22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. 24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” ~ Luke 8:22-25
In v.22-56, Luke records four miracles. Through these four miracles Luke says: the Lord Jesus has power over the wind and the waves in v.22-25. The Lord Jesus has power over demons in v.26-39. The Lord Jesus has power over sickness in v.47. The Lord Jesus has power over death in v.56 where the Lord Jesus raises the twelve year old daughter of Jairus from the dead.
The people who saw Him stop the storm were fearful. Those who saw Him heal the demon-possessed man were gripped with great fear. The woman who had been healed of a disease in the midst of a big crowd was literally shaking with fear and terror. And the parents of the twelve year old girl that was raised from the dead, it says in v.56, were driven out of their minds. The Greek word used for "amazed' is a contraction of two Greek words. The first means to be in place, or to stand. The second Greek word means out of place. "Amazed" literally means to be driven out of their mind.
In Luke 8:22, we read, "One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out." Mark tells us it was the very same day that Jesus was teaching down at the Sea of Galilee. He got into a boat, pushed off from the shore because the massive crowd had pushed Him down to the water and the only way He could get away from them was to get in a boat and get out in the water. He had taught them all day, and He was exhausted.
In v.23 we read, "As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger." This is the only place in Scripture where it ever tells us the Lord Jesus slept. And, He knew a storm was coming. His was a sleep of fearlessness, a sleep of trust.
According to v.25, after the Lord Jesus had stopped the wind and the waves, the disciples were fearful. They were terrified because they knew the Lord Jesus was God. He stopped wind and the waves. They knew no one but God could stop the waves, and they were frightened.
The Lake Gennesaret is one of the most fascinating and most studied bodies of water on the Earth. It is the lowest freshwater lake in the world, 682 feet below sea level. It is only 30 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea, situated in a bowl-shaped valley. To the west are the hills of Galilee, which rise to a height of about 1,500 feet.
To the east of the Sea of Galilee is a plateau that runs 42 miles down that part of Israel. It is 16 miles wide, known today as the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights rise to an elevation of 3,000 feet, high above the surface of the lake.
The lake itself is supplied by the snow melt that comes from the Lebanese mountains, Mount Hermon being the most familiar at 9,200 feet above sea level. The snow melts and sends the clean water down the Jordan River, and it fills up the lake. That whole area is geothermal, and at the north and west part of the lake, there are hot springs bubbling up out of the ground that also supplies the lake.
From the west come ocean winds over the hills of Galilee, speeding up as they come down, hitting the surface of the water. From the north come the cold winds off the Lebanese mountains. And as those winds come plummeting down the hills, they gain speed. And as they get closer to the lake of Gennesaret, these winds are forced into ravines. And as the wind is compressed into the ravines, it's speed accelerates rapidly.
In v.24 we read, "The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm." The Lord of all creation chose the ideal place on the planet for this display of astonishing power. He chose the little lake of Gennesaret, 13 miles at its longest length and 8 miles at its widest point.
That night the storm was so severe, the disciples who grew up on that lake as fishermen saw that it was life threatening. They said, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” They understood that they were in danger. The Lord allowed the storm and the Lord was in the storm. The Lord creates the storm in order to demonstrate that He can be trusted in the storm to increase the faith of His disciples.
Hopelessness always aids hope, if we let it. Terror always aids faith, if we let it. In fact, hopelessness and terror are necessary ingredients to the development of our hope and faith. We come to the Lord Jesus when we are desperate in the storm. The Lord Himself created the storm. It is He who creates the desperation so that we will cry out to Him.
In Mark's gospel, the Lord Jesus said, “Peace. Be still.” And the wind and the sea recognized the voice of their Creator and were still. The same way disease responded when He rebuked it was the same way demons responded when He rebuked them. The same way death responded when it yielded up its victim was the same way fish responded when He commanded them to go to a certain place.
The Lord Jesus calmed the winds and the waves. Normally the waves went on splashing for hours. In this case, the wind stopped immediately, and the water didn’t finish its course to the shore. It just flattened out.
Furthermore, in v.25 we read, "In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him." Immediately the disciples conclude, “This is God.”
And, before they arrived upon this conclusion, the Lord Jesus asked them, "Where is your faith?" Mark puts it this way: "Jesus said, “How is that you have no faith?” This is the first time that a miracle involved the disciples so personally. That day the disciples were moved to trust the Lord more than they had to that point. Yet, they ran away on the day He was crucified.
Here then is another presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ in all His glory as the Controller of all the natural forces of the universe. Here then is not only that picture of Him and His power, but His compassion and care over those who are His as He delivers them and rescues them from a storm, a storm which allow Him to put His power on display so their faith in Him would even be greater. We have God in our boat; that’s all we need. What’s to fear? And if He brings the storm, the intention of the storm may be to lead us to ask, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."
