it, it's pretty amazing the disciples response to Jesus' calming the storm. I think that perhaps this response was coming from the fishermen contingent of the boat. These disciples used to make their living from the sea. They were very familiar with storms and the dangers of them. The weather was the most powerful force in their lives. They were, probably, in their hearts, superstitious of the weather, and perhaps even worshiped it a little.
When Jesus proved His mastery even over the weather, this was far more personal to them than anything else. This is when it became real. Now, there was something more to fear than their greatest fear.
One other possible explanation is that "the men" may have not been the disciples, but people in other boats.
I just noticed the relation of this story to the last (where Jesus turns away people who want to follow). This is a good reason Jesus didn't just let anyone follow - because of the storms. The ones who did follow Him turned to Him in the storm, and He calmed it. If we don't turn to Him in the storm, we will fall away and/or be destroyed.
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