Psalm 107:23-32 (ESV)
Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters;
they saw the deeds of the LORD, his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.
Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!
Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
Luke 8:22-25 (ESV)
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, 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. 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. 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?”
Devotional Meditation
Jesus gets into a boat with his disciples and commands them to cross over to the other side--and then he promptly falls asleep. Soon after, a great windstorm arises. The disciples are frightened. The waves are about to fill the boat with water. In desperation, they wake Jesus. He gets up and rebukes the wind and the waves. In a moment the once violent waters have become as still as glass. And then Jesus turns to give his disciples this gentle rebuke, “Where is your faith?”
This rebuke can strike our ears as a little harsh. And that’s because we mistakenly think that Jesus is rebuking the disciples for letting their fear get the better of them during the storm. We mistakenly think that Jesus is chiding his disciples for their “freak out moment.” If only the disciples, instead of panicking when the storm hit, had just taken a nap like Jesus then everything would have worked out fine.
But the disciples’ fear is not the object of Jesus’ rebuke. Rather, it’s the fact that they don’t yet possess the faith to recognize him for who he truly is. Psalm 107: 23-32 is striking when read as background for this storm on the sea of Galilee. This psalm is structured around four vignettes that show how Yahweh delivers his people--his redeemed--from situations, threats, and dangers that threaten to destroy them. Verses 23-32 describe Yahweh’s people as those who are traveling on the sea and who find themselves in the middle of a great storm that makes them weak with fright and cause them to stagger about like “drunken men.” Yet, the most striking statement in this vignette is in vs. 25, which states that it was Yahweh himself who commanded the wind to wail and the waves to rise. This is Yahweh’s sea. Yahweh’s wind. Yahweh’s water. Yahweh’s waves.
But, as the psalmist notes, these vulnerable and terrified seafarers are also Yahweh’s redeemed. Therefore, just as he sends the storm, so Yahweh calms the storm and brings the ship to the safety of the harbor. It’s Yahweh’s storm to send, but it’s also Yahweh’s calm to give. The right response of Yahweh’s people then is not necessarily calm in a storm, but thankfulness and praise at its conclusion. The redeemed of Yahweh are not defined by their lack of distress, but by their recognition and faith in the One to who has made them and all creatures. The One who both creates and stills the storm.
And it is this One who has been with the disciples in their boat this entire time. Jesus is with them, not to eradicate all their fears at the fierceness of the storm, but to reveal to them that he is Yahweh in the flesh. That this great wind, these hulking waves, this threatening sky all belong to him--and so do these frightened men. They are his redeemed. The ones he has come to redeem with his own body and blood. And because they are his redeemed, he will ultimately give them his peace.
The disciples don’t yet see Jesus for who he truly is. They don’t yet respond with thankfulness and praise. Hence, Jesus’ gentle rebuke. But they will. On Easter evening, he will once again enter into the storm that has brought their minds to the point of panic and speak words of “peace...peace to you.” He will open their minds to see that he is the Yahweh of Psalm 107 and of all the other Psalms, the Law, and the Prophets. Then they will finally get it. Their faith will be complete--because they will finally recognize him for who he truly is.