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.