And it came to pass on one of the days, that *he* entered into a ship, himself and his disciples; and he said to them, Let us pass over to the other side of the lake; and they set off from shore.
The crossing starts with a word from Jesus, not with a plan of the disciples. Everything that happens later in the storm hangs on that one sentence. So what does His word promise? And why did obeying it lead them straight into danger?
The wording is "let us." One writer takes that as the heart of the scene: He is not sending them across, He is going with them.
Notice first, then, that the Lord says, "Let us go across to the other side of the lake." He offers His company to those who will make the journey. Or, to put it better, He invites them to come with Him. He never lets any of His own pass through anything for His sake without giving them the sense of His presence. Or, if unbelief so prevails that His presence is not grasped, He remains faithful. The disciples sent the crowd away and took Him just as He was in the boat. Two things are suggested here: first, there must be separation from man if we are to follow Christ...
Because the destination was named by Him at the start, the outcome was never open. Commentators press this as the answer to everything that happens later in the boat.
The Lord told His disciples to take a boat over to the other side of the lake. So there was no possibility of their failing to reach the other side. Simple faith in Him would have calmed the fearful worries of the disciples when a storm arose. But we too are often guilty of such unbelief. Yet we have His written Word to show that our fears and doubts have no ground.
Another writer points out how flatly the next chapter records the arrival, as if no other ending had ever been possible:
How quietly Mark 5 opens with, "And they came over to the other side of the sea." Of course they did! How could it be otherwise when He had said, "Let us pass over to the other side?"
The proposal came from Him. One writer draws out what that means for tired workers: the crossing He suggests leads to rest.
He says a little word that has a great deal of comfort in it. He says to His disciples, "Let us go across to the other side of the lake." I believe He says that to us. And I do not believe there is any rest anywhere else but "the other side." I believe this side is for toil... It is so blessed to see that He proposes it; it does not come from them, it came from Him. He says, as it were, "I know where the rest is."
The disciples were not off course when the squall struck. They were in the boat because He had told them to be.
The disciples were doing what He had told them to do. He had said, "Let us go across to the other side of the lake." Why then did the storm arise to block them? It is when we are in the pathway of God's will that Satan's forces are stirred up against us. Satan is happy to leave us in calm waters when we are going our own way. But when we are in the line of God's interests, we feel the force of the enemy.
The danger was real, but so was the passenger list. Their fear overlooked who else was aboard.
But to go with the Lord, to be truly with Him, does not mean calm; it means faith in action. A storm arose, and the ship is covered with waves. By all appearances, the Lord is a stranger to the danger of His own. He sleeps, and the disciples think the water will swallow them up... what a lack of faith, to think that a storm was going to swallow up the counsels of God and the Lord Himself together... They were in the same ship with the Lord, the object of all the counsels of God. Accidents do not happen there. ... He is not uneasy, and His grace and power wake up at the right moment. This is the character of the road the Lord has brought His own onto in leaving the crowd of this world.
He had already given His word. So there was a way to watch Him sleep that leads to worship, not panic.
Now if the disciples had been wise, what would they have done? They would have gazed at their sleeping Master with full attention and worship! Their hearts would have said, "Let the winds and waves rise. He has said, Let us go across to the other side of the lake, and that is the pledge of safety." They might have gone to sleep with their Master.
- The word. He named the destination before they left, so arriving was never in doubt. We hold that same word in writing.
- The company. "Let us" means He crosses with them; He never sends His own through anything for His sake without His presence.
- The cost. Before boarding they sent the crowd away — following Him means separation.
- The storm. It came while they obeyed. Being in the line of God's will stirs up opposition; wandering out of it does not.
- The safety. They shared a boat with the One who is the object of all God's counsels. His word was their pledge of safety. They could have slept on it.
And as they sailed, he fell asleep; and a sudden squall of wind came down on the lake, and they were filled [with water], and were in danger;
Jesus told the disciples to cross the lake, and a storm caught them on the way while He slept. His sleep raises two questions: who is this Man, and what does it mean when He seems not to notice?
His sleep shows a body that grew tired. It belongs to a Person who did not change when He took that body.
Here we have a real Man, tired out by His unbroken service, who fell asleep (the word implies a deep sleep). Only in His Manhood could the Son of God suffer tiredness, hunger, thirst, physical pain and death. God the Son became a Man in order that He might endure all these things, yet His Person never changed.
What the eye saw and what lay beneath it were not the same thing:
Look at Him again in the boat on the lake during the storm. He was there as a tired working man whose sleep was sweet. That was the form in which He appeared. But underneath lay "the form of God." He rose. As the Lord who gathers the wind in His fists and binds the waters in a garment, He rebuked the sea into a calm.
They were not off course. He had told them where to go, which makes the timing of the squall worth noticing.
The disciples were doing what He had told them to do. He had said, "Let us go across to the other side". Why then did the storm arise to block them? It is when we are in the pathway of God's will that Satan's forces are stirred up against us. Satan is happy to leave us in calm waters when we are going our own way. But when we are in the line of God's interests, we feel the force of the adversary.
The danger was real. Yet everyone's safety rested on one Passenger, not on the weather or the crew.
The Lord ordered this, and He allowed the enemy to use all his resources. But man could not overthrow God, and the Christ of God could not perish. If the servants were wise, they would see that all their blessing was concentrated in the Master, and all their security came from Him. So faith had no ground to be alarmed. He fell asleep; He let things take their course. But whatever might happen, the boat that Jesus was in could not be unsafe for those with Him. Jesus might be tempted by the devil, and might meet every storm; but He came to destroy the works of the devil and to deliver — not to perish.
He did not fall asleep by accident.
The Lord let them be in danger, with the boat filling with water and Himself asleep. He did it on purpose, to test their faith and prove whether they were really trusting Him. He also did it to show whether such foolish thoughts would arise when danger came. They say, "Master, we are perishing"; but they were in the boat with Christ, and could they be drowned? He said to them, Where is your faith? He might well say that, for though the water was in the boat, He was there too, and could sleep through it all.
Being with Christ does not remove the weather. He does something better with it.
A storm arose, the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger, but He was asleep. So His presence with them did not guarantee a calm passage. But His power could turn the storm into a calm, which was better. Many disciples since have found that following Christ does not protect them from storms and troubles!
They had another option that night. It rested on the word He had already given.
Now if the disciples had been wise, what would they have done? They would have looked at their sleeping Master with a steady, worshipping gaze! Their hearts would have said, "Let winds and waves arise. He has said, Let us go across to the other side, and that is the pledge of safety." They might have gone to sleep with their Master. Instead, they look at the rising waves and cry, "Master, we are perishing."
- Asleep — because truly Man. His tiredness shows a real human body. The calm that follows shows He never stopped being God.
- Asleep — inside His own orders. The storm struck men who were obeying. That is where opposition tends to meet those going His way.
- Asleep — on purpose. He allowed the danger and slept on, to bring out what they believed about Him.
- Asleep — yet unsinkable. A boat carrying Christ cannot be lost; their fear said more about their view of Him than about the waves.
- Asleep — and His word already given. "Let us go across to the other side" was itself the guarantee; faith rests on what He said, not on what it sees.
and coming to [him] they woke him up, saying, Master, master, we perish. But he, rising up, rebuked the wind and the raging of the water; and they ceased, and there was a calm.
Luke gives the disciples' cry in its most desperate form: a repeated title and one word about their danger. He answers with a word to the wind and the water. Two questions run through the commentators. Who is this, asleep in the boat? And why did the storm come while they were doing His will?
The three accounts do not word the cry the same way. One writer hears in them the voices of different men in the same boat.
Matthew reports the words of some who were sure He had the power to help them. They said, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing." Others complained of His indifference to their welfare, seeing that He slept in the face of their peril; they said, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" Others again seem to have been overcome by fear even more completely. They showed their intense urgency by repeating the title they used for Him: "Master, Master, we are perishing!" (Luke 8:24).
He commands the sea, but first He has to be woken. One writer points to that sleep as proof of what the Son of God took on when He became man.
Here we have a real Man, worn out by His constant service, who fell asleep (the word implies a deep sleep). Only in His Manhood could the Son of God suffer tiredness, hunger, thirst, physical pain and death. God the Son became a Man in order that He might endure all these things, yet His Person never changed.
Moses and Elijah also dealt with water before. One writer sets them beside this scene to show what is missing here.
He spoke in His own right as Lord of the sea and the land. He addressed both the winds and the waves, for "the sea is His, and He made it," and He "walks upon the wings of the wind." There was no rod of delegated authority stretched out towards the troubled elements, as with Moses at the Red Sea. Nor was there a striking of the waters with the prophet's mantle, as with Elijah at the Jordan... The response of both wind and sea was immediate and perfect. Man, who is called the head of creation on earth, mostly had no "ears to hear" the voice of the Son of God. But the lifeless forces of nature obeyed Him at once and without question.
Having Christ on board did not spare them the storm. One commentator draws out what they received instead, and notes that the verse says He awoke.
A storm arose, the vessel was filling with water, and they were in danger, but He was asleep. His presence with them, then, did not guarantee a calm passage. But His power could turn the storm into a calm, which was better. How often since have disciples found that following Christ does not protect them from storms and troubles! ... "He awoke [the word is 'awoke,' not 'arose'] and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm." The King of God's kingdom was the Creator and Controller of the elements.
They were crossing because He had said to cross. That detail turns the episode into a lesson for anyone caught in trouble while doing what God has asked.
Here is a lesson for us. In all the difficulties and dangers of the Christian life, we are always in the same boat with Jesus, if we are doing His will. That holds for the whole journey over the waves, often stirred up by the stormy sea of life and of Christian service. It may seem to us that He is sleeping. Still, if He allows the storm to rise to test our faith, we shall not perish. We are with Him in the storm, and clearly neither He nor we can perish.
He answered the cry — and then questioned it. The way we ask can say as much as what we ask.
In their fear they wake Him. They find relief in His display of a power they had not credited Him with. But they also meet His sorrowful reproof, "Where is your faith?" In truth our prayers, in their very urgency, often betray our unbelief. They would charge the Lord with a passivity which is only a sign of the confidence He would gladly place in us, as those who know His truth and steadfastness.
- Storm. It came while they were doing His will. Being in His will does not guarantee a calm passage.
- Sleep. He slept as a truly tired Man, yet He remained the Son of God — one unchanged Person in that boat.
- Cry. The doubled "Master, Master" marks fear at its peak. The urgency of a prayer can accuse the Lord of not caring.
- Word. He used no rod like Moses and no mantle like Elijah — He spoke in His own right, and wind and water obeyed at once.
- Calm. He gave them better than a smooth crossing. The storm itself became calm, with the Creator on board.
And he said to them, Where is your faith? And, being afraid, they were astonished, saying to one another, Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?
The disciples had just cried out that they were perishing, and one word from the Lord had silenced the storm. Now He asks where their faith was, and they ask each other who is in the boat with them.
The question does not say they had no faith. It assumes they had some and asks what became of it.
Luke tells us the Lord asked them one more question, which showed another side of their failure. He said to them, "Where is your faith?" They were following Jesus because they said they believed in Him. So where was that faith now? Their faith should be ready for use in emergencies such as this. If they had ears to hear, let them hear; if they had faith, let them believe.
The same gap shows up in ordinary Christian life: full trust for eternity, shaky trust today.
Then He turns to His astonished disciples and says, "Where is your faith?" These disciples had faith enough to get into the boat with their Master, but not faith enough to stay at peace. Many receive Christ as their Saviour and Lord, and have faith to trust Him with their souls for eternity. But their faith falters when something unexpected happens on their path here. Let us pray that the Lord will increase our faith, so that we are ready for the storms and never lose our confidence in Him.
In Luke the words come after the sea is quiet. The accounts order it differently:
According to Matthew's account, the Lord gave the rebuke before He stilled the storm.
The order itself teaches something:
The gracious Master does not start by rebuking His disciples, as we would most likely have done in the same case. He first rebukes the winds, then His disciples. First He removes the cause of their unbelief. Then He reproves their unbelief: first grace, then truth. He dwelt among them full of grace and truth. So it ought to be with us.
They had not wandered into danger by accident. They were in that boat because of Christ.
As far as man's power to avert it went, they were in imminent danger. The waves are ready to swallow them up. Jesus, in their eyes, cares nothing about it; but God has permitted this exercise of faith. They are there because of Christ, and with Him. The power of Christ, for whose sake they are in the storm, is there to protect them. In themselves they might perish; but God's counsels join them to Jesus, and His presence is their safeguard. He permits the storm, but He is Himself in the vessel. When He shall awake and manifest Himself, all will be calm.
Their response after the calm is honest, but it falls short.
Instead of the calm worship of those whose faith had been answered, they show the amazement of those whose fears had been rebuked. "They were greatly afraid and said to one another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" Surely they ought to have known Him better. Yes, and so should we.
Their question has an answer:
The miracle brought the disciples to His feet in wonder mixed with dread. Who then is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him? The answer is simple and plain. He was God manifested in flesh, on His way to death for the eternal blessing of all who believe. But in His humiliation, as now in His glory, He had power to dispel every danger that could befall His people. Storms of many kinds may break over us as we travel through this world, but none can destroy us while Jesus lives. Our part is just to trust Him.
Being with Christ did not mean smooth water. It meant something better.
A storm arose, the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger, but He was asleep. So His presence with them did not guarantee a calm crossing. But His power could turn the storm into a calm, which was better. Many disciples since have learned that following Christ does not protect them from storms and troubles!
There was also a reason why the storm came at all:
The disciples were doing what He had told them to do. He had said, "Let us go across to the other side." Why then did the storm arise to hinder them? It is when we walk in the pathway of God's will that Satan stirs up his forces against us. Satan is happy to leave us in calm waters when we are going our own way, but when we are in the line of God's interests we feel the force of the adversary.
- Storm — obedience does not buy calm water; the squall came while they were doing what He had told them to do.
- Calm — He silences the sea before He corrects the men: first grace, then truth.
- Question — "Where is your faith?" assumes they had some; it was not ready for use when the emergency came.
- Safeguard — they were in that boat on His account, so His presence, not the weather, decided the outcome.
- Person — they answered with amazement, not worship, though the One who commands wind and water sat in the boat with them.