Where Is Your Faith?

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.” So they set out, 23 and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. 24 And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” – Luke 8:22-25 ESV

Luke has made it quite clear that by this time in His ministry, Jesus had garnered a large following. There were people coming from all over Galilee and even as far away as Jerusalem to witness the miracles and listen to the preaching of this Rabbi from Nazareth. Jesus had even attracted the attention of the Jewish religious leaders, including the high priest and members of the Sanhedrin. They were watching Him like a hawk, carefully scrutinizing everything He said and did. His growing popularity among the common people had become especially concerning to these powerful men because it threatened their power and control. Until Jesus had appeared on the scene, the Pharisees and other religious sects had enjoyed a kind of religious celebrity status. They were viewed as the spiritual superstars of their day and they had enjoyed the power and prestige that came with their elite standing among the people.

There were others who followed Jesus out of curiosity. They found Him to be intriguing and profoundly interesting, but they weren’t quite sure what to make of Him. His miracles amazed them and His preaching entertained them, but they weren’t quite ready to accept His claim to be the Son of God or the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. 

As news of Jesus’ miracles began to spread, the sick, diseased, disabled, and demon-possessed began to flock to Jesus like moths to a flame. They showed up in droves, some requiring the assistance of friends or family members. In Jesus, they saw hope for healing. He became a light that attracted all those who were trapped in the darkness and despair that accompanied their physical condition. They were social outcasts, forced to live in solitude and separation from their community because they were considered unclean and cursed by God. But they had heard that Jesus healed the sick, restored the lame, and even freed those who were under the control of demons – no questions asked. He had even raised the dead back to life. To these people, the debate over whether Jesus was the Messiah took a backseat to their physical and emotional needs. They were far less interested in whether Jesus had come to restore the kingdom of Israel than if He could restore them to health. 

Jesus found Himself surrounded by people of all kinds and their interest in Him ran the gamut. Some were simply curious. Others were convinced that He was the Messiah they had long hoped for. Still, others were like rubber-neckers at a car wreck, hoping to witness the next confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders. To them, Jesus was a rabble-rouser and trouble maker who was upsetting the status quo and irritating the ruling elite, and they loved it. 

And in the midst of this mass of different individuals with varying agendas, there were the 12 men whom Jesus had hand-picked to be His disciples. Since choosing to follow the Rabbi from Nazareth, these men had been His constant companions. They had been eyewitnesses to every miracle. They had listened to every word He had spoken, questioned the meaning of every parable He had told, and wondered why He had not yet set up His kingdom on earth. These men were committed but they were also confused. Jesus was an enigma to them. They knew He possessed great power because they had witnessed it firsthand. They were convinced that He was wise and spoke with an authority greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees. And yet, they couldn’t understand why the Messiah was wasting His time up in the rural region of Galilee rather than entering Jerusalem, ousting the Romans, and restoring Israel to power and prominence.

And Jesus was fully aware of His disciples’ confusion and growing consternation. He understood their frustration and knew they were anxious to see Him take His show on the road – all the way to the gates of Jerusalem. But there was much more they needed to understand. Their concept of the Messiah had been skewed by centuries of misguided expectations. They were longing for a political and military leader who would conquer Israel’s enemies and re-establish the Davidic dynasty. But Jesus seemed to be spending all His time in the backwater towns of Galilee, wasting His power on the helpless and the hopeless. When was He going to get serious about His mission to be Israel’s Messiah?

This sets up Luke’s record of Jesus’ calming of the storm. After yet another full day of performing miracles among the “least of these,” Jesus and His disciples got into a boat and began to sail to the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. And this little excursion was Jesus’ idea.

“Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” – Luke 8:22 ESV

Mark indicates that they began their journey at the end of the day and were accompanied by other boats. Everywhere Jesus went, the crowds attempted to follow Him. And it would not be long before they realized that following Him was going to prove costly and potentially dangerous.

As the disciples guided the boat along the shore of the sea, Jesus, exhausted by the activities of the day, fell asleep. But while He slept, a storm suddenly appeared as if out of nowhere. In no time at all, the disciples found themselves battling gale-force winds that turned the sea into a boiling cauldron of waves that threatened to sink their small vessel. Luke indicates that “they were filling with water and were in danger” (Luke 8:23 ESV). Despite the fact that at least four of the disciples were experienced fishermen, the severity of the storm caused these men to panic. They were in fear for their lives. So, in desperation, they decided to wake up Jesus and elicit His help.

“Master, Master, we are perishing!” – Luke 8:24 ESV

Mark reveals that they were more than a bit put out with Jesus’ apparent apathy. How could He sleep through such a life-threatening circumstance? They even questioned His concern for their well-being.

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” – Mark 4:38 ESV

Whether they realized it or not, these men were expressing their doubt in the goodness and compassion of the Son of God. They were accusing the Messiah of complacency and callousness. In the heat of the moment, they allowed their less-than-ideal circumstances to cloud their thinking and dictate their view of Jesus. In the midst of the storm, their faith in the Messiah evaporated and was replaced with incredulity and doubt. Without even realizing it, they had suddenly become the hopeless and the helpless. They found themselves in desperate circumstances and in need of rescue. The storm was more than they could handle and they realized they couldn’t save themselves. But notice that these men didn’t call out to Jesus in faith. Compare their response to that of the Roman centurion: “say the word, and let my servant be healed” (Luke 7:7 ESV). Or consider the statement made by the man who suffered from the incurable disease of leprosy: “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean” (Luke 5:12 ESV).

The disciples express no faith in Jesus. They question His integrity and empathy. But rather than read the disciples the riot act for their faithlessness, Jesus “rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm” (Luke 8:24 ESV). Jesus attacked the source of their doubt: The storm. They had allowed the circumstances of life to determine their faith in Jesus. As the storm raged, their faith faltered. For a brief moment, they ceased to believe in Jesus.

But notice that Jesus spoke to the wind and the waves, not the disciples. He addressed the problem. He used His power to alleviate the source of their doubt. But then, He turned to His fearful and faithless disciples and asked, “Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25 ESV). The presence of the storm had caused an absence of faith. In the face of adversity, the disciples had displayed a lack of fidelity. Trials have a way of testing the quality of our faith. Difficulties put our faith to the test and reveal its efficacy and stability. For the disciples, the sudden storm had exposed the anemic nature of their faith. In the face of adversity, fear had replaced faith. Confronted with what appeared to be a life-threatening scenario, the disciples had displayed a fickle faith that had been blown away by the winds of the storm. 

Luke reports that they were fearful and amazed. For some reason, this episode made a greater impact on them than Jesus raising a dead man back to life. Maybe it was because this particular miracle had a personal touch to it. It was their lives that had been threatened, and the words of Jesus had suddenly turned certain death into life. And this unexpected but highly appreciated miracle left them wrestling with new questions regarding Jesus’ identity.

“Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” – Luke 8:25 ESV

These are the same men who believed Jesus to be the Messiah. But His ability to command the wind and the water left them baffled. They believed Him to be their deliverer from the Romans but were blown away to learn that He had the power to control nature. In doing so, Jesus had clearly displayed His divinity. And the disciples were not sure what to make of this powerful demonstration of Jesus’ deity. Jesus had done what only God could do, and the disciples were forced to wrestle with the implications of this mind-blowing experience. Just when they thought they knew who Jesus was, they had to rethink all their presuppositions and could only ask, “Who then is this?”

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Terror On the High Seas.

Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25

"But soon a fierce storm came down on the lake. The boat was filling with water, and they were in real danger." – Luke 8:23 NLT

Imagine the scene. Jesus and His disciples have gotten into a fishing boat. Their intent was to sail across to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus, exhausted from another day of ministry to the masses, has fallen asleep. Suddenly a severe storm blows in, whipping up the sea and creating waves big enough to break over the relatively small fishing boat and fill it with water. While a good portion of the men in this boat are professional fishermen, this storm even has them scared. And Luke records, more than likely from eyewitness accounts, that they were in real danger. The boat was taking on water and close to capsizing. For the non-fishermen in the boat, like Matthew, who was just atax-collector, this had to have been a terrifying experience. This was an intense situation that had the disciples petrified. But there was Jesus, soundly asleep as if nothing was going on at all. So they wake Him up, crying, "Teacher, don't you care that we're going to drown?" (Mark 4:38 NLT). They begged Him to save them. To them, this was a real, life-threatening situation that required His immediate attention. They were shocked that He could so callously sleep through this entire ordeal.

It's interesting that each of the Gospel writers records a different response from Jesus. Matthew has Him saying, "Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!" (Matthew 8:26 NLT). But it was said prior to Him calming the storm. Mark writes that Jesus said, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Mark 4:40 NLT). But Mark has Him saying this after He had calmed the storm. Finally, Luke records that immediately after Jesus calmed the storm, He asked the disciples, "Where is you faith?" (Luke 8:25 NLT). What's going on here? Do we have what are seemingly contradictory records of this event? Where the Gospel writers suffering from poor memory or simply utilizing creative license?

Because I believe the Word of God is divinely inspired, and these individual records of this event are accurate and true, what we really have is a three dimensional view of a single historical event. Each records a slightly different part of the same story, because each is writing to a different audience and has a different objective in mind. But when you piece them all together you get a well-rounded picture of what was really going on that day in the boat. There is no doubt that this was a life-threatening event in the minds of the disciples. They were scared to death. There is no argument that Jesus was asleep in the boat while all this was going on. It would be safe to conclude that the disciples, in their fear, woke up Jesus from a sound sleep to see if He could do anything to help them. I'm not sure they knew what He could do, but they were desperate. All three texts make it clear that Jesus miraculously calmed the storm with just a word. He spoke and the wind stopped, the sea calmed, and the rain ceased. The real question seems to be what Jesus said to them and when. It would appear from Matthew's account that Jesus questioned their fear and lack of faith immediately prior to calming the storm. Mark and Luke both have Jesus calming the storm, then asking the disciples about the condition of their faith. It would seem likely that Jesus did both. The fact is that the disciples, fearing for their lives, woke Jesus up and had no real expectation of what or how He could do anything to help them. They were fearful and faithless. So He addressed those two problems with a question. Then He showed them the unnecessary nature of their fear and faithlessness by calming the storm. With just a word from His mouth, the storm ceased and they were saved. But they had been in no real danger all along, because they were with Him. The calming of the storm was simply a proof of His power and protective presence. Matthew records that the disciples were amazed at what they had seen Jesus do. Mark picks up the story post-storm and, evidently, the disciples are still struggling with what they had just seen happen. They are probably slack-jawed and dumb-founded. They can't believe what they have just seen. It was not the outcome they had been expecting. So Jesus addresses their fear and faithlessness again. But this time, He is talking about a different kind of fear. Rather than fear of their own deaths, they fear Him. They are petrified at what they have just seen and who it is that has just done this miraculous thing right before their eyes. But Jesus looks into their hearts and sees their lingering faithlessness. He asks rhetorically, "Do you still have no faith?" He is asking them why their faith is still weak in spite of what they have just witnessed. The word Jesus uses for fear here is a word for timidity. They are cowering. Not before the waves and the wind, but before Jesus. And interestingly enough, Mark records "The disciples were absolutely terrified" (Mark 4:41 NLT). The word for fear here is more intense. It is abject terror. It conveys the idea of fright and flight. They want to run. What they have seen Jesus do scares them more than the storm did. They are absolutely blown away by it all. They even ask among themselves, "Who is this man?" They had seen another side of Jesus that they had not seen before. Even the waves and the wind obey Him. He has power over the elements. He controls nature itself.

But the real issue in this story is their faith. When the waves had calmed and the wind had died down, Jesus asks them, "Where is your faith?" (Luke 8:25 NLT). You would think that their faith would have been at an all-time high after what they had witnessed. But according to Jesus, that doesn't seem to be the case. What Jesus really seems to be asking them at this point is, "In what is your faith placed?" He is questioning the focus of their faith, not the effectiveness of it. They had been putting their faith in the wrong thing. Peter, Andrew, and Simon, as fishermen had grown up putting their faith in their boats and their own ability to handle the high seas of life. But on this day they had learned that their faith had been misplaced. Jesus is asking each of the disciples to consider in what or who they are placing their trust. Their circumstances had revealed the true nature of their faith. They weren't trusting God. And even after Jesus had calmed the storm, they were still wrestling with trust in who He was and why He had come. Jesus hadn't come to calm storms, but to conquer sin and death. He hadn't come to make their lives easier or danger-free, but to equip them to fight spiritual battles and wage warfare with the enemy, armed with faith in the power and protective presence of God. As long as Jesus was in the boat, they had been safe. As long as the Son of God was in their presence, they were well within the will of God. The severity of their circumstances should not have changed the intensity of their faith. But like each of us, they were learning. They were growing. And their faith in Jesus Christ was increasing with each passing day.

Father, there isn't a day that goes by that You can't ask me that same question: "Where is your faith?" I misplace my faith all the time. I doubt and fear. I put my trust in the wrong things. I fail to learn from my circumstances and grow in my faith in You. I see You do the miraculous and, rather than rejoice in Your power and abiding presence, I find myself fearing again as soon as things don't go quite the way I want them to go. But thank You that You are constantly working on my faith and teaching me to trust You more. Amen.