Have you ever thought of the phrase: ‘Lay of the land’? It’s defined as: “a phrase that figuratively or metaphorically means the current state of affairs, how something is organized. Literally, the lay of the land is the arrangement of features upon the land.” It’s a person who has a handle on what’s going on. The same could be said of a lake as well, I suppose. If so, then I have a passage to share with you. The implications of the definition still hold true. We have a group of guys who knew every inch of a body of water, professionally so. They were commercial fishermen. Though they knew the lake, they did not have a ‘hold on what was transpiring around them.’
The body of water is known as: The Sea of Galilee. It is no small lake. It is, to this day, a hopping place for commercial fisherman such as Peter, James, John and Andrew. The sea is 690 feet below sea level. Mt Hermon is at it’s North, and rises to 9200 feet. Between May and October strong winds come down the slopes and throughout the canyons, to sweep across the sea. This causes violently unpredictable and often sudden storms.
Now to our text— Matthew 8.23-27— “And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
23 said— “And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him”. Mark points out in chapter 4 that there were other little ships as well. Putting Matthew, Mark, and Luke together— they were traveling from West to East against the cross winds of this pop-up storm. Not good, but they knew this lake like the back their hand.
24 said— “…behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves…” Mark added that the ship was now “full”. They were listing and shoveling water at this point. They were in a bad way! Now we see something amazing. Jesus’ deity and humanity at once. He is about to demonstrate His power over the natural world; but here we read in 24— “…but he was asleep”.Sleeping is just simply a demonstration of His humanity. He was tired from all of the ministry. His physical body was weary and slept hard enough that the ship movement didn’t wake Him. Luke 8 said He fell asleep “…as they sailed…” I’ve been on flights so early or over night, that as soon as I was buckled, I was out, not to wake up until we landed. His body is exhausted.
The situation is dire. In Luke 8.23 it says “…they were in jeopardy.” Matthew here says “…save us, we perish.” They were convinced they were all going to die. It’s in these times of chaos when God shows Himself to be Lord of all. Interesting though that they ask Jesus… “save us.” They knew He could. But would He? In Mark 4.38 it reads— “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” So it’s not just could He, but would He? At this point they are not questioning His ability as much as His willingness to get involved. The word for “great storm of wind” is a word that can be translated ‘whirlwind’ or ‘hurricane-like’. This is something major. These are fisherman who fish on this sea, but this is a big storm.
Note this though— When someone is that hard asleep, and therefore doesn’t know what is happening; why would you question that persons desire to help? Did they think that He was aware and just didn’t care? I wonder if we do that? Because Jesus is aware of everything, and knows so eternally, before it happened; why question His ability? Furthermore, why question His compassion? Sounds like emotion took over and clouded their (our) ability to reason at that point. I bet you couldn’t have convinced them of that in the moment though… much like us today.
His response: in Matthew 8— “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”; in Mark 4— “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?”; in Luke 8— “Where is your faith?”
First lets look at the phrase— “O ye of little faith”. Jesus often rebuked His disciples for not having or demonstrating faith. In Matthew alone we find: 6.30— “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” 8.26— “And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” 14.31— “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” 16.8— “Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?”
In Mark, Jesus flat-out said it was so “little” that it was— “no faith”. Is that possible? Apparently! So much so, that Luke’s rendering says— “Where…” is it? Vanished, evaporated, so small that it is unrecognizable. Why? Well, because of a storm. Because of a pop-up circumstance that they couldn’t handle. They had a physical lay of the land (lake), but they did not ‘have a handle on what was going on’.
Now, to be fair, they were going to die. BUT… isn’t that the point?! This man just healed, cast out demons, etc. Why would you doubt Him? I wonder if we do that? Does He have the power? Yes! Will He do it? Enter in… faith, trust, belief, doubt, despair, human reasoning, speculation…the whole package. Again— It’s in these times of chaos when God shows Himself to be Lord of all.
I would like to point out a cause and effect. He said in Matthew and Mark— “why are ye fearful”; then He said— “ye have little, or no, faith”. I think there is a direct correlation. The fearful reaction caused an evaporation of their faith. They just experienced a building of faith in a day full of miracles. Now, there is a situation that caused enough fear to suck all of that faith out. Isn’t that the case with us? We are on a high… see God do some amazing things… then all of a sudden… gone! Is He not the same God who saved two people two weekends ago? The very same who brought us two baptisms Sunday? Is He not the same God who brought revival into all of our homes again and again? Is He not able? Your answer is faith based or faithless based… probably depending on your circumstance. And that is THE problem. What? That our answer would be circumstantially based. That’s little or no faith, according to Jesus.
Jesus is making it clear here that our faith does not stand on speculation, but Him! After all, He is— “…Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…” (Hebrews 12.2). Kind of makes you wonder if “O ye of little faith” is a question or a declarative statement? It’s rendering in the scripture has it as a question, but it is imperative in tense. In Mark it said— “How is it” that you don’t have faith, instead of ‘where’ and ‘why’ that Matthew and Luke have. “How” is a good question.
Remember that these guys were fairly new. They were ‘baby’ Christians. Which is no excuse… Jesus is rebuking them still [note to self]. Thinking about that though I was reminded of ‘the sower and seed’ parable. In one of those situations Jesus said— “And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended” (Mark 4.17). These men haven’t had a lot of time to grow down some roots. So this one circumstance immediately knocked them off course; or “offended” them. Something to think about believer… If one thing can rock your faith that easy, maybe you aren’t as grown as you think, and need some more discipleship. Maybe you should sacrifice some of my spare time and spare cash and dig a little deeper with another believer.
Now the text shifts. We see Jesus’ deity in action! Matthew 8.26 says— “Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm”. Mark 4 says— “And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” Luke 8 says— “…Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.” “Peace be still” is something the greeks in the first century used also as: ‘to muzzle’. He shut it down and He shut it up. It didn’t happen gradually. One second there is a hurricane-like wind storm; the next there is peace and calm.
Magnificent isn’t it? To watch God be God and blow us away with His power. The disciples said they were shocked that even ‘the seas obey Him’. That’s because He “spoke” to it, it says. Wow moment for sure. I bet if you and I were there we would have the same reaction they did— “But the men marvelled” (Matthew); “And they feared exceedingly” (Mark); “…And they being afraid wondered…” (Luke). Their faith is evaporated one second and fired-up the next. We are truly fickle and frail, aren’t we? They just experienced a prophetic revealing, and convincing proof of His deity. Deity— that He IS God. [Psalm 29.3; 65.7; 89.9; 93.4; 107.29]
I must point out that they said— “What manner of man is this” in Mark and Luke. Good question. What manner of man is this? When you read the Gospels, when you think of Jesus, when you pray— Do you come away with a sense of wonder and awe? Do you come to Him knowing that you are before the very throne of God Almighty? Do you feel like you could just joke a little or do you feel undone and filleted like a fish? Does His presence make you feel bare and open. Or… not.
He demonstrated His unlimited power over the natural world and simply spoke to end it all… just as He created it. We must stand, or more like fall on our faces before the One and Only! We are weak and easily distracted; He is awesome. We are situational; He is sovereign.
Did you notice the reaction of those guys? Mark 4.4— “And they feared exceedingly…” The only thing more terrifying than having a hurricane outside of your boat is having the God of the Universe in your boat! That kind of fear is an ‘awe-struck’ and ‘surprised-by-glory’ kind of a fear. It is that chill you get when someone has surprised you. This though, is a surprise that should shake you to your core and take you to the mat! If it doesn’t, then I have to ask… “Where is your faith?”