Epiphany 4 January 30, 2022
Matthew 8:23-27
What sort of man is this?
v.27 And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
Dear friends in Christ, it was the summer of 2003. I had recently been ordained and installed into the office of the holy ministry as pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Peace River, AB, and my family and I were getting acquainted with the area. The Peace River valley extends for many hundreds of miles and is rather beautiful. Not too far from town there was a small ferry one could take with a vehicle to get to the other side. The sun was shining, it was a gorgeous day. We decided to take the ferry across.
About halfway across the river, the weather turned rather suddenly. A fierce wind came howling through the valley, pushing the little ferry rather violently. The waves picked up and threatened to crash over the side of the boat. Thankfully, the ferry boat captain was rather experienced and calmly turned the ferry to directly face the wind, allowing it to push us further downstream, but lessening the danger of being capsized. After what felt like hours of pure terror (but was probably just a few minutes), the wind stopped as suddenly as it started, and we were able to eventually make our way back to the crossing on the other side of the river. It turns out the wind was a meteorological phenomena known as "sheer wind" in excess of 100 KM/hour. Scary, indeed.
Such was a similar situation for our Lord and His disciples as they were making their way in a boat across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had been preaching and teaching and healing, with great crowds following Him. So, Jesus, in need of some rest, decided to take a boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
The first seventeen verses of Matthew 8 deal with three shining examples of faith and trust in the authority of Jesus to heal. We examined two of these in our text from last week: the leper and the centurion. The last instance was of Peter's own mother-in-law who was ill, but whom Jesus healed. Beginning at verse 18, there are two examples of people questioning the authority of Jesus and His call to discipleship: one a scribe, and the other being one of Jesus' own disciples (probably not one of the 12, though the individual is unnamed). Our text from verses 23-27 give us the third corresponding example of people failing to recognize Jesus' great authority: the Twelve—His closest disciples.
Now remember, at least of 4 of Jesus' disciples were very experienced fishermen: making a living on this very body of water, the Sea of Galilee. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were all professional fishermen before joining Jesus and following Him. They knew their craft well. They could easily handle a boat. However, with the Sea of Galilee sitting some 700 feet below sea level, and the towering Mount Hermon (9200 feet high) only 30 miles to the north and east, when strong westerly winds would sweep down from the mountain, they could collide with the warm moist air of the sea, causing violent and sudden storms, that even the most experienced sailors would be hard pressed to manage.
Such is what happened in our text. Jesus and His disciples had gotten into the boat. Jesus was so exhausted that He immediately curled up under a protected corner and fell asleep. But, "behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves." The Greek word that Matthew uses here is "seismos," also used for earthquakes, indicating a violent shaking (caused by the wind blowing on the water), kicking up furious waves that were threatening to swamp and flood the boat, causing it to sink, and all aboard to drown. Yet Jesus slept peacefully on. You see, the storm had no power over Jesus, but as He will soon demonstrate, He has authority over IT.
The disciples, in a tremendous panic, go to Jesus, shaking Him awake, calling upon Him for mercy. They utter the familiar cry of our liturgy: Kyrie! Lord! Save! We are being destroyed—we are all going to die! Lord! Save! Help us, please! To which Jesus, finally awake and rubbing the sleep from His eyes, calmly replies, "Why are you cowardly (afraid), you little faiths?"
Jesus comments on their fear—they are being cowardly before the face of this storm, failing to trust in the Lord who is with them. Having little faith, fear took hold and gripped them tightly. Just so with you and me, beloved. Our fears grow and overwhelm us, threatening us to forsake the Lord, to seek other solutions to our problems—forgetting that it is the Lord who holds all power and authority—yes, even over His creation. Jesus will demonstrate, once again, that He has authority not just over sickness, disease, and injury, but over the mighty forces of creation itself.
"Then [Jesus] rose and rebuked (commanded) the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm." This is in contrast to what was happening immediately prior, where there was a great storm—now there is a great calm. How? By the Word of Jesus. The creation responds to the One who possesses the authority of the Creator. Sure, this fallen world is a dangerous place, full of threatening dangers, but Jesus has the authority to calm the chaos and restore peace to His fallen creation.
Jesus speaks with authority—and violent wind and waves immediately cease. Calm is restored. Great calm. The sea becomes as still as glass. He speaks a powerful word before His disciples of little faith. "And the men marveled, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey Him?"
What sort of man, indeed? Many have tried to answer that question without fully wrestling with the Word of God and all it has to say about Jesus. You've heard the answers: great teacher, life coach, encourager, wise man, etc. While there is some truth to these, they fail to take into account the true extent of who this Man, Jesus, actually is. The disciples in their time of need did not need a great teacher, a great life coach, someone to encourage them, nor even a phenomenal sailor—they needed someone to save them. Just so do you and I.
We live in a broken and fallen creation. The evidence is all around us. Not only is there profound evidence of the fallenness of creation in the world at large: hurricanes, snow storms, earthquakes, sheer winds, etc., there is evidence within our own bodies as disease ravages us and takes its toll, leading ultimately to death. We don't just need someone to give us a helping hand, we need someone to save us. Of course, you and I know that the name of Jesus is a perfect description of this, as His name literally means "the Lord saves."
Into this broken creation, the Father has sent His Son, Jesus. Jesus has come to save, to restore His fractured creation. Indeed, there will come a time when not just storms on the Sea of Galilee will be stilled, but the entire creation will be restored to God's design. No sin or death will mar it then. Indeed, as the prophet Isaiah writes (11:6-9), "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
So, beloved, not just the temporal lives of some disciples will be spared, but all the redeemed in Christ will be raised to live forevermore in the new heavens and new earth—in the Lord's holy mountain—where creation will be at peace. Jesus will accomplish this by His authority. As Jesus says to John in the Revelation (1:17b-18), "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."
Jesus, the One who has died and risen again, has been given all authority by the Father to rule and restore creation. The disciples marveled at Jesus and His authority over the wind and the sea, wondering "What kind of man is this?" They did not yet know fully who Jesus was. But we do. We know and understand and believe that Jesus is the sort of Man who is God! He holds the authority of God Himself and He came to repair the damage done to His creation by human sin. This He has accomplished through His own suffering death and resurrection.
Jesus, who has died and risen again for your sins and mine, has authority over all creation—even over death itself. We need not fear whatever situation we may find ourselves in—be it a sudden storm—a deadly illness—a threatening government, etc. Our faith may be weak and small, but our Jesus isn't. He is quick and strong to save. He has died for you, and now lives and reigns to all eternity. This Man—this Jesus—is your God—in the flesh—and He has come to save. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Matthew 8:23-27
What sort of man is this?
v.27 And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
Dear friends in Christ, it was the summer of 2003. I had recently been ordained and installed into the office of the holy ministry as pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Peace River, AB, and my family and I were getting acquainted with the area. The Peace River valley extends for many hundreds of miles and is rather beautiful. Not too far from town there was a small ferry one could take with a vehicle to get to the other side. The sun was shining, it was a gorgeous day. We decided to take the ferry across.
About halfway across the river, the weather turned rather suddenly. A fierce wind came howling through the valley, pushing the little ferry rather violently. The waves picked up and threatened to crash over the side of the boat. Thankfully, the ferry boat captain was rather experienced and calmly turned the ferry to directly face the wind, allowing it to push us further downstream, but lessening the danger of being capsized. After what felt like hours of pure terror (but was probably just a few minutes), the wind stopped as suddenly as it started, and we were able to eventually make our way back to the crossing on the other side of the river. It turns out the wind was a meteorological phenomena known as "sheer wind" in excess of 100 KM/hour. Scary, indeed.
Such was a similar situation for our Lord and His disciples as they were making their way in a boat across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had been preaching and teaching and healing, with great crowds following Him. So, Jesus, in need of some rest, decided to take a boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
The first seventeen verses of Matthew 8 deal with three shining examples of faith and trust in the authority of Jesus to heal. We examined two of these in our text from last week: the leper and the centurion. The last instance was of Peter's own mother-in-law who was ill, but whom Jesus healed. Beginning at verse 18, there are two examples of people questioning the authority of Jesus and His call to discipleship: one a scribe, and the other being one of Jesus' own disciples (probably not one of the 12, though the individual is unnamed). Our text from verses 23-27 give us the third corresponding example of people failing to recognize Jesus' great authority: the Twelve—His closest disciples.
Now remember, at least of 4 of Jesus' disciples were very experienced fishermen: making a living on this very body of water, the Sea of Galilee. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were all professional fishermen before joining Jesus and following Him. They knew their craft well. They could easily handle a boat. However, with the Sea of Galilee sitting some 700 feet below sea level, and the towering Mount Hermon (9200 feet high) only 30 miles to the north and east, when strong westerly winds would sweep down from the mountain, they could collide with the warm moist air of the sea, causing violent and sudden storms, that even the most experienced sailors would be hard pressed to manage.
Such is what happened in our text. Jesus and His disciples had gotten into the boat. Jesus was so exhausted that He immediately curled up under a protected corner and fell asleep. But, "behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves." The Greek word that Matthew uses here is "seismos," also used for earthquakes, indicating a violent shaking (caused by the wind blowing on the water), kicking up furious waves that were threatening to swamp and flood the boat, causing it to sink, and all aboard to drown. Yet Jesus slept peacefully on. You see, the storm had no power over Jesus, but as He will soon demonstrate, He has authority over IT.
The disciples, in a tremendous panic, go to Jesus, shaking Him awake, calling upon Him for mercy. They utter the familiar cry of our liturgy: Kyrie! Lord! Save! We are being destroyed—we are all going to die! Lord! Save! Help us, please! To which Jesus, finally awake and rubbing the sleep from His eyes, calmly replies, "Why are you cowardly (afraid), you little faiths?"
Jesus comments on their fear—they are being cowardly before the face of this storm, failing to trust in the Lord who is with them. Having little faith, fear took hold and gripped them tightly. Just so with you and me, beloved. Our fears grow and overwhelm us, threatening us to forsake the Lord, to seek other solutions to our problems—forgetting that it is the Lord who holds all power and authority—yes, even over His creation. Jesus will demonstrate, once again, that He has authority not just over sickness, disease, and injury, but over the mighty forces of creation itself.
"Then [Jesus] rose and rebuked (commanded) the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm." This is in contrast to what was happening immediately prior, where there was a great storm—now there is a great calm. How? By the Word of Jesus. The creation responds to the One who possesses the authority of the Creator. Sure, this fallen world is a dangerous place, full of threatening dangers, but Jesus has the authority to calm the chaos and restore peace to His fallen creation.
Jesus speaks with authority—and violent wind and waves immediately cease. Calm is restored. Great calm. The sea becomes as still as glass. He speaks a powerful word before His disciples of little faith. "And the men marveled, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey Him?"
What sort of man, indeed? Many have tried to answer that question without fully wrestling with the Word of God and all it has to say about Jesus. You've heard the answers: great teacher, life coach, encourager, wise man, etc. While there is some truth to these, they fail to take into account the true extent of who this Man, Jesus, actually is. The disciples in their time of need did not need a great teacher, a great life coach, someone to encourage them, nor even a phenomenal sailor—they needed someone to save them. Just so do you and I.
We live in a broken and fallen creation. The evidence is all around us. Not only is there profound evidence of the fallenness of creation in the world at large: hurricanes, snow storms, earthquakes, sheer winds, etc., there is evidence within our own bodies as disease ravages us and takes its toll, leading ultimately to death. We don't just need someone to give us a helping hand, we need someone to save us. Of course, you and I know that the name of Jesus is a perfect description of this, as His name literally means "the Lord saves."
Into this broken creation, the Father has sent His Son, Jesus. Jesus has come to save, to restore His fractured creation. Indeed, there will come a time when not just storms on the Sea of Galilee will be stilled, but the entire creation will be restored to God's design. No sin or death will mar it then. Indeed, as the prophet Isaiah writes (11:6-9), "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
So, beloved, not just the temporal lives of some disciples will be spared, but all the redeemed in Christ will be raised to live forevermore in the new heavens and new earth—in the Lord's holy mountain—where creation will be at peace. Jesus will accomplish this by His authority. As Jesus says to John in the Revelation (1:17b-18), "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."
Jesus, the One who has died and risen again, has been given all authority by the Father to rule and restore creation. The disciples marveled at Jesus and His authority over the wind and the sea, wondering "What kind of man is this?" They did not yet know fully who Jesus was. But we do. We know and understand and believe that Jesus is the sort of Man who is God! He holds the authority of God Himself and He came to repair the damage done to His creation by human sin. This He has accomplished through His own suffering death and resurrection.
Jesus, who has died and risen again for your sins and mine, has authority over all creation—even over death itself. We need not fear whatever situation we may find ourselves in—be it a sudden storm—a deadly illness—a threatening government, etc. Our faith may be weak and small, but our Jesus isn't. He is quick and strong to save. He has died for you, and now lives and reigns to all eternity. This Man—this Jesus—is your God—in the flesh—and He has come to save. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.