Luke 8:22-25 Storms
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 8 and verses 22-25. That’s on page 865 in the pew Bibles.
We have come again to particular passage of Scripture that I admit I do not want to preach on, mostly, because I do not want to have to apply the truth contained in these verses. I have had to do it before, I have friends doing it now, and it hurts my heart to think of any of you here having to do it. I think that thought will make itself clear as we move along.
Let’s read the text together.
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?”
Let’s pray.
This scene is one that appears in both of the other synoptic Gospels, meaning Matthew and Mark. They both deal with it a little differently and both include and exclude different details. You can look them up and study them on your own, they are found in Matthew 8:23 and Mark 4:35. I’m not going to reference those two Gospel accounts as each can stand on its own and can be examined and understood on its own. But you can read them later and compare them if you like.
You all know how much I love one point sermons. Can you remember the one point of the last few sermons? It’s been pretty much the same point: Hear the Word of God and do it.
Well now, In Luke’s account we get to see if the Disciples were paying attention.
On one particular day Jesus got into a boat says to His Disciples, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” In this particular example, this is the Word of God. “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.”
In the original language, Greek in this case, the word for “let us go across,” is all one word. And that one word is in the active aorist tense. The aorist tense is Greek’s past tense. Bear with me here. Jesus didn’t simply suggest that they go out in the boat, He didn’t suggest, “Maybe we should try to go to the other side of the lake in the boat,” Jesus said literally, “we are going across the lake.”
This is extremely to have in mind at the outset because it is the Word of God, “We are going across the lake.”
So if the Disciples had heard and understood the one point of the sermon about the wise and foolish builders, the one point of the parable of the soils, the one point of lighting the lamp, the one point of who was Jesus’ mother and brothers and sisters, they would have set sail from the shore of the lake to the other side confident that because Jesus said plainly, “We are going across the lake,” no matter what happened in between the would trust that they would reach the other side.
Sounds simple doesn’t it? Simple, yes. Easy, no.
The trip would be about five miles by boat from west to east from Galilee to Genesserett where they arrive in verse 26. So after a long day of teaching and performing miracles Jesus takes a nap in the stern of the boat.
The Sea of Galilee sits about 650 feet below sea level. It is surrounded by rocky hills and gorges which allow sudden and violent storms to develop and hard winds to blow across the lake. And that’s exactly what happens.
In truth, two storms blow in, the one on the outside with its wind and waves, and one on the inside of the hearts of the Disciples.
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.
Now don’t let’s forget who we are dealing with, the Disciples were sea faring souls. Four of them were professional fishermen on this lake and all the rest of them grew up on its shores. They knew what storms on the Sea of Galilee could be like, they mostly had lost friends and neighbors or had heard stories of people claimed by the Sea. These were men of experience and they were terrified.
Now let’s pause and consider a question. The winds were buffeting, the waves were breaking over the sides and the boat was filling with water miles from shore.
I don’t like this question, don’t answer it: did they have reason to fear?
I say don’t answer because we are too far removed from the situation and can easily slip into theological snobbery and simply say, “They had Jesus with them in the boat of course they had no reason to fear.”
Regardless of our opinion they were afraid, they were terrified. You can hear the utter faintness of heart when they cry out, “Master, Master, we are perishing!”
I wish we could hear them. I wish we could hear the sound of their cries to Jesus for help.
Why did they wake Him, for help, or so that He would know they were dying as He died with them?
I want to think that they were honestly crying out for His help but it was probably a bit of both.
If they were calling out to Him for help it was because they knew He had a solution, what they didn’t believe was that He had a plan.
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?”
JJ vanOsterzee wrote, “Now as ever their faith manifests itself in this, that in their distress they flee to none but Jesus.”
But Jesus asks them this penetrating question: Where is your faith?
This is a tough one because this question could have two meanings. Where is your faith? As if to say you had faith once, where is it now? Or, where is your faith, as in, where are you placing your faith?
It seems to me that it’s mostly likely a bit of both. Jesus had told them that they were going to cross the lake. If they trusted Him completely they would know that no storm could stop them from reaching the other side.
It also seems that they had a good deal of trust in themselves to navigate until the storm got out of hand. This is where I live most of the time. If you’re honest you’re probably right there with me.
But the Disciples did go to Jesus when things got out of hand, they got that much right, kind of. But it’s well been said that, “Faith is not believing in spite of circumstances; it’s obeying in spite of feelings and consequences.”
When Jesus calms the storm and challenges them in their faith they respond with worship.
And they were afraid [a reverent fear or awe], and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”
They asked a question that they already knew the answer to, He is the Son of God, God made flesh, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
The Disciples in a situation that made them fear for their lives, they thought all hope was lost, this was a really hard time for them, let’s not minimize that. If Jesus wasn’t in the boat them may indeed have all perished.
But I’ve read some great scholars and heard some great preachers give the devil credit for the storm, saying that he was attempting to thwart the great plan of God through nature.
And we may scoff at that idea, but how often do we give credit to the devil for making people sick, or causing accidents, or creating the storms that we experience in our lives to terrify or discourage or destroy us?
What if the storms of this life, the difficulties we face are designed by God to deepen our faith? What if cancer was a gift, what if losing a job, or losing our home was the best thing that ever happened to us?
Think about the gifts that were given to the Disciples that night, if they could only see it.
They were given the gift of the knowledge of their complete powerlessness. In the face of nature, in the face of illness, in the face of trauma, we are reminded that we don’t have power over anything.
And therein lies the second gift, the reminder of Jesus’ almightiness. It’s only when we realize that we are powerless that we learn to depend on His almightiness, and this is a great gift. The Disciples fled to none but Jesus and so should we.
And that’s the third gift, they got to pray for His help. A prayer that the Father will always say “yes” to is: Glorify yourself in my difficulty. 1 Peter 5:6-7 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
They were given the gift of praise to His Name, recognizing that even the winds and the waves obey the Lord of all creation.
So here’s the single point of this sermon: Hear the Word of God and do it.
What if it’s hard or scary? Hear the Word of God and do it.
What if it looks impossible? Hear the Word of God and do it.
What if I don’t feel like it or it doesn’t make me feel good? Hear the Word of God and do it.
What if I’m uncomfortable with the consequences? Hear the Word of God and do it.
There are going to be storms… they are gifts.
“Faith is not believing in spite of circumstances, it is obeying in spite of feelings and consequences.”
Amen.
