Long before the birth of Power Point I still used an ordinary camera with film and then the film was transformed into slides.
I visited Israel in 1980 and crossed in a boat to the other side of the lake. Nowadays you only have the pleasure boats that take you in and bring you back.
Halfway across the lake a sudden wind made its appearance and the calm waters changed into big angry waves. This was the only time in the many visits to the Sea of Galilee that I experienced a storm.
While in this scary up and down on the waves, my thoughts went out to Jesus and His disciples sailing on their little boat across the lake.
That experience reminded me also of the storms of life. The same Jesus that calmed the storm can also calm the storms in our lives.
Matthew 8:18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.
Matthew 8:23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.
Matthew 8:24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.
Matthew 8:25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
Matthew 8:26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Matthew 8:27 So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
All three Synoptic Gospels record the stilling of the storm on the lake, the healing of the Gadarene demoniacs, the healing of the invalid woman, and the raising of Jairus’ daughter more or less as a group of miracles, in the order given.
As usual, the account in Mark contains many graphic details not mentioned by either Matthew or Luke. The first of these miracles occurred the night following Christ’s Sermon by the Sea, in which He spoke the parables recorded in Matt. 13.
Thus, in point of time, the stilling of the tempest recorded in ch. 8 follows the parables recorded in ch. 13. Mark and Luke, who follow a more nearly chronological order, have the miracles following the Sermon by the Sea.
It was probably in the early autumn of AD 29 (see on Luke 7:11), during the course of the second missionary tour through Galilee, that the incident here recorded took place.
Now, weary and exhausted by many days of strenuous public ministry, Jesus sought brief respite from the throngs that pressed about Him, by crossing the lake.
Great multitudes. Multitudes of people were now following Jesus wherever He went (see Matt. 4:25; Mark 3:7; 4:1), to the extent that He often had little or no time to eat (see Mark 3:20; DA 333). As Jesus, overcome with weariness and hunger, set out to cross the lake He soon fell asleep (DA 334).
Ministry to the physical and spiritual needs of the people meant, even for Him, the expenditure of vital force that must be restored through rest and food. It was for this reason that the Saviour sought a few hours of release from His incessant labours.
Matthew 8:18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.
Other side. That is, the region of Decapolis, opposite Galilee, to the southeast of the Lake of Galilee, was rather sparsely populated. That region was largely heathen; there is no record of the scribes and Pharisees ever having followed Jesus there.
Matthew 8:23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.
The narrative, begun in v. 18, and interrupted by the incidents recorded in vs. 19–22, is now resumed (see on v. 18).
Got in the boat. According to the account in Mark, Christ was already in the little fishing boat, and simply remained there without going ashore to dismiss the people (ch. 4:1, 36).
However, since Matthew has separated from its context the story of the storm on the lake (see on ch. 8:18), apparently he deems it necessary, in this connection also, to record Jesus’ entering into the boat (see ch. 13:2).
It was probably almost dusk when the disciples shoved the boat away from the shore (see DA 334). This vessel was doubtless the “small ship” placed at Jesus’ disposal (see on Mark 3:9). There were several other fishing boats that left shore at the same time to cross the lake with Jesus (see Mark 4:36).
Matthew 8:24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.
Tempest. Gr. seismos, “a shaking,” “a commotion,” “a tempest,” or “an earthquake.” Our English word seismograph is derived in part from this root. Here seismos denotes the turbulence of the sea, and the terrific force of the furious gusts of wind as they struck the boat.
The Lake of Galilee is noted for sudden storms of great intensity. In this instance the winds came sweeping wildly down upon the waters of the lake from the mountain gorges along the eastern shore (DA 334). However, the evening had been calm, and the disciples had probably not anticipated stormy weather.
Covered with the waves . Literally, “being hidden.” The boat was now filling up with such rapidity that the disciples lost hope of bailing the water out before it became completely swamped.
Several of the disciples were expert fishermen who had spent much of their lives on the Lake of Galilee, and who knew how to handle a boat in a storm. But all their experience and skill failed them on this occasion.
He was asleep. This is the only recorded instance of Jesus’ sleeping. Overcome with utter weariness and hunger at the close of a strenuous day (see DA 333, 334), He no doubt fell asleep quickly (see on Matt. 8:18; Mark 4:38).
Matthew 8:25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
The disciples called to Jesus twice in the darkness, only to have their voices drowned out by the noise of the storm. Then a sudden flash of lightning disclosed to them the fact that Jesus was still asleep (DA 334), whereupon “they came to him, and awoke him” (Luke 8:24).
Astonished that He could sleep through the fury of the gale, and amazed at His apparent unconcern during their frantic efforts to save the ship and their very lives, they addressed Him somewhat reprovingly, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38).
Save us we perish. That is, “save us at once; we are about to perish.” This may well be the cry of one who is pressed hard by the tempests of temptation.
A few months later Peter was to utter the panic-stricken cry, “Lord, save me” (ch. 14:30), apparently forgetful of how Christ had saved all of them upon this earlier occasion.
Matthew 8:26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Though the disciples had seen many wonderful evidences of divine power, it seems that prior to this time Jesus had displayed no control over the forces of nature, and it might not have occurred to them that He could do so.
A great calm. The storm subsided as suddenly as it had risen. No doubt the silence of nature was as startling and impressive as the unexpected fury of wind and wave had been.
Matthew 8:27 So the men marvelled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
Even the winds. That is, in addition to all manner of sicknesses, and even death itself, Christ had power over wind and sea also. It seems that the disciples “marvelled” that the forces of nature also submitted to the will of Jesus.
They were eye-witnesses to what had happened (see Luke 1:2; 1 John 1:1, 2), and never thought for a moment of denying the evidence of their senses. Christ commanded; the elements obeyed.
Today, men who consider themselves wise affirm that it was a mere coincidence, that the storm was bound to subside anyway, and that Jesus spoke just as the wind had spent its fury. We would simply ask them to duplicate the “mere coincidence,” not omitting any detail recorded in the Bible story!
Every time Christ performed a miracle His reputation was at stake. Suppose He had failed even once, as the disciples did upon at least one occasion (Healing of the boy 17:16–20), what would the men of His day have thought, or men today think?
As Christ stilled the winds and the waves of Galilee, so He can still the storms of life that so often burst unexpectedly and with violence over the human soul. Too often the reason we do not experience His power in our lives is that we are “fearful” and have but “little faith”