R. The stilling of the storm (8:22–25)
R. The stilling of the storm (8:22–25)
Many who are ready to accept the healing miracles (feeling perhaps that they fit in with our knowledge of functional disorders) find difficulty with the nature miracles and look for other explanations. In the present narrative, for example, they prefer to hold that Jesus calmed the disciples rather than the waves. This approach is completely subjective. Our sources are clear that Jesus did sometimes perform miracles in the realm of nature. The great miracle is the incarnation. If God became man in Jesus, we need not boggle over such narratives as this. If he did not, the question scarcely arises.
22–23. Luke does not locate this incident with any precision (Mark puts it on the evening of the day when Jesus told the parable of the sower). Jesus invited the disciples to cross the lake. As they journeyed, he fell asleep, which fits in well with Mark’s account; he would have been weary after a full day’s teaching. A sudden storm blew up. The lake of Galilee is subject to sudden storms, situated as it is some 700 feet below sea level and adjacent to mountainous regions. Cold air from the heights is apt to sweep down through the precipitous gorges to the east and it can whip up the seas in a short time. On this occasion the boat was being filled with water and the travellers were in great danger.
24. The disciples woke Jesus with the words, Master, Master, we are perishing! Luke omits the rebuke implied in Mark’s ‘do you not care if we perish?’ and the entreaty in Matthew’s ‘Save, Lord’. All three tell us that Jesus rebuked the wind (cf. Ps. 106:9). The verb may imply that there was an evil force behind the storm. Be that as it may, the result was a calm. Jesus’ mastery over the elements was complete (cf. Ps. 89:9).
25. His inquiry, Where is your faith? implies that the disciples ought not to have been terrified. They should have trusted him. To this they reacted as in the divine presence. They were filled with awe (afraid ); they marvelled; and they asked, Who then is this? This is the significant question which Luke does not allow his readers to miss.