- Christ has power over nature
23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.
In the previous chapter you remember that there was a scribe who said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go” and Jesus replied to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head”. Now we don’t know if the scribe followed Jesus, the text doesn’t say. We assume he did not because Jesus was in fact saying to him, if you follow Me, you are going to suffer and lose your comfort and it won’t be a walk in the park. Jesus had no home, no place to lay his head. In this passage we see him sleeping in a boat in the midst of a violent storm. That was his home in the midst of danger. But what we see here, which is remarkable, is that the disciples followed Jesus. The scribe wanted first to bury his father, in other words he would follow Jesus not now, but later – maybe after a few weeks or months or years. But the disciples had no excuses. They had left all behind. They had counted the cost. They were prepared to face danger, suffering and discomfort. The disciples followed Jesus into the boat. They did not know what was coming and were not necessarily prepared for it. But they had counted the cost, and that is what mattered.- Application: When Jesus calls us to follow him, we don’t know what lies ahead of us. It is good that we can’t see into the future. Jesus doesn’t tell us exactly what will happen to us; He just calls us to follow Him and to trust Him. As the song from the hymnwriter goes, “Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus…. but to trust and obey”.
- ❖ They followed Jesus into a storm. The disciples didn’t know there was going to be a huge storm that day. They went into a boat on the Sea of Galilee, which is about 20 kilometres long and 10 wide. The sea is close to the mountains and at times a stormy, tempestuous wind would rush down from them and stir up the waves. That was what the disciples experienced. Our text says there was a great storm on the sea, not just a storm. Jesus knew there was going to be a storm but was unconcerned. What we see here in the gospel is the recurring reality that if disciples of Jesus Christ follow their Lord, they will come face to face with danger and be perplexed.
- Our text says:24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.
- The disciples most probably thought they were going to drown. They were terrified, but Jesus was asleep. The first lesson in this text is this: When disciples follow Jesus their boat is going to be shaken. They are going to come to their wits end. Their faith is going to be tested not only by natural phenomena like tornadoes, storms, droughts, and floods, but by challenges that will rock their boat. Some of these may be:
- Unemployment
- Covid19
- Death of a child, a miscarriage
- Death of family members, unbelieving family, and friends
- Marriage problems
- Rebellious children
- Mental illness like depression
- Work stress
- Incessant temptation
- Bodily weakness, debilitating sickness
- Financial crises, problems with debt
- Uncertainty about the future
- Who would have thought that at the beginning of 2020 we were going to be hit with an international pandemic where millions of people were going to be infected, millions of jobs were going to be lost, hundreds of thousands were going to die, and all international travel was going to be banned for months? Who would have thought that? Who would have thought that hospitals would be overcrowded, everyone would have to wear a mask wherever they went, that no sporting events would be allowed, and churches would be closed for months?
- Many times, we find ourselves in a middle of a storm, not necessarily a physical storm. Our faith in God was being tested by lockdowns and by restrictions of movement. Our way of life was being changed. We didn’t know how long face masks and lockdowns would continue or how many waves of the corona virus would disrupt our lives.
- What did Jesus do when the storm hit? He slept in the boat! Why? He was in control of the storm!
- What is Jesus doing now?
- He is not sleeping my friend. He is reigning, ruling your storm. He knows when the storm is going to pass. He can say the word, and Covid19 would be gone forever. He knows everything. He is with you in your storm, whatever it may be. Jesus leads us into the storm. He has control over any storm. That is real Christianity. You will have to face the storms, the trials, the heartache, the suffering and the anxiety.
- ❖ They pleaded for deliverance
- 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing”
- The disciples were perplexed and thought they were going to die! Save us, Lord, we are perishing. God also leads us into storms so that we come to our wits end. We don’t know how to go forward. We don’t know what to do. We are perplexed. We have no answers, no solution to our problems. No way out but to look up and to turn to Jesus, the best that we can ever do.
- Save us, Lord, as are perishing!
- It is interesting that the disciples addressed Jesus as Lord. There is no coincidence here. That is the point that Matthew, the evangelist, is making. They addressed Christ as Lord. Although they had not much faith, they had some faith, some knowledge, and they turned to Christ. He is the One we MUST turn to in our trouble, in our perplexity, in our distress, in our fears. We are going to face many trials, many storms, many perplexities, and in each one we must turn to Christ and pray and plead, save us – save me, I am perishing. Jesus has the power and ability to save. Jesus has the answer, He is the answer. Jesus will save you from your storm. Our greatest problem is not physical disasters, or hunger or lack of money. Our greatest problem is sin and its effects. We have all sinned and we must cry out to Christ to save us.
- Save me, Lord, I am perishing. Jesus is mighty and able to save.
- Jesus wants to save us from the guilt of sin, the power of sin, the pollution of sin, and one day from the presence of sin. That is why Lord Jesus came: to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21- 23)
- ❖ Jesus saves
- 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
- In this incident we see the power of God on display, in fact, we see Deity on display. Because Jesus was the Word who, in the beginning, created the winds and the waves during the creation week, it was no problem for him to rebuke the wind and bring about a calm. In another gospel, it is recorded that Jesus said, “Peace, be still”. Jesus asserted his authority over the waves and the winds. He is such a man. We will see later, in the book of Matthew, that Jesus had the power to forgive sin. Jesus has the power to still your storm. He has power over natural phenomena. He has power over leprosy and all sickness. He has power over the lame, the blind and the deaf. He has power over whether you have a job or not. He has power over viruses, like Covid 19. He has power over depression and mental illness. He has power over death and He has power over sin.
- ❖ The disciples marvel at Christ
- 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
- What sort of a man is this, this Jesus?
Have you ever seen a man do this to a storm?
Have you ever heard a man rebuking a life-threatening storm and there is a calm?
No such person exists except Jesus.
What sort of a man is this, that the winds and waves obey him?
The answer is: He is not just a man!
He is not any sort of a man!
He is not just a man of God!
He is the Son of Man, the Messiah and the Christ
He is God. The God-man
That is why He could do this.
If He has this power over sin and the natural elements, how should we respond?
Five words: Bow down and worship Him! Don’t just marvel. Worship Jesus, trust and obey Him. He is worthy!
INTERETHNICMISSIONS 