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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 8:23

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And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him,

23. a ship ] Rather, the ship or fishing-boat, i. e. the boat which Jesus always used.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

23 27. The Storm on the Lake. Mar 4:35-41; Luk 8:22-25

St Mark, as usual, adds some interesting details: “it was evening-there were other little ships-a great storm of wind the waves beat into the ship He was asleep on a pillow in the hinder part of the ship.”

With all these points of difference in seven short verses, how can it be said that St Mark’s Gospel is an abridgment of St Matthew’s?

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Into a ship – This was on the Sea of Tiberias. The ship in which they sailed was probably a small open boat with sails, such as was commonly used for fishing on the lake.

His disciples – Not merely the apostles, but probably many others. There were many other ships in company with him, Mar 4:36. This circumstance would render the miracle much more striking and impressive.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mat 8:23-27

And when He was entered into a ship.

1. A storm arose while the disciples were following their Master. Sea of life. Storms in the voyage-even when sailing according to the Masters orders.

2. While the disciples were alarmed, their Master was asleep. It was the sleep of real innocence. He was free from fear. Peter. Argyle on the eve of his execution. It was the sleep of apparent indifference. Reasons.

3. In their distress the disciples implored their Masters assistance. Faith in His power and love. Leading to earnest prayer. Embodied in a brief sentence.

4. The disciples were reproved by their Master. Not for disturbing His repose. For their fears as indicative of their little faith. Faith is the true antidote against fear. Much fear, little faith: little faith, much fear.

5. The disciples were delivered by their Master.- His dominion over nature.

6. The disciples uttered an exclamation of profound feeling in reference to the interposition of their Master. Gratitude, admiration, worship.

(1) Be prepared for storms.

(2) Amid all storms call on Christ.

(3) Adore and praise Him for the deliverance lie affords. (Various.)

The disciples in a storm

I. The storm arose while the disciples were following our Lord.

II. While his disciples were perplexed and alarmed he was asleep.

1. Sleep of refreshment.

2. Wonderful.

3. Designed.

III. They came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us.

IV. Our Lord reproves his disciples.

V. What effect had all this upon his disciples

1. Admiration.

2. Praise.

3. Familiarize your minds with Christ as present with you in all difficulties. (W. Jay.)

Christ stilling the tempest

I. The danger. May not the body of man be compared to a ship; and the soul which he carries within that body be likened to a treasure. The world as a current; trials like storms. The disciples may aptly represent the Church, and the hazard they were in, the extremity to which the Church is often reduced. One of the chief reasons why our Lord permitted His disciples to be thus tried was-

1. To teach them humility.

2. To exercise faith and patience.

II. The behaviour of the disciples under the danger.

1. Distrust of God.

2. Distrust of His goodness and ability. Just before they had seen Him cure the palsy, etc.

3. Reproof.

4. In one respect worthy of imitation, they had resource to Christ.

III. The gracious deliverance effected by our blessed Lord.

1. The Divinity of our Lord.

2. How compassionate our Lord was to His timid disciples.

3. The man whose hope is in the Lord his God has no cause for alarm.

(J. Seger, M. A.)

The storm

I. The way of obedience leads through many a scene of boisterous trouble. If. Through whatever storms the way of Christian obedience may lie, they are for some good purpose.

III. Whatever storms may overtake Christian voyagers, there is this consoling fact: Christ is with them in the ship.

IV. Jesus not only comforts by His presence, He also gloriously delivers by His power. Christs help may be deferred, but will be timely and complete.

V. A. prophecy of the blessedness which Christs finished work is to bring to the world, and to those who embark with Him in the voyage of life-Peace. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)

Christ stilling the storm

I. The storm. We are closely connected with the material world, waves may dash against our spirits as well as our bodies.

1. The storm in the elements of nature.

2. The storm in the bosom of the Church.

II. The calm.

1. In the elements of nature?

2. The calm in the kingdom of grace.

Application:-

1. Have you embarked with Christ?

2. Flee to Jesus now, and cry, Lord, save: we perish.

3. If we are embarked with Christ, learn His claims to confidence.

4. This miracle speaks to ministers. They must learn by experience the value of the Saviour they recommend. (J. Bennett, D. D.)

I. The passage across the lake.

1. Christ commands His disciples to pass over to the other side of the sea. He left the attractive for the repulsive.

2. The voyage is undertaken suddenly-even as He was. Disciples should hold themselves ready to go at a moments notice on their Masters service.

3. He takes the apostles with Him: the school of the prophets, in which He is training the ministers of the Word. Daily lessons in providence.

4. Besides Christs immediate company in their own ship, a number of other disciples accompanied Him in other little ships.

II. Jesus asleep in the storm.

1. An apt figure of the homeless state of Jesus on earth.

2. The holy rest of the weary workman after earnest labour. He redeems this time for rest.

3. A quiet sleep in the midst of danger.

4. The sleep of innocence-a contrast to the sleep of Jonah in guilt.

III. Jesus stilling the tempest.

1. The calm is in answer to the earnest cry of the disciples. We should pray in time of need. The cry of the disciples brought deliverance to many around; we never pray for ourselves without benefitting others.

2. Jesus stills the tempest by His word. An image of many a believers life. (A. M. Stuart.)

Miracles of power

In the former miracles love and mercy are prominent; in this, power.-(H. Alford, D. D.)

The stilling of the tempest

I. An appalling scene to contemplate.

1. Of imposing grandeur.

2. Of no ordinary peril and distress.

3. Highly instructive in its symbolical signification. The wicked are like the troubled sea.

II. The consternation which was felt.

1. To whom they applied.

2. The language in which they addressed Him. The last of these cries given by St. Matthew.

(1) It is short;

(2) It is appropriate;

(3) It is fervent.

III. The wonderful power and authority that were manifested. This act.

1. By what it was preceded. He rebuked the disciples before rebuking the winds.

2. The manner in which it was done.

3. The result that followed.

IV. The amazement which was produced.

1. In their wonder there was considerable awe and terror.

2. Notwithstanding their excited emotions, they expressed themselves in language eminently befitting so memorable an occasion; not like St. Peter on Mount of Transfiguration. (Expository Outlines.)

A man destitute of fear

A simple but characteristic incident is recorded in connection with the early history of Lord Nelson. On one occasion his mother was telling him that he should fear a certain thing, and not go near to it; he at once turned round to her, and asked, Mother, what is fear? It was a question which shows how true it is that the boy is father to the man; for if ever there was a character of dauntless intrepidity it was he. Now it is evident that there was no need for the disciples to have asked such a question; what fear was they well knew, and it was for giving way to it that they were now gently rebuked by our Lord. To us also He addresses the same words, for He would have each of us to say with the Church of old, I will trust, and not be afraid; and, among many other instances, the present case is intended, and peculiarly adapted, to strengthen the one feeling, and to remove the other.

Storms on the Sea of Galilee

Dr. Buchanan experienced one of these sudden storms on the Sea of Galilee. While gazing on the suggestive scenery around us, our earnest conversation was suddenly disturbed by a movement among our Arab crew. All at once they pulled in their oars, stepped their mast, and began to hoist their long and very ragged lateen sail. What can the fellows mean to do with a sail in a dead calm? But they were right. There comes the breeze, rippling and roughening the lately glassy surface of the lake. It reaches us before the sail is rightly set. A few minutes more, and it is blowing hard. The bending and often-spliced yard threatens to give way, and the tattered leach of the sail seems as if it would rend right up, and go away in shreds. To go upon a wind with such a craft is impossible. There is nothing for it but to slack away, and run before it And where are we going now? was our first inquiry, when things had been got a little into shape. Where the wind will take us, was the reply of the old greybeard at the helm. And away we went, the lake now all tossed into waves, and covered with foaming white heads, as if a demon had got into its lately tranquil bosom-an adventure that afforded us a fresh illustration of the reality of those events which the narratives of Scripture relate. (Clerical Furlough in the Holy Land.)

Fearless in danger

Some years ago, an officer in the army, who was a pious man, was drafted abroad with his regiment. He accordingly embarked, with his wife and children. They had not been many days at sea when a violent storm arose, which threatened the destruction of the ship, and the loss of all their lives. Consternation and terror prevailed among the crew and passengers; his wife also was greatly alarmed. In the midst of all, he was perfectly calm and composed: his wife, observing this, began to upbraid him with want of affection to her and her children, urging, that if he was not concerned for his own safety, he ought to be for theirs. He made no reply, but immediately left the cabin,to which he returned in a short time with his drawn sword in his hand, and with a stern countenance pointed it to her breast; but she, smiling, did not appear at all disconcerted or afraid. What! said he, are you not afraid when a drawn sword is at your breast? No, answered she, not when I know that it is in the hand of one who loves me. And would you have me, replied he, to be afraid of this storm and tempest, when I know it is in the hand of my heavenly Father, who loves me?

Caesar in the ship

One of the greatest of the old Romans was once overtaken by a storm at sea, and when the captain of the ship was full of terror, the conqueror said, Why do you fear for the ship? Do you not know that it carries Caesar? Let us, as Christians, remember that the ship in which we must cross the waves of this troublesome world, is the ship of the Church, and that it carries Jesus.

A straight course

A certain noble family of England, which gained its position by the victories of an ancestor at sea, has for its motto the single word-Tilers. That word is a nautical term of command, which means that the steerman is to keep the ships head straight on the course which she is sailing. This is the true motto for a Christian. Let him keep his course straightforward, through the storm and tempest, through dangers and difficulties, steering the course of duty, with Jesus as his companion and his guide. (Wilmot Buxton.)

Lord, save us, we perish

I. Man in his helpless condition as a perishing creature.

II. Salvation alone is of the Lord.

1. It is of the Lord in its origin.

2. In its execution.

3. In its bestowment.

III. Personal application to Christ is necessary.

1. This implies knowledge of Christ.

2. Faith in His Holy Name.

3. Importunity of desire.

IV. Such application to Christ shall never fail.

1. Because it is His own appointment.

2. It is His delight to save His people.

3. He never allows His believing people to perish. (T. R. Baker.)

In the storm

1. That we must not be fearful in the time of danger.

2. Not to be fearful in the storm of everyday life. (Wilmot Buxton, M. A.)

The Saviour in the ship

I. What absolute helplessness is.

II. When, at last, the voyager comes sincerely and anxiously to that, and utters the prayer, Christ does not refuse him because he did not call sooner, or because when he prayed his prayer was not the purest and loftiest of prayers.

III. The person of Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, is the actual bond of a living unity between the visible world of nature and the invisible world of Gods spiritual kingdom.

IV. The miracle thus discloses to us the true practical use both of the gospel miracles themselves, and of every other gift and blessing of heaven, in leading us up in affectionate gratitude to Him who stands as the central figure among all those visible wonders, and the originator of all the peace-making powers which tranquilize and reconcile the turbulences of the world. (Bishop Huntingdon.)

Christs supremacy over nature

I. The supremacy of Christ over all turbulent and seemingly uncontrollable forces.

1. The act represents Christs supremacy over the physical world.

2. This act is symbolical of Christs supremacy over the mental and moral disorders which agitate the world.

II. The bearing of Christs supremacy on certain aspects of truth and conduct.

1. In relation to His promises to each of His disciples. He will fulfil His word both because He wishes and can.

2. In relation to the establishment of His kingdom on earth.

3. In relation to the day of resurrection and judgment.

Christs supremacy over nature affects diversely different classes of character.

1. It is an occasion of fear and dread to those who are alien in heart and life to Him.

2. Of consolation to those who are loyal to Him. (C. Chapman, M. A.)

1. Undertake no enterprize in which Christ does not accompany you.

2. Distinguish between storms which you have provoked, and the storms which God has appointed.

3. Be assured that all forces are under the control of Divine beneficence. (Dr. J. Parker.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

It is apparent that the evangelists did not set down all the motions and actions of our Saviour in order, as done by him: whether therefore this was the same motion, and over the same sea, of which mention was made before, is uncertain, nor much material for us to know. Nor yet whether the storm which here arose was in the ordinary course of providence, or raised on purpose for our Saviour to show his power in quieting it. It is enough for us to know that a great storm did arise. It is expressly said that our Saviour was asleep; hereby he showed himself to be truly man, subject to like infirmities with us, sin only excepted, Heb 4:15. That the disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish, argued both their faith in his power, and their frailty in not considering who was with them in the ship, one who, though his humanity was asleep, yet was He who watcheth over Israel, who never slumbereth nor sleepeth. Our Saviour saith unto them,

Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? The prevalence of fears in us upon imminent dangers will not argue no faith, but will argue a weak faith; which yet he that will not break a bruised reed, nor quench a smoking flax, will not discourage. He will therefore give them a proof of his Divinity;

he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, let them know he was their Lord, and commanded them to cease,

and there was a calm. It is he that rebuketh the waves of the sea when they roar, and stilleth the ragings of the people.

The men, either the sea men, or the passengers, or both,

marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? Surely this is more than a man, that can command winds and seas.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And when he was entered into a ship,…. Which was got ready by his disciples, or hired by them for his use, according to the directions he had given,

his disciples followed him into the ship, and they only; for as for the men hereafter mentioned, they were the men that belonged to the ship, and had the management of it: the multitude were dismissed, and in order to be clear of them, Christ took this method; and being desirous also of trying the faith of his disciples, he ordered it so, that they should be alone with him.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Jesus Allays a Storm.

23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 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. 27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

Christ had given sailing orders to his disciples (v. 18), that they should depart to the other side of the sea of Tiberias, into the country of Gadara, in the tribe of Gad, which lay east of Jordan; thither he would go to rescue a poor creature that was possessed with a legion of devils, though he foresaw how he should be affronted there. Now. 1. He chose to go by water. It had not been much about, if he had gone by land; but he chose to cross the lake, that he might have occasion to manifest himself the God of the sea as well as of the dry land, and to show that all power is his, both in heaven and in earth. It is a comfort to those who go down to the sea in ships, and are often in perils there, to reflect that they have a Saviour to trust in, and pray to, who knows what it is to be at sea, and to be in storms there. But observe, when he went to sea, he had no yacht or pleasure-boat to attend him, but made use of his disciples’ fishing-boats; so poorly was he accommodated in all respects. 2. His disciples followed him; the twelve kept close to him, when others staid behind upon the terra firma, where there was sure footing. Note, They, and they only, will be found the true disciples of Christ, that are willing to go to sea with him, to follow him into dangers and difficulties. Many would be content to go the land-way to heaven, that will rather stand still, or go back, than venture upon a dangerous sea; but those that would rest with Christ hereafter must follow him now wherever he leads them, into a ship or into a prison, as well as into a palace. Now observe here,

I. The peril and perplexity of the disciples in this voyage; and in this appeared the truth of what Christ had just now said, that those who follow him must count upon difficulties, v. 20.

1. There arose a very great storm, v. 24. Christ could have prevented this storm, and have ordered them a pleasant passage, but that would not have been so much for his glory and the confirmation of their faith as their deliverance was: this storm was for their sakes, as John xi. 4. One would have expected, that having Christ with them, they should have had a very favourable gale, but it is quite otherwise; for Christ would show that they who are passing with him over the ocean of this world to the other side, must expect storms by the way. The church is tossed with tempests (Isa. liv. 11); it is only the upper region that enjoys a perpetual calm, this lower one is ever and anon disturbed and disturbing.

2. Jesus Christ was asleep in this storm. We never read of Christ’s sleeping but at this time; he was in watchings often, and continued all night in prayer to God: this was a sleep, not of security, like Jonah’s in a storm, but of holy serenity, and dependence upon his Father: he slept to show that he was really and truly man, and subject to the sinless infirmities of our nature: his work made him weary and sleepy, and he had no guilt, no fear within, to disturb his repose. Those that can lay their heads upon the pillow of a clear conscience, may sleep quietly and sweetly in a storm (Ps. iv. 8), as Peter, Acts xii. 6. He slept at this time, to try the faith of his disciples, whether they could trust him when he seemed to slight them. He slept not so much with a desire to be refreshed, as with a design to be awaked.

3. The poor disciples, though used to the sea, were in a great fright, and in their fear came to their Master, v. 25. Whither else should they go? It was well they had him so near them. They awoke him with their prayers; Lord, save us, we perish. Note, They who would learn to pray must go to sea. Imminent and sensible dangers will drive people to him who alone can help in time of need. Their prayer has life in it, Lord, save us, we perish. (1.) Their petition is, Lord, save us. They believed he could save them; they begged he would, Christ’s errand into the world was to save, but those only shall be saved that call on the name of the Lord, Acts ii. 21. They who by faith are interested in the eternal salvation wrought out by Christ, may with a humble confidence apply themselves to him for temporal deliverances. Observe, They call him, Lord, and then pray, Save us. Note, Christ will save none but those that are willing to take him for their Lord; for he is a Prince and a Saviour. (2.) Their plea is, We perish; which was, [1.] The language of their fear; they looked upon their case as desperate, and gave up all for lost; they had received a sentence of death within themselves, and this they plead, “We perish, if thou dost not save us; look upon us therefore with pity.” [2.] It was the language of their fervency; they pray as men in earnest, that beg for their lives; it becomes us thus to strive and wrestle in prayer; therefore Christ slept, that he might draw out this importunity.

II. The power and grace of Jesus Christ put forth for their succour: then the Lord Jesus awaked, as one refreshed, Ps. lxxviii. 65. Christ may sleep when his church is in a storm, but he will not outsleep himself: the time, the set time to favour his distressed church, will come, Ps. cii. 13.

1. He rebuked the disciples (v. 26); Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? He does not chide them for disturbing him with their prayers, but for disturbing themselves with their fears. Christ reproved them first, and then delivered them; this is his method, to prepare us for a mercy, and then to give it us. Observe, (1.) His dislike of their fears; “Why are ye fearful? Ye, my disciples? Let the sinners in Zion be afraid, let heathen mariners tremble in a storm, but you shall not be so. Enquire into the reasons of your fear, and weigh them.” (2.) His discovery of the cause and spring of their fears; O ye of little faith. Many that have true faith are weak in it, and it does but little. Note, [1.] Christ’s disciples are apt to be disquieted with fears in a stormy day, to torment themselves with jealousies that things are bad with them, and dismal conclusions that they will be worse. [2.] The prevalence of our inordinate fears in a stormy day is owing to the weakness of our faith, which would be as an anchor to the soul, and would ply the oar of prayer. By faith we might see through the storm to the quiet shore, and encourage ourselves with hope that we shall weather our point. [3.] The fearfulness of Christ’s disciples in a storm, and their unbelief, the cause of it, are very displeasing to the Lord Jesus, for they reflect dishonour upon him, and create disturbance to themselves.

2. He rebukes the wind; the former he did as the God of grace, and the Sovereign of the heart, who can do what he pleases in us; this he did as the God of nature, the Sovereign of the world, who can do what he pleases for us. It is the same power that stills the noise of the sea, and the tumult of fear, Ps. lxv. 7. See, (1.) How easily this was done, with a word’s speaking. Moses commanded the waters with a rod; Joshua, with the ark of the covenant; Elisha, with the prophet’s mantle; but Christ with a word. See his absolute dominion over all the creatures, which bespeaks both his honour, and the happiness of those that have him on their side. (2.) How effectually it was done? There was a great calm, all of a sudden. Ordinarily, after a storm, there is such a fret of the waters, that it is a good while ere they can settle; but if Christ speak the word, not only the storm ceases, but all the effects of it, all the remains of it. Great storms of doubt, and fear in the soul, under the power of the spirit of bondage, sometimes end in a wonderful calm, created and spoken by the Spirit of adoption.

3. This excited their astonishment (v. 27); The men marvelled. They had been long acquainted with the sea, and never saw a storm so immediately turned into a perfect calm, in all their lives. It has all the marks and signatures of a miracle upon it; it is the Lord’s doing, and is marvellous in their eyes. Observe, (1.) Their admiration of Christ; What manner of man is this! Note, Christ is a Nonsuch; every thing in him is admirable: none so wise, so mighty, so amiable, as he. (2.) The reason of it; Even the winds and the sea obey him. Upon this account, Christ is to be admired, that he has a commanding power even over winds and seas. Others pretended to cure diseases, but he only undertook to command the winds. We know not the way of the wind (John iii. 8), much less can we control it; but he that bringeth forth the wind out of his treasury (Ps. cxxxv. 7), when it is out, gathers it into his fists, Prov. xxx. 4. He that can do this, can do any thing, can do enough to encourage our confidence and comfort in him, in the most stormy day, within or without, Isa. xxvi. 4. The Lord sits upon the floods, and is mightier than the noise of many waters. Christ, by commanding the seas, showed himself to be the same that made the world, when, at his rebuke, the waters fled (Psa 104:7; Psa 104:8), as now, at his rebuke, they fell.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

WHEN JESUS STILLED THE TEMPEST WAVES

V. 23-27

1) “And when he was entered into a ship,” (lai em bant i auto eis to ploion) “As he embarked in the ship,” the ship or boat that had been prepared according to His orders, Mat 8:18: Mr 4:35,36; Luk 8:22.

2) “His disciples followed him,” (akolouthesan auto hoi mathetai autou) “His disciples pursued or followed near him,” some likely in “other little ships,” that rowed alongside His as He crossed the Sea of Galilee, Eastward, Mr 4:36.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

As we shall soon meet again with the mention of a lake, where it is said (Mat 8:33) that the swine were carried into it with violence, it is not universally agreed whether one and the same lake is mentioned in both places. The waters of Gennesareth, all admit, (536) were pleasant and healthful to drink: but the Gadarene lake, Strabo tells us, was so unwholesome and pestilential, that the cattle which drank of it often lost their hair and their hoofs. There is therefore no doubt that there were two separate lakes, and that they were at a considerable distance from each other. There is as little doubt that the lake mentioned here was the lake of Gennesareth; and that Christ, having crossed it, came to the Gadarenes, whom Matthew calls Geresenes, (Mat 8:28.)

Those who infer, from the diversity of the names, that the narratives are different, through a desire to be thought very acute, fall under the charge of gross ignorance: for the country of the Gergesenes was also called Gadarene, from a celebrated city, Gadara. In the age of Jerome, the name was changed; and, therefore, in accordance with the prevailing custom, he calls them Geraseaes That it was the Gadarene lake into which the swine were thrown down by the devils, I have no hesitation in admitting: but when Christ says, let us cross to the other side, I cannot explain the reference as made to any other lake than that of Gennesareth.

It remains that we now inquire as to the time, which cannot be learned either from Matthew or from Luke. Mark alone mentions that it was the evening of that day on which Christ discoursed about the preaching of the gospel under the parable of the sower. Hence it is evident, that they did not attend to the order of time; and, indeed, this is expressly stated by Luke, when he says that it happened on a certain day: for these words show that he gives himself little concern as to the question which of the events was earlier or later.

Mat 8:23

. And when he had entered into a ship Mark says that other little ships crossed along with him: but that Christ entered into his own ship with his disciples Luke too quotes his words: Matthew is more concise. They agree, however, as to the leading fact, that Christ laid himself down to rest, and that, while he was asleep, a tempest suddenly arose. First, it is certain that the storm which agitated the lake was not accidental: for how would God have permitted his Son to be driven about at random by the violence of the waves? But on this occasion he intended to make known to the apostles how weak and inconsiderable their faith still was. Though Christ’s sleep was natural, yet it served the additional purpose of making the disciples better acquainted with their weakness. I will not say, as many do, that Christ pretended sleep, in order to try them. On the contrary, I think that he was asleep in such a manner as the condition and necessity of human nature required.

And yet his divinity watched over him, so that the apostles had no reason to fear that consolation would not be immediately provided, or that assistance would not be obtained from heaven. Let us therefore conclude, that all this was arranged by the secret providence of God, — that Christ was asleep, that a violent tempest arose, and that the waves covered the ship, which was in imminent danger of perishing. And let us learn hence that, whenever any adverse occurrence takes place, the Lord tries our faith. If the distresses grow to such a height as almost to overwhelm us, let us believe that God does it with the same design of exercising our patience, or of bringing to light in this way our hidden weakness; as we see that, when the apostles were covered by the billows, (537) their weakness, which formerly lay concealed, was discovered.

(536) “ C’est un poinct bien resolu entre tous ceux qui ont escrit;” — “it is a point well agreed among all who have written.”

(537) “ Quand les Apostres se sont trouvez assaillis et quasi couvers des riots du lac;” — “when the Apostles found themselves assaulted, and, as it were, covered by the waves of the lake.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 8:23-27

Dormant power.In the first verses of this passage the resolution of Mat. 8:18 is executed in part. The disciplesapparently with some reluctanceenter a ship. They follow Jesus into the boat (R. V.). The boat which He had possibly spoken of previously (Mat. 8:18). The boat which probably to their nautical eyes seemed too small for its work. (Note the words gave commandment in Mat. 8:18.) The voyage which followed was characterised by two principal features. On the part of the disciples there was an agitated appeal. On the part of the Saviour a gracious response.

I. An agitated appeal.The occasion of this was a great tempesta sort of convulsion (a ) in that sea. The author of The Land and the Book tells us that such tempests are common still in those parts, and that they are caused principally by the sudden rush of the wind down some of the deep gullies on the eastern side of the lake. This fact seems to explain much that we read of in this case. A vessel making for the East would be especially exposed to that wind; and the waves raised by it would naturally drive over its prow so as to cover the decks of such a boat where it had them, and fill it where it had none (Mat. 8:24; Mar. 4:37). Either way, the peril was great. Could they hope, in such a craft, to survive such a storm? The ground of their appeal lay in the unexpected attitude of their Master and Lord at that time. Somewhere away from those navigating the vessel (note the word came in Mat. 8:25)somewhere, St. Mark says, as would be natural in such a storm (see above), in the hinder part of the vessel, with His head on a pillowHe was buried in sleep To us this is an affecting evidence of the true humanity of the Master, and of the serious effects of His many labours at times upon it. To them it would doubtless have a different look. Was it lack of discernment? Was it want of concern? Should they not, in any case, wake Him out of His sleep? The nature of their appeal, when they came to make it, was in full accord with such feelings. On the one hand, as natural to men who did not know how many moments they had to live, it was exceedingly brief and abrupt. Help, Lord, we perish (see R.V.). On the other hand, as men feeling their need of all the sympathy and help that they could possibly obtain in their awful extremity, there was something like a tone of reproachalmost of complaintnot to say of accusation itselfin their words. St. Marks language (Mar. 4:38) puts this very bluntly indeed. Carest Thou not that we perish? Almost Have you no feeling at all for our need? Great indeed must have been the tempest within them to give such utterance to such thoughts.

II. A gracious response.For gracious it wasmost graciousthough in the form of rebuke. A rebuke, first, to the disciples themselves. Why are ye fearfultimorousye little-faithed souls? What is there really to fear? What is there lacking except in your faith? In form, of course,and in effect alsothis was to them a rebuke. But what a rebuke! What pity was in it! What assurance as well! How exactly calculated to begin quieting the storm of feeling within them! Could there, indeed, have been greater love consistent with truth? The other rebuke was but the sequel to this; its complement, as it were. Very wise was its direction. He rebuked the winds and the sea (Mat. 8:26). He attacked the cause of their danger; the spring of their fears. Let these be hushed, there would be terror no more. Very effectual were its first consequences. Not the winds only but the waves are silent. Not the waves only but the lingering swell by which such waves were usually followed. All motion was gone. There was a great calm (Mat. 8:26). Very striking were its remoter results. There was now as great a stillness in the hearts of those who looked on as there was in the elements round about them. A stillness more than the stillness of peace, though doubtless, in their circumstances, that would be blessed and deep. It was the stillness of wonder; the hush of bewilderment; the silence of awe. What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him? (Mat. 8:27). A question that may very well have been accompanied by others. Where was our faith? How came we ever to question His power? How came we ever to question His love? Shall we ever do so again?

This story has long been valued by all true disciples of Christ. It is a beautiful illustration of His ways of dealing with those that are His.

1. Of the way in which sometimes He brings them into trial.Himself (perhaps) bidding them do that which is contrary to their judgments; Himself allowing their fears and scruples to appear justified for a time; Himself leaving them to do battle with the forces against them, almost in despair. Does He care for us at all? Is it beyond Him to help us? Why are things with us thus? (Jdg. 6:13). Can we hope ever to get to the other side of this cloud?

2. Of the way in which He may be expected to bring them through their trials at last.Viz. in such a way as to learn far more both of His mercy and power; in such a way, therefore, as to reach a greater calm and deeper faith in the end; and to wonder, therefore, now as much at our former fears as we did at His slumber before.

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat. 8:23-27. Christ stilling the tempest.

1. Our Lord, of set purpose, will lead His disciples into dangers, for the stirring up and trial of their faith, and for evidencing His own glory.
2. His presence exempteth not His disciples from trouble and danger.
3. Our Lord, as He took on Him our nature, so also He subjected Himself to our natural and sinless infirmities. Being weary, He falls asleep.
4. The church may be like to be drowned, and Christ may seem to neglect the matter.
5. The church must believe Christ to be God and able to deliver them. He can carry Himself as one asleep, to the end He may be awakened by their prayers.
6. As a sense of danger and need is a choice argument when we deal with Christ for help; so is it an ordinary forerunner of deliverance and help.
7. It is a simple misbelief to be too much afraid to perish in Christs company and service. Why are ye fearful?
8. He can make a difference between small faith and no faith, and as He will reprove unbelief, so will He not despise the smallest measure of belief.
9. Whether He seem to sleep or to be awake, He is Lord of heaven and earth, Ruler and Commander of wind, sea, and land, whom all the creatures must obey.
10. The glory of the deliverance which Christ doth give to His people in their greatest strait is marvellous and far above all that they can apprehend ere it come. The men marvelled.
11. The faith which Christs disciples had in His Godhead was little in comparison of what they had ground for. What manner of man is this? etc.David Dickson.

The stilling of the tempest.

I. Christs sleep in the storm.His calm slumber is contrasted with the hurly-burly of the tempest and the fear of the crew. It was the sleep of physical exhaustion after a hard days work. It is a sign of His true manhood, of His toil up to the very edge of His strength. It is also a sign of His calm conscience and pure heart. Jonah slept through the storm because his conscience was stupefied; but Christ as a tired child laying its head on its mothers lap. That sleep may have a symbolical meaning for us. Though Christ is present, the storm comes, and He is sleeping through it. He delays His help that He may try our faith and quicken our prayers. He sleeps, but He never oversleeps, and there are no too-lates with Him.

II. The awaking cry of fear.The broken abruptness of their appeal reveals the urgency of the case in the experienced eyes of these fishermen. Save us is the language of faith; we perish is that of fear. That strange blending of opposites is often repeated by us. A faith which does not wholly suppress fear may still be most real; and the highest faith has ever the consciousness that unless Christ help, and that speedily, we perish.

III. The gentle remonstrance.There is something very majestic in the tranquillity of our Lords awakening, and, if we follow Matthews order, in His addressing Himself first to the disciples weakness, and letting the storm rage on. It can do no harm, and, for the present, may blow as it listeth, while He gives the trembling disciples a lesson. Observe how lovingly our Lord meets an imperfect faith. He has no rebuke for their rude awaking. He does not find fault with them for being fearful, but for being so fearful as to let their fear cover their faith, just as the waves were doing the boat. He shows them and us the reason for overwhelming fear as being the deficiency in our faith. And He casts all into the form of a question, thus softening rebuke, and calming their terrors by the appeal to their common sense. Fear is irrational if we can exercise faith.

IV. The word that calms the storm.Christ yields to the cry of an imperfect faith, and so strengthens it. He does not quench the dimly burning wick, but tends it and feeds it with oilby His inward gifts and by His answers to prayertill it burns up clear and smokeless, a faith without fear. As He lay asleep He showed the weakness of manhood; but He woke to manifest the power of indwelling Divinity. So it is always in His life, where, side by side with the signs of humiliation and participation in mans weakness, we ever have tokens of His Divinity breaking through the veil. All this is a symbol of our individual lives, as well as of the history of the church.A. Maclaren, D.D.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Section 16
JESUS STILLS A TEMPEST

(Parallels: Mar. 4:35-41; Luk. 8:22-25)

TEXT: 8:2327

23.

And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him.

24.

And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

25.

And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Save, Lord; we perish.

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.

27.

And the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

What do you think made Jesus sleep so soundly as to remain unawakened by the tossing of the boat during the tempest?

How did, fear of the great tempest prove that the disciples had little faith? Explain what is so faithless about fear.

If the boat was covered with the waves why did it not sink? In what sense was it covered?

What do you think is the answer to the mens question (Mat. 8:27)?

If these men were so faithless as Jesus says, why does He pass over their faithlessness with no more than a rebuke? Why did He not rather punish them?

Have you ever been as frightened as these Apostles, just as scared by your circumstances as they were in theirs? If so, you can understand something of the fear they felt. They certainly had a right to be afraid. But Jesus rebuked them for their fear. Why?

If Jesus were merely tired at the end of a busy day needing rest, why do you think He would dismiss the crowds and rush away in a boat where they could not immediately follow? Would it not have been just as good for Him to dismiss them formally at the conclusion of His work-day, rest the night through there in Capernaum, finding Himself fresh for another full days work? Does it not appear that Jesus does not wish to be available that next day? If so, how do you account for His strange actions? In deciding upon your answer, you need to look both forward to the events that follow as well as the particular events which immediately preceded this precipitate departure.

If these disciples were completely without faith, as Jesus rebuke suggests then what does this appeal mean to Him? If they did not believe that He could do something, why did they even bother to wake Him?

i. Why were the disciples not as sleepy as Jesus? Had they not also spent the full, busy day with Him? Would they not also be tired? What effect would this possibility have upon their response to the storm?
j. Put yourself in the place of the disciples during the storm before they awakened Jesus, State clearly the alternatives that lay before these men. Be especially clear in outlining what the disciples could have done besides crying out in such great fear to awaken Jesus, Should they have awakened Jesus?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

Now when Jesus saw great crowds around Him that day, about evening He borrowed a boat with His disciples and gave orders for the departure to the east side of the Sea of Galilee, So, leaving the crowd, the disciples took Jesus with them, just as He was, in the boat with them, and set out for the other shore. Now other boats accompanied Him. As they got under way, He dropped off to sleep.
A heavy squall swept down off the Galilean hills down upon the sea (which is itself 682 feet below sea level) causing the wind to rise driving wave after wave into the boat until it was being swamped. They were taking in water and were in grave danger. But Jesus Himself was in the stern still asleep on the cushion. The men came and roused Him, shouting above the wind, Lord! Master! Save us! We are going to drown! We are sinking! Dont You care?
Jesus awoke and shouted to them, What are you afraid of, you men with little faith? Then He rose to His feet and rebuked the howling wind and raging waves, Silence! Be quiet! and the wind dropped and there was dead calm. Again Jesus said to them, Of what were you afraid? Have you no faith? Where is it now?
Mixed emotions of fear, awe, and marvelling filled those men, as they kept saying to one another, Who can this be Who commands even wind and sea, and they obey Him?

SUMMARY

After a particularly exhausting day of miracles, arguments and preaching Jesus ordered His disciples to take the boat in which He had preached across the lake and away from the crowds. During the voyage Jesus fell into deep sleep. A great storm threatened the life of all out on the sea. Jesus, awakened by the cries of His Apostles, arose and, with a word, completely removed the storm, restoring perfect calm over the entire scene. The happy surprise mixed with fear expressed by the Apostles, suggested something of their appreciation of the true nature of the Lord.

NOTES

I. STRATEGIC SHIFT OF THE SCENE OF HIS SERVICE (8:2326)

Matthew said in Mat. 8:18 : Now when Jesus saw great crowds around Him, He gave orders to go over to the other side. Mark reports (Mar. 4:35) On that day when evening had come, He said to them, Let us go across to the other side. Luke indicates (Luk. 8:22): One day He got into a boat with His disciples, and He said to them, Let us go across to the other side of the lake. In order adequately to appreciate this unusual movement by Jesus, one must assemble clearly all the facts that occurred on that day. For these events explain why Jesus would deliberately sail away from obvious popularity. If we may be sure of our chronological connections, Jesus activities on this busy day of ministry may be summarized as follows:

No sooner had Jesus arrived home from His second preaching tour of Galilee (Luk. 8:1-3; Mar. 3:19 b Mar. 3:21), than a crowd gathered, interrupting any possibility of eating. His own sought to lock Him up for His own good, since it seemed to them He was going mad.

A special committee of scribes from Jerusalem attacked Jesus miracles attributing His power to Satan (Mat. 12:22-37; Mar. 3:22-30). Although Jesus deftly refuted their charges with unanswerable logic proving Himself to be Gods Son by deeds that only Gods Spirit in Him could do, yet some of the Rabbis unreasonably demanded a sign from God that would prove His claims (Mat. 12:38-45).

In the midst of these attacks and responses, Jesus mother and brothers try to interfere with His ministry (Mat. 12:46-50; Mar. 3:31-35; Luk. 8:19-21), but Jesus openly refused to let human fleshly ties bind Him, claimed special relationship to God shared by no man and placed discipleship on a higher plane than all fleshly relationships.

Leaving the house where the very large crowds and committees had Him cornered, He boarded a boat beside the shore so as better to handle the throng. (Mat. 13:1-2; Mar. 4:1; Luk. 8:4) Since they could not push out into the water to mob Him, He was able to teach them. But He deliberately taught them for hours without telling them anything except interesting stories that half-revealed, half-hid unpleasant truths they needed to learn. (See Notes on Mat. 13:1-53)

Apparently, Jesus dismissed the crowds and returned to the house (Mat. 13:36) where He gave private instruction to His own disciples.

Since the crowds did not go away (Mat. 8:18), Jesus did. (See additional notes on Mat. 8:18)

These facts lead to the conclusion that Jesus was not merely departing for awhile to rest, something He could easily have done at Capernaum. Apparently, this strategic shift of the scene of His service is intended to accomplish these three results:

He needed to separate His disciples for private instruction from the wildly excited but ignorant crowds who were more interested in having their sick healed and seeing wonders than in understanding His message. His Apostles MUST understand that message.

He needed to take the pressure of the increasing attacks of the Jerusalem scribes and Pharisees off the Apostles. Even though He Himself can out-argue the fiercest opposition of the religious authorities (cf. Matthew 21, 22), the very existence of this opposition cannot help but effect the emotions and conscience of the Apostles who from childhood had been taught to respect those very elders who now so vehemently oppose their Master. (See Notes on Mat. 15:12 and Mat. 16:5-12)

Looking forward to the later evangelization of the Decapolis area (see note on Mat. 8:34 b; cf. Mar. 5:20), Jesus could have chosen the particular course He did, in order to make contact with that largely unevangelized population. Through the former demoniac, Jesus would be able to advertise, and thus, to prepare for His Decapolis ministry next year.

The unresolved question remains; if all the above is true, why then did Jesus meekly leave the Decapolis when the Geresenes begged Him to do so? Why did Jesus submit His will to the ignorant fears of a few superstitious townsfolk? Even if He, in divine deference to human weakness, chose to wait for a better opportunity in which to teach them, why did He sail directly back to Capernaum instead of landing further south down the eastern coast of the lake? Several answers are possible:

Because of this miracle performed on the sea, the Apostles themselves had much more reason to believe Jesus, against whatever opposition the Jerusalem leaders might offer.

Jesus actually accomplished much in Decapolis by sending the freed ex-demoniac through that area telling what God through Jesus had done for him. (Mar. 5:18-20; Luk. 8:38-39)

Perhaps Jesus also knew that His answers had silenced the Pharisees at least temporarily, and that the Jerusalem scribes had left to make their report. (They do not reappear until later in the first six month of the third year. Matthew 15; Mark 7) When Jesus returned, however, there remained a few Pharisees around to mutter the same old hackneyed argument (Mat. 9:32-34).

Also, if He had merely gotten away from Capernaum for some rest after that fatiguing day, He was now rested, accomplished His other purposes for getting away for awhile and can now return to finish His Galilean ministry (Mat. 9:35-38).

Why bother with all these seemingly unedifying details out of the records of Jesus ministry, some might ask. After all, are not Jesus teachings of much more importance? Granted, and one of Jesus most important doctrines clarifies the point that we can learn most about a man by studying his deeds, the fruit of his life. (Mat. 7:15-21) If this principle is true about men, how much more significantly is it in reference to Jesus? By His actions He too revealed His viewpoint, His way, hence Gods way, of dealing with human problems, To understand Jesus is to have studied how He Himself put His message into practice. He had to work out practical problems. He too must live with the physical weakness of this human flesh. He must plan the tactics of His evangelistic campaign while ministering to peoples personal problems.

Jesus had said, Let us go across to the other side of the lake. (Mar. 4:35; Luk. 8:22) In contrast to Galilee, the eastern region across the Sea of Tiberias was much less populously settled. (cf. Mar. 6:31 with Joh. 6:1) although nine of the ten famed Greek independent cities of the Decapolis lay scattered throughout that territory. This command of Jesus to embark can hardly be interpreted, as do some, as Jesus deliberate leading His disciples into the danger of the storm merely in order to put their faith in Him to the test.

Mat. 8:23 And when he was entered into a boat. Can this be Peter and Andrews fishing boat held in readiness for Jesus frequent use and trips across the lake? (cf. Mar. 3:9; Luk. 5:2-3; Mat. 9:1; Mat. 13:2; Mat. 14:13; Mat. 14:22; Mat. 15:39; Joh. 21:8 shows that there was always a boat ready and available when Peter just felt like going fishing.) It was a boat small enough that it could be propelled by rowing (Mar. 6:48; Joh. 6:19) but large enough for Jesus and the Twelve.

This verse is in perfect agreement with the facts narrated in Matthew 13 which, according to the chronological order of Mark and Luke, preceded this event. Mat. 13:36 clearly indicates that Jesus had left the boat after dismissing the crowds and gone into the house. Now He reenters the boat for a sudden departure. The suddenness is suggested by the following circumstances:

His disciples followed Him. He led them, getting into the boat first. But were the disciples reluctant to follow Him in a boat trip across that lake without any special provisions for a journey when they had hardly time to eat all day? It would perhaps have been more comfortable for them to have refreshed themselves in Capernaum. Or had perhaps the expert eyes of the Galilean fishermen spotted the weather signs of an imminent tempest? But Matthew is clear that Jesus had commanded this trip (Mat. 8:18), so perhaps in the rush to leave the crowds, none of the fishermen could get together to discuss how to dissuade Jesus from going out on the lake that night. If they did have any objections, they showed their discipleship by following Him!

Mark (Mar. 4:36 a) uses a cryptic phrase: Leaving the crowd, they took Him with them, just as He was, in the boat. The presence of the crowds made it inconvenient to procure the necessities for a boat trip toward sparsely populated country at the end of the day. This probability merely underlines the reality of the uncertainty in Jesus discipleship as represented to the scribe (Mat. 8:20)

And other boats were with Him. (Mar. 4:36 b) Why? One boat was usually large enough for Jesus and the Twelve. Who are in those other boatsother followers trying to keep Jesus from going away without them? Are they part of the very crowd Jesus would leave behind on the shore, intent upon following Hun? (See note on Mat. 8:27) Whatever the answer, the owners and occupants of these boats became witness both of the terror of the storm and the miracle.

His disciples followed Him. This fact is remarkable in light of the stern challenge of the cost of discipleship to the would-be followers (Mat. 8:18-22). The prospect of a night out on the lake in nothing but a fishing boat was probably not the idea of comfort for the landsmen among the Apostles. But though they too were to have no place to lay their head, they sailed, because Jesus had commanded it.

Luke (Luk. 8:23) inserts here the observation that as they sailed He fell asleep. As soon as the boat began picking up speed moving through the water, the milling throngs on the shore began to fade into the distance and Jesus could now relax, leaving the handling of the boat to Peters direction. The gentle motion of the boat was sufficient to entice Jesus tired body to submit to sleep. Resting on the cushion in the stern, He dropped into deep sleep (Mar. 4:38).

Mat. 8:24 And behold there arose a great tempest in the sea. Luke says that the storm came down on the lake, a fact that arises out of the topography of the sea itself and the surrounding mountains. The sea, or better, lake (see note on Mat. 4:18), lying already 682 feet below sea level, is surrounded on the east and west by hills some rising as high as 2000 feet above sea level, intersected by plains and gorges. These latter function as funnels concentrating any significant wind movement upon the surface of the lake, whipping the water into waves even six feet high. (ISBE, 1166; Rand McNally, 37, 381) Mark and Luke both use a term (lalaps) that perfectly justifies the strongest translation, whirlwind, hurricane, fierce gust of wind. (Arndt-Gingrich, 463)

Matthews term seisms is, a term used most frequently to denote earthquakes, and could even refer to an earthquake under the Sea of Galilee, which lay in the geological fault of the great el Ghor rift. Hot springs and the presence of lava indicating volcanic activity around the lake, plus frequent and sometimes destructive earthquakes, leave open the possibility that such an earthquake occurred out of which tidal waves are born. Yet, Arndt-Gingrich (753) point out that seisms means literally, a shaking and can be used for a sea storm with waves caused by high winds (cf. vs. 26f where nemoi is found with thalsse . . .) Both Mark and Luke emphasize the wind (anmou megle).

Lukes sober conclusion (Mat. 8:23) declares that these men were not merely imagining their peril; their danger was real.

Insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves. The ASV of this passage as does the KJV rendering of Mar. 4:37 gives a particularly bad translation at this point and creates a clear inconsistency with reality: the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. If the boat were full why did it not sink then? The Greek construction (hste with the present passive infinitives kalptesthai in Mt., gemzesthai in Mk.) does not state either that the boat was already covered or already filled. The construction states only that this tendency was certainly in progress. The infinitives are present infinitives, speaking of the action as in progress, but not completed, as suggested by the ASV and KJV in these texts. (cf. ASV on Mar. 4:37.)

Waves towering several feet high as the boat plunges into the trough, makes this description no exaggeration. Depending upon the direction of the wind, undoubtedly the boatsmen among the Apostles would have strained their mightiest to head the boat into the wind, rowing to gain steerageway. This maneuver would help the already heavily loaded boat to resist the pounding of the monstrous waves and keep from capsizing. This orientation, incidentally, would put Jesus, asleep in the stern, farthest from the immediate blast of water as the waves smashed into the bow.

But he was asleep. It is probable that Jesus was not on the stern seat itself, as that would be occupied by the disciple operating the tiller, fighting, along with the others who were rowing, to keep the boat under control. Yet it is difficult to imagine how He could have escaped the cold veil of spray from the surface of the whitecaps, or from rain lashing the open boat from above. By this time, the boat was probably rollercoasting, careening more wildly with each wave and taking in more water.

How could Jesus remain asleep as that boat bucked and plunged into the trough, wallowing through each wave, threatening to swamp with each successive minute of tempest? Our Lord was utterly exhausted! The great fatigue, produced by the constant demands of the multitudes, emphasize the reality of Jesus human nature. Jesus was NO angel, but a sharer in the flesh and blood of the descendent of Abraham! (Heb. 2:14-18) He had preached, healed, argued and mercifully ministered to people all day. This kind of work wears MEN out. Jesus had completely collapsed into that dead sleep that comes to the thoroughly exhausted. Some commentaries affirm without reason that Jesus slept with the deliberate purpose of trying the patience and faith of His men. He had no discernible intention of delaying His help in order merely to bring them into a crisis He could get them out of, merely to show off His glory and power. If it be objectively true that they awoke Him, as all three Evangelist affirm, then He was really asleep, not merely feigning sleep until the right moment. (See comments on Mat. 4:1-11 and the special study: Temptation, which deals more in depth with the human nature of Jesus.)

Mat. 8:25 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying Save, Lord; we perish. From the completely naturalistic view, these ARE facts relative to a swamping boat in hurricane-force winds. But their cries reveal not only the bare facts of the situation. They lay bare their almost complaining reproach, almost bluntly accusing Jesus of not caring. They must have been very greatly terrified to have permitted themselves to address Jesus like that! These disciples had been watching the storm since its inception, leaving Jesus to rest peacefully, so long as they could handle the situation. But now the danger is increasing much too rapidly. Now, rather than see Jesus sleeping as typical absolute consciousness of safety however great the storm, these Apostles, not fully aware of Jesus nature and identity, were tempted to regard Jesus sleep as typical human weakness and inability to conquer the demands of the human nature, especially in this moment. Jesus was asleep, so they must have thought, because He is just another man after all, hence His sleep betrayed a real indifference to their terror, not because He could not understand their fear, but because He could do nothing about it. Teacher, do you not care if we perish? (Mar. 4:38) How could anyone spend THAT much time with Jesus and yet ask that exceedingly thoughtless and presumptuous question?

Luk. 8:24 Master, Master, we are perishing! Their repeated cries betray their desperation. All three Evangelists use present tense verbs or participles (lgontes, lgousin), indicating the repeated appeals to Jesus to wake up. Was this no time for prayers? Just because Jesus was sleeping, did God sleep also? Did they actually believe that a sleeping Jesus could not save them, but would also Himself drown? Or is their cry we perish meant to include only themselves? Did they suppose that Jesus could save Himself and leave them to a watery grave? What a reflection upon His love and merciful care for them! The answer to these questions depends upon the view they held of Jesus expressed in their amazed question: Who then is this? What sort of man is this? Did they suppose that the ship could sink wherein lies the Master of oceans, earth and skies? However great this gale, the storm has not yet been made than can sink Gods Son!

Here is the self-revelation of Jesus disciples, The true nature of their character, their comprehension of Jesus message and nature, their faith and their doubts are all exposed by this life-and-death crisis. So long as the going was relatively easy and there had been no peril to life and limb, with only an occasional skirmish with the Pharisees, the discipleship of these men had not been so severely tested nor so closely bared in its weakest form. And yet, however imperfect these followers may be shown to be, they are a comprehensible picture of the nature of the Church: imperfect subjects being perfected. Who were these men? I wonder if we do not read our name written between the lines here.

They were loyal men. They had gone with Jesus whatever the cost. Now they come TO JESUS and, however brusquely they awakened Him, lay before HIM their plight. But they were only half-trusting Save us! is the voice of faith, but We perish! is the cry of doubt. Considering the desperation of their cries and the pity of Jesus response, what did the disciples really expect of Him when they shook Him awake? It is certain that they did not expect what actually occurred. Is it possible that they possessed an unreasoned, undefined, almost blind, desperate hope that Jesus possessed an unlimited power? Or rather, as Edersheim (Life, I, 601) suggests, there existed in them a belief that coexisted, not with disbelief nor even with unbelief, but with the inability to comprehend His full nature. It is certainly true that Jesus revelation of Himself gradually emerged through what He said and did. Each new, unique piece of evidence declared His identity or, better, filled in the outline of his true personality in the character of the God-Man. The presence of some faith in these terrified disciples is proved by the fact that these expert sailors who had wrestled with Galilean storms before, appeal to Jesus who had never handled boats. How could a former carpenter be of any help when these knew that all their skill had found a crisis completely beyond their poor, frail powers? Their half-believing, half-fearful appeal is not directed only to the human Jesus, but has some reference to His divine ability, even if the men themselves are very ignorant of His identity.

They were afraid. Why? Because of the human habit of depending completely on their own means and solving their problems by their own wits alone. They had tried to battle that storm by themselves and were not depending upon Him. Now they HAD no other alternative! He had been merely their last resort, their escape hatch, their emergency exit. Though He wanted to be their constant companion, sharing and helping with their problems and fears by giving them answers, inward peace and calm, they had kept Him on the fringe of their lives, holding Him in reserve until they had tried all else.

They were doubters. How simple it would have been to crawl over to Jesus, arouse Him and in perfect confidence say: Lord, this storm has gotten beyond our small powers to cope with it. But you, who possess all power over sickness and disease, you can do something about this tempest too.

II. THE SOVEREIGN STILLS THE SAVAGE STORM, SHOWING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF STEADFASTNESS UNDER STRESS (8:26)

Mat. 8:26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Both Mark and Luke record a rebuke after the calming of the storm, while Matthew places this reproof before that fact. It is more than likely that Jesus said it both times: before, to draw their attention to what He was immediately about to do; and then after, to show them the moral implications of their fear. It would seem, therefore, that we have before us a marvellous example of absolute serenity and composure in the face of what threatens to destroy everything. Before moving a muscle to deal with the storm, Jesus dealt first with the panic of His men. Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea. Then (tte) seems almost emphatic in revealing the deliberateness with which Jesus acted. Anyone else could have objected: But Lord, this is no time for sermons! Please, do something about this storm!

Why are ye fearful, o ye of little faith? Whatever the tone of Jesus voice or the look in His eyes, these words clearly constitute a rebuke. His rebuke is full of:

Absolute assurance that in matters that are really important, even this Force 9 or 10 gale was nothing! If there is a God in heaven whose word cannot fail, even death in the waves may be calmly awaited or else His immediate aid may be humbly asked and confidently expected. Here is the courage of faith: these men should have kept their fear under control with an unshaken confidence in God that keeps them doing their best to keep the boat rightside up, when there is every good human reason to panic. Jesus clearheaded indifference to circumstances, that had torn these lesser mens reason and faith from the moorings, could not help but begin to restore order in their hearts. He deliberately let the storm rage on, while He rebuked their faithlessness.

Loving pity, because in crisis these HIS men had failed. They were the men who one day would unflinchingly face trials, harassment, persecution, and death. And Jesus would not then be physically in the same boat with them. Here, however, their growth in faith is insufficient to pass the trial by storm,

Sovereignty over their souls. No rabbi could have demanded such unwavering trust as did the Lord. Any religious teacher could have rebuked his students for failing to trust God, but Jesus responds to His disciples rebuke for His seeming indifference and inability by scolding them for their failure to trust HIM! This rebuke finds its fullest expression when Jesus did what no rabbi would have dreamed of attempting: the stilling of the storm. Thus, He showed in what sense He intended His rebuke, repeated also after the storm, to drive the point home.

It is obvious that the purpose of Jesus question was to cause these men to see for themselves the seriousness of their moral stature, but why ask THIS question? Fear is Gods blessing created into mans nature to trigger his instinct for self-protection. Otherwise, total fearlessness breeds that imprudence that lays the unsuspecting open to all that can harm. Why, then, are the disciples so wrong to fear? It was not that they had no faith at all, for they did have a little faith. Nor was it that they should not have feared at all, else they would have been psychologically untrue to the nature God gave them. Nor was this rebuke given for seeking Jesus help. Why did Jesus say it then?

Trench (Miracles, 90) cites Mar. 4:40 thus: Why are you SO fearful? According to a number of Greek readings, so (hotos) belongs in the text here. (See Synopsis, 120) This suggests that their culpability lay in the excess of terror displayed. Fear was important to their self-preservation, but it should have prompted them to pray for Gods preservation, rather than cause them to forget His care. Fear is proper, but it must never be allowed to destroy the rationality of genuine confidence in Gods goodness. (Study Isa. 26:3; Isa. 43:2; Psa. 46:1-3)

Lenski (Matthew, 347) reduced this question of Jesus to an exclamation How frightened you are! based on the use of the Greek ti as a translation for the Aramaic mah, how. Just as Jesus had marvelled, exclaiming the greatness of the centurions faith (Mat. 8:10 comments), now His exclamation implies that He had the right to expect more faith and understanding of His own disciples. Accordingly, Jesus is marvelling at their failure to grasp His true nature. (cf. Luk. 2:49)

They were much too afraid to die in Christs company and service. As long as HE is safe, so are His followers! All who sail with Jesus are safe, regardless of the greatness of any tempest that may come!

The further rebukes of Jesus after the storm, as recorded by Mark and Luke give a bit more insight into Jesus meaning:

Why are you so afraid? Have you not yet faith? (Mar. 4:40) This suggests that Jesus, while admitting that these disciples possessed some faith, is deciding that they were not yet arrived at that point in their discipleship where they should have been able to arise in unshakeable trust in God to meet the challenge to their very lives.

The translation not yet is justified from the reading followed by Aland, (Greek NT, 137) who selects this reading with reasonable certainty. (oupo against ps ouk)

Where is your faith? (Luk. 8:25) challenges these men to discern the true character of their discipleship, if under these circumstances, their confidence in Jesus and dependence upon Him had been so easily forgotten.

It might just even be that the disciples HAD prayed to God, but their continued terror betrayed a lack of confidence in the result of their prayers. Worse yet, they fear that their prayer is useless. Where is the faith of Daniel or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Elijah and countless others who faced death in the service of the invisible God? These disciples had not only the undoubted history of Gods great deliverances of those men of faith, from which to profit, but they had lived and walked personally with Jesus. Even if they yet saw in Him no more than a great prophet, their failure to trust God is nonetheless to be rebuked, if not outright condemned. (Psa. 107:23-32; see comments on Mat. 6:19-34 esp. Mat. 6:30 b)

Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. His words of rebuke: Peace! Be still! (Mar. 4:39) One act alone was worth an encyclopedia full of philosophical discussion regarding Jesus sovereignty over the sea and mens souls. One magnificent proof immediately cleared all doubts. And to produce this great wonder, Jesus word alone was enough. He needed no special instruments through which His power was exerted to effect the stupendous result. (cf. Exo. 14:16; Exo. 14:21; 2Ki. 2:14; 2Ki. 4:29-37) Rebuke the winds and sea: is this simple personification of these natural elements in order to emphasize Jesus full control over them, as if they were but domestic animals before their Master and Owner?

And there was a great calm. This calm is defined by Mark and Luke by the specific notice: the wind ceased and the raging waves ceased. A multitude of experiences has taught one to expect a sudden drop of the wind on Lake Tiberias, but this would not immediately calm the rolling sea. Yet, contrary to nature, these eyewitnesses testify to the immediacy of the miracle as a direct result of Jesus words. Their evidences:

The sea obeyed Jesus; it did not keep rolling after the wind died.

The verbs used by the witnesses are aorist, i.e. not specifically defining the time of the action involved (Mt.: egneto galne; Lk.: epasanto), whereas if the writers intended to convey the impression that the sea gradually calmed in a natural way, they would have been expected to have used the imperfect tense. This latter tense would have expressed the continuity of the dying down. As the text stands, the wind and the sea ceased their raging at Jesus word.

The impression upon these men well acquainted with the ways of the sea is totally inexplicable, were there no miracle. Yet they were convinced by what they saw that this was indeed a supernatural act of God. The incontrovertible reality of their experience was too obvious to allow these disciples the sort of naturalistic rationalization indulged in by professors of theological or philosophical faculties who spin fine theories miles and centuries from the facts actually seen by the apostles.

The rebuke for faithlessness seriously reflects upon the supposed inventors of this fiction, if there were indeed no real miracle. Were there no immediate sign which took place at Jesus word, He could not have possibly rebuked their failure to imagine what staggers the imagination! Further, as Edersheim (Life, I, 604) suggests, the narrative very markedly expresses that the apostles certainly did not expect Jesus to react to the storm in the way He did. This is a fact, incidentally, which proves also that there was nothing in the popular messianic expectations nor apparently in rabbinic thought to supply a parallel idea out of which some unknown Christian author could have created the legend out of which this story is supposed to have come. (See Edersheim, in loc.)

The witnesses say that Jesus addressed the natural elements, commanding them to be still. Jesus integrity is brought into question by this fact: either He is a madman or an imposter, if He said what these men testify: Peace! Be still! and if He could not compel the wind and waves to submit to His will. A truly honest, self-effacing Jesus would also have had to correct the false impression created in the minds of His disciples, for their leading questions in response to whatever happened (if there were no miracle) definitely place Him on a par with divinity. If the Evangelist have falsified the record by declaring that Jesus actually spoke words He never intended, then we have no basis for certain knowledge about this event at all.

The unusual but perfectly credible question: what manner of man is this?, given as the conclusion to this section by all these Evangelists, further evidences the trustworthiness of the narrative. Inventors of gospel fiction would have been tempted to conclude the record with an extended argument or at least with a stated conclusion regarding the deity of Christ, something to the effect of: by which, we have now demonstrated the supernaturalness of Jesus.

Another evidence of the accuracy of the facts narrated in this section is the general representation of Jesus. All three Gospel writers picture Jesus, whom all apostolic testimony declared to have been in the form of God, as surrendering to the pangs of hunger, and the demands of exhaustion upon His human body. Now, as Edersheim argues (Life, I, 600), if the Apostles had set about to devise this fiction to exhibit Jesus supernatural power by ascribing to Him power to calm the tempest with a single word, how is it that they do not sense the glaring contradiction between this conclusion and the circumstances with which they introduce the situation? There Jesus is imagined as exhausted and asleep because of His great fatigue, Edetsheim concludes:

Each of these elements: (Jesus humanity and His divinity) by themselves, but not the two in their combination, would be as legends are written. Their coincidence is due to the incidence of truth. Indeed, it is characteristic of the History of the Christ, and all the more evidential that it is so evidently undesigned in the structure of the narrative, that every deepest manifestation of His Humanity is immediately attended by the highest display of His Divinity, and each special display of His Divine Power followed by some marks of His true Humanity. Assuredly, no narrative could be more consistent with the fundamental assumption that He is the God-Man.

III. THE SEAMEN SEEM TO SENSE THE SECRET OF HIS SUPERNATURAL SUPREMACY (8:27)

Mat. 8:27 And the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him? Mar. 4:41 : They were filled with awe. Luk. 8:25 : And they were afraid and marvelled . . . This evident surprise of the Apostles is evidence of their inadequate comprehension of Jesus and His powers, for had they comprehended the towering stature of His divine nature, they could not have been surprised at anything He did. So, there is nothing at all incredible about this question.

Study the disciples growth of faith from the question posed in the Capernaum synagogue: What is this? (Mar. 1:27; Luk. 4:36), to this question; What sort of man is this? . . . Who then is this?, to their later affirmation; Truly you are the Son of God. (Mat. 14:33). We grow so accustomed to inspired Apostles who inerrantly proclaimed Christs message, that we can easily forget that these same men had been exactly what the word disciple implies: learners who can make mistakes before their ignorance and prejudice begins to diminish before the advances of knowledge and comprehension of their Masters message.

The men. Why does Matthew use this expression instead of the disciples or perhaps the apostles? Is he intending thereby to intimate the distance between these awed witnesses of the miracle and the supernatural Jesus who effected it? The sensation of the awesome presence of God in their midst begins to settle down over these men. (cf. Luk. 5:8) They had witnessed great and marvellous cures and miracles before, but this was a supernatural event in their own element. It touched them personally. Another difference that marked this miracle is its display of Jesus supremacy over nature in so large a degree. And even though objectively it requires no more power perhaps to rebuke a hurricane than it does to change water into wine, yet the emotional impact upon the observers was much greater. Here also is painted the sagacity of the Master: by producing so great a variety of miraculous evidence of His identity, nature and power, He leaves no room for doubt even in the weakest disciple that Jesus can do ANYTHING that God can. Even though one of the extraordinary characteristics of Bible miracles, that distinguish them from heathen prodigies, is the notable absence of the love of the marvellous in the matter-of-fact tone in which the Gospel writers narrate these events, yet the astonishment registered in the reaction of these disciples to this miracle rings true psychologically. (See A. B. Bruce, Training, 49) Had they NOT been surprised, we might have wondered at the truth and authenticity of the story. As it is, Matthew and Peter (through Mark) both faithfully record their own unbelief and surprise, even though it pictures them yet less developed, less mature than their later offices required. As Bruce accurately observes, by the time they wrote these facts into our present Gospels, their sense of wonder at these tremendous deeds had been deadened by being satisfied. They had seen too many miracles while with Jesus to be able any longer to react to them as we find them doing in this text. But even though their sense of wonder at the power of Jesus did not continue, they never ceased to be deeply moved at the marvel of His grace.

The men reminds us also of the other boats and pricks our curiosity about their occupants and owners too. If, as suggested above (Mat. 8:23), they survived the storm to witness the miracle, how did they react? Foster (Middle, 111) asks: Did the men in these boats turn back after the storm feeling they had had enough for one day and seen enough for a lifetime? There is nothing to indicate that they were present when Jesus and the Apostles landed at Gergesa. If they turned back to Capernaum after the calm, their account of the news would have whipped Capernaums excitement to fever pitch. What a story they would have had to tell! This explains the great crowd (Mar. 5:21) that gathered about Jesus to welcome Him (Luk. 8:40) immediately at the seaside when He returned next day.

What manner of man is this? What indeed! (See Psa. 89:9; Psa. 107:29) Have we learned better what these men had not yet fathomed, that of which they were but then beginning to catch a glimpse: the voice which the wind and sea obeyed was the voice which spoke the world itself into being? Although the Evangelists record only this puzzling question as the only one uttered, the very question itself was probably the cause of many others: Indeed where WAS our faith? Why did we ourselves fail? How could we have questioned His control over this storm? Perhaps the more reflective among them pondered: when or how will we fail Him again? Note how deftly the three Evangelists conclude their narration with this thought-provoking question. They add no answer that might have been uttered that night. This splendid literary device is rhetorically perfect to kindle fires of thought and set the thoughtful reader to musing.

LESSONS TO OBSERVE FROM THIS TEXT:

When Jesus is in the boat, it is SINFUL UNBELIEF to say: We are perishing! All who sail with Jesus are SAFE, however great the storm. Jesus very incarnation was His way of getting into the boat with us by which He shares our storms with us. Though He is not physically present in the boat in our present storms, He is nonetheless sympathetic and powerful to save,

And since Jesus has been in the same boat with us, it is just as presumptuously sinful to scream: Do you not care if we perish? His human suffering is Gods evidence proving that Jesus cares more than we can ever imagine. He cared so much if we perish that He went to the extreme limit of the cross, worked the supreme miracle of the resurrection, just to show us just how much He cared! Do you not care? does not apply to Jesus!

Though fear as an instinct is fundamental, yet we cannot let fear destroy our confidence in His control. Let us abandon our total dependence upon human help, and failing resources, casting ourselves completely, confidently upon Jesus. No matter how great our trials, things are still in His control.

We dare not leave Jesus to last place in our life as a mere escape hatch for emergency use only. He wants to be our Companion and all-powerful Friend and Guide throughout life. Let Him be the FIRST one to whom we turn!

It is quite possible but just as inadmissible to mix doubts about Jesus with faith in Him. Jesus wants all or nothing.

Our shattered nerves, our broken hearts, our wasted energies, our straining muscles, our haunted lives need this word of Jesus: Peace! Be still!

However imperfect our faith and prayers, Jesus is still waiting to answer our cry, strengthen our faith and justify our confidence in Him.

All these foregoing points have no significance unless we understand that Jesus is God whose word created and sustains the universe and in whose control our destiny rests.

FACT QUESTIONS

List all of the events that the Gospel writers clearly indicate as having taken place on this day which concludes with the storm on Lake Galilee.

What is significant about the quantity and nature of the events you have listed in question 1, that explains a detail described in this account of Jesus stilling the tempest?

True or false? Jesus and His disciples were the only witnesses to what transpired on the lake that night. Prove your answer.

Describe the tempest, explaining both its nature, as described by Matthew, Mark and Luke, and its possible natural origin.

Quote the cries of the apostles as they awoke Jesus.

Describe Jesus reaction to their cries.

Give fall the words that the Evangelists use to describe the reaction of these Apostles to Jesus stilling the tempest.

Justify Matthews use of language when he describes Jesus as rebuking the winds and the sea. Anyone knows that both the wind and the sea are inanimate objects with no conscience or soul to rebuke.

What is so remarkable, from a natural point of view, about the fact that, immediately after Jesus rebuked the storm, there was a dead calm?

10.

Matthew and Mark say that there arose a storm on the sea; while Luke affirms that a storm of wind came down on the lake. Show the perfect harmony between the narratives, that explains this apparent contradiction.

11.

At what time of day did the storm start? What effect would this fact have on the disciples nerves, if any?

12.

Describe the probable type of boat Jesus and His disciples were in, how it was propelled, or maneuvered. Picture how it would react in this storm.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(23) The two narratives that follow are brought together in all three Gospels; but St. Mark and St. Luke place them, as we have seen, after the parables which St. Matthew gives in chapter 13

Entered into a ship.The better MSS. give, as often elsewhere, the ship, or boati.e., one which, belonging possibly to Peter or the sons of Zebedee, was always ready at their Masters service. St. Mark adds that they took Him, even as He was, in the boat, the words indicating apparently extreme exhaustion from the fatigue of teaching. This, we learn, was followed by immediate sleep as He lay in the stern on the boats cushion as a pillow.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

23. Ship A small, open fishing boat.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him.’

As had previously been pointed out to the would be disciples, those who followed Him must be ready to put all other considerations to one side. And this is now exemplified. Jesus enters the boat and the disciples follow Him (while others accompany them in other boats). He is master of the situation and in total control (in spite of the fact that those who are with Him include experts when it came to boating on the Sea of Galilee). For all recognise His supreme authority. Shortly they would be recognising even more.

An example of the kind of boat used here has been found at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee. It was about twenty six feet (eight metres) in length and probably held about fourteen people, having oars and a mast, and a small platform at the rear which covered a ballast bag, which was probably where Jesus would have laid His head to sleep, because He had nothing else (Mat 8:20).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Stills The Storm (8:23-27).

The issue of would be followers having been settled Jesus now prepares to go to Decapolis by boat across the Sea of Galilee. Decapolis was a semi-independent confederation of ten Gentile towns which ran their own affairs, loosely watched over by the governor of Syria. But their territory contained many Jews. His disciples probably thought that He was intending to preach to these Jews, although anyone would be welcome to listen. It is very possible that Jesus did have in view the precise problems that He would have to face when He arrived in Decapolis, a combination of evil that was beyond the ordinary which would be found in two people who were demoniacs, one of whom at least was a demoniac of an extraordinary kind. This may well suggest that Matthew saw the storm (or cataclysm) that immediately preceded the visit as Satan’s attempt to prevent Jesus arriving in Decapolis. For a parallel example of Satan being permitted to cause a destructive tempest see Job 1:12; Job 1:19. But what Jesus probably did not anticipate was the final reaction of the people to His success.

First, however, we are called on to consider His journey across the sea, which was to prove eventful because of the violent storm, and even possibly an earthquake. It may well be that Matthew saw in this incident a picture of the disciples following Jesus, the One Who had no place in which to lay His head, and as a result launching forth into the deep. He may have seen it as in direct contrast to the wavering disciples illustrated in the previous verses. Jesus’ own disciples followed (Mat 8:23) where the others had not. And through their choice they found life and not death, although for a while it would not seem like it. And through it they would learn that His Father would always protect them, and that they must therefore have confidence in Him under all circumstances

Analysis.

a And when He was entered into a boat, His disciples followed Him (Mat 8:23).

b And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, in so much that the boat was covered with the waves, but He was asleep (Mat 8:24).

c And they came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, “Save, Lord, we perish” (Mat 8:25).

b And he says 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” (Mat 8:26).

a And the men marvelled, saying, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” (Mat 8:27).

Note that in ‘a’ the disciples follow Jesus into the boat at His command, unaware of what lies before them, and in the parallel they finish up marvelling, and questioning as to Who or what Jesus really is. In ‘b’ the tempest arises and the boat is covered by huge waves, and in the parallel the winds and the waves are calmed. Centrally in ‘c’ is the call to ‘the Lord’ to save them from perishing.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Three Miracles Demonstrating Jesus’ Authority (Man’s Body: Physical Demonstration of Jesus’ Divine Authority) Mat 8:23 to Mat 9:8 gives us the story of three miracles performed by Jesus Christ which demonstrated His authority over all things. He had authority over nature by calming the storm; He had authority over the spirit realm by casting out demons; and He had authority as only God does to forgive the sins of mankind by forgiving the paralytic. Mat 9:8 is the key verse to these three miracles recorded in Mat 8:23 to Mat 9:8, which says, “But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power [ ] unto men.” This statement reveals the common factor that they all share, which is the demonstration of Jesus’ authority over all aspects of life, over nature, over the spiritual realm, and even over sin. These three miracles were done in order to demonstrate to the disciples the authority of the name of Jesus with which they were to forth when preaching the Gospel and healing the sick. [416]

[416] Alfred Plummer calls this triplicate of miracles “three miracles of power” in contrast to the other triplicate of miracles in this same narrative section of Matthew. He says these three particular miracles are grouped to demonstrate Jesus’ power “over the forces of nature, over evil spirits, and over sin and its consequences.” See Alfred Plummer, An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to S. Matthew (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1910), 128.

It may be possible to suggest that the storm represents the physical realm, the demons represents the spiritual realm, and the paralytic represents the human realm where only God has the authority over mankind to forgive sins. Thus, Jesus has authority over every realm of God’s creation.

Outline Here is a proposed outline:

1. The Calming the Storm Mat 8:23-27

2. The Healing of the Demoniacs Mat 8:28-34

3. The Healing of the Paralytic Mat 9:1-8

The Authority of the Name of Jesus – The disciples will learn to use the authority of the name of Jesus as a part of their public ministry (Mat 7:22, Mar 9:38; Mar 16:17, Luk 9:49; Luk 10:17, Act 3:16).

Mat 7:22, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?”

Mar 9:38, “And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.”

Mar 16:17, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;”

Luk 9:49, “And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.”

Luk 10:17, “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.”

Act 3:16, “And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”

Mat 8:23-27 The Calming the Storm ( Mar 4:35-41 , Luk 8:22-25 ) Mat 8:23-27 tells us the story of Jesus calming the storm. This story demonstrates that Jesus held authority over nature, or over the physical realm.

Mat 8:23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

Mat 8:23 Comments – Note that in Mat 8:18-22, we are just told that the scribe and a disciple would not follow Jesus; but His true disciples do follow him in Mat 8:23

Mat 8:24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

Mat 8:24 Comments – Storms are known to suddenly appear on the Lake of Galilee and take their toll on boaters. On one trip to Israel, Bob Nichols was on the lake hosting a Church group from the U.S. and the strong winds suddenly appeared and brought large waves against the ship. [417] This all appeared suddenly.

[417] Bob Nichols, “Sermon,” Calvary Cathedral International, Fort Worth, Texas.

Mat 8:28-34 The Healing of the Demoniacs ( Mar 5:1-20 , Luk 8:26-39 ) Mat 8:28-34 tells us the story of Jesus healing two men possessed with a legion of demons. Jesus cast out many demons during His earthly ministry. However, I believe this story was selected because it so clearly reflected Jesus’ authority over the demonic realm. This event stood out in the mind of the author because it pointed out that Jesus had the authority to deliver the worst of demoniacs. It shows that Jesus held all authority over the spiritual realm.

Mat 8:28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

Mat 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

Mat 8:30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.

Mat 8:30 Comments – We have to ask the question of why unclean swine were being raised in a Jewish region. Although the strict Jews abstained from such meats, there was much profit in the sale of salted pork to Roman soldiers and other local people who did each this meat.

Mat 8:31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

Mat 8:32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

Mat 8:31-32 Comments – The Herd of Swine – One would naturally ask the question from this story of why Jesus Christ would allow the legion of demons to enter a herd of swine and it result in the destruction of the entire herd of animals. Was not this herd the livelihood of its herdsman and owner? Perhaps Jesus allowed this to happen because swine were unclean and therefore a detriment to their owner rather than a blessing. For in eating them, it would cause people to lose their health.

Mat 8:33 And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.

Mat 8:34 And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

Mat 9:1-8 The Healing of the Paralytic ( Mar 2:1-12 , Luk 5:17-26 ) Mat 9:1-8 tells the story of Jesus healing the paralytic by forgiving his sins. When comparing this narrative material in the Synoptic Gospels, their individual themes are clearly reflected. Mark makes the unique statement that He was preaching the Word unto them (Mar 2:2), reflecting the office of the evangelist. Luke makes the unique statement that He was teaching the people and the power of the Lord was present to heal them (Luk 5:17), reflecting the office and anointing of the prophet. Thus, we can see a clear emphasis in Mark’s version of an evangelist preaching of the Gospel with signs following, which is the foundation theme of this Gospel. Luke’s parallel passage emphasizes Jesus’ power and anointing in the office of the prophet; and within the context of Luke’s literary structure, Jesus is demonstrating to His disciples His authority over sin. Matthew makes no such comments, but rather places emphasis in this section of narrative material on His ability to heal all manner of sickness and disease in order to demonstrate the healing ministry to which He was about to commission His disciples.

This Miracle was a Demonstration that Jesus’ Claim to Divinity was Accepted by God – In this passage of Scripture, Jesus performs a miracle to demonstrate His authority to forgive sin. The foundational theme of Mark’s Gospel is the testimony of Jesus’ works to prove His divinity (and Jews knew that only divinity could forgive their sins). In the Old Testament, the evidence that God received a person’s sacrifice and granted forgiveness of sins was demonstrated when the sacrifice was received. For example, we can find examples of God coming down and consuming sacrifices as He did for Moses at the dedication of the Tabernacle (Lev 9:24), for Manoah, the father of Samson (Jdg 13:19-20), for King David at the threshing floor of Ornan (1Ch 21:26), for Solomon at the dedication of the Temple (2Ch 7:1) and for Elijah on Mount Carmel (1Ki 18:38) as a way of receiving their sacrifices. In a similar way, the evidence that Jesus has the divine power to forgive man’s sins was by the fact that He healed him, since the Jews understood that sickness and sin went hand in hand. Thus, the Jews saw that Jesus’ claim to divinity was accepted by God. In addition, the fact that sickness and sin went hand in hand testifies to the fact that divine healing of men’s physical bodies was embedded in the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

This Miracle Demonstrated the Sinful Nature of Every Person – In this story, Jesus heals a man by first forgiving him of his sins. One reason Jesus discussed His authority to forgive sins and demonstrate this authority in front of the Pharisees was so the Jews would have no excuse in knowing Jesus and the Father (See Joh 15:22-24).

Joh 15:22-24, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.”

Mat 9:1 And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.

Mat 9:1 “and came into his own city” – Comments – This city was Capernaum according to Mar 2:1, “And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.” Evidently, in the beginning of His ministry, He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum.

Mat 9:2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

Mat 9:2 “and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy” Comments Mat 9:2 says Jesus “say their faith.” That is, Jesus saw actions from this group of men that demonstrated they had faith for Jesus to heal the palsy. This statement means that it was the corporate faith of the men who carried the palsy that brought the healing of the palsy. Had one of these men discourages the others in their faith, they would have failed to deliver this man to Jesus, and there would be no healing. These men called upon Jesus for healing corporately as taught in Jas 5:14-15.

Jas 5:14-15, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

Mat 9:2 “Son, be of good cheer” – Comments The term “son” shows a relationship of endearment to the Savior. In many nations, a person who is beloved by a friend is called a son, daughter, father, or mother by the one who loves them. A person is saying that he embraces someone as beloved as dear to him as a member of his own family. He is saying that this person has become a part of the family.

Also, the fact that Jesus uses the word “son” and not “father” reveals that Jesus held a position of authority over this person.

We see this word “son” used again in Heb 2:10 in referring to the children of God in relation to Jesus Christ. This term reveals Jesus’ authority over the church. It also reveals that they were born into the kingdom, as a son is born from a father.

Heb 2:10, “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”

Mat 9:3 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.

Mat 9:4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

Mat 9:5-6 Comments – Jesus could have said either, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” or, “Arise, and walk.” He said the former so that the scribes might know that Jesus did have power on earth to forgive sins.

Mat 9:5 For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?

Mat 9:5 Comments – Jesus says both, that his sins are forgiven (verse 2), and to take up his bed and walk (verse 6).

Mat 9:6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

Mat 9:6 Comments In the Greek text, the word is placed at the beginning of Jesus’ statement for emphasis.

Jesus is teaching the disciples concerning the authority that He has upon earth to minister redemption to mankind. This realm of authority will be delegated to the apostles and New Testament Church (Joh 20:23), being embedded into the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Joh 20:23, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”

Mat 9:7 And he arose, and departed to his house.

Mat 9:8 But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

Mat 9:8 Comments Mat 9:8 is the key verse to the previous three miracles recorded in Mat 8:23 to Mat 9:8, revealing the common theme that they all share, which is the demonstration of Jesus’ authority over all aspects of life, over nature, over the spiritual realm, and even over sin. These three miracles were done in order to demonstrate to the disciples the authority of the name of Jesus with which they were to forth when preaching the Gospel and healing the sick.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Storm on the Lake.

v. 23. And when He was entered into a ship, His disciples followed Him.

v. 24. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.

The ship had been prepared by the disciples in accordance with previous instructions, and when He now entered, the men that stood nearest to Him, the inner circle of His followers, embarked with Him. Worn out by the intensity of the bodily and mental strain of a hard day’s work, Jesus went off to sleep, soothed by the gliding motion of the vessel. All unexpectedly, with great suddenness, there burst down upon the little lake one of the storms which are so dreaded on account of their extreme violence. There was literally an earthquake of the sea, a hurricane with tornado-like force, before which the experienced fishermen were absolutely helpless. The waves lifted up on every side, rising high above the ship, hiding it, breaking over it, gradually filling it with water, whose amount defied all efforts at bailing out. All nature was in an uproar, wind and sea had conspired to destroy both vessel and travelers. Note the contrast: Christ was quietly sleeping, in the midst of all the turmoil, unaffected by an excitement which caused the strongest men to quake with fear. “But, now, natural sleep is the certain indication of a true, natural man. Since, then, the gospel says Christ slept in the ship, the evangelist wants to show us Christ as a real, natural man that has body and soul, and therefore had need of eating, drinking, sleeping, and other natural works that are done without sin, just as we have. In order that we do not fall into the error of the Manichaeans, who believed Christ to be a spirit, not a true man.”

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 8:23. And when he was entered And when he went aboard the vessel.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 8:23 ff. Comp. Mar 4:36 ff.; Luk 8:22 ff.

] the boat standing ready to convey them over , Mat 8:18 .

] not the Twelve in contrast to the multitude, Mat 8:18 (Fritzsche), which is forbidden by Mat 9:9 , but His disciples generally, who, as appears from the context, are in the present instance those who had joined themselves more closely to Him, and were following Him, as the scribe also of Mat 8:19 and the person indicated in Mat 8:21 had declared their willingness to do.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

What a beautiful representation is here given of the two-fold nature of CHRIST. Behold the man, in his human nature, sleeping! Behold the GODHEAD, in his divine nature, rebuking the winds and sea. Let the infidel look at this, and ask himself, who but the Creator could thus command the mighty waters? Let not the child of God overlook the sweet consolation the passage brings with it, to hush all the winds and storms of life. JESUS may, to your view, be inattentive, as though he heard not, when the ship of life in which you are embarked is filling with waves, and when in the distress of your soul you are crying out, LORD, save, or I perish. But, remember, God incarnate is with you in the vessel, and he will bear the whole up until the time of deliverance. Then will he do by you, as he did in this instance with his disciples, arise, and rebuke both winds and seas and there shall be a great calm. Storms of fear, and storms of temptation, must all subside at the command of JESUS.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 33

Prayer

Almighty God, we have heard thy sweet call to come to thine house, and behold we are now here present before thee, with our adoration and confession, with our grateful hymn and with our cry of penitence, and we humbly beseech thee to come to us and to receive what we have now to give. Behold we have nothing to give thee in return for all thy goodness but a broken service. Thou wilt receive it by its meaning and purpose and not because of its own value and desert. We take thy law into our lips, and we break it every syllable: our hands have no clean spot upon them, but within and without they bear witness against themselves. Our heart is a sepulchre, the bottom of which hath not yet been found: our mind is as a chamber of imagery wherein are idols not to be counted, and wherein there are purposes for which there are no human words. Yet dost thou set thy love upon us, nor dost thou withhold thy light from our life. Thou didst send thy Son to seek us, to teach us, to die for us, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. He was delivered for our offences, he was raised again for our justification, and we come to thee in his name, wide as the heavens, brighter than all the created flames of light, and we ask thee for his sake to hear us when we cry unto thee.

We have attempted to count thy mercies, and behold the daylight hath failed us. We have set ourselves to the task of numbering thy compassions, and behold we have worn out the shining stars. Thy mercies are more in number than the sands upon the seashore, nor is there anything in heaven above or upon the earth beneath that can set forth the number of thy tender compassions. We breathe of thy love, we eat of the bounty of thine hand, we walk in the light of thine eye, we live and move and have our being in God. We cannot escape thee: though we slight thy love, yet dost thou nourish us by thy goodness: though we may not have thy Son to reign over us, yet must we look to thy clouds for water and to thy heavens for light. Thus dost thou lay hold upon us at every point; by thy tender and mighty persuasion dost thou seek to constrain the soul to obedience and homage and love. May we this day answer the great demand with a great joy, and may we flock to thy house as doves flock to the windows, and may there be joy in heaven over all we think and do.

Every heart has its own hymn, every life has its own flower to give thee this summer day. What thou hast given unto us we give unto thee, for we have nothing that we have not received. Thou dost teach the hymn we sing, thou dost inspire every holy prayer we breath, thou dost give us the words wherein we besiege thy throne. Look upon each of us according to the poverty and pain of every heart, scatter thy general blessings upon us as thou dost rain the impartial clouds upon the thirsting land, then come to each heart with some peculiar gift. Thou knowest the bitterness of every soul, the dark, awful plague of every heart, thou knowest the crookedness of every life, thou understandest us altogether, and there is nothing hidden from the light of thine eyes. Nourish and cherish every good thing that is in our heart, bring it to beauty and to fruition, and may we all bear abundantly the fruits of the Spirit, and be known because of their richness and plenteousness.

Where the heart is bruised and the spirit is wounded because the chief hope has been blighted and the main light has been put out, do thou come with peculiar tenderness and heal those that are sorely distressed. Where there is yearning for those who wander far, and may even be lost to our human sight, where the parent yearns in great and troubled love for the sinning child, do thou send all the healing of thy long-suffering and redemption. And where the child cries for the lost home, saying, “I will arise and go to my Father,” give him power to return, bring him back again to the long-abandoned house, and may he there find the hospitality of great love.

Regard all our friends who are sick, in pain, and in fear of death. Thou knowest how little our life is: our breath is in our nostrils thou dost frown upon us, and we are gone. O help us according to our weakness, and because our days are very few in number do thou fill them with all the grace of thy blessing, so that we being prepared by thy training and discipline here, born again and sanctified by thy Holy Spirit, may be made meet for that better city, in which the light never sets, where are all the good gathered in immortal convocation, and may we be counted worthy through the blood of the Lamb to take part in their sweet song, and to share with them the benediction which shall encompass eternity.

Do thou look upon all for whom we ought to pray: for the prisoner in the dungeon, for the soldier in the battlefield, for travellers by sea and by land, for all our dear ones in the far-off village, or in the far-off country. O hear us when we sigh for Heaven’s blessing to rest upon all after whom our love goes out in earnest desire. Take us all under thy care: rebuke our impatience gently, be mindful of us during the few short flying hours that yet remain to this earth-life, and in the hour and article of death give us that sweet sense of thy presence which shall abolish death. Amen.

Mat 8:23-27

23. And when he was entered into a ship his disciples followed him.

24. And behold there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

25. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. (They record their own helplessness.)

26. And he saith unto them, Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith. Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

27. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?

Christ’s Inward Peace Controlling Outward Storms

“He was asleep.” Think of the sleep of the dad man; tired O with doing evil with both hands, weary in the cause of wickedness, having done his last bad trick, having worn out his last energy in following that which is evil and forbidden, he falls asleep. Who will talk to him in his dreams what images will he see in the visions of the night? Suppose he should never awake, and men should come in the morning to see how he left his work with a bad purpose broken off, with a programme inscribed to the devil half wrought through who would care to bury him? Would it not disgrace a horse to carry such bones to the grave? Is it not a prostitution of human decency to touch so foul a thing?

Think of the sleep of the good man; weary in his work of noble benevolence, the spirit willing but the flesh giving way, with the tear half dried that he was just going to cleanse utterly from the eye of sorrow, with the word almost broken off at the middle syllable that he was just speaking in the ear of great distress overcome by weariness he falls down into a dead sleep. Suppose he should never wake again who then could tell the world’s loss who could add up in figures the deficiency that would befall the average of the world’s intelligence and piety and beneficence? When some men die, they make the world poor, they leave such great gaps behind them: it is as if altars had been broken down and ways to heaven had been shut up, and light that lighted the darksomeness of life had been put out with a rough hand suddenly.

Do not account too much of the bad man’s sleep, or of the good man’s sleep no argument is to be founded on the sleep of either. The murderer has slept on the night of his crime, the condemned criminal has slept on the night before his execution, the good man has lost many a night’s sleep by anxieties which he could not control. We are not therefore to make any moral use of sleep or of sleeplessness in the case of particular persons, but all men do sleep, and many may never awaken out of their slumber, and I ask you whose sleep would you like to have, the bad man’s sleep a weariness that comes out of evil practice, the high and venturous pursuit of forbidden and disastrous prizes, or the good man’s sleep weary in his work but not weary of it, only going down into the depths of sleep that he may come up as one refreshed, to renew all that was sweetest and noblest and best in his life’s toil.

“Let me sleep the sleep of the righteous, and may my slumber be like his.” So say we all, but if we would sleep well, we must work well, if we would have the angels at night we must have God during the day. If the darkness is to be jewelled by stars, then must we toil with filial love and ever-heightening delight while the sun lasts, to make men wiser and truer and altogether better. Sweet is the sleep of the labouring man, blessed is the slumber of the soul that does its utmost to please God; it is prefigurative of that rest which remaineth for those who are the servants of the Most High. Look on the bad man’s sleep it is as a beast getting ready for further blood. It is as a man whetting his instrument that he may commit deadlier havoc on society. Who would not pray that such strength might never be renewed? and if any man have strength to say openly, “God forbid he should ever awake again on earth,” it would take much piety to keep back the “Amen” from those who heard the supplication.

We have now therefore to deal with the sleeping Christ. He told us that he had not where to lay his head, but the head that is weary is not particular about its pillow. He told the scribe that he had not where to lay his head, and yet in a verse or two farther on, we find him asleep. If on a pillow, it was a borrowed one. He does not contradict himself; whether he have pillow or no pillow, he must sleep. Behold him then in the hinder part of the ship, behold him who said he had not where to lay his head, laying down that very head on a borrowed pillow and sleeping as if he nestled in the heart of God.

What occurs during his absence in sleep? “Behold there arose a great storm in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves.” A storm always arises when he is absent. His turning away from us means the opportunity for a storm. We are only at peace while he is with us; everything depends upon his nearness. It is not a merely negative condition of things which he leaves behind him not only is the light withdrawn, but the darkness is sevenfold; not only is the wind troubled, it is troubled even to the point of tempest; not only does the tide roll as usual, but it foams into infinite billows and our little life-ship is tossed upon it as with scorn, and we are threatened with mortal danger. It has always been so in my life. A sleeping Christ will do me no good, a painted Christ will not be of effective service in my life, a wooden crucifix or even an ivory across will not help me it must be the wakeful Christ, with every energy astir, power pouring out of him in every look, and in every movement, the actual, positive, real, personal, living Christ. We are mocked by his figure we are saved by his personality.

What did the disciples under these extraordinary and exciting circumstances? They came to him and awoke him, saying “Lord, save us: we perish.” They came to him, they did not go to one another. For a long time we may seem to be equals; we speak about the average of human strength and human intelligence; we say all men are tolerably much the same, it is a long broad line of equality stretching over the whole human sphere, and human nature may have its ups and downs, but as a whole it is almost upon a level. Then there are great crises in the family when the chief man is sought out in a moment. We know him, he cannot be disguised; he may be asleep, but he is the chief; he may be out of the house but he must be sought for. I thought we were all equal? So we are, when we are all cold, when there is no immediate necessity, when there is no wolf with open mouth and gleaming teeth and eyes of fire standing at the front door. But let a crisis supervene in the family and the least child in the house intuitively turns its eyes in the right direction. The servant seeks the master, the weak calls for the strong, there is always a point of supremacy.

So in the nation: when there is nothing particularly stirring, we are all about equal, we lay down the great democratic doctrine that one man is as good as another, and constitute ourselves into a mutual commendation society, and speak of one another as if we were of one height, of one compass of mind, of one common integrity of heart. Suddenly a great crisis arises; then our little and comfortable doctrines all depart; then the man of stature stands up; then we know to whom to look, or, not knowing, we divine and guess, and by force of conjecture we create the man and make him the king of the hour.

If anything should occur in your business of an extraordinary nature you will soon find out who the principal is. If your business should proceed in the ordinary course little or no notice will be taken of you. People will not know, perhaps, whether you are in or whether you are out; if out, how long you will be in coming in; but let any particular crisis arise, and you will be named, you will be the necessity of the hour, and there will come into your heart by the grace and presence of God the energy that will meet the hour and stamp it with conquest.

The disciples not only came to Christ they came in the right spirit. “Lord,” said they, how is it that we give the right names when we are in the right mood? How is it that we create terms to meet necessities? Suppose you had met those men on the road in a quiet hour and had said to them, “Now, doctrinally, who is this man you are following?” Probably their answer would have been superficial, or ambiguous, or inadequate. You might easily have led them in the direction of doubt; it would not have been difficult to have troubled their incipient faith with many a dash of scepticism. But perishing, in trouble, the next breath the last, they seize him and call him “Lord.” It will be so with a great many, perhaps with some too late. Many will say to him in that day, Lord, Lord; and he will profess unto them that he never knew them. Some confessions come too late; some homage destroys itself by its tardiness. Why should we not use our calmness, our self-possession, our faculties at their richest and best, and make recognitions of Christ’s relation to us whilst we are in a fit state of heart and temper to make them with intelligence, and breadth, and cordiality? Do not believe the coldblooded tempter or evil speaker, or sceptic, or infidel; he is a mighty man when there is nothing to fear. I do not know how far some mockers will be able to carry their mocking when grim death with bony grip seizes their flesh. We shall hear of them then till then we do not touch them.

Not only did they come to the right man in the right spirit, but the disciples came with the right request, saying thus observe the completeness of that word and its marvellous moral emphasis not “Help us,” not “Join us in a common endeavour to save the ship;” not the address made to Jonah, “Arise and take thy share, and call upon thy God as we have been calling upon our gods;” not, “Let there be a common appeal to the distant heavens;” but ” Save us: take the whole case into thine hand; we fall back and are nothing go, thou mighty One, almighty One, to the front to save us.” We cannot do without that word save. It gets around the whole compass of our necessity; it touches with a marvellous pathos all the pain of our moral distress. Jesus Christ, the Son of man, came to seek and to save that which was lost. His name was called Jesus, because he should save his people from their sins. He is mighty to save: he is called the Saviour, the Man with the long arms, the Man with the infinite strength, whose touch is emancipation, whose look is benediction. He saved others himself he cannot save. Thank God! If he could come down from that cross, morally, he would ruin the world.

With what prayers have we come to Christ? Have we asked him to enter into co-partnery with us in the doing some business in life? Have we said to him that we should be pleased if he would make out what is lacking in our own strength, that we might with twofold power address ourselves to some difficult engagement? I wonder not that the prayer lies in the air somewhere, a wasted thing, a bird with wings too weak to get beyond the cloud line. We must go to him with our emptiness, we must have nothing in our hands, we must have nothing but a great distress to hurl upon his ear, and we must use words that will show him that our self-renunciation is complete and hopeless. If you had uttered big prayers, you would have had big answers. If you have nibbled at the heavens I wonder not that their dignity has been offended. Let us go to Christ with nothing to recommend us, with our blindness, deafness, dumbness, our complete necessity, then we shall see how he will answer the mute appeal of our helpless condition.

What answer does Christ make to those perishing disciples? “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” The quiet soul always brings quietness. You say of certain persons in your own house, when they come into the chamber of affliction, they seem to centralize and to quiet everything; their composure is so serene, their self-possession is so complete, that they bring with them half a deliverance from the distress that was overwhelming you. See the physician in excitement, and everybody in the sick-chamber goes down; see his face quiet, hear his voice untroubled, feel his grip firm, and at once everybody in the sick-chamber takes heart again. The doctor does not know how his face is being searched by eager eyes, and if there be a flush in it or a wave of suppressed feeling, it is interpreted to mean disaster of the most appalling kind. The quiet soul brings quietness, the Son of Peace brings peace he creates peace.

There is only one storm to be feared, and that is the storm of unbelief. Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith? There is only one loss to be deprecated, the loss of faith. “Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” I may lose health, money, friends, power, but if I have not lost my faith, I have lost nothing. I shall come up again. Destroy this body and in three days I will raise it again. Blessed are those whose faith is greater than the power of destruction that lies around them.

Lord, increase our faith. Faith is power, faith is peace. Pray only for faith, for that wondrous ability to trust which he exercised and manifested who said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” My last look shall be a prayer, my last heartthrob shall be towards the heavens: if he has torn me, he will heal me; if he has wounded me with all his instruments, on the third day he will revive me, and in my greater joy I shall forget my lesser woe. Lord, increase our faith our heart’s faith; we do not mind so much about our intellectual faith it is here and there, and any fool can twist it but see thou to bur heart’s faith, that deep inner trust that lays hold of thee with pertinacity that cannot be shaken off. Lord, increase our faith.

I cannot give up the miracles, because I should be giving up the great doctrine that mind is greater than matter, and without that doctrine we should be poor indeed. I hold to the supremacy of mind; my belief is that the spirit is the mightiest force in creation. GOD is a spirit. If we had less body and more spirit we should be quieter, mightier, wholly grander. I will not have it that the sea is mightier than mind: I would cling to the belief that there is a fire in man that can astound the sea and awe it into submission. The time will surely come when mind shall be acknowledged to be supreme, when the Book that speaks what are now romances because of our coldness will be proved to be speaking words of truth and soberness. If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed ye would say to this mountain, “Out of the way,” and it would be cast into the depths of the sea. I am not content to dwell in the lowlands of the merely material and measurable, in a kind of conscious imprisonment. I would say with the great Pascal, to the sun, “I am greater than thou: thou couldst fall and crush me, but I should be conscious of defeat, whilst thou wouldst be unconscious of victory.”

Be careful how you allow mind to be displaced from its regal position. It is a reflection fraught not only with supreme intellectual grandeur, but with the most exquisite moral pathos, that the word shall be mightier than the difficulty external, that the “I will” shall abolish death and fill up the grave and plant its face with the flowers of victory. Do not too readily yield to those persons who would snub your mind and magnify the mountain outside of you. The mountain is but huge mud, the sea but infinite water, the body but an invention for the moment, but mind God is mind: God is a spirit. There are difficulties from the other side of the case, but they are nothing compared with the difficulties that would immediately be created by the displacement of mind from its royal elevation.

Jesus gave commandment to depart unto the other side, and a storm arose. Learn that storms may arise even whilst we are in discharge of plain and divinely commanded duty. If these men had taken the ship at their own suggestion, and attempted to cross the sea for their own convenience, we should speedily have visited upon them the penalty that they were worthy of the storm which overtook them. Let us learn the brighter lesson and encourage the grander faith. Storms may arise even in discharge of duty. Do not create your own difficulties. You are a child of God, and you have a great sorrow to bear. Do not reason that if you were a child of God you would not have any sorrow that would be sophism, not high and correct reasoning. You have a great difficulty in your business: do not reason that you have missed your providential way because you are encountering this terrible obstacle. The disciples were actually obeying Christ at the very moment the storm seized their vessel so it may be with you. These things come not for the deepening of your fear, but for the quickening, the enlargement and the completion of your health.

Danger will always move men to prayer I will not guarantee that their prayers will be answered: the prayers of the wicked are an abomination unto the Lord. There are some of us who never pray but in danger I dare not pledge that God will be present to hear. He may be his mercy endureth for ever, but if he were less than God, he would not be. Your own mother would not be; you have worn out the last filament of her love. Your own father would not be: his eyes have been cried out with tears that boiled. If God were less than God, you would not lay hold of him even in the bitterness of your agony. You may do so it will be because he is God and Father.

The upshot of the whole was that the men marvelled. A poor outcome, a miserable dnouement, they marvelled. We are like them, we are great at wonder, we are geniuses in the matter of being open to surprise and amazement. We can do any amount of wondering. There is a wonder that is legitimate, there is a wonder that is akin to worship, there is a surprise that may lead to faith. With such surprise may we be well acquainted, but beware of the round eye and the open mouth of vulgar wonder which stares at a miracle as at a show, and encourage that holy amazement which looks, then shuts its eyes, and then falls down in prayer.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

Ver. 23. And when he was entered, &c. ] Himself was first in the ship where they were to suffer. Like a good shepherd, he goes before his sheep, Joh 10:4 . Like a good captain, he goes before his soldiers; and as it was said of Hannibal, a that he first entered the field and last went out of the field, so is it with Christ the Captain of our salvation. “Fear not,” saith he, “for I am with thee: be not afraid, for I am thy God,” Isa 41:10 . Tua causa erit mea causa, Your problem will be my problem, as that emperor told Julius Pflugius, who had been much wronged by the Duke of Saxony, in the emperor’s employment.

a Princeps praelium inibat, ultimus, conferio praelto, excedebat. Liv.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

23. ] This journey across the lake, with its incidents, is placed by St. Mark and St. Luke after the series of parables commencing with that of the sower, and recorded in ch. 13. By Mark with a precise note of sequence: , Mar 4:35 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 8:23-27 . Storm on the lake (Mar 4:35-41 , Luk 8:22-25 ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mat 8:23 . might be called a dative absolute; if taken as dative after , the after this verb is superfluous. This short sentence is overcharged with pronouns ( after ). ( omitted in Lk.), the ship in readiness in accordance with previous instructions (Mat 8:18 ). Mat 8:24 , indicates sudden oncome. . ., literally an earthquake of the sea, the waters stirred to their depths by the winds referred to in Mat 8:26-27 ; in Mark and Luke = hurricane. , here with infinitive, used also with finite moods ( e.g. , Gal 2:13 ). In the one case indicates aim or tendency, in the other it asserts actual result ( vide Goodwin, p. 221, also Bamlein, Schulgrammatik , 593, 594). Klotz, Devar. , ii. p. 772, gives as the equivalent of , with infinitive, ita ut ; with indicative, itaque or quare ). , was covered, hidden, the waves rising high above the boat, breaking on it, and gradually filling it with water ( cf. Mark and Luke). : dramatic contrast = but He was sleeping (imperfect), the storm notwithstanding. Like a general in time of war Jesus slept when He could. He had fallen asleep before the storm came on, probably shortly after they had started (Luk 8:23 , : while they sailed He went off to sleep). soothed by the gliding motion. It was the sleep of one worn by an intense life. involving constant strain on body and mind. The mental tension is apparent in the words spoken to the two disciples (Mat 8:20-22 ). Words like these are not spoken in cold blood, or without waste of nervous power. Richard Baxter describes Cromwell as “of such vivacity, hilarity, and alacrity as another man hath when he hath drunken a cup too much” ( Reliquiae Baxt. ). “Drunken, but not with wine,” with a great epoch-making enthusiasm. The storm did not wake the sleeper. A tempest, the sublime in nature, is a lullaby to a great spirit. The Fathers viewed the sleep and the storm theologically, both arranged for beforehand, to give time for cowardice to show itself (Chrys., Hom. xxviii.), to let the disciples know their weakness and to accustom them to trials (Theophyl.). A docetic Christ, an unreal man, a theatrical affair!

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 8:23-27

23When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. 24And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. 25And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” 26He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. 27The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Mat 8:24

NASB”And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea”

NKJV” And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea”

NRSV” A windstorm arose on the sea”

TEV”Suddenly a fierce storm hit the lake”

NJB”Without warning a storm broke over the lake”

The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by hills and affected by its proximity to Mt. Hermon and the Mediterranean Sea. The strong winds descending on this body of water were often sudden, unexpected, and violent. Even these professional fishermen were afraid.

The NIDOTTE, vol. 3, p. 557, has an interesting comment about the term seismos (” storm”).

“The other eleven occurrences of seismos in the NT all refer to earthquakes, and always as divine interventions: at the moment of Jesus’ death (Mat 27:54); at the resurrection, where it is linked with the rolling back of the stone; and at Philippi, as Paul and Silas sing God’s praises in prison (Act 16:26). Earthquakes are one of the eschatological signs (Mat 24:7; Mar 13:8; Luk 21:11; Rev 6:12; Rev 8:5; Rev 11:13; Rev 11:19; Rev 16:18).”

This sudden storm was not a coincidence, but a God-sent opportunity to

1. reveal Jesus

2. build the disciples’faith

Mat 8:25 “Save us, Lord” This was the OT use of the term ” save” meaning physical deliverance (cf. Mat 14:30; Joh 12:27; Act 23:24; Act 27:20; Act 27:31; Act 27:34; Act 27:43-44; Act 28:1; Act 28:4; Jas 5:15).

SPECIAL TOPIC: SALVATION (OLD TESTAMENT TERM)

Mat 8:26-27 “it became perfectly calm” They were absolutely astonished at Jesus’ power even over nature. Because of Psa 89:8-9 this was an allusion to Jesus’ deity . Only the creator can control nature (cf. Psa 107:23-32).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

a ship = the ship. Referring to Mat 8:18.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

23.] This journey across the lake, with its incidents, is placed by St. Mark and St. Luke after the series of parables commencing with that of the sower, and recorded in ch. 13. By Mark with a precise note of sequence: , Mar 4:35.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Matthews Gospel is the Gospel of the Kingdom, and of the King. Here you see the King amid the storms of nature.

Mat 8:23-24. 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.

In the quiet confidence of faith, resting upon his God.

Mat 8:25-26. 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.

As great a calm as there had been tempest. After great trouble, expect deep, delightful rest and peace, if you are a child of God.

Mat 8:27. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

Now see the King in conflict with the powers of darkness.

Mat 8:28-31. And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought him,

How the demons crouched at his feet! The dogs of bell knew the power of his tongue; that was a whip whose lash they had felt before.

Mat 8:31-32. Saying, If thou, cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said unto them, Go.

He never wastes words on demons.

Mat 8:32-34. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

A sad prayer; yet Jesus granted their request. Men may once too often ask the Holy Spirit to depart from them. They may grieve him once more, and then he will have done with them for ever. Now we shall see the King in conflict with the diseases of mankind, and with human sin.

This exposition consisted of readings from Mat 8:23-34; Mat 9:1-13.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Mat 8:23. , the vessel) The article refers by implication to Mat 8:18. Jesus had a moving school: and in that school His disciples were instructed much more solidly than if they had dwelt under the roof of a single college, without any anxiety or temptation.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mat 8:23-27

Jesus Calms the Storm at Sea

Mat 8:23-27

23-27 And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him.-The boat into which he entered was either the boat that had carried him and his disciples to the other side or another boat which was waiting to carry him away. The scene and miracle which is here related is also narrated by Mark (Mar 4:35-41), and by Luke (Luk 8:22-25); Mark gives a fuller account than Matthew, and Luke’s account of it is briefer than Matthew’s. Mark connects this miracle chronologically with what had just been recorded before. After a long weary day of varied labors Jesus, followed by his disciples, “entered into a boat”; some think that is possibly belonged to Peter or the sons of Zebedee.

And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea.-The Greek indicates an “earthquake”; such a commotion of the elements described here corresponds to an earthquake. Mark and Luke call it a furious storm, a hurricane, the Sea of Galilee is subject to sudden and violent storms. The violent tempests are accounted for by the fact that the Sea of Galilee is about six hundred feet lower than the ocean; the vast and naked plateaus which surround it have ravines and deep gorges converging into the sea; these act like gigantic funnels to draw down the cold wind from the mountains and thus disturb the sea. Jesus soon fell asleep in the boat after it left the shore. The waves of the water were higher than usual as they are described as covering the boat. Matthew brings into wide contrast the tempestuous sea with its wild waves raging around and over the boat and the perfect calmness and serenity of Jesus while asleep. Upon one occasion when David was in great danger he said, “I laid me down and slept; I awaked for Jehovah sustaineth me.” (Psa 3:5.) The disciples of Jesus learned the lesson of perfect trust in God, for years later Peter, expecting any moment to be brought out for execution, slept in his dungeon so sweetly that the angel had to smite him on the side to awake him. (Act 12:6-7.)

And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Save, Lord; we perish.-In their distress and anxiety for themselves and for Jesus they cry unto Jesus loud enough to wake him from the peaceful slumber into which he had fallen. Mark records their cry as “Teacher, carest thou not that we perish?” and Luke is still more concise in recording their earnest appeal to Jesus for help; his statement is, “Master, master, we perish.” It is likely that all of these forms of speech and expressions were used; some would use one expression snd some another. Matthew records the expression used by some of the disciples, while Mark and Luke record expressions used by others.

And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?-The disciples were with Jesus; why cannot they trust him? “0 ye of little faith” is the mild yet firm rebuke that Jesus gave them. They had seen that day many manifestations of his power, and yet they were afraid of a storm with Jesus in the boat. They had some faith, but their faith was not strong enough; the miracle which followed was to strengthen their faith in him as their Messiah. Jesus first rebuked his disciples, and then “rebuked the winds and the sea”; the result was “a great calm” immediately came upon the waters. Mark quotes the words of Jesus, “Peace, be still”; the wind ceased; the Greek indicates that it “grew weary, tired, and sank into a restful calm.” Another meaning of the Greek word as used by Mark is that he “muzzled” the sea like an ox and it became calm. The effect on his disciples was that they “marvelled”; they asked each other, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” The terrific storm had been brought so suddenly to a calm at the command of Jesus that they were astonished at the wind and the sea obeying him. Jesus had power over the material world as well as over the spiritual world; his power had been manifested over the spiritual realm by casting out demons; it was now manifested by his commanding the tempest and the mighty waters. The inconceivable wonder of arresting a hurricane was a new revelation of Jesus’ power even to his disciples, and their faith was strengthened in him.

Jesus Calms the Storm – Mat 8:23-27

Open It

1. What is your scariest “bad weather story”?

2. When was the last time you were speechless?

3. Why is it difficult for parents to watch their children go through hard times?

4. What kind of sleeper are you?

Explore It

5. What did Jesus do with His disciples? (Mat 8:23)

6. Who accompanied Jesus in the boat? (Mat 8:23)

7. What surprise did the boaters encounter in this scene? (Mat 8:24)

8. How severe was the weather? (Mat 8:24)

9. What was Jesus doing during the storm? (Mat 8:24)

10. What did the disciples do? (Mat 8:25)

11. What did the disciples say? (Mat 8:25)

12. How did Jesus reply to the disciples expression of fear? (Mat 8:26)

13. What did Jesus do when the disciples expressed fear? (Mat 8:26)

14. What was natures response to the command of Jesus? (Mat 8:26)

15. How did the disciples react to this astonishing sequence of events? (Mat 8:27)

16. What excellent question did the disciples raise? (Mat 8:27)

Get It

17. Why do you think most people-even nonreligious folks-turn to God when things really fall apart?

18. What nerve-wracking situations have you faced lately?

19. How do you typically react when circumstances get out of control?

20. Why is it necessary for us to go through scary times in life?

21. Why do we panic about the storms swirling around us when the God of the universe lives inside us?

22. How does it make you feel to remember that you have a Savior who is greater than anything this world can throw at you?

23. What amazing acts has God done for you?

Apply It

24. How can you strengthen your faith in God today?

25. This week, what specific ways can you demonstrate your belief that Jesus will see you through the storms in your life?

26. For what amazing acts do you need to thank God today?

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Our King ruling the Sea

Mat 8:23. And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

They were wise to follow him, and safe in so doing; but they were not therefore secure from trial. In the boat with Jesus is a happy place, but storms may come even when we are there.

Mat 8:24. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

This inland lake was subject to sudden squalls and tempests, wherein the wind raged so as to lift the boat fairly out of the water. This was an unusually bad storm: the little ship seemed lost: the wing of the tempest covered it. The comfort was that Christ was in the vessel, and his presence covered the boat, as surely as did the waves. Yet the presence of our great Lord will not prevent our being tossed by “a great tempest.”

Mat 8:25. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

He was not flurried: his trust in his great Father was so firm, that, rocked in the cradle of the deep, he slept peacefully. Winds howled, and waters dashed over him; but he slept on. His disciples caused him more disquiet than the storm. They “awoke him” with their cries. They were mistrustful, and ready to upbraid him with indifference. Little faith prayed,” Save us “; much fear cried, “We perish.” Men in a storm cannot be very select in their language, but they learn to be very earnest and eager The appeal of these disciples may suit many. Here was reverence for Jesus-“Lord”: an intelligent supplication-“save us”; and an overwhelming argument-“we perish.”

Mat 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.

He spoke to the men first, for they were the most difficult to deal with: wind and sea could be rebuked afterwards. He questions the disciples. Alas, they had questioned him in an unworthy sense! There is no reason in our unbelief. That “Why?” is unanswerable. If we are right in having any faith, we must be wrong in having any fear. Little faith, from one point of view, is most precious; but under another aspect it is most unjustifiable. Why “little faith” in a great God? It is well that it is faith; it is ill that it is little.

See the Lord rise from his hard couch. In royal dignity he lifts up himself. A word makes a calm. As it was a great tempest, now he gives “a great calm “: there was nothing little in the whole business, except the disciples’ faith. When our Lord rebuked the winds, he did in the best manner rebuke their unbelief. He has very happy ways of correcting us by the greatness of his mercy to us.

My soul, thou knowest what that “great calm” is; henceforth exercise a great faith in the great Peace-maker. Be sure to have that faith when thou art caught in a great tempest.

Mat 8:27. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

It was well that they wondered; it would have been better had they adored. If Christ had been only man, the wonder about him would have been beyond all wonderment. He was divine, and hence to his royal word all nature yielded. This is the end of the wonder of the intellect, but it is the beginning of the worship of the heart. In this case, our glorious King for the moment unveiled his glory, and commanded obedience from the most boisterous of the elements. In our own cases how often have we had to cry out, “What manner of man is this! ” How grandly has he brought us through terrible storms! How easily has he calmed the surges of our souls! Blessed be his name! Still “the winds and the sea obey him.”

Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom

Mat 9:1, Mar 4:36, Luk 7:22

Reciprocal: 2Sa 5:23 – fetch Mar 4:35 – the same Mar 4:37 – there arose Luk 8:22 – that

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

CHRIST IN THE SHIP

And when He was entered into a ship, His disciples followed Him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea even the winds and the sea ohey Him.

Mat 8:23-27

I. The peril of the disciples.The sea of Galilee, like all inland seas, was subject to violent hurricanes of wind. Such a tornado now swept over this sea and lashed it into madness. But, apart from natural causes, who raised this fearful storm? Was it an accidentone of those effects that seem without a cause? No; there was a Divinity in it. It was because Christ was with them that this storm arose. What lessons are here for us!

II. The sleep of the Master.His human nature was exhausted by His God-like acts. Here is a certain proof of His perfect humanity. Because of such proofs, people, in the days of His flesh, would not believe in His Divinity. If they were to see Him now, they might not believe in His humanity (Heb 2:9-18).

III. The cry of the disciples.What fear their cry indicated! But the cry of the disciples betokened great confidence as well as agonising fear. This confidence rested simply and exclusively on Him as their Lord. The ability and willingness of Christ always companion each other, and are always exerted when appealed to.

IV. The chiding of the Saviour.It was full of tenderness. But why chide at all? Was not the fear of the disciples natural, and also inevitable under the circumstances of their great danger? Yes; but they, in the height of their fear, forgot that their Almighty Saviour was on board, and thought only of the raging tempest. His chiding, therefore, was followed immediately by His action. He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. What a contrast! The wildest tempest hushed by Heaven produces the profoundest calm for the believer.

V. The marvel of the men.Their exclamation evinces their deep feeling. The Lord of souls and of nature first calmed His disciples, then the sea of Galilee. And is it not so with us when God has done some great thing for us? We are indeed filled with wonder. But is this all? No; gratitude follows wonder, as summer follows spring. Men who are fearful in the storm should be grateful in the calm (Psa 107:23-31).

Illustration

Rob Roy Macgregor, as his canoe was passing Wady Fik, heard a strange, distant, hissing sound ahead, where we could see that a violent storm was raging. This torrent of heavy cold air was pouring over the mountain crests into the deep cauldron of the lake below, a headlong flood of wind, like a waterfall into the hollow. He adds, With my best efforts I could scarcely stem the force of this head wind.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

8:23

The disciples were that part of the crowd that professed to be the followers of Jesus in belief as well as wanting to go along with him in the traveling. We would naturally conclude that the multitude could not enter the ship.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mat 8:23. A boat. The best authorities omit the definite article. It was, however, the boat from which he had been teaching (Mar 4:36).

His disciples, probably the Twelve, though others followed in other boats (Mar 4:36).

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. Christ and his disciples no sooner put forth to sea, but dangers attend and difficulties do accompany them: a tempest arose, and the ship was covered with waves.

Learn thence, That the presence of Christ itself doth not exempt his disciples and followers from trouble and danger: here is a great tempest about the disciples ears, though Christ was in their company.

Observe, 2. The posture our Saviour was in when the tempest arose; he being weary on the land, was fallen, asleep in the ship: our blessed Redeemer hereby sheweth himself to be truly and really man; as he took upon him our human nature, so he subjected himself to our human infirmities.

Observe, 3. The disciples’ application made to him; they awake him with a sad outcry Lord, save us: we perish. Here was faith mixed with human frailty: they had faith in his power, that he could save them; but being asleep, they concluded he must awake before he could save them: whereas though his human nature was asleep, yet his divine nature neither slumbered nor slept.

Learn hence, That the prevalency of fear in a time of great and imminent danger, though it may argue weakness of faith, yet it is no evidence of want of faith: in the midst of the disciples’ fears they believed Christ’s power.

Observe, 4. A double rebuke given by our Saviour.

(1.) To the winds and seas; next to the fears of his disciples; He rebukes the winds and seas and instantly they are calm; when the sea was as furious as a madman, Christ by his divine power calms it.

Learn hence, That the most raging winds and outrageous seas cannot stand before the rebukes of Christ; if once he rebukes them, their rage is down; God lays a law upon the most lawless creatures, even when they seem to act the most lawlessly.

(2.) Christ rebukes his disciples’ fears; Why are ye fearful? No sooner was the storm up, but their fears were up, and they were as much overset with their boisterous passions, as the vessel was with the tempestuous winds; and accordingly Christ rebukes the tempest within, and then the tempest without: first he calms their hearts, and then the seas.

From this instance we see, that great faith in the habit may appear little in act and exercise. The disciples’ faith in forsaking all and following Christ, was great faith, but in this present act their faith was week, through the prevalency of their fear.

Note lastly, That the disciples’ faith was lessened by their fear: fear is generated by unbelief, and unbelief strengthened by fear; as in things natural there is a circular generation, vapours beget showers, and showers vapours; so it is in things moral, nothing can cure us of fear, till God cures us of unbelief; Christ therefore takes an effectual method to rid the disciples of their fears, by rebuking their unbelief.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 8:23-27. When he was entered into the ship Being, as is said above, about to cross the lake; his disciples followed him Even as many as were desirous of learning of him, and could get a passage, either in that vessel or any others that were near. And there arose a great tempest in the sea , a great commotion, or, agitation of the waters, namely, in consequence of a sudden change of the weather, and storm coming on: an emblem this of the storms of persecution which should afterward assault his church. Insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves Which threatened to sink it and all that were in it to the bottom. So the time of mans extremity is Gods opportunity: but he was asleep Being fatigued, it seems, with the labours of the day. And his disciples awoke him Being terribly afraid, while they beheld the sky lowering, heard the winds roaring, and observed the sea and the clouds to be driven with the fury of the tempest; saying, Lord, save us, we perish Thus manifesting both their faith in his power, and their weakness in not considering who was with them in the ship. And he saith, Why are ye fearful Can ye imagine that God would suffer me to be lost in a tempest? or that I would consult my own safety in the neglect of yours? The disciples, having seen their Master perform many miracles, had abundant reason to rely on his power and goodness, even in a greater danger than this. For, though their vessel had sunk, he who gave sight to the blind, cleansed the lepers, drove away palsies and fevers with speaking a word, could easily have saved them all, by making them walk firmly on the water, as he enabled one of them to do afterward. Their timidity, therefore, was altogether culpable, and the reproof he gave them just; O ye of little faith? As if he had said, You undertook this voyage at my command, and are you afraid that you should perish in it? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds As a master might do a company of turbulent servants. First he composed the spirits of his disciples, then the sea. And there was a great calm Namely, instantly, as soon as he had uttered the words, Peace, be still, Mar 4:39. But the men marvelled Luke says, Being afraid, they wondered, Luk 8:25 : and Mark, They feared exceedingly; saying, What manner of man is this? Surely he is more than man, who can thus command winds and seas! This reflection of theirs, as well as their fear in the time of danger, may seem to some unaccountable, considering to how many and great miracles of his they had been witnesses. But it must be observed that hitherto his miracles were generally upon diseased persons, and that, till now, he had given no proof of his dominion over the elements of wind and water, which, it seems, were thought less subject to human power than distempers of the body.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Mat 8:23-27. The Stilling of the Tempest (Mar 4:36-41*, Luk 8:23-25).Mk.s narrative is the fullest; note how both the others omit the reproach of Mar 4:38. Mt. alone makes the disciples (some of them skilled boatmen) directly invoke the help of their passenger; also he gives them credit for a little faith (Mat 8:26). In Mat 8:27, according to him it is not the disciples that discover who the Lord is, but people (cf. (the) men in Mat 16:13). There is more in the incident than a nature miracle; the wind and sea are regarded as demoniacally possessed, and the wonder is a sign that the powers of evil are being subdued and that the kingdom is at hand (Mat 12:28).

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 23

A ship; a sort of boat used for fishing upon the lake.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

8:23 {6} And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

(6) Although Christ often seems to neglect his own, even in most extreme dangers, yet in due time he calms all tempests, and brings his own to the haven.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Jesus’ stilling of a storm 8:23-27 (cf. Mar 4:36-41; Luk 8:22-25)

Even though Jesus sometimes enjoyed less shelter than the animals and birds (Mat 8:20), He was not the subject of nature. It was subject to Him.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

It is difficult to know how much Matthew may have intended with his comment that the disciples followed Jesus into the boat. Perhaps it just describes their physical movements. Perhaps he meant that it symbolizes the disciples’ proper response to Jesus in view of Mat 8:18-22.

The Sea of Galilee was and still is infamous for its sudden and violent storms (Gr. seismos). They occur because of geographical conditions. The water is 600 feet below sea level, and the land to the east is considerably higher. As warm air rises from the lake it creates a vacuum that the air on the west rushes in to fill. This brings strong winds on the lake with little warning.

On the occasion Matthew described, the waves were so high that they kept spilling over into the boat. Evidently Jesus was asleep from weariness and because He realized that the time for His death had not yet arrived. He apparently lay in an area of the boat where the disciples had given Him some privacy. The word Matthew used to describe the boat (ploion) could fit a boat of many different sizes. However it is probable that this was a fishing boat that carried at least a dozen or more people plus fish across the lake. Matthew probably would have used a different word if it were a larger boat.

"If the first-century-A.D. boat recovered from the mud of the northwest shore of the lake of Galilee in 1986 (now preserved in the Yigal Allon Center at Ginosar) is typical of the normal working boats of the period, its dimensions (8.20 meters long by 2.35 wide [about 26 and a half feet by 7 and a half feet]) would suggest that the boat might be overcrowded with more than thirteen people." [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., p. 336.]

In spite of the storm Jesus continued to sleep. Finally the disciples realized their inability to cope with their situation and called on Jesus to help them. They obviously thought He could do something to help, at least bail or at most perform a miracle. They had seen Him perform many miracles. However, their reaction to His help reveals that they did not really appreciate who He was.

Compare the story of Jonah, who also had to be awakened during a storm at sea. However, rather than praying for God’s help, as the sailors called on Jonah to do, Jesus used His own authority to still the sea. A greater than Jonah was here (Mat 12:41).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

3. Jesus’ supernatural power 8:23-9:8

Matthew’s first group of miracles (Mat 8:1-17) demonstrated that Jesus possessed the messianic power (authority) to heal physical ailments. His second group (Mat 8:23 to Mat 9:8) shows even greater powers over the fallen creation, namely, over nature, demons, and sin. All the beneficiaries of these miracles needed peace, and Jesus met their need.

"The miracles Jesus performs in Matthew’s story divide themselves rather neatly into two groups: (a) therapeutic miracles (miracles of healing), in which the sick are returned to health or the possessed are freed of demons (cf. esp. chaps. 8-9); and (b) nontherapeutic miracles, which have to do with exercising power over the forces of nature. . . .

"The nontherapeutic miracles are less uniform in structure and differ in thematic [purpose from the therapeutic miracles]. Here the focus is on Jesus and the disciples, and the characteristic feature is that Jesus reveals, in the midst of situations in which the disciples exhibit ’little faith,’ his awesome authority. . . . The reason Jesus gives the disciples these startling revelations is to bring them to realize that such authority as he exercises he makes available to them through the avenue of faith. In the later situation of their worldwide mission, failure on the part of the disciples to avail themselves of the authority Jesus would impart to them will be to run the risk of failing at their tasks (Mat 28:18-20; chaps. 24-25)." [Note: Kingsbury, Matthew as . . ., p. 69.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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