I know that we studied this event only three years ago in the form we found it in Matthew 8. But there has been a lot of water under the keel of our little fishing boats during that time. And I’m sure that we can always look at this a little differently even if that wasn’t true. The lessons contained in these verses, need to be reiterated quite often.
What we have here is a microcosm of life. This is the whole universe in a goldfish bowl. Or to be more specific – a universe on one small lake – 13 x 7 miles, 680 feet below sea level. The Sea of Galilee is the lowest fresh water lake in the world, and second only to the salty Dead Sea. It is a place of life and death; a place of occupations and leisure time. I have seen beautiful pictures of the Sea of Galilee, but this scripture depicts terror and ugliness. On one shore can be seen the Lord Jesus Christ, and on other we find a man with a legion of demons. The Jews live on one side, and there are idolaters and unbelievers on other side. Big cities, fruitful farms, and wilderness can all be found surrounding place.
We are reminded that we don’t need to be literally at sea know the feeling of helplessness. One day we may be secure within our homes, our finances and our families. And then in the next day, while still in the same locality, all our security may be stripped away. Troubles and pain can’t be confined to few localities on earth or only specific addresses. “Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward.”
We note that the life illustrated here is that of a Christian. These are disciples of Christ. That means that they were, first of all, men of faith in the promise of God. These men had known the message of John Baptist and had truly repented of sin before God. When John said, “Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin” they looked and followed Him. Not only did the believe and repent, but they became Jesus’ students. They had denied themselves, taken up their crosses and followed the Son of God. They were what you and I are supposed to be. And it appears that Jesus was preceding the disciples in every step of their Christian lives. Christ is directing the show before us. “Now it came to pass on certain day, that Jesus went into a ship with his disciples.” He gave to them their directions – “Let us go over unto the other side of the lake.” He has a work to do in country of the Gadarenes, opposite Galilee. The disciples know nothing of that work at this point. Jesus could have chosen another route to get there. They all could have walked along the shore. Twenty miles to someone who used to walking is not all that far. But in the wisdom of God, Christ chose to sail this time.
And the Christians were dutifully following the Lord’s directions. If some of them had their druthers, they might have stopped to drop a net into the sea, but they didn’t. What if they wanted to go in a different direction? They might have followed the shoreline rather than sail across Likely some of them may have wanted to sleep? I wouldn’t be surprised if some weren’t just bit disgruntled that they had to work while others slept. Certainly not all were needed to steer, or row, trim the sails or stow gear. Probably, Jesus was not alone in His slumbers, at least until the storm began.
The point is – the disciples were doing the will of the Lord, as best they were able. Sometimes the storms of life descend from the mountain of God in chastisement for our sin. “Whom the Lord loveth he chastneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” But then again, sometimes we may be in the very center of the will of God, living so closely to the Lord that there is no room for sin, and still the storm descends.
The best of lives are going to have their share of troubles.
Those fishermen/sailors started out in good weather, but oh how quickly it changed. The Sea of Galilee is unlike any other lake in world because of its altitude and location. There are large ravines, coolies, aroyos cutting down from hills above. Storms can descend in seconds down on lake, and they come spinning like tornados. The disciples were like righteous Job – everything was going just fine – and then…. Then the Sabeans fell on Job’s oxen and asses – taking everything. Lightning hit his herd of sheep and killed every last one of them. The Chaldeans swept down on his camels and carried them back to Babylon. And the house of Job’s eldest son collapsed, killing all his children. Disaster fell in matter of moments on every aspect of his life.
In the case of these disciples, it may be that the prince of the power of the air sent these waves. The wind came up by the permission of God, but perhaps at the hand of Satan. What was the object of Jesus’ journey? A man called Legion. Our Saviour is on His way to work one of His more notable miracles. He will by grace snatch a man from the very brink of Hell. Satan is very interested in this trip across the lake. He will do all within his power to stop that little ship. He is defending his property. He is trying to defeat the Son of God in order to usurp His place. And remember that He is “the prince of the power of the air.” Look at verse 24 – Jesus “rebuked” the wind. Usually that word is used in the sense of correcting someone who is in wrong. “Stop what you’re doing, win. You’ve got no business being here this day.” Christian don’t be surprised when your good things head south. We have an enemy who hates us for Jesus’ sake. Maybe we should check to see if we are worthy of Satan’s hatred. And if things go haywire, remember the words of Job: “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
In this case it APPEARED that the Lord didn’t care what was happening.
The Lord Jesus was asleep. I suppose that Christ could have called on refreshments out of His royal and divine storehouse. But He rarely if ever actually did that. He truly humbled himself and became a full man in every sense of the word, yet without sin. He took His refreshment from the same source as your own. And never man worked as did this God-man. He really needed this sleep. So Jesus was asleep in the ship, even in the midst of a ship-destroying storm. It parallels the delay in Jesus’ arrival in Bethany during dark days of Lazarus’ suffering. “When he had heard, therefore that (Lazarus) he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.” This is strange behaviour for someone who loves his people.
But I think Jesus slept in order to bring his disciples to the end of themselves. Several of these disciples grew up on this lake – they might have considered themselves to be experts. But God wants no “experts,” He wants us all to remain in the process of growth, reaching forward. Christ wanted to hear His disciples pray, and He wasn’t going to wake until they were broken. Isn’t it difficult to believe that Jesus didn’t awaken during the storm? The reason was because He knew exactly what was happening out there on the sea. But he wanted to hear His people empty themselves and come to Him. Christ hears – He is not deaf – He is not otherwise indisposed – He never sleeps. “Your father knoweth what ye have need of before ye ask.”
And He not only cares about your need, but He’s in control – needs, solutions, answers, everything. Sure He’s in control of the wind – it bloweth and listeth where God pleases. But God is also in control of your needs under that wind. You have no needs but what the Lord wants you to need. Just as one person in pain might need morphine, while another with same injury gets by with asprin or nothing at all. There is nothing of which the Lord is not in control. And in this case He completely corrected the problem.
Of what was the Lord most concerned?
Was it the wind? Was it the condition of the boat during or after the storm? Was it whether or not they had been blown off course and delayed in their ETA? No, He was concerned with the spiritual condition of His people. He lifted the disciples from the physical world back to real world, the eternal world the world of the Spirit and faith.
After the trial was complete, Jesus wanted his people to perform some introspection. It is very important to analyse ourselves on a regular basis. For most of us, this is something we don’t do very often, and it shows. The needed analysis was not physical but spiritual: “Where is your faith?” It is not a matter of our pain tolerance, will power or strength. How strong is our faith and in what or in whom do we trust?
“Where is your faith?” Those were the Lord’s precise words – “where?” The Lord knew them well enough so the questions wasn’t – “how much” or “what kind” of faith. “Where is your faith” now that it is really needed. We notice that the disciples didn’t answer the question. Was their faith in bed, more asleep than was Jesus in the midst of the storm.
Where was their faith? It had been in themselves. They had been trusting their navigation, sailsmanship, bailing-ability. It had been in their circumstances – at least when the weather was good. It looked like a good enough evening for sailing across the Sea of Galilee. Where was their faith? – It had not been in the good will God. At that point they were not sure that “all things were working together for their good and God’s glory.” They weren’t sure that they could trust God to know what was best for them. They didn’t believe that “their light affliction was only for a moment and would work for a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Their faith was not in the mission of the Lord. Sometimes the battle can be won only at the expense of a few soldiers. Judson buried several Christian wives in battle to win the Burmese to Christ. Is that too high a price to pay when the whole world is not to be compared to a single soul? If the disciple’s drowning would win the Gadarines – or even just one demon-possessed man, it would have been a bargain. But do most Christians think that way?
To get the most out life, we must work on our faith and our relationship to the Lord.
Trust God – He knows what He is doing.