As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea,
so that the boat was being swamped by waves;
but he was asleep.
The disciples probably should have been impressed that Jesus could sleep through such circumstances. But in the midst of their own struggle and fear for their lives they could only regard the calm of Jesus as an affront. Was he ignorant of their struggle? Did he not care? He, perhaps, would be fine no matter what happened, just as even Jonah survived being thrown overboard in a storm. But what of them, the secondary figures in the story? Without him, they thought, they would be lost. It was probably the case that Jesus permitted this scenario to occur so they would learn to trust him more. At the moment, they were still trusting him as a man more than as God, such that his sleep seemed to mean he was unaware of their plight. But he was also God, the one of whom it was said "he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (see Psalm 121:4). It was right of them to make their petitions known to him so that his peace could guard there hearts (see Philippians 4:6). But if they really understood who he was they would have done so without anxiety. The sleep and apparent lack of immediate response even while the danger seemed to be increasing to unmanageable and inescapable levels would not have been cause for doubt. However, although they might perhaps have articulated it in that way on dry land in good weather, they did not really understand before experiencing it.
He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?"
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm.
The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this,
whom even the winds and the sea obey?"
The Lord relativized the apparent with evidence of the absolute. The causality of wind and waves and sea and storm was revealed to be inferior to the causality of the words and will of Jesus himself. This was a theophany, a revelation of the divine identity of Jesus. He demonstrated who he was by doing that which was proper only to God himself.
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men
and were at their wits' end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven (see Psalm 107:25-30).
Now we may be tempted to think that Jesus was a bit cruel in subjecting them to a test from which he could have kept the safe entirely, had he wished to do so. But we must observe that they trusted him more after being delivered from the test than they would have or could have if they had never been tested. Even if they had possessed the head knowledge of Jesus' divinity and power it never would have reached the level of the heart if not for that experience. They could have known that his was worthy of trust without really learning to trust him or to stake their lives on that trust.
The difficult lesson for us is that Jesus does sometimes permit us to be tested. He even appears at times to be asleep and unresponsive. Even when we cry out to wake him he sometimes seems slow to rise and speak the words that will calm the storms. Do we recognize that having him with us in our boat is enough? He does want us to make our requests known to him. But he doesn't want us to panic, which finally serves no purpose, and makes us more likely to capsize before his deliverance comes. We must learn not to let storms undermine our confidence. If we come to trust in the process we can grow in a more unshakable experience of his peace in our lives.
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