Who we think Jesus is matters. The disciples were stunned after Jesus calmed a dangerous storm on the Sea of Galilee. Luke 8:25b The disciples were terrified and amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “When he gives a command, even the wind and waves obey him!”[1]
The group was crossing the Sea when an unexpected storm came in. Even the experienced fishermen among them were frightened, so this must have been a storm of great proportion. Jesus, while true God, was also true man. He was exhausted from ministering to the people and slept through the storm until the disciples woke Him.
Incomplete Picture of Jesus
The fishermen in the boat had experienced a great catch of fish when Jesus called them. All the disciples had watched Jesus heal through creative miracles. They had even witnessed Jesus raise a boy from the dead in the town of Nain (Luke 7:11-17). As a result, the disciples and the crowds praised Jesus as a prophet who came to help people.
The disciples would have known that only God could control the weather. The Psalmist tells of a God who can calm the storm. Psalm 107: 24 They, too, observed the Lord’s power in action, his impressive works on the deepest seas… 28 “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. 29 He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. [2]
The disciples saw Jesus only as a good prophet, not as God. Jesus’ action on the Sea of Galilee showed His true identity. He was much more than they thought. The disciples’ faith needed to grow because Jesus could do more than they expected.
Who is This Man?
Often, we want to understand God and thus limit what He can do to what we, as humans, can do. The disciples didn’t trust Jesus to get them through the storm and accused Him of not caring. They didn’t realize that God in the flesh was in the boat and was not worried about the storm. Jesus did care for them and had the power to still the storm, which He did with a straightforward rebuke.
If we don’t understand Jesus as One who loves us, we will not trust Him to care for us. As a result, we will try to do things ourselves. But Jesus loves us so much that He willingly suffered and died for each of us to pay the price for our sins. He wants us to accept the gift of salvation He won for us. We cannot earn salvation through our own efforts; we must trust that Jesus can do so. This requires faith.
The Battle for Wholeness
It was Jesus’ idea to go across the lake to the area of the Garasenes. The only thing He did there was to free a demonically controlled man. But if we look closer, the demonic may have tried to resist Jesus coming as they knew who He is. Luke 8: 24 The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm.[3] “The verb ‘rebuked’ may indicate that there was an evil force behind the storm. The Greek word is the same as that used when Jesus cast out demons, telling them to be silent. It means “Be calm and remain calm.”[4] There was a battle prior to Jesus making the demonic man whole. Who we think Jesus is matters in the battle to be made whole.
To learn more, listen here: https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/whole-beyond-our-brokenness
[1-3] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation . Tyndale House Publishers.
[4] Barton, B. B., Veerman, D., Taylor, L. C., & Osborne, G. R. (1997). Luke (p. 209). Tyndale House Publishers.