The Bigger Picture

This was no ordinary storm. The language indicates that the lake was being stirred up into a frenzy, threatening to overwhelm them totally. Drowning looked inevitable. It would have been particularly terrifying for the disciples because for them this wouldn’t have been just an ordinary weather storm. To the Jews the sea represented primeval forces of chaos, the home of monsters (Psa. 74:13,14, Rev. 21:1) and it was only the saving power of God that could bring calm (Job 38:8-11; Psa. 29:3,4; 89:8,9).

The disciples’ cry to Jesus for help indicates their desperate hope that he could do something to save them. They had witnessed his miraculous power over death, but this was something new–control over nature. He intervenes but “rebukes their failure to see that the one so obviously raised up by God to accomplish the messianic work could not possibly have died in a storm while that work remained undone. They lacked faith, not so much in his ability to save them, as in Jesus the Messiah whose life could not be lost in a storm, as if the elements were out of control and Jesus himself the pawn of chance” (Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary). Jesus was asleep, because, contrary to how it looked to the disciples, he was in control of the situation.

The twenty-first-century world is turbulent across the globe. The experience of many on our doorstep is that of living daily with the worry of being unable to cope, of being totally overwhelmed by circumstances they cannot control. As the church, we need to roll up our sleeves, get out from behind our walls and, by our actions and words, be part of the answer to the question of where God is in this. We serve the Jesus who can calm storms.

What storms of life are impacting you at the moment? What have you learned from the experience? Think of someone you know who might benefit from you sharing with them.