The previous two sermons demonstrated that disciples of Jesus are expected to listen to His Words, obey His Words, and keep His words to the end. In the Parable of the Sower (Lk 8:1–15), it was only the last soil that produced any fruit because the seed, the word of God, was able to take root. All the other soils were not fit. Any other heart than that which carefully listens to word of God will not have a life that produces fruit. The Parable of the Lamp demonstrated the power of the word (Lk 8:16–18). The word of God is able to expose our heart and label our deeds are right or wrong. The word is intended to be an instruction for us to follow. Lastly it was noted by Jesus that those who truly belong into the family of God are those who hear the word and obey the word of God (Lk 8:19–21).
I believe that in the next three pericopes that we get an answer as to why we should listen and obey to the words of Jesus. He has authority. His words demonstrate His power over all creation. His speech causes inanimate objects to move. The dead rise back to life when He speaks. Not even the prophets had such power. Moses may have parted the Red Sea but only happened because he was instructed by God.
We will see today that Jesus has authority over creation and the weather. Our society has produced a lot of technology in the recent that help us to understand meteorological phenomena. We understand the jet stream. We know how hail is produced. We can provide an explain for why lightning strikes during a storm. Not only do we have the technology, but we can digest the data to make weather predictions. We can even have a weather forecast show up on our phone. The amount of technology required for such an accomplishment is astounding, both in meteorology and in wireless networking. Yet we have made few advancements in terms of controlling the weather, at least none that the public should know about. It would be nice to dissipate hurricanes before they make landfall, melt hail before it pummels the new car, or divert tornadoes away from the trailer park. However, we still must evacuate cities when a hurricane approaches the Floridia coast. We still have in our basement or storm shelter when the local fire siren warns us of an incoming tornado.
We are still subject to terrible weather. Drought, monsoons, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods are not only a danger to our property, but also our loved ones and ourselves. Usually, these storms are so large that you cannot outrun a storm after it comes within view. We have no choice but to be subjected whatever kind of danger these events can bring. We must wait and we watch. We helplessly watch our communities change shape. We helplessly watch our home be damaged or destroyed. Or worse yet, we may witness the loss of a loved one or fear that we may perish in the storm. We tend not to forget such storms.
I remember a watching a storm when I was still a young teenager (July 21, 2003). The rain was coming down hard and the wind was blowing hard enough that we couldn’t see out the window of our home. Once the storm passed, we went outside and saw the remarkable. There was a very evident path of trees that were broken about 20 feet from the ground. The path started on one hill behind our home and picked up again on the hill on the opposite side of the valley. As we stood on the path of destruction on one hill, we looked over to the hill, and our home was between the two endpoints of the tornado’s path. Our home was in the valley but was unharmed. I found out the next day that the Kinzua train bridge had fallen over as well. We realized later that the Lord had protected us from a tornado.
I. The Fear from the Disciples
Lk 8:22. It is difficult to ascertain if this event may have immediately followed Jesus speaking on the parables. Mark gives the impression that it was the same day (Mk 4:35), while Luke makes it seem it may have been a couple days later. It is certainly possible that Jesus taught the preceding parables over the span of a couple of days as He was traveling between cities and towns (Lk 8:4). Th disciples mentioned were probably limited to just the twelve. We know from Luke 5:1 that the setting is on the lake of Gennesaret, which is usually known as the sea of Galilee in the other Gospels.
Lk 8:23. The fact that Jesus falls asleep in the boat reminds us that He is both a substance and a divine substance in one Person. We can say that God never sleeps nor slumbers (Ps 121:3–4), but Jesus in His human substance needs rest (John 4:6). He grew tired probably because He was teaching the crowds all day. Mark even notes that there is a cushion in the stern of the boat (Mk 4:38). It was getting late in the day and He needed some rest. Leaving via boat is the easiest way to get away from crowd. They have a harder time trying to follow than on land.
Luke description of the storm shows that it was unexpected. It was probably dark or it was getting dark making it hard to notice the storm’s approach. Bock (and others) explain how the topography of the surrounding landscape would create the perfect conditions for an unexpected storm and account for its odd nature.
The storm’s arrival is described with a suddenness that fits its character: It is a whirlwind (λαῖλαψ). The picture is of a storm, bearing severe winds, that produces choppy seas and large waves. Matthew’s description of an “earthquake” may be a way to convey the instability produced by the storm, a “quake” on water (see NASB note on Mt 8:24)!
Given the Sea of Galilee’s topography, such a storm could descend onto the sea quickly without notice and, at night, could hardly be anticipated. The sea is some 700 feet below sea level, and is depressed with hills surrounding it. The hills on the east side are particularly steep. Cool they’re rushing down the ravines and hills around the lake can collide with warm air from above the lake and create an instant storm in the confined quarters.[1]
The description of the boat being “swamped” is from συμπληρόω which can have the meaning to fulfill and is only used by Luke (BDAG s.v.). The waves were tall enough that they were coming over the side of the boat and it was taking on water.
Lk 8:24a. The fear of the disciples on the boat begins to show. However, the contrast between Jesus and the disciples is so vast that it is almost humorous. Either Jesus is extremely tired or He doesn’t care about what is going on. The former seems more likely. As the disciples wake Jesus, they call Him “Master” which is repeated showing the desperation in their voice. Matthew says they called Him “Lord.” The account in Mark states they called Him “Teacher.” I think all accounts are true. I think all the disciples in the boat were yelling at Him to wake up.
The disciples were also fearful that they were going to die. We should remember that most of the disciples were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee before they started following Jesus. These men have been on this lake hundreds of times. They have probably seen their fair share of storms on the lake. The fact that professional fishermen are fearful for their lives should not be missed. This is a serious storm. Their call wake up Jesus was more than reasonable.
II. The Rebuke from Jesus
Lk 8:24b. The choice of words by Luke is interesting. Jesus did not merely speak to the storm; He rebukes the storm. The word come from ἐπιτιμάω meaning to “express strong disapproval of someone, rebuke, reprove, censure, speak seriously, warn” (BDAG s.v.). It’s as though Jesus is speaking with anger to the storm. The content of Jesus’s rebuke is not included in Luke. My imagination takes too much creative license here. I can picture Jesus standing up and speaking with a New Jersey accent, “Hey, I’m sleeping here!” However, Mark records His rebuke as “Hush, be still” (Mk 4:39).
Jesus’s rebuke to the storm is effective immediately. The storm is gone and the waves stop. Mark 4:39 states that “a great calm occurred” (see ESV and NASB note). Just as much as there was a great storm, now there is a great calm.
Lk 8:25a. The storm is not the only thing that is rebuked. The disciples are also rebuked as well. He asks them, “Where is your faith?” This wasn’t a sarcastic or a joking question. At first glance it makes you wonder why He asks this question. Yet the disciples need to remember that Jesus said that they would go over to the other side of the lake. The voice that can heal the sick Centurion’s son (Lk 7:2–10) and cause the dead to live (Lk 7:11–17) has just now made the storm to cease.
III. The Question of Identity
Lk 8:25b. The disciples are both astonished and fearful. They were about to die just a minute ago in the storm. Now the sea is perfectly calm. They have never witnessed such an event. I am sure that the adrenaline is still pumping when Jesus asks the question about their lack of faith.
Now there is now another question. “Who is this guy?” They recognize that the wind and the waves just obeyed Jesus’s rebuke. The wind and the waves don’t have ears! No person can have a conversation with a storm. Sure, Pecos Bill can rope a tornado, but he could never reason with one. Jesus only speaks a few words and nature obeys His command. Also, Jesus does not invoke the name of any god. He does it on His own authority. He speaks and creation listens. The disciples are asking the right question because no human can do this. Maybe it is because Jesus is both man and God. The narrative just provided the perfect demonstration of the hypostatic union. Jesus in His human substance was tired and slept. Jesus in divine substance just calmed the storm. All in the same moment.
In the Old Testament, the sea was characterized as the place of chaos and destruction. No man is able to control the sea. It was only the LORD that was able to control the wind and the waves of the sea.
By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; Who establishes the mountains by His strength, Being girded with might; Who stills the roaring of the seas, The roaring of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples. They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy. (Ps 65:5–8)
He makes the winds His messengers, Flaming fire His ministers. He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; The waters were standing above the mountains. At Your rebuke they fled, At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away. The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the place which You established for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass over, So that they will not return to cover the earth. (Ps 104:4–9)
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, And He brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, So that the waves of the sea were hushed. (Ps 107:28–20)
If nature listens to Jesus, then we need to listen to Jesus. Jesus is God. Jesus is omnipotent. Jesus has authority and sovereignty over all of creation. Creation listens even though it does not have ears. Humans have ears. So what does that say about us when we choose not to listen?
Jesus is able to rescue because of His power. Our hope is placed not in a feeble human but in God made flesh who is able to exercise His omnipotence whenever He pleases over anything, even inanimate objects or nature. He is the creator of the universe.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. (John 1:1–3)
He is the sustainer of the universe.
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. (Heb 1:1–3)
John MacArthur notes the vastness of Jesus’ sustaining power.
The earth is twenty-five thousand miles in circumference, eight thousand miles in diameter and weighs approximately six sextillion tons. It spins on its axis at about one thousand miles per hour, and travels in its approximately one hundred fifty million-mile orbit around the sun at about one thousand miles a minute. The sun itself makes a vast orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
At the other end of the size spectrum, a teaspoon full of water contains trillions of atoms, while the material in an atom accounts for only about one trillionth of its volume. If the empty space were to be squeezed out of a human body, it would be reduced in size to a tiny fraction of a cubic inch. From the vastness of space to the infinitesimally small realm of the atom, God upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3).[2]
It will be the Lord that creates the new Heaven and the new Earth.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. … And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Rev 20:1–2, 5)
Who is this Jesus? He is the creator, sustainer, and redeemer of all heaven and earth. He is the LORD!
