Luke 8:22

We have here two illustrious proofs of the power of our Lord Jesus which we had before - his power over the winds, and his power over the devils. See Mk. 4 and 5.

I. His power over the winds, those powers of the air that are so much a terror to men, especially upon sea, and occasion the death of such multitudes. Observe,

1. Christ ordered his disciples to put to sea, that he might show his glory upon the water, in stilling the waves, and might do an act of kindness to a poor possessed man on the other side the water: He went into a ship with his disciples, Luk 8:22. They that observe Christ's orders may assure themselves of his presence. If Christ sends his disciples, he goes with them. And those may safely and boldly venture any where that have Christ accompanying them. He said, Let us go over unto the other side; for he had a piece of good work to do there. He might have gone by land, a little way about; but he chose to go by water, that he might show his wonders in the deep.

2. Those that put to sea in a calm, yea, and at Christ's word, must yet prepare for a storm, and for the utmost peril in that storm; There came down a storm of wind on the lake (Luk 8:23), as if it were there, and no where else; and presently their ship was so tossed that it was filled with water, and they were in jeopardy of their lives. Perhaps the devil, who is the prince of the power of the air, and who raiseth winds by the permission of God, had some suspicion, from some words which Christ might let fall, that he was coming over the lake now on purpose to cast that legion of devils out of the poor man on the other side, and therefore poured this storm upon the ship he was in, designing, if possible, to have sunk him and prevented that victory.

3. Christ was asleep in the storm, Luk 8:23. Some bodily refreshment he must have, and he chose to take it when it would be least a hindrance to him in his work. The disciples of Christ may really have his gracious presence with them at sea, and in a storm, and yet he may seem as if he were asleep; he may not immediately appear for their relief, no, not when things seem to be brought even to the last extremity. Thus he will try their faith and patience, and quicken them by prayer to awake, and make their deliverance the more welcome when it comes at last.

4. A complaint to Christ of our danger, and the distress his church is in, is enough to engage him to awake, and appear for us, Luk 8:24. They cried, Master, master, we perish! The way to have our fears silenced is to bring them to Christ, and lay them before him. Those that in sincerity call Christ Master, and with faith and fervency call upon him as their Master, may be sure that he will not let them perish. There is no relief for poor souls that are under a sense of guilt, and a fear of wrath, like this, to go to Christ, and call him Master, and say, "I am undone, if thou do not help me."

5. Christ's business is to lay storms, as it is Satan's business to raise them. He can do it; he has done it; he delights to do it: for he came to proclaim peace on earth. He rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and immediately they ceased (Luk 8:24); not, as at other times, by degrees, but all of a sudden, there was a great calm. Thus Christ showed that, though the devil pretends to be the prince of the power of the air, yet even there he has him in a chain.

6. When our dangers are over, it becomes us to take to ourselves the shame of our own fears and to give to Christ the glory of his power. When Christ had turned the storm into a calm, then were they glad because they were quiet, Psa 107:30. And then, (1.) Christ gives them a rebuke for their inordinate fear: Where is your faith? Luk 8:25. Note, Many that have true faith have it to seek when they have occasion to use it. They tremble, and are discouraged, if second causes frown upon them. A little thing disheartens them; and where is their faith then? (2.) They give him the glory of his power: They, being afraid, wondered. Those that had feared the storm, now that the danger was over with good reason feared him that had stilled it, and said one to another, What manner of man is this! They might as well have said, Who is a God like unto thee? For it is God's prerogative to still the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, Psa 65:7.

II. His power over the devil, the prince of the power of the air. In the next passage of story he comes into a closer grapple with him than he did when he commanded the winds. Presently after the winds were stilled they were brought to their desired haven, and arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, and there went ashore (Luk 8:26, Luk 8:27); and he soon met with that which was his business over, and which he thought it worth his while to go through a storm to accomplish.

We may learn a great deal out of this story concerning this world of infernal, malignant spirits, which, though not working now ordinarily in the same way as here, yet we are all concerned at all times to stand upon our guard against.

1. These malignant spirits are very numerous. They that had taken possession of this one man called themselves Legion (Luk 8:30), because many devils were entered into him: he had had devils a long time, Luk 8:27. But perhaps those that had been long in possession of him, upon some foresight of our Saviour's coming to make an attack upon them, and finding they could not prevent it by the storm they had raised, sent for recruits, intending this to be a decisive battle, and hoping now to be too hard for him that had cast out so many unclean spirits, and to give him a defeat. They either were, or at least would be thought to be, a legion, formidable as an army with banners; and now, at least, to be, what the twentieth legion of the Roman army, which was long quartered at Chester, was styled, legio victrix - a victorious legion.

2. They have an inveterate enmity to man, and all his conveniences and comforts. This man in whom the devils had got possession, and kept it long, being under their influence, wore no clothes, neither abode in any house (Luk 8:27), though clothing and a habitation are two of the necessary supports of this life. Nay, and because man has a natural dread of the habitations of the dead, they forced this man to abide in the tombs, to make him so much the more a terror to himself and to all about him, so that his soul had as much cause as ever any man's had to be weary of his life, and to choose strangling and death rather.

3. They are very strong, fierce, and unruly, and hate and scorn to be restrained: He was kept bound with chains and in fetters, that he might not be mischievous either to others or to himself, but he broke the bands, Luk 8:29. Note, Those that are ungovernable by any other thereby show that they are under Satan's government; and this is the language of those that are so, even concerning God and Christ, their best friends, that would not either bind them from or bind them to any thing but for their own good: Let us break their bands in sunder. He was driven of the devil. Those that are under Christ's government are sweetly led with the cords of a man and the bands of love; those that are under the devil's government are furiously driven.

4. They are much enraged against our Lord Jesus, and have a great dread and horror of him: When the man whom they had possession of, and who spoke as they would have him, saw Jesus, he roared out as one in an agony, and fell down before him, to deprecate his wrath, and owned him to be the Son of God most high, that was infinitely above him and too hard for him; but protested against having any league or confederacy with him (which might sufficiently have silenced the blasphemous cavils of the scribes and Pharisees): What have I to do with thee? The devils have neither inclination to do service to Christ nor expectation to receive benefit by him: What have we to do with thee? But they dreaded his power and wrath: I beseech thee, torment me not. They do not say, I beseech thee, save me, but only, Torment me not. See whose language they speak that have only a dread of hell as a place of torment, but no desire of heaven as a place of holiness and love.

5. They are perfectly at the command, and under the power, of our Lord Jesus; and they knew it, for they besought him that he would not command them to go eis ton abusson - into the deep, the place of their torment, which they acknowledge he could easily and justly do. O what a comfort is this to the Lord's people, that all the powers of darkness are under the check and control of the Lord Jesus! He has them all in a chain. He can send them to their own place, when he pleaseth.

6. They delight in doing mischief. When they found there was no remedy, but they must quit their hold of this poor man, they begged they might have leave to take possession of a herd of swine, Luk 8:32. When the devil at first brought man into a miserable state he brought a curse likewise upon the whole creation, and that became subject to enmity. And here, as an instance of that extensive enmity of his, when he could not destroy the man, he would destroy the swine. If he could not hurt them in their bodies, he would hurt them in their goods, which sometimes prove a great temptation to men to draw them from Christ, as here. Christ suffered them to enter into the swine, to convince the country what mischief the devil could do in it, if he should suffer him. No sooner had the devils leave than they entered into the swine; and no sooner had they entered into them than the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were drowned. For it is a miracle of mercy if those whom Satan possesses are not brought to destruction and perdition. This, and other instances, show that that roaring lion and red dragon seeks what and whom he may devour.

7. When the devil's power is broken in any soul that soul recovers itself, and returns into a right frame, which supposes that those whom Satan gets possession of are put out of the possession of themselves: The man out of whom the devils were departed sat at the feet of Jesus, Luk 8:35. While he was under the devil's power he was ready to fly in the face of Jesus; but now he sits at his feet, which is a sign that he is come to his right mind. If God has possession of us, he preserves to us the government and enjoyment of ourselves; but, if Satan has possession of us, he robs us of both. Let his power therefore in our souls be overturned, and let him come whose right our hearts are, and let us give them to him; for we are never more our own than when we are his.

Let us now see what was the effect of this miracle of casting the legion of devils out of this man.

(1.) What effect it had upon the people of that country who had lost their swine by it: The swineherds went and told it both in city and country (Luk 8:34), perhaps with a design to incense people against Christ. They told by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed (Luk 8:36), that it was by sending the devils into the swine, which was capable of an invidious representation, as if Christ could not have delivered the man out of their hands, but by delivering the swine into them. The people came out, to see what was done, and to enquire into it; and they were afraid (Luk 8:35); they were taken with great fear (Luk 8:37); they were surprised and amazed at it, and knew not what to say to it. They thought more of the destruction of the swine than of the deliverance of their poor afflicted neighbour, and of the country from the terror of his frenzy, which was become a public nuisance; and therefore the whole multitude besought Christ to depart from them for fear he should bring some other judgment upon them; whereas indeed none need to be afraid of Christ that are willing to forsake their sins and give up themselves to him. But Christ took them at their word: He went up into the ship, and returned back again. Those lose their Saviour, and their hopes in him, that love their swine better.

(2.) What effect it had upon the poor man who had recovered himself by it. He desired Christ's company as much as others dreaded it: he besought Christ that he might be with him as others were that had been healed by him of evil spirits and infirmities (Luk 8:2), that Christ might be to him a protector and teacher, and that he might be to Christ for a name and a praise. He was loth to stay among those rude and brutish Gadarenes that desired Christ to depart from them. O gather not my soul with these sinners! But Christ would not take him along with him, but sent him home, to publish among those that knew him the great things God had done for him, that so he might be a blessing to his country, as he had been a burden to it. We must sometimes deny ourselves the satisfaction even of spiritual benefits and comforts, to gain an opportunity of being serviceable to the souls of others. Perhaps Christ knew that, when the resentment of the loss of their swine was a little over, they would be better disposed to consider the miracle, and therefore left the man among them to be a standing monument, and a monitor to them of it.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk_8:22-25

He went into a ship with His disciples

The Saviour in the ship

1.

We do not need to be literally at sea, or to feel waves literally breaking over our heads, to find out what absolute helplessness is. The greater number of us, at some time in our lives, have known what it was to touch the last limit of our strength. One of the commonest forms of this exhaustion of human strength is in the struggle with disease or death, approaching yourself or some one you love like a part of yourself. The powers that overmatch us, tire us out, and run us down, are various--time, hereditary maladies, sudden sickness, the superior strength of other people serving their own interests against us, that formless enemy, never so seen as to be struck, but often preventing us--that we call bad luck; everything that edges about our inclinations, thwarts our plans, baffles the brain and the will, and brings us up where we wish not to be. Most plainly it is a part of Gods scheme of mercy to lead us, in our self-confidence and self-will, every one of us, to just that point, so that when we are obliged to stop trusting or calculating for ourselves we shall come willingly to Him.

The heart, with all its external, traditional, or formal knowledge of the Saviour, may hold Him as if He were asleep in its own dark chamber. He wakes, to us, whenever we go to Him and call upon Him. And they are the reckless mariners on a deeper sea who put the waking off, on one pretence or another, till the ship is covered with the waves.

2. Observe that when, at last, the voyager comes sincerely and anxiously to that, and utters the prayer, Christ does not refuse him because he did not call sooner, or because when he prayed his prayer was not the purest and loftiest of prayers. Hardly any hearts prayer is that, when it is first agitated under the flashing conviction that it is all wrong. While its deep disorder is first discovered it can think only of being delivered. The life of God in the soul of man is always a growing thing, and so by necessity must be imperfect at the beginning. Every one that asketh receiveth more than he asketh. None of us know what to pray for as we ought. To him that crieth only in fear, and because the weather of this troublesome world is too much for him, the sea is smoothed. And whosoever so cometh, provided only it is to the Lord that he directs his supplication, shall in no wise be cast out.

3. But we should miss the fall breadth of gospel teaching in this miracle of the quieted tempest if we saw nothing more in it than a mere figure or likeness of what goes on in an individual heart. The whole strain of the New Testament teaches us a profounder doctrine than this of the connection between the visible world of nature and the invisible world of Gods spiritual kingdom. We needed to know what the Pagan, the Jew even, and many a student of science born and bred in Christendom has never really comprehended, that the Person of Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, is the actual bone of a living unity between both these two great realms of Gods creation; that He mediates between them and reconciles them. Scholars will never explore nature thoroughly, or right wisely, till they see this religious signification of every law, every force, and every particle of matter, and explore it by the light of faith. God is in everything or in nothing--in lumps of common clay, as Ruskin says, and in drops of water, as in the kindling of the day star, and in the lifting of the pillars of heaven.

4. Incomplete still would this enlarging view of the miracle be, if it did not further disclose to us the true practical use both of the gospel miracles themselves, and of every other gift and blessing of heaven, in leading us up in affectionate gratitude to Him who stands as the central figure among all these visible wonders, the impersonation of all spiritual beauty, the heart of all holy love, and the originator of all the peace-making powers which tranquilize and reconcile the turbulences of the world. The men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this! It was not the mercy to mens imperilled or sick bodies that Christ had first in view when He loosened the bodily ordinances and let the streams of Divine energy flow in on mortal sufferers. That ye might believe in Me this is the continual explanation--we might almost say the excuse, He offered for deeds that must necessarily be exceptional and temporary. (Bp. F. D. Huntington.)

The miraculous stilling of the storm

When we use the words Lord, save us, we perish, we are really rehearsing two articles of our belief.

1. We are declaring that we believe there is a Lord--that in the visible world there is an invisible God with His over-ruling, and controlling, and appointing will.

2. We are also declaring that we believe this God is our Lord Jesus Christ. This it is which distinguishes Christian prayer from all other prayer. The story before us divides itself naturally into three parts: the voyage before the storm; the storm; the miraculous stilling of the storm. In each of these three parts we have one thing in common. We have man, in some way or other, encountering, or encountered by the outward and visible world.

I. MAN SUBDUING NATURE. It was by the knowledge of the elements and the laws of nature that man learned thus to sail upon the deep; and in this fact you have represented for you the whole of the material progress of humanity--all the triumphs of science, all the glory and beauty of art, all that marvellous mastery that man obtains by his inventive and creative will over the secret powers of nature, as he unlocks them one by one, and compels her to tell him her deepest mysteries--all that man has done as he has advanced from horizon to horizon of discovery, finding still new worlds to conquer, until we stand amazed at our own progress and the infinity of it.

II. NATURE SUBDUING MAN. Here we have the storm, in which the elements are mans masters and not his servants; and he that one minute before was the boasting lord of nature is its toy and sport. The very foam upon the crest of those billows is not more helpless in the grasp of the elements than the lord and the king of them; they toss him to and fro, as the wind drives the stubble in the autumn. This is the terrible aspect of nature. This is nature in her might, and in her majesty, and in her pitilessness, and in her capriciousness--when nature seems everything, and man, in her awful presence, dwindles and dwarfs into very nothingness. This is nature as she masters man. Is it, then, any wonder that, in the early struggles of mankind with this terrible visible power of the creature, men came to worship the creature--that they ascribed to every one of these powers a divinity; that in the voice of the wind, and in the roar of the sea, and in the raging of the fire, they saw the signs of a Divine presence, and they said to these elements: Spare us, or Save us, or else we perish? And so all creation became peopled with gods-cruel gods, capricious gods, vengeful gods, gods whom men bribed with blood, gods whom, even while they bribed them, they could not love, and did not believe that they loved them. This is the first and most terrible form of creature worship; this was the idolatry of the heathen. But then, brethren, mark this; that such a worship as this could not continue long, because it is the worship of ignorance; it is the belief in the supernatural, only because it confuses the unknown with the supernatural. Even as science advanced must this faith melt away. Ever must the domain of the known push itself forward into the domain of the unknown. Ever does the man of science take one by one the gods of the man of superstition and break them upon their pedestals, and tell him this: What you worship is no god. What you worship is no lord. It is not your lord; it is a servant of yours; and I class it in this or that rank of your servants. It is that last and most terrible aspect of nature, when she appears, not as many gods, or many wills, but as a great soulless piece of mechanism, of which we are only part--a terrible machinery in which we are, somehow or other, involved, and in the presence of which the sense of our freewill leaves us.

III. THE MIRACULOUS AND THE SUPERNATURAL. We hear a prayer, and we see a miracle. In the face of the might of nature and the terror of her elements there rises up a Man in answer to mans cry--there is heard a Mans voice, which is yet the voice of God; and it rebukes the winds and the sea, and the elements of nature own their real Lord; and immediately there is a great calm. What is it, then, that we see? We see a miracle, and a miracle that answers to prayer; we see the living spirits of living men, in the hour of their agony and their distress, appealing from nature to the God of nature; and we have recorded the answer of God to mans prayer. The answer is, that God is Lord both of man and of nature; and we say, therefore, that the miracle, and the miracle alone, sufficiently justifies the prayer. We say that the reason why men may pray is, and can only be, that they know and believe, that there is a will which rules the visible. If you have not this belief, then all prayer is an unreality and a miserable mockery. (Bp. W. C. Magee.)

Gods answers to mans prayers for help

If prayer were always followed by a miraculous answer, then prayer would be easy enough; or, on the other hand, if there were no thought of an answer, then it might be possible, though not easy, to submit ourselves to the inevitable. But to pray, and not to receive an answer, and yet to believe that the very not receiving is an answer; to cry, Save, or we perish, and to seem about to perish; to believe that in what seems perishing is really salvation; to look for the living and watchful Christ, and to see what seems only the sleeping and regardless Christ, and yet to believe that the time will come when, at His word, there shall be a great calm--this is the patience, this is the faith of those who worship an incarnate Lord. And so we trace the history of Christs Church, and so we strive to trace the history of our own lives. Comparatively easy it is to trace the Churchs history along her voyage. The Church gives time for comparing events and testing faith; and so, believing still in the presence of her living Lord, the litanies of His Church ring oat, as they have ever rung, clearly and loudly, and high above the roar of the tempest and the rushing of the waters, still the prayer is heard, Good Lord, deliver us; and still again and again, as the storm sweeps by, and the Church passes out into calmer waters, still comes the voice of thanksgiving, He hath delivered us. Even in our shorter voyage are there none of us who can remember times when we have knelt in agony and wrestled in prayer with the Saviour, who seemed to have forgotten us, when the mighty storm of temptation and the billows of calamity seemed about to destroy us, and when we have cried to Him to save us, and He has seemed to sleep and to refuse to save? But at the last we can remember how He did reveal Himself, not stilling the raging storm when we would have had Him still the terrible tempest, not sparing, it may be, the precious bark that we had rigged, and manned, and launched ourselves with trembling hopes and loving prayers, and watched with eyes tearless with agony, as we saw it about to sink before us; and we have been led to see and believe that the living and loving Lord was answering even then our prayer, for the bark has at length entered that haven where we would be, and where the vexed waters of our voyage never awake a ripple on the calm depths of its eternal peace. (Bp. W. C. Magee.)

The miracle on the lake

1. This miracle proved Jesus to be both God and man, and therefore able to save us from our sins.

2. This miracle proves that the Redeemer never forgets His people, though He sometimes appears to do so.

3. This miracle proves that the Redeemer will certainly deliver His people at last. What should hinder Him?--not want of power, for He is the mighty God, as this history abundantly shows; not want o! knowledge, for He is infinitely wise to know how to save; not want of will, for He loves them and delights to help them.

4. This miracle proves that Jesus is a Being whom it is impiety and ruin to resist, but duty and happiness to obey. (James Foote, M. A.)

The storm on the lake

They took Him even as He was! It was well. We need preparations. The Son of God needed none. Preparations are ours, not His! He is always ready, and for every emergency--for a storm as well as a calm. We are all of us always crossing over. We have some plan, some pleasure, some expectation, something we are looking forward to to-morrow, or next week, or next year, or at the close of our toils. Something we have, all of us, always before us, and towards which we are crossing--something on the other side of the present, whatever that may be, but which, before we reach, we may have to pass through a storm. But if it is necessary to our safety that we have Jesus with us in crossing over, it is equally necessary to our calmness, our peace, our joy, that Jesus be awake in us. It is in the storms of life that the all-sufficiency of Jesus comes out. We have never half known Him till now. We heard so before; we have proved it now. (F. Whitfield.)

Christ rebuking the elements

Why did Christ rebuke the elements? The word appears to me the language of one who either sees moral guilt; or who, in His affection, is indignant at something which is hurting those He loves. The elements, in themselves, cannot, of course, do a moral thing. But is it possible that the prince of the power of the air had anything to do with that storm? Was there some latent fiendish malice in that sudden outbreak of nature upon Christ and His Church? But however this may be, there is another aspect in which we ought to see it. We know that to the second Adam there was given just what the first Adam forfeited--perfect dominion over all creation. Accordingly, Christ was careful, one after another, to assert and show His supremacy over the whole natural creation--over the fishes, as when He made them crowd at His word to a given spot; over the swine; over the fig tree; over the earth, opening at His will; over the seas, unlearning their usual law, and making a pavement for His feet. In this light the present hurricane was like a rebellion, or Christ treated it as such, that He might show His mastership. Hence that royal word, He rebuked them, and hence the instant submission. But it might be, in His affection for His followers, as of one angry at what was disturbing their peace, He rebuked those troubled winds. For God is very jealous for His childrens happiness; and whatever touches it, He is displeased at. You may be assured of this--if you are a child of God, and any person, or anything, ever comes near to injure or to distress you, God is grieved with that person or that thing--He will rebuke it. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

And they launched forth

Setting sail

I take these words simply as a motto, that I may speak to you of the duty of setting sail on the Christian voyage.

1. The other side--the heavenly shore--that is the true destination for every one of us.

2. Your whole nature, with its varied powers and capacities, is the vessel with its furniture, freight, and crew.

3. Christ the Captain. You have no right to sail in any direction you please.

4. It is to be feared that there are many, even in our religious assemblies, who have never yet taken Christ as their appointed Captain, and decisively set sail on the Christian voyage. Repentance and faith necessary.

5. And here, in passing, I would say a word to any who may have set out years ago on this voyage, and yet are now back again at their old moorings. The sky was bright, and you set sail with flying colours. But by-and-by came the storm. You were not prepared for such gusts of temptation. You had not anticipated such hurricanes of trial. And so yon allowed yourself to be driven back, by stress of weather, to the shore you had left. If you had only obeyed the commands of Christ, you might have weathered the storm, and been making progress even now towards the heavenly kingdom.

6. If you have not yet set sail, let me exhort you to do so at once.

7. If you have set sail under Christ, why should you not hoist His flag? (T. C.Finlayson.)

The soothing voice of Jesus

During a heavy storm in the Mediterranean Sea, which lasted two whole days and nights, I was unable to get any sleep, the rolling of the vessel was so terrific. Two men were washed from the wheel and the lifeboat broken. Whilst lying awake hour after hour I heard at intervals a voice calling out some words which I could not clearly distinguish amidst the roaring of the wind and waves, but which I took to be intended to cheer on the sailors in their perilous work. I afterwards found the voice was that of the night-watch, who on completing his round each half-hour shouted All is well! I thought of the voice of Jesus as it rises above the storm, encouraging the despondent, tempest-tossed mariner in his voyage to the better land. (Richilde.)

Christ for our Captain

Now, I want you to come and see Jesus lying there upon the deck of the ship. Ah, how tired He is! Look at that face, so white, with the lines so deeply graven, the hands stretched out in utter helplessness. He had spent the whole day in preaching; then He had gone away and spent the night in prayer; the next morning He ordained the twelve, and before there was any time for breakfast the multitude came back again. When His friends heard of this they said, He is out of His mind. They always say that; whenever a man begins to be enthusiastic about the welfare of his neighbour they are sure to think he is mad. But all the great and noble deeds done in this world have been wrought by those who have been branded as madmen, and until we go mad too I do not think we are likely to do much good among our fellows. The very word enthusiasm means God in the man. When Livingstone was in Central Africa he tells us that he met some Englishmen who had gone there to shoot big game, and that these fellows talked about their self-sacrifice in exposing themselves to the same perils with himself. Self-sacrifice! Oh! in some cases the word becomes damnable. We never hear of self-sacrifice except for Jesus Christ. When a man goes to the ends of the earth to collect beetles, or catch fish, or shoot big beasts, who ever hears of self-sacrifice? But the moment he sets out on this long journey in order to help his neighbour, he is at once said to be demented. It is only for Jesus Christ that people invent these excuses. People are always needed elsewhere when Christ wants them. A man often takes one day a week from business to look after his garden or to enjoy himself with his children; but if when you knocked at his office door and were told he was absent on that occasion--as he always devoted one day a week to the care of the poorest of the poor--you would say, Dear me, how very extraordinary! There must be some little softening of the brain. No, no, sir! softening of the heart; and would to God you would catch the complaint and die of it. They said, He is beside Himself. And then His mother came. I never rightly understood before why she came, but I see it now. Poor mother! She saw the pale face, she knew how tired He must be; and He has had nothing to eat, and so she desired to speak with Him; but He was not to be hindered in His work, and so the day is passed in unremitting toil, until at last His condition became such as to suggest that strong arms support Him down to the ship, and the moment He is laid upon the deck, and His head touches the hard coil of ropes which is His pillow, He is fast asleep. Perhaps you have never thought of Christ being worn out with hard work. There is a kind of notion that He renewed His bodily strength from the springs of His Divinity. No, no; that is one of the temptations of the devil that Jesus Christ had always to withstand. If the devil could only have persuaded the Master to have met him as the Son of God there would have been no shame in his defeat; but to meet and conquer him as Man, as bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, that was the triumph of Christ. And so Jesus knew what it was to be utterly worn out. You sometimes have spent the day in work, so hard that you have hardly been able to drag one foot after another. Well, to-night you think to yourself, Blessed Lord, I never thought before I had so much of Thy sympathy. I never knew before that Thou couldst say to me, I know all about it; I too have been worn out. There may be some mother here whose rest is often broken at night, whose day is filled with dreary toil until the brain throbs and the blood is as fire. Ah! Jesus can come to thee and say, Dear heart, I know what it is. I, too, have been utterly spent. He is asleep on the deck of the ship. Come and gaze upon Him yet again. Are you troubled with sleeplessness, sir? I do not mean under a sermon, but at night when you go to rest? I am told it is an increasing complaint, and I know there are a great many remedies, some of them worse than the disease; but here is one which the Master Himself used. Why does He sleep so soundly? I pray you try His remedy--get thoroughly worn out in doing good. The next time, sir, that you cannot sleep, just you try the remedy. Call on that poor old man whom you know, who seemed ill when you saw him last, and whose rent you think is not paid; sit and talk and pray with him, and when you leave, give him five shillings, for advice gratis is not worth much, and if at night you do not sleep you shall have sweeter dreams, perchance, than those who do. The Master sleeps. We talk about the sleep of the just. There were only two men who ever slept the sleep of the just--Adam and Jesus Christ. We hear in poetry of infant slumbers, pure and light; but some of you mothers know that the little ones sometimes awake with shrieks and cries from fevered dreams. No, no; there were only two sleeps which were the sleep of the just, and what a contrast between them I See where God has cast the deep sleep upon Adam. Was there ever such a resting place? The mossy bank whereon he lies; trees that bend lovingly over him as if to screen him; winds that are hushed lest they disturb his rest; the birds trilling forth their sweetest songs, as if to mingle with his dreams; the flowers that pour their fragrance round about him--these were the surroundings of Adam; but look, I pray you, at the rude discomforts of my Lord. We have heard of the plank bed, and our heart has gone out in indignation as well as in pity on that matter, but here is the plank bed of our Master, How little Thou didst know of luxury and comfort! You poor folks, take this to your heart: you can say this, Well, I know that Jesus Christ knows more about my lot than the rich folks. Oh, if I had had the ordering of that night, how different it would have been I Instead of the thin dress of the Galilean peasant, how I would have wrapped Him in robes so warm, how soft would have been His couch! I would have had the heavens hung with gold and crimson to curtain the couch of my Lord, and I would have charged the winds to sink down behind the purple hills lest they should ruffle with a breath the glassy surface of the lake that bore upon its bosom my sleeping Master. But it may not be. The wind is veering to the south-west, and there is going to be a dirty night. How the waves leap up and how the wind whistles and howls! Exactly. Think you that Christ is a fair-weather sailor? Think you that my Lord comes to see us only when we are in port, or to say goodbye when we weigh anchor and set out upon the voyage? Oh, no I that is not my Christ. My Christ never says goodbye. He says, Soul, I am going with thee. But, Master, it is going to be a very dirty night. Very well; if it is to be rough for thee, it will be rough for Me. I want a Christ to go to sea with me, to take life just as i find it. My Master! Thou art just the very Christ we want. Come, look once more. He is asleep in the hinder part of the ship. Then have I got more than His disciples. I have often said, How glad would I have been to have looked into Thy face, to have drunk in the sweet music of Thy voice, to have felt the touch of Thine hand, to have had Thy shadow fall upon me, and to have told how I loved Thee. Yes, that would have been much, but I have done more than that. Do you not see how that bodily presence shut Him in and shut them out, made a great gulf between them as black and deep and dark as bell? He sleeps! Oh, how dreadful is the storm! how the waves toss and tumble and roll, and yet He sleeps! Oh, I should not like to have a sleeping Christ! Nay. He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep. They watch that He may sleep, but my Master watches that I may rest. Now have I more than they. Look again. He is in the hinder part of the ship asleep. Why did He sleep? This was one reason--because He had nothing else to do. Well, I cannot but think that if you wanted to see John at his best it would be when he is running before a gale of wind, and Peter when taking in a reef, and Philip handling an oar. Jesus Christ was a carpenter. He was wonderfully clever at teaching people how to get to heaven, but what could He do on board ship? He could not help them at all, so He went to sleep. Oh, how the wind whistled I how the sea was tossed and tumbled! I seem to hear the hurlyburly of the storm. Here comes a wave leaping higher and higher, as if impatient for its prey, and His disciples would fain call upon Him to awake. Ah, how instinctively the heart turns to Jesus when trouble comes I I think nothing grieves Jesus Christ more than that we should keep Him out of the management of things. As soon as ever they get ashore I think I know what Peter said to his fellows. He would take them aside and say: I have been thinking about last night, and I will tell you what I should like to do. What is that? says John. Let us make Him Captain. You see we can take in a reef, He can quiet the waves; we can put the helm up, He can hush the winds. Master, come, be Captain; just tell us how to put the craft about; take the helm. Oh, blessed be His name! He does so love us when He can take the management. Dear friends, it hurts Jesus Christ when we shut Him out. Mother, there are those boys of thine. You have often asked the Lord to bless and save their souls, but thou art worrying thyself about what they are going to do in life. The Lord Jesus Christ knows how to help them a great deal better than thou dost. Ask Him to come in and guide thee and them. Sir, thy Master understands your business better than thou dost. Make Him the head of the firm, and say Come in. I remember I had, some years ago, to preach a sermon, and two or three venerable doctors of Divinity were going to be present. Through thinking about them, perhaps, more than the sermon I began to get rather nervous. While I was sitting in my study working at the text, Cast all thy care upon Him, and getting down very deep--I used to be lather an eloquent preacher, but, thank God! that has gone--all of a sudden, in the midst of my profound philosophical discourse, the door was burst open, and, looking up, I was about to say, Now run away, but the father was a great deal stronger than the philosopher, and the words died away on my lips, for there stood a little three-year-old, with chubby cheeks, holding in her hand a broken toy, the face a picture of great sorrow, the lip quivering, the tears running down her cheeks, and the hands holding out the broken doll. And what think you I did? Why, thrust aside my philosophical discourse, and said, Come here, little one; what is the matter? The childs grief was too deep for words; she could only hold up the broken toy and give a great sob, which told its own story. I said, I think we can manage this, and the philosophical discourse was forgotten, and I got the gum bottle, and when I had restored the plaything, and put it in her arms again, I felt that I had my reward. The tears were dried up, and the sunshine came back to the little face, and, lifting herself on tiptoe, she paid me with a kiss, and then another, and then she trotted away, and at the door she turned to look back and nod her head and let me see her thanks again. I tore up my philosophical discourse, and I said I will go down and tell the people that we are just poor little children, and that our griefs are broken toys, and that our Lord hath joy in stooping down and taking into His hand our poor little sorrows, and healing them and wiping our tears away, and watching the sunshine come back again. Oh, how sorry Jesus is when you shut Him out, when you do not open the door to Him! Oh, I beseech you take Him as your Captain, let Him take the helm, and say to Him, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? He sleeps. I can fancy John saying, I wonder He can sleep on such a night as this. Yes, says Peter; we can hardly hear each other speak for the noise. Oh, how the wind howls, how the poor craft staggers and strains--now climbing the crest of a wave, now deep down in the trough of the seal I wonder the Master can sleep--how tired He must be! Master, awake! Ah! He was wide awake then. His was a mothers love, not a fathers love. Your Father can sleep in a thunderstorm, you can sleep whether south-west wind moans and howls about the house, and when the waggons go rumbling along on their way to the market, but let the little one at mothers side just make the feeblest beginning of a cry, and she is awakened in an instant. You, sir, sleep for ten minutes afterwards by the clock, you know you do. My Lords love--oh, it is the daintiest and most delicate thing upon the face of the earth! The love that Jesus Christ hath for us is a mothers love; we have never to speak twice before He hears. The first time He is awake and listening, and there is a great calm. (M. G. Pearse.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 8:22-25. It came to pass on a certain day — According to Mark, the same day, when the evening was come; he went into a ship with his disciples — With a view to cross the lake. And they launched forth — Attended by a number of other little boats, which were full of people, Mar 4:36. But as they sailed, he fell asleep — In the stern of the vessel, fatigued with the work of the day. And there came down a storm, &c. — The weather suddenly changed, and a storm came on, which threatened to sink them to the bottom. The tempest increased the horrors of the night; the sky lowered; the wind roared, the sea and clouds were driven with the fury of the storm. Now they were tossed up to the top of the billows, then sunk down to the bottom of the deep, buried among the waves. The disciples exerted their utmost skill in managing their vessel, but to no purpose; the waves, breaking in, filled her so that she began to sink. Being now on the very brink of perishing, and ready to give themselves up for lost, they ran to Jesus, crying out, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose and rebuked the wind — Which instantly became silent; and the raging of the water — The huge waves of which sunk down on every side in a moment. And there was a calm — The sea was perfectly still around them, and not a breath of wind moved, nor was the least sound heard, except from the oars and sails of the boats which composed this little fleet. And he said unto them, Where is your faith? — In Mark it is, How is it that ye have no faith? As if he had said, After having seen me perform so many miracles, it is extremely culpable in you to be thus overcome with fear. Did you doubt my power to protect you? When they first awoke him, and before he had stilled the storm, he said, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? but their confusion and dismay, it seems, prevented their deriving any benefit from the rebuke: he therefore now repeats it, when the storm was over, and they had leisure to attend to it: and doubtless it contributed to make them more sensible of the evil of their fear. And they being afraid, wondered, &c. — When by the continuance of the calm they found what a great miracle was wrought, they were inexpressibly amazed, and their amazement was mixed with fear, because he had rebuked them so sharply. See this miracle more fully elucidated, on Mat 8:23-27; and Mar 4:35-41.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

§ 50.—THE CROSSING OF GENNESARET, vv. AND THE TEMPEST STILLED, Luk_8:22-25.

(See notes on Mat_8:18-27; Mar_4:35-41.)

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Luk_8:22. The other side.—The eastern side, which was comparatively uninhabited.

Luk_8:23. Fell asleep.—A pathetic touch, indicating as it does how wearied He was with the labours of the day. Came down.—From the hillsides. Recent travellers speak of these sudden and impetuous storms as characteristic of the Lake of Gennesaret. Thus Mr. Macgregor says: “The peculiar effects of squalls among mountains are well known to all who have boated much on lakes; but on the Sea of Galilee the wind has a singular force and suddenness; and this is no doubt because that sea is so deep in the world (six hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean) that the sun rarifies the air in it enormously, and the wind, speeding swift above a long and level plateau, gathers much force as it sweeps through flat deserts, until suddenly it meets this huge gap in the way, and it tumbles down here irresistible.” He describes his own experience of “a great storm of wind”: “A brisk breeze from Bashan had freshened while we paddled along these bays … The sea rose more and more, and at last heavy clouds in the east burst into a regular gale.… The wind whistled, and sea-gulls screamed as they were borne on the scud. Thick and ragged clouds drifted fast over the water, which became almost green in colour, as if it were on the salt sea, and the illusion was heightened by the complete obscurity of the distance, for the other side of the lake was quite invisible.… The storm lasted next day” (The Rob Roy). Were filled with water.—Rather, “were filling with water” (R.V.).

Luk_8:24. Master, Master.—The repetition of the name is a mark of anxiety caused by the danger in which they were. Rebuked the wind.—St. Luke agrees with St. Mark in representing Christ as stilling the tempest before He rebuked the disciples for unbelief. St. Matthew reverses the order. Probably the former are more exact in the order of events they follow; the rebuke for unbelief would have greater weight after the deliverance from danger.

Luk_8:25. Where is your faith?—“They had some faith, but it was not ready at hand” (Bengel).

Luk_8:22-25.—St. Luke’s note of time is very vague—“on a certain day.” St. Mark says that the incident happened on the evening of the day on which the parable of the sower was spoken

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_8:22-25

Faith and Fear.—Jesus was fast asleep amid the dashing waves and drenching storm. But was the danger real? Yes, to human eyes very real. To these fishermen, who had known that water all their days, it was real, and they were afraid for themselves and Him. It was very natural, this fear, though foolish: natural that they should dread the idea of all their hopes and prospects being lost in this premature grave, yet foolish that they should fear for themselves and Him so meaningless an end. Yet nature got the upper hand of faith, and they gave way to their headlong terrors.

I. Christ rebukes the storm.—Though unmoved by the piercing shrieks of the wind and the hoarse menace of the waves, He wakes at the first cry of the disciples. He arose calmly, composedly. The Son of man had been sleeping. The Son of God awakes and speaks,—for Himself exhausted, for others still mighty. He looked down at the waves; He looked up into the heavens. “He rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.” What a revelation of God in man! It is not so much the mere power that impresses. We have seen Him do as great works before, and greater. But, as the wondering disciples said, “it is the manner of the man.” In what condition is man by himself more thoroughly helpless than in a storm at sea—in a frail boat—the sport of the elements—a mere straw upon the waters, with death opening all her mouths upon him? In no condition, unless you add that in which Jesus was a few moments before—fast asleep. A waking man in a shipwreck may be on the watch for some means of escape But a man asleep in a boat rapidly filling with water and on the point of going down!—such and so helpless did Jesus seem the one moment. And the next! He stands and speaks to the elements, and they hear with the facility and readiness of well-trained servants. “What manner of man is this! for He commandeth even the winds and the water, and they obey Him.”

II. Christ rebukes His disciples.—He had His own disciples to rebuke and correct as well as the storm to still. “Where is your faith?” The question does not imply that they were absolutely faithless. This could not be. Their instinctive application to Him when things became so bad shows clearly enough their belief that He could and would deliver Himself and them from the danger. But He rebukes them for the littleness, the narrowness, of their faith, for the want of larger trust. They ought to have had such confidence in Him as to believe that sleeping or waking made no difference to Him, that the boat which carried Him and them together would not be overwhelmed. It was not that they had no faith; but—like one who has a piece, though in sudden panic he forgets to fire—it was as bad as if they had none. They failed to apply their faith fully. It was not ready for use. They believed Jesus to be the Christ, they had left all to follow Him, and had they been consistent with their own belief they had showed no such unworthy fear. But fear for the moment ruled, and not faith. Thus they became weak, as we all are when our faith is not at hand in the time of need: thus they justly incurred the rebuke, “Where is your faith?” They had entrusted to Him their souls, their lives, their all; and yet they forgot all this in a moment of panic, out of mere natural, human fear. How exactly like us and our unbelief! For unbelief is always the same confused, feeble, sinful thing. You have received Christ as your Saviour; you have long ago known His great salvation; and yet let any sudden squall arise, and you fear and cry out as if all were lost. You grow downcast “when days are dark and friends are few.” You are unstrung when some sudden trial crushes your home. Your knees fail and your hands hang down. Why is this? Where is your faith? Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God; believe also in Jesus. You believe in His almightiness, as the Christ of God, to whom all things in providence are entrusted for His people’s sake. Is there anything in your lot or life He cannot master whom the winds and waves obey? You believe in His wisdom. Are not your times in His hand? And your times of storm and terror you have found before to be His times of help and healing. You believe in His love; and His love is never more active toward you than in the tempest of trial. You believe in His faithfulness—that His promise stands sure, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

The distinctive teaching of the miracle may be summed up in these two items:

1. Directly, it teaches that to Him as Lord of providence belongs all power to defend His cause and people from danger, and that He is continually exercising that power which on special and signal occasions has called out not only the fervent adoration of His own, but has attracted the wonder and admiration of the world.

2. Less directly, but very significantly, the story suggests the perpetual presence of Christ in and with His Church, for its protection and deliverance.—Laidlaw.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_8:22-25

Luk_8:22-25. The Peace-bringer in the World of Nature.—Note:—

I. Christ’s sleep in the storm.

II. The awaking cry of fear.

III. The word that calms the storm.

IV. The gentle remonstrance.—Maclaren.

Luk_8:22. “He went into a ship.”—From a comparison of the various synoptical narratives we learn that this had been a very busy day in the life of Jesus—it had been crowded with works of healing, discourses, controversies with opponents, and conversation with disciples. St. Mark distinctly says (Luk_4:35) that the storm upon the lake occurred on the evening of the day when He first began to speak to the multitude in parables. We need not wonder, therefore, that He was fatigued and fell asleep in the boat. “The reason why He decided to cross over to the eastern shore of the lake does not seem to have been to secure a measure of needed repose. No hint of this being His purpose is given in the Gospels. His usual course after imparting instruction in one place was to go to another, and not to rest (Mar_1:38). This district of Decapolis, on the east of the Sea of Galilee, was a stronghold of heathenism, where there was an abundant field for religious work, and where rest would be out of the question” (Speaker’s Commentary).

“A ship.”—This ship which carried Christ, and in which He taught,—sometimes near shore, where the people stood; sometimes in calm, sometimes in storm,—was a beautiful emblem of the Church sailing over the waters of this world on her voyage to the harbour of eternity.—Wordsworth.

Luk_8:23. “He fell asleep.”—The scene suggests that in Jon_1:5, where the prophet was asleep on board the Phœnician ship amidst the violence of the storm, and had to be roused from his slumbers. But with the disobedience of the prophet, and his helplessness to avert danger, are to be contrasted the untroubled conscience and serene majesty and power of Christ when He was in like circumstances.

The Wearied Saviour.—How touching that our Saviour should have been so speedily asleep! How suggestive of His great exhaustion that He should have been so sound asleep! Those delicate energies of His humanity, that needed to be statedly replenished, had been subjected to an excessive drain in consequence of the urgent demands of the people for teaching and healing.—Morison.

Luk_8:24-32. Lake and Shore.

I. A stormy lake.—

1. The weary sleeper.

2. The sudden danger.

3. The sure help.

II. The lake shore.—

1. A sad sufferer.

2. A gracious Healer.

3. A grateful would-be follower. Jesus calms the stormy sea, and then calms a storm-tossed soul.—W. Taylor.

Luk_8:24. “They awoke Him.”

I. The roar of the storm He did not hear in His sound sleep, but the moment there was a cry from His disciples for help He awoke. What a revelation of heart we have here! He is never asleep to His praying people. He hears the faintest cry of prayer amid the wildest tumults of the world. He is never too weary to listen to the appeal of human distress.

II. Though aroused suddenly, He awoke calm and peaceful. Such an experience reveals the grandeur and purity of His nature. No terror, no resentment, no upbraiding, for being disturbed, but perfect calmness and peace. Here we see what Christ meant when He said, “My peace I give unto you.” In this peaceful spirit He moved amid the various turbulent scenes of His earthly life.—Miller.

Even Weak Faith Effectual.—The disciples were in unbelief, which cried out, “We perish!” Yet were they at the same time sufficiently believing to call upon Him, “Lord, help us!” Even weak faith is faith still; the trembling hand yet holds fast the Deliverer.—Stier.

“Master, master!”—The exclamation which reveals

(1) timorous faith, reveals also

(2) genuine faith, for in their distress they flee to none but Jesus.

Alarm and Perplexity.—The disciples were

(1) alarmed by the violence of the tempest, and

(2) perplexed by the fact that for the moment Christ seemed oblivious to their danger.

“He arose.”—Let any man reflect how one suddenly roused with outcries of distress and danger of death around him would in the weakness of humanity comport himself, and it will help him to perceive and estimate the unapproachable dignity of this Being. Even while one with us He is paying His tribute to the infirmity of our flesh. The Son of man slept; the Son of God in man awakes and speaks. For Himself exhausted, for others almighty.—Stier.

Christ’s Calmness.—Cæsar’s confidence that the bark which contained him and his fortunes could not sink forms the earthly counterpart to the heavenly calmness and confidence of the Lord.—Trench.

“Rebuked the wind.”—Speaking to the wind and the billows of the water as though they were living powers (Psa_106:9, “He rebuked the Red Sea also”), or to the evil powers which may be conceived to wield them to the danger of mankind.—Farrar.

Union of the Divine and the Human.—What Moses performed in the might of Jehovah when he opened with his rod the way through the waters, that the Son of the Father does through the efficacy of His will alone. Here also we meet with that union of the Divine and human nature which we so often discover in the gospel. He who wearied with His day’s work lays Himself awhile to sleep, because He needs bodily rest, and remains quiet in the most threatening danger, rises at once in Divine fulness of might, and commands the tempestuous wind and bridles the sea.—Van Oosterzee.

The Voice of Authority.—The elements which are deaf to us heard their Creator.—Jerome.

Luk_8:25. “Where is your faith?”—Christ acknowledges the faith which the disciples had; answers the prayer of faith by working a perfect calm; but rebukes them for not having the stronger, firmer faith to trust Him even when He seemed insensible to their danger.—Alford.

A Weapon not at Hand.—Faith they had, as the weapon which a soldier has, but cannot lay hold of at the moment when he needs it the most.—Trench.

Faith should be a Preservative from Terror.—Wherein were the apostles to blame? It was for the state of anxiety and alarm in which Christ found them when He awoke from slumber. Faith may and should add intensity to our prayers, but it should also save us from agitation and terror.

Wait Patiently.—By these words Christ censures all irregular ways of endeavouring to extricate ourselves from difficulties. Such irregular methods argue lack of faith. They are acts of irreverence, like that of the disciples disturbing Christ in His slumber. If the times are such that we can neither row nor sail in the vessel of the Church, we must wait patiently in the ship till He arises and calms the storm. Then the words apply: “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength” (Isa_30:15); and, “Their strength is to sit still” (ibid., Luk_8:7); and “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exo_14:13).—Wordsworth.

“Being afraid.”—Two kinds of fear agitated the minds of the disciples within the space of a very few moments: indeed, the one fear followed immediately upon the other. The first was sheer terror of perishing in the waters; the second, a reverential fear, a holy awe, at having experienced a deliverance at once so gracious and so astonishing.

The Teaching of the Miracle.—The miracle proves

(1) that Christ never forgets His people, though He sometimes appears to do so; and

(2) that He will certainly deliver His people at last.

The Wonder of the Disciples.—The wonder of the disciples may find explanation in the fact that this miracle was the first of the kind they had witnessed—the first example of Christ’s power over the blind forces of nature. But we find in our own experience that each new manifestation of God’s power and love in delivering us from danger excites as much astonishment in our hearts as if we were learning for the first time the greatness of His majesty and mercy.

“What manner of man is this!”—A question not of doubt, but of astonishment. The disciples were amazed at

(1) the unexpectedness of the miracle, and

(2) at its unexampled character. For not only was the violence of the wind instantly checked, but also the raging of the water, which is usually disturbed for some time after the wind falls, ceased in a moment, and “there was a calm.” This miracle, like that in Luk_5:8, was wrought in a sphere familiar to them, and they were therefore fully able to appreciate the greatness of the power Christ displayed.

The Purpose of the Miracle.

I. It renewed and confirmed faith in Christ.

II. It gave prophetic assurance of His power and willingness to help in all subsequent times of danger. When at a later time storms threatened the bark of the Church, disciples could still believe that Christ was with them, and that in His own time He would deliver it and them from perishing in the waves.

The Miracle a Parable.—The symbolic application of this occurrence is too striking to have escaped general notice. The Saviour with His company of disciples in the ship tossed on the waves seemed a typical reproduction of the Ark bearing mankind on the flood, and a foreshadowing of the Church tossed by the tempests of the world, but having Him with her always. And the personal application is one of comfort and strengthening of faith in danger and doubt.—Alford.

Christ’s Presence a Source of Safety.—We are sailing in this life as through a sea, and the wind rises, and storms of temptation are not wanting. Whence is this, save because Jesus is sleeping in thee? If He were not sleeping in thee, thou wouldest have calm within. But what means this, that Jesus is sleeping in thee, save that thy faith, which is from Jesus, is slumbering in thine heart? What shalt thou do to be delivered? Arouse Him and say, “Master, we perish.” He will awaken—that is, thy faith will return to thee, and abide with thee always. When Christ is awakened, though the tempest beat into, yet it will not fill, thy ship; thy faith will now command the winds and the waves, and the danger will be over.—Augustine.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. The King of the Kingdom of God at the same time the Lord of Creation, of the World of Spirits, of Death. Luk_8:22-56

a. The Stilling Of The Storm In The Lake. Luk_8:22-25

(Parallels: Mat_8:23-27; Mar_4:35-41. Gospel for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany.)

22Now it came to pass on a certain day [one of the days], that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. 23But as they sailed, he fell asleep: and there came down a storm [gust] of wind on the lake; and they were filled [were filling] with water, and were in jeopardy. 24And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: andthey ceased, and there was a calm. 25And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man Isaiah 3 this! for he commandeth even the winds and [the] water, and they obey him.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Harmony.—Without doubt the stilling of the tempest took place on the same evening on which the Saviour had delivered the parable of the Sower and some others. The parable of the Mustard Seed, and of the Leaven (Matthew 13), Luke gives in another connection (Luk_13:18-21); that of the Tares, of the Treasure in the Field, of the Pearl, of the Fishing-net, and of the Slow Growing of the Seed (Mar_4:26-29) he passes over. The question, whether it is in and of itself probable that the Saviour delivered all these parables almost uno tenore on one and the same day on which so much had already taken place (Mar_3:20-35), may here remain provisionally undecided. Enough that the stilling of the tempest, which, according to Luke, took place on one of the days (Luk_8:22), took place, according to Mark (Luk_8:35), on the same day at evening. According to Matthew, who is as far from contradicting as from confirming these chronological statements, the Saviour wished at the same time to withdraw Himself in this way from the people, Luke 18. If it should appear that he transposes the miracle into an earlier period of the life of the Lord than it occurred, we are not to forget that Matthew 8, 9 is a collection of different miracles of the Saviour without the apostle’s having observed any very strict chronological arrangement. On internal grounds, however, we consider it probable that the offer of the two men who wished to follow Jesus (Mat_8:19-22) immediately preceded the tempestuous voyage. Luke communicates this particular in the account of another voyage, narrating those two, moreover, with a third similar case, Luk_9:57-62. Taking it all together now, it no longer is difficult to represent distinctly to ourselves the whole course of events. The long day—one of the few in the public life of the Lord where we find ourselves in a condition to follow Him almost from step to step—was visibly hurrying towards evening, but still Jesus beholds around Him numerous throngs desiring instruction and help. If, therefore, He is to enjoy the rest which at last has become absolutely necessary, He must withdraw Himself from the throng and give the multitude opportunity to reflect upon the parables they have heard. Accordingly He gives immediate command to His disciples as to the departure, after He had previously left behind on the shore the scribe who had desired to follow Him, and another whom He called in vain. His disciples took Him with them in their vessel, according to the graphic expression of Mark: ὠς ῆ̓ν, that is, without any further preparation for the journey. As to the rest, the Synoptics give essentially the same account. If Mark communicates particulars which confirm the surmise that the personal remembrances of Peter have not been without some influence upon the form of his account, he nevertheless agrees perfectly with Luke. From the two, Matthew deviates in this twofold respect; namely, that he, in the first place, has given the address of the Saviour to His disciples as if preceding His word of might to the tempest; and secondly, that he has put the exclamation of astonishment at the very end, not exclusively in the disciples’ mouths, but in those of the men (ἄνθρωποι) who were in the ship. But as respects the last, we do not see what improbability there is in the view, that besides the Twelve some other persons also, attendants and the like, may have been present in the ship, and may have joined with the disciples in the tone of wonder to which the disciples (Mark and Luke) undoubtedly give louder and stronger expression than all the rest. With regard to the first mentioned point, the representation of Matthew, it appears, has the most probability in its favor, for we know that the Saviour was wont first to awaken faith, before He performed a miracle; and on a later occasion also the wind did not sink until He had asked the sinking Peter: “Oh, thou of little faith, wherefore dost thou doubt?” The address to the disciples and the mighty word of deliverance followed one another so quickly, that Mark and Luke might easily reverse the order without making themselves guilty of a censurable inaccuracy.

Luk_8:22. That He went into a ship.—According to Mar_4:36, there were other vessels also accompanying the Saviour near by, which is least of all to be wondered at, at the end of such a day. If one is not disposed, therefore, to seek the ἄνθρωποι of Matthew (Luk_8:27) upon the vessel of the apostles, the conjecture then that the companions of the voyage on the ἄλλοις πλοιαρίοις had been, at some distance, witnesses of the miracle, and, therefore, made manifest their astonishment without reserve,—such a conjecture certainly will not be too hazardous.

Unto the other side.—The eastern shore is here meant. According to Mark, the Saviour seats Himself in the πρύμνα, hinder part of the ship, comp. Act_27:29; Act_27:41, and falls fast asleep upon a προςκεφαλαίῳ. Now awakes the storm,—according to Matthew and Mark, a σεισμός (by which also an earthquake is signified, Mat_28:2); according to Luke, more precisely, a λαίλαψ ἀνέμου, which precipitates itself from above upon the sea.

Luk_8:24. Master, Master.—If we assume that Luke has most accurately communicated the words of the troubled disciples, we should then notice in the expression itself the trace of the anxious fear that was in them. They call the Lord, we may note, with a double ἐπιστάτα to help while Mark puts in their mouths a διδάσκαλε, and Matthew even a κύριε. But more than the expression, the exclamation itself bears witness of utter faintness of heart. So ὀλιγόπιστοι (Matthew) are they, that really it may be said of them, they have no faith (Mark and Luke), yet now as ever their faith manifests itself in this, that in their distress they flee to none but Jesus. Without doubt the storm must have been very unexpected and violent, for experienced sailors like these to be attacked by so violent a terror. But the malady of unbelief also has an epidemic character, and undoubtedly the unwonted view of the sleeping Saviour did not a little augment their distress.

Luk_8:24. A calm, γαλήνη = דְּמָמָה, Psa_107:29 in Symmachus.—An additional sign of a miracle, since otherwise, even when the storm has subsided, a disturbed movement of the air and the water always continues for a time. According to Mark, the Saviour gives His rebuke with the words: “σιώπα, desiste a sonitu, and πεφίμωσο, obmutesce, desiste impetu.” Bengel. First of all the Lord rebukes the storm in the heart, afterwards the storm in nature.

Luk_8:25. What manner of man is this?—No question, we may believe, of doubt, but of the deepest astonishment, which is heightened by the unexpectedness and unexampled character of the miracle. Here also, as in Luk_5:8, the astonishment is so great because the miracle is wrought in a sphere familiar to them. It is as if they had never yet conceded to the greatness of the miraculous worker its full rights. It is true, they knew Him previously, and yet their feeling is like that of the Baptist when he exclaimed: “I knew Him not.” Joh_1:31.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. A miracle such as this we have not yet met with in the Gospel of Luke. We have, in miracles of nature like this, as well as at Cana and elsewhere, to meet the objection that wholly inanimate nature appears to offer no point of attachment whatever to the mighty will of the miracle-worker; but that this difficulty gives us no warrant whatever for the fallacies of the naturalistic interpretation, needs hardly be mentioned. The vindicators of this show that they have as little knowledge of nature, as true knowledge of the human heart. As little can we accede to the view of those (Neander) who, by sharply distinguishing the objective and the subjective side of the account, suppose that the Saviour actually only quieted His disciples; so that now before the eyes of their enlightened faith the raging of nature displayed itself in another form, and their ear, as it were, no longer heard the raging of the storm, while later, when the storm had actually subsided, that was ascribed to the working of Jesus upon nature, which was only the consequence of His influence upon their mind.—[This of Neander may fairly be called as flat and vapid a rationalizing away of a simple narrative as Paulus himself was ever guilty of.—C. C. S.] This error, moreover, could hardly remain concealed from the Saviour, and at least could have exercised no influence on the less susceptible shipmen, who did not belong to the Apostolic circle, and least of all could it have been favored by the Saviour Himself. Whoever leaves it undecided (Hase) whether the Saviour professed or wrought the miracle, contradicts in fact the sacred record. No, that they here mean to relate a miracle is plain to the eye, and the question can only be simply this: did it take place or did it not take place? Have we here history or myth?

2. The mythical explanation stumbles not only against these general obstacles, but has here, moreover, the particular difficulty to solve that not a single Old Testament narrative has so much agreement with the Evangelical as to allow of the assumption that the latter arose from the former. It is undoubtedly not hard with lofty air to explain this whole miracle as “an anecdote of the kind that have been related of every century and of the miracle-workers of all times, and whose origin may be explained in a thousand ways” (Weisse). Such arbitrariness, however, condemns itself, so long as the genuineness of one of the Synoptical gospels is still admitted. Nothing else, accordingly, is left but to acknowledge the reality of the miracle, and if one wishes to seek a medium of it, to say with Lange: “The Saviour rebukes the storm in the inner world of His disciples, in order to find a medium of rebuking the storm in nature. He removes the sin of the microcosm, in order to remove the evils of the macrocosm.” We have here the concurrence of the will of the Father with that of the Son, which belongs to the deepest mysteries of His Theanthropic being. In His whole fulness Christ stands here before us as an image of Him who “sitteth upon the waters and drinketh up the sea by His rebuke.” Psalms 29, 93. What Moses performed in the might of Jehovah when he opened with his staff the way through the waters for himself, that the Son of the Father does through the efficacy of His will alone. Here also we meet with that union of the Divine and human nature and operation which we so often discover in the Gospel. He who wearied with His day’s work lays Himself a while to sleep, because He needs bodily rest, and remains quiet in the most threatening danger, rises at once in Divine fulness of might and commands the tempestuous wind and bridles the sea. As sinful man can work mechanically upon the creation, so does the God-Man work dynamically, and thus does this whole activity become a prophecy of the future in which the spirit of redeemed mankind will govern matter, and the hope of Paul, Rom_8:19-23, will be fully realized.

3. The purpose of this miracle soon strikes the eye. It was to make the companions of the apostles in the voyage for the first time or renewedly attentive to the Lord; it was to exercise and strengthen the disciples in faith, but above all it was to hold up before them a sensible image of that which afterwards, when they were entered upon the apostolical career, would befall them. As their little ship was now thrown around, so should also the young church, at whose head they stood, appear often given over to the might of the waves and billows. But then also they should become aware at the right time of the Lord, who would arouse Himself to change the darkness into light. This is the deep sense of the symbolical explanation of the miracle, which deserves censure only when it is put in opposition to the purely historical, instead of being grounded upon it. No wonder if many have essayed it, if not always so beautifully as, for example, Erasmus, when he writes, Prœfat. in Evang. Matth. in fine: “hinc nimirum illa periculosa tempestas, quia Christus dormit in nobis.—Diffisi prœsidiis nostris, inclamemus Jesum, pulsemus aures illius, vellicemus, donec expergiscatur. Dicamus illi flebili voce: Domine, tua non refert, si pereamus? Ille, ut est exorabilis, audiet suos, suoque spiritu repente sedabit tempestatem mundano spiritu agitatam. Dicet vento: quiesce,” &c. Comp. the Hymn of Fabricius: “Hilf, lieber Gott, was Schmach und Spott,” &c., and the spiritual interpretation of this narrative in Luther’s Kirchen-Postille, ad loc. The homage which was offered to Christ after He had performed the miracle, is an echo of the Old Testament Choral: Psa_107:23-30.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Wherever Jesus goes, thither must His disciples accompany Him.—The duty of the disciples of the Lord: 1. To follow Him upon every way; 2. to call on Him in every distress; 3. to glorify Him after every deliverance.—The calm is followed by a tempest, the tempest by greater calm.—Jesus sleeping in the storm; by this one feature of the narrative, 1. The greatness of the Lord is manifested; 2. the perplexity of the disciples explained; 3. the rest of the Christian prophesied.—The distress of the disciples of Jesus: 1. Its causes; 2. its culmination; 3. its limits.—Whoever, even in distress, can call on Jesus, has no destruction to fear.—No storm so vehement but the Lord can still it: 1. In the world; 2. in the Church; 3. in the house; 4. in the heart.—The question, “Where is your faith?” now as of old: 1. A question for the life; 2. a question for the conscience; 3. a question for the times.—What manner of man is this that he commandeth even the wind and the water?—Jesus’ greatness revealed in the obscure night of tempest. On the little ship He exhibits Himself as: 1. The true and holy Man; 2. the wise and gracious Master; 3. the almighty and adorable Son of God.—The storm on the sea an image of the Christian life: 1. The threatening danger; 2. the growing anxiety; 3. the delivering might; 4. the rising thanks.—If the storms within us are still, those without us then also subside.—Trial and deliverance work together: 1. To reveal the Lord; 2. to train His people; 3. to advance the coming of His kingdom.

Starke:—Quesnel:—The present life is, so to speak, only a passage from one side to the other, and finally from time into eternity.—Canstein:—Sleeping and rest has even in the ministry its season. Enough that the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. Psa_121:4.—Where Christ is there is danger, and sometimes even greater than where He is not; yet not for destruction, but for trial.—Majus:—Danger at sea is a mighty arouser to prayer.—Osiander:—Christ is the Lord of the sea and of the winds, and to Him, even after His human nature, all things are subject. Psa_8:2 seq.—So oft as we receive a benefit from the dear God, our faith should become stronger.

Heubner:—Nil desperandum, Christo duce.—Christian fearlessness in danger: 1. Its necessity, 2. its nature, 3. the means of attaining it.—Dr. J. J. Doedes, Prof. in Utrecht, a homily:—1. The commencement of the voyage; 2. the raging of the tempest; 3. the fear of the disciples; 4. the rest of the Lord; 5. the rebuke of the weak in faith; 6. the power of the word of might.—Rautenberg:—The heavier the cross, the more earnest the prayers.—Gerdessen:—The appearance of Christ in earthly tumult: 1. He lets it rage, a. as if without measure, b. without concern, c. without remedy; 2. He stills it, a. the stormy world, b. the stormy life, c. the stormy heart.—Lisco:—Concerning trust in the Lord: 1. Wherein it reveals itself; 2. what its nature Isaiah 3. how it is rewarded.—Florey:—The words in the ship at the storming of the sea: 1. The word of terror; 2. the word of censure; 3. the word of might; 4. the word of astonishment.—Höpfner:—The disciples of Christ according to this Gospel: 1. Willingly following, 2. anxious, 3. praying, 4. ashamed disciples.—Denninger:—The wondrous ways of the Lord: Wonderfully does He bring His own: 1. Down into the deep, 2. up out of the deep.—Fuchs:—Why sleeps the Lord so often in the tempests of this life? He will lead us: 1. To the knowledge of our powerlessness; 2. to faith in His almightiness; 3. to prayer for His help; 4. to praise of His name.

Footnotes:

[3]Luk_8:25.—Ἐστιν is according to Tischendorf and Lachmann (A., B., L., X., cursives) an addition whose genuineness is doubtful. [Tischendorf in his 7th ed. has it with Cod. Sin. and 13 other uncials; om., A., C., L., X.—C. C. S.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

STORM ON THE GALILEAN SEA

Mat 13:18-27; Mar 4:35-41; & Luk 8:22-25; Luk 9:57-62. Mark: “And He says to them on that day, it being evening, Let us cross over to the other side. And leaving the multitude, they receive Him, as he was in the ship; and there were many other ships along with Him. And there is a great storm of wind, and the waves poured into the ship, so that it was already sinking.” Matthew says is was covered with the waves, and Luke says they were being filled up and were in danger. The Sea of Galilee, seven hundred feet below the Mediterranean, as a natural consequence of this deep depression, is surrounded by mountains on all sides, except the deep valley through which the Jordan flows from the north and out toward the south. Consequently it is very liable to sudden tornadoes; the atmosphere, pouring down in all directions from the highlands, gets turned about, and develops whirlwinds, which are very dangerous, as it is sixteen and one-half miles long and seven and one-half miles wide, with a coast of seventy-five miles. We were warned by the guidebooks to beware of storms. This we heeded, lighting on the good fortune to get a very valuable boat, which was built last year, in Beyroot, for the especial accommodation of the German emperor. We found it splendid, and, sailing over the sea two days, encountered no storm. “He was lying in the stern, sleeping on a pillow; they arouse Him up, and say to Him, Master, is there no care to Thee that we perish?” Matthew: “And He says to them, Why are ye cowardly, O ye of little faith?” This was a just rebuke; because they might have known that they were in no danger with Him on hoard. This is the secret of perfect love, which always takes Jesus aboard, casting out fear. Mark “And rising, He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Be quiet!

be calm! And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He said to them, Why are ye afraid? How have you not faith? And they feared with great fear, and continued to say to one another, Who then is this, because the wind and the sea obey Him?” This was a most incontestable miracle, commanding the elements of nature, illustrating to all that He had made the sea and the storms, and had nothing to do but speak, and they promptly obey. We sailed over the same route last November, meanwhile we read the account of this storm and the miraculous calm.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Subdivision 3. (Luk 8:22-56; Luk 9:1-36.)

The Fulness of Salvation.

The third subdivision also for the most part simply puts together in different connection what Matthew and Mark have already given us. Together the details show us the fulness of salvation which Christ has provided for us, and which the opposition of the world only brings into fuller prominence. There must be deliverance out of it also, only we must not expect here the full Christian deliverance of the epistle to the Galatians, but a moral one rather, from its spirit and ways, the rejection of Christ being that of every follower of His, and faith, therefore, giving victory over it.

1. We have, first, deliverance from the power of circumstances through identification with Him who is supreme over all. Thus for faith there is peace through whatever storms: although this does not mean that the hearts of disciples are always on the level of their privileges. Here on the sea of Galilee they were plainly not so. Jesus was with them, that they knew; but He was asleep, and the winds and waves seemed to have no regard for Him. In their fear they rouse Him, to find relief in His display of a power with which they had not credited Him, but to meet the sorrowful reproof on His part, "Where is your faith?" In truth our prayers in their very urgency often betray our unbelief, and would reproach the Lord on His side with a passivity which is but a sign of the confidence that He would fain repose in us as those who know His truth and steadfastness. "He that feareth is not perfected in love" -His love: he has not learned as yet the lesson of such entire trustworthiness as is to be found in Him.

Peace, then, at all times, is God’s provision for us; the greeting with which Christ ever meets us; the legacy which His death has left us. All winds and waves yield alike to Him; all things good and evil serve Him, and therefore serve His people, through His abiding care.

2. We have next the story of the demoniac possessed with the "legion," the picture of whose condition is as full as that in Mark, fuller than Matthew. We see the awful power of Satan over him whom he has enslaved, in contrast with the same man "sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind."

We see also the world preferring Satan to the Deliverer, begging Him to depart, while the delivered man beseeches Him that he may be with Him. Yet the Lord dismisses him to be a witness for Him at home of the divine compassion which has wrought in his behalf.

3. After this we have the twofold story of the daughter of Jairus raised from the dead, and the faith that touched the hem of His garment, and found the healing that it anticipated from the touch. In this we have seen already a parabolic meaning, the divine and human sides of salvation being given in these intertwined miracles: the dead hearing the voice of the Son of God and living, while faith draws from the Saviour the virtue that it needs. Matthew here is the briefest of the three Gospels, Mark’s account somewhat the fullest; but of the differences we do not seem able to give a proper account.

4. (1) The Lord now sends out the twelve as messengers of His mercy in a needy world. They have authority over the power of Satan and disease, and are to preach the Kingdom of God, of which the miracles are signs and anticipants. This communicated authority is very significant: for as communicated it could not be supposed to be due to the character of those who were but the delegates of Another, yet as such clothed with power from God. Luke merely gives a partial outline of this commission; of which Matthew furnishes the full details. Here we have simply the breadth of their authority, the claim upon men which it carries with it, and the testimony against those who reject that claim. The evangelizing is in the forefront, but what hope for those who reject the precious grace of God? yet the denunciation is part of that grace, its last effort to rouse the consciences of men to respond to it.

(2) Herod himself is roused by all this, but partially, to a foreboding perplexity. He has beheaded John; and here is One exhibiting a power which John had not. Luke shows us the tyrant concluding in an opposite way to that which we find in the previous Gospels. Between the incredulity of a Sadducee and the terror of conscience which breaks out beyond the control of it, he vacillates evidently. But here is a problem that he cannot solve, and he is drawn by that which he fears, because he fears it: "he sought to see him." By and by we shall find how, misled by a carnal mind which cannot penetrate the mystery of the Cross, he is able to treat with awful mockery the object of his former fears; and so he disappears out of inspired history.

(3) The twelve return; and the Lord takes them apart privately into a desert place for needed rest. But the multitudes, hearing of it, follow and break in upon Him, and their various necessities call forth once more His compassion actively to minister to them. "He received them, and spake unto them of the Kingdom of God, and healed those that had need of healing." There ensues that first miracle of the multiplication of the loaves which is the only one recorded by Luke and John as well as the other evangelists. With John it is the text of the Lord’s discourse upon the bread of life. Luke is somewhat briefer than any of the others, and omits entirely the scene upon the lake which follows it. As Jehovah, with a marvel of creative power, "He satisfies Israel’s poor with bread." The need of the world, true wilderness as it is, is made to manifest the divine resources which are in the hand of Him who because of its misery has come into it. The Creator of it is the Redeemer for it: Christ, the Son of man, is both. The details of the miracle we have had before us in Matthew.

5. But the world is not only a place of want and misery, or of sin as lying at the root of these: it is a place into which the Redeemer has come and they know Him not, but reject and cast Him out. This, therefore, is what really characterizes the world for those who receive Him, and salvation must be a salvation out of it. Judgment awaits it; Christ is gone out: heaven receives whom the world has rejected; and for His followers also, if the earth be closed, heaven is opened. Thus the wonder of salvation is increased with the wonder of a rejected Saviour; grace descends lower to find its objects, (for we are all upon the world’s dead level,) and places them where all the glory of it will be shown out: for "in the ages to come God will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Eph 5:7).

This is now beginning to be shown out to us, although for the full reality of it we must wait until Christ being ascended, the Holy Spirit shall have come down to make known all His glory and the fruit of His work. In the meanwhile, as His rejection becomes manifest, and the way of the cross is seen as the way of discipleship, there is permitted an anticipative vision of "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," that His people may along the road "be strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory" (Col 1:11) so displayed.

(1) Again we find Him in prayer. The unbelief of men; as we may infer from His question presently, is shadowing His soul with all its sorrow and its bitter fruits. He rises from it to ask His disciples, "Who do the multitudes say that I am?" He is not speaking of manifest rejectors, and their answer does not take its color from the enmity of the scribes and Pharisees. "John the Baptist," "Elias," a prophet of old time risen from the dead, are the conjectures of those who mean to do Him honor; but they are conjectures merely, and not faith, and none of them rise up to the reality: they all fail to apprehend the glory of His Person, and therefore the end for which He is come. The light of His glory who is among them has not shone into their souls; He is not their Saviour, -not the Christ: the Baptist had absolutely disclaimed it, and had declared of the One that was coming after him that He was too great for him to be worthy to undo the latchet of His shoes.

And the Lord questions His disciples: "But who do ye say that I am? Peter answers in behalf of them, The Christ of God." But He forbids them to declare it now, for if Israel had not faith to receive Him, He on His part was going on to fulfil the divine purpose in stooping to suffering and death at their hands; then, on the third day, to be raised up.

He adds nothing to this, the first open, literal announcement of what, even in this way, was too hard a saying for them to understand. The doctrine of the Cross, though found in all the Gospels, yet develops slowly there. The Old Testament types of it, to us so familiar, were to the disciples as yet like a fountain sealed, inaccessible; and thus much that we should look upon as plain language -as for instance, the Baptist’s witness to the "Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world" -would be to them a dark saying. Israel in general were looking for a conquering, not a suffering, Messiah. "We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever," they said in answer to one of His own declarations, "and Thou sayest, the Son of man must be lifted up: who is this Son of man?" (Joh 12:34). Thus the unwelcome truth struggled through the darkness, and those who confessed His Person were still, as to His work, in darkness like the rest. As a consequence, much of what was plainly announced remained as seed in the ground for a future harvest.

(2) The Lord goes on to declare the way of His followers to be that of the Cross, and here virtually therefore, as He had not yet, the manner of His own death. But He uses the word symbolically, as the expression "daily (only found in Luke) would convey to them. To follow Him they must sacrifice their life -themselves -in all that the world counts life; perhaps literally lay it down for Him. The life so lost for His sake would be saved, while he who would grasp the present must lose the future. It is a world hostile to Christ through which we pass, and the confession of Him will cost in such a scene. He gives no reason to expect that it will alter in its spirit essentially, but the reverse: the path He treads is, in this fact that it is His, the path for all His followers; and of those who are ashamed of Him and of His words, He will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory -this is only in Luke -and that of His Father, and of the holy angels.

All this, with the exceptions named, is found, and has been considered, in the previous Gospels. The Lord closes, as in them, with the assurance, that some standing there would in no wise taste of death until they should see the Kingdom of God.

(3) The reference to the transfiguration in this has been also considered. Luke links them more directly together than the other evangelists by his reference: "about eight days after these words." Matthew and Mark say "after six days." Luke’s "eight" stamps it with that character of "newness" which attaches to the number. A new scene indeed for the old sin-stricken earth to witness; and the centre of all its glory a Man in prayer!

Such is the new Adam upon whom rests all the blessing of the new creation; and in this sign we read its permanence. Man is no more to lapse from God into a fancied but impossible independence; and the path of obedience is no more to be thought of as one of hard and servile drudgery when the Son of God has chosen it for His own. The glory that now alters the fashion of countenance and radiates from His very garments is His own proper glory, veiled in tenderness only to those to whom He has come to minister, that they might know Him better, as through a darkened glass we better see the sun.

But He is not alone: for where He is must be the fruit of His work and the companions of His love. Two men are with Him, and appear in glory also; but they with a glory which is not their own. Moses and Elias, the law-giver and the prophet, shine, as in fact they did, in His glory; and that of which they are speaking is that departure which He is to accomplish at Jerusalem, the very thing of which He has been speaking to His disciples without finding ears to hear.

Now, in fact, they are weighed down with sleep. As upon another, how different occasion, but when the same departure was before Him, He compassionately said of them, the spirit might be willing, but the flesh was weak. The heaviness of earth clung about them, and there was not power to rise above it. Only when they were fully awakened did they see His glory and the two that stood with Him. How much too of what we might see do we fail to see, not because of positive evil, and yet because of lack of energy to reach what is so near, yet so beyond us. But what might our lives be -what might they not be -if things were different with us!

So even when they are awake, they are dazed and confounded. As the two men are departing, Peter makes an effort to stay them by a proposal to build tabernacles for them, as also for the Lord. But then comes the Cloud and overshadows them; Moses and Elias disappear into the Cloud; and out of it the Father’s voice once more as at the Jordan-baptism proclaims His Son. Let them hear Him. And Jesus is found alone.

Here is the end, then; anticipated, which is to strengthen for all the way. We have looked at it already in the previous Gospels, each of which has, no doubt, its differences, though we may be feeble in presenting these. We shall soon reach now what is peculiar to Luke.

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8:22-25 Jesus’ calming of the storm demonstrated his authority over nature and strongly indicated his deity, since God is master of the seas (see Pss 65:7; 89:9; 104:6-7; 107:23-32).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 8:22. Καὶ ἐγένετο, and it came to pass) The author, in the Harm. Ev., § 49, shows that a transposition has place here in Luke, and also in Mark; and in the same work, p. 264, he considers as most corresponding to the truth such a series of events, as that there should follow after one another in succession: 1) The evening, on which Christ bade them get ready for the voyage (sailing) across (Mar 4:35; Luk 8:22); 2) The morning, in which, having been sought out by the multitude, He declared that He must preach to others also (Mar 1:35-36; Luk 4:42-43); 3) The voyage, and the preaching throughout the whole of Galilee, partly before, partly after the voyage (Mat 8:23; Mar 4:36-37; Mar 1:39; Luk 8:22-23; Luk 4:44).

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_8:22-25. See on Mat_8:18; Mat_8:23-27; Mar_4:35-41. In Luke there is no precise note of time, but the voyage is the same; abridged from Mark.

Luk_8:23 f. ἀφυπνοῦν] which means to wake up (therefore equivalent to ἀφυπνίζεσθαι), and also (as in this case) to fall asleep (consequently equivalent to καθυπνοῦν[115]), belongs to the late and corrupt Greek. Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 224.

κατέβη] from the high, ground down to the lake. Comp. Polyb. xxx. 14. 6 : ΛΑΊΛΑΠΌς ΤΙΝΟς ἘΚΠΕΠΤΩΚΥΐΑς ΕἸς ΑὐΤΟΎς.

ΣΥΝΕΠΛΗΡΟῦΝΤΟ] What happened to the ship is said of the sailors. Examples in Kypke, I. p. 248. Observe the imperfects in relation to the preceding aorist.

διήγειραν] they awoke him (Mat_1:24); but subsequently ἐγερθείς: having arisen (Mat_2:14).

Luk_8:25. ἐφοβήθ.] the disciples, as Mar_4:41.

The first ΚΑΊ is: even.

[115] It corresponds exactly to the German entschlafen, except that this word is not used in the sense of becoming free from sleep, which καθυπνοῦν might have according to the connection.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 8:22-25 . The tempest on the lake (Mat 8:23-27 , Mar 4:35-41 ). The voyage across the lake took place, according to Mk., on the day of the parables; it was an escape from the crowd, a very real and credible account. The whole situation in Lk. is different: no preaching from a boat, no escape when the preaching was over. It simply happened on one of the days ( ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν ).

Luk 8:22 . τῆς λίμνης : no need for this addition in Mk., or even in Mt., where Jesus is represented as in Capernaum . Lk. does not tell us where Jesus was at the time.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. The Stilling of the Storm: Luk 8:22-25.

We come now to a series of narratives which are found united together in the three Syn. (Mat 8:18 et seq.; Mar 4:35 et seq.): the storm, the demoniac, the daughter of Jairus, together with the woman afflicted with an issue of blood. From the connection of these incidents in our three Gospels, it has frequently been inferred that their authors made use of a common written source. But, 1. How, in this case, has it come to pass that this cycle fills quite a different place in Matthew (immediately after the Sermon on the Mount) from that which it occupies in the other two? And 2. How came Matthew to intercalate, between the return of Jesus and the account of the daughter of Jairus, two incidents of the greatest importance—the healing of the paralytic (Luk 9:1 et seq.), and the call of Matthew—with the feast and the discourse which follow it (Luk 8:9 et seq.), incidents which in Mark and Luke occupy quite a different place? The use of a written source does not accord with such independent arrangement. It is a very simple explanation to maintain that, in the traditional teaching, it was customary to relate these three facts together, probably for the simple reason that they were chronologically connected, and that to this natural cycle there were sometimes added, as in Matthew, other incidents which did not belong historically to this precise time.

That which renders this portion particularly remarkable is, that in it we behold the miraculous power of Jesus at its full height: power over the forces of nature (the storm); over the powers of darkness (the demoniacs); lastly, over death (the daughter of Jairus).

Vers. 22-25. Miracles of this kind, while manifesting the original power of man over nature, are at the same time the prelude of the regeneration of the visible world which is to crown the moral renovation of humanity (Romans 8).

From Matthew’s narrative it might be inferred that this voyage took place on the evening of the same day on which the Sermon on the Mount was spoken. But, on the other hand, too many things took place, according to Matthew himself, for the limits of a single day. Mark places this embarkation on the evening of the day on which Jesus spoke the parable of the sower; this note of the time is much more probable. Luke’s indication of the time is more general: on one of these days, but it does not invalidate Mark’s.

The object of this excursion was to preach the gospel in the country situated on the other side of the sea, in accordance with the plan drawn out in Luk 8:1.

According to Mark, the disciples’ vessel was accompanied by other boats. When they started, the weather was calm, and Jesus, yielding to fatigue, fell asleep. The pencil of Mark has preserved this never-to-be-forgotten picture: the Lord reclining on the hinder part of the ship, with His head upon a pillow that had been placed there by some friendly hand. It often happens on lakes surrounded by mountains, that sudden and violent storms of wind descend from the neighbouring heights, especially towards evening, after a warm day. This well-known phenomenon is described by the word κατέβη, came down.

In the expression συνεπληροῦντο, they were filled, there is a confusion of the vessel with those whom it carries.

The term ἐπιστάτα is peculiar to Luke; Mark says διδάσκαλε, Matthew κύριε. How ridiculous these variations would be if all three made use of the same document!

The 24th verse describes one of the sublimest scenes the earth has ever beheld: man, calmly confident in God, by the perfect union of his will with that of the Almighty, controlling the wild fury of the blind forces of nature. The term ἐπετίμησε, rebuked, is an allusion to the hostile character of this power in its present manifestation. Jesus speaks not only to the wind, but to the water; for the agitation of the waves (κλύδων) continues after the hurricane is appeased.

In Mark and Luke, Jesus first of all delivers His disciples from danger, then He speaks to their heart. In Matthew, he first upbraids them, and then stills the storm. This latter course appears less in accordance with the wisdom of the Lord.

But why did the apostles deserve blame for their want of faith? Ought they to have allowed the tempest to follow its course, in the assurance that with Jesus with them they ran no danger, or that in any case He would awake in time? Or did Jesus expect that one of them, by an act of prayer and commanding faith, would still the tempest? It is more natural to suppose that what He blames in them is the state of trouble and agitation in which He finds them on awaking. When faith possesses the heart, its prayer may be passionate and urgent, but it will not be full of trouble. There is nothing surprising, whatever any one may say, in the exclamation attributed to those who witnessed this scene (Luk 8:25): first, because there were other persons there besides the apostles (Mar 4:36); next, because such incidents, even when similar occurrences have been seen before, always appear new; lastly, because this was the first time that the apostle saw their Master contend with the blind forces of nature.

Strauss maintains that this is a pure myth. Keim, in opposition to him, alleges the evident antiquity of the narrative (the sublime majesty of the picture of Jesus, the absence of all ostentation from His words and actions, and the simple expression of wonder on the part of the spectators). The narrative, therefore, must have some foundation in fact, in some natural incident of water-travel, which has been idealized in accordance with such words as Psa 107:23 et seq., and the appeal to Jonah (Luk 1:4-6): “Awake, O sleeper.” There, says criticism, you see how this history was made. We should rather say, how the trick was done.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is expedient for us sometimes to come into extreme danger, as though Christ passed not for us, that we may have a better trial, both of his power, and also of our weakness.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 22. Let us go over, &c.] See Clarke on Mt 8:24, &c., and see on Mr 4:36-41.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(22) It came to pass on a certain day.—See Notes on Mat_8:18; Mat_8:23-27, and Mar_4:35-41. Literally, on one of the days. The vagueness of St. Luke’s note of time, as compared with the more precise statements in St. Matthew (Mat_8:18) and St. Mark (Mar_4:35), is perhaps characteristic of this Evangelist as an inquirer coming late into the field, aiming at exactness, not always succeeding in satisfying himself as to the precise sequence of events, and honestly confessing when he has failed to do so.

Unto the other side of the lake—i.e., from the western to the eastern shore. It would seem from the Greek name of the district, Peræa (= “the other-side country”), as if the term was a colloquial designation of the eastern shore, even without reference to the starting-point.

The lake.—The uniform use of the more accurate term by St. Luke as a stranger, as contrasted with the equally uniform use of the more popular and local designation of the “sea” in the other three Gospels, written by, or under the influence of. Galileans, is characteristic of one who may have been a student of Strabo. (See Introduction.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22-25. Christ stilling the Storm.

22. Now it came to pass on a certain day] Rather, on one of the days. From Mar_4:35; Mat_8:18, we should infer that this event took place in the evening on which He began to teach the crowd in parables, and that—attracted by the beauty and novelty of His teaching they lingered round Him till, in utter weariness, He longed to escape to the secluded loneliness of the Eastern shore of the lake. Possibly the interference of His kinsmen may have added the last touch to the fatigue and emotion which imperatively demanded retirement and rest.

into a ship] St Matthew says ‘the boat,’ which usually waited on His movements; very probably the one which had belonged to Peter. Before the boat pushed off, we learn that three aspirants for discipleship came to Him, Mat_8:19-22 (Luk_9:57-62).

unto the other side] The Peraean side of the Lake of Galilee has always been comparatively uninhabited, mainly because the escarpment of barren hills approaches within a quarter of a mile of the shore. Its solitude contrasted all the more with the hum of crowded and busy life on the plain of Gennesareth.

of the lake] See on Luk_5:1.

they launched forth] Such was His weariness and eagerness to get away that they took Him “as He was”—without even pausing for any food or refreshment—into the boat, Mar_4:36.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But as he sailed he fell asleep,.... On a pillow, in the hinder part of the ship, as in Mar 4:38

and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; see Gill on Mat 8:24.

and they were filled; with water: not the disciples, but the ship in which they were; and so the Ethiopic version renders it, "their ship was filled with water". The Syriac and Persic versions render it, "the ship was almost sunk", or immersed:

and were in jeopardy; of their lives, in the utmost danger, just ready to go to the bottom. This clause is left out in the Syriac and Persic versions.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

22 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.

Ver. 22. See Mat 8:23; Mar 4:36.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See this passage explained in the Mat 8:23-34 notes, and Mark 5:1-20 notes.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And they launched forth: literally, they went up. The sense is, being gone abroad, they set forward, or launched forth, as in the Protestant translation. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

This whole history we have also before met with, both in Mat 8:23-27, and Mar 4:35-41. See Poole on "Mat 8:23", and following verses to Mat 8:27, also See Poole on "Mar 4:35", and following verses to Mar 4:41.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 22-25. The lake-storm is stilled.

Vers. 22-25. Storm and calm.

"He entered into a boat, himself and his disciples." The association of Christ with the beat, with which we are so familiar in the gospel history, has been preserved in much of the poetry, the literature, and the art of the Church. A very old seal-ring represents the Church as a ship struggling against the winds, supported by a great fish in the sea beneath, and with two doves sitting on its mast and prow. The shape often given to Christian places of worship in the early ages was that of a beat. And the idea has entered into all Christian song and thought, Keble catches up the tone of centuries when he inserts the verse in the evening hymn"Thou Framer of the light and dark, Steer through the tempest thine own ark: Amid the howling wintry sea We are in port if we have thee. The key-note to all this symbolism is given in the incident reported in these verses.

I IT IS A PICTURE OF LIFE. The sea was at rest when the disciples took Jesus as he was. As they sailed on the smooth waters the weary Prophet fell asleep. On a sudden down comes the squall one of those furious hurricanes which sweep across a lake six hundred feet lower than the ocean, with gigantic funnels supplied by deep ravines cut by the action of wild watercourses. All is changed; there is heard now only the despairing cry, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" Such is life: changeful, now the smiling sunshine with the clear blue sky, again the driving cloud and rain, with angry waves breaking over the craft. Job was at rest; his sons and daughters feasting together; he himself, with abundance and peace, fearing God and eschewing evil, when the one terrible day came on which messenger chased messenger, completing a tale of destruction and bereavement. How often does destruction fall as in a moment! The fitful weather of the inland lake is a type of the fitful climate, followed by the rapidly dissolving scenery, of the present time. How foolish to set the affection on things below! How sad when there is no Christ in the ship! when there is no fixture, among the sundry and manifold changes of this world, where the only true joys are to be found!

II IT IS A SIGN OF CHRIST. The stilling of the tempest is a miracle. We seem to see the sleeping Master quietly raising himself, looking around, meeting the gaze of the all but frantic men, standing erect in the boat, sending forth the majestic, "Peace; be still!" "What manner of man is this, for he commandeth even the winds and the water, and they obey him?" Yes; what manner of man! He is himself the miracle, the One "made of God to us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption." The work is the sign of himself in that deeper work in which he is manifest as the Saviour of sinners. What is that work but the rebuking of the storm of passion, and all the influences which are adverse to peace of mind and holiness of life? "Be still," is the Christ-word; "Peace to you," is the Christ-breath. In the world of man, "he maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they are quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven" Is not this the experience of every truly converted life? Miss Havergal"s verse expresses it. "There were strange soul-depths, restless, vast and broad, Unfathomed as the sea; An infinite longing for an infinite stilling. But now thy love is perfect filling: Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord, my God, Thou, thou art enough for me!

And so for all the days. "Let Christ be awakened," writes Augustine, "Though the tempest beat into, yet it win not fill, thy ship; thy faith will now command the winds and the waves, and thy danger will be over." Oh, see to it, that thou take Christ into thy heart, even as he is. Blessed for thee, O needy sinner, when the Master is really the occupant of thy life, thy "present Help in trouble.

III IT IS A REPROOF OF LITTLE FAITH. "Why are ye so fearful?" is the part of Jesus" word reported by Matthew. Why, when you know who is with you; when you know that he is there, that it is not some enemy, some devil, that has the control of elements, of circumstances? Why are ye so easily cast down? Why do ye give way so readily? Why do ye fall into such despendencies, such paroxysms of grief? May we not, in many an hour of shrinking, if not of terror, hear this "why" sounding in our hearts? "Where is your faith?" is the part of the word reported by Luke. Assume that you have it, that you are really trusting in Christ as your Master: whither does the faith vanish when you are so fearful? Is it not the moment of trial that proves the readiness and serviceableness of the faith? Do we not often need to seek it when we have occasion for it? Verily a question most pertinent to us in the varying circumstances and demands of our life. Think, think over the adverb, so suggestive, "Where is your faith?

Vers. 22-25. Christ the Lord of nature.

We shall find two things concerning the miracles of Jesus Christ that he never refused to put forth his power if by its exercise he could do an act of pure pity and kindness; and that he never consented to do so for the mere purpose of display. Hence there is a most marked difference between his "works" and the pretences of the impostor. The perfect suitableness of the occasion and the moral character of the action are the signature of Divinity. Yet it was fitting that the strong desire on the part of the Jews to see a miracle wrought "in the heavens" should, if occasion offered, have at least one fulfilment. And such it certainly had in this stilling of the storm. And in this incident we have

I AN IMPRESSIVE ILLUSTRATION OF CHRIST"S DIVINE COMMAND. It would only be right, we may argue, that our Lord should give to his disciples one illustration of his Divine power that would be exceedingly impressive, and therefore convincing and permanently effective. There was no more virtue or force in the stilling of the storm on the lake than in the expulsion of the demon on the other side of the water; to control the elements of nature did not require more Divine power than to control the will of an evil spirit; perhaps less. But the moral effect upon the observer"s mind was much greater in the former instance than in the latter. It appealed most influentially to the imagination as well as to the reason. And considering all that these disciples would be called upon to pass through in his cause, remembering the severity of the trial of their faith, it was surely well that, in addition to many other proofs of their Lord"s Divinity, they should be able to recall this scene upon the lake, and be assured that he whom the winds and the waves obeyed was the Christ of God indeed.

II AN ASSURANCE THAT HE IS LORD OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF OUR LIFE. AS we ply our little bark across the lake of our life, we shall find storm as well as calm, rough adverse winds as well as favourable breezes. It will help us to think that the Divine will which subdued that tempest is the will that is ruling wind and wave beneath every sky; that Christ is Lord of the circumstances of our life; and that if only we have him on board as our chief Passenger, we may count on his controlling power in the time of danger or of trouble. But we must be sure that Christ/s with us; for the promises of gracious guidance and merciful interposition can only be pleaded by those who are loyal to him and to his cause.

III A PICTURE OF THE PRESENT CHRIST IN THE TRIAL-HOUR OF HIS CHURCH. In that little boat was the Christian Church: if that vessel had sunk, the Church would have perished with it. But the Church that has Christ with it cannot sink. The question of questions, therefore, is thisIs Christ with us or not? And the answer to that question will be found, not in the shape of the vessel, but in the character of the crew; not in the peculiarity of the ecclesiastical structure, but in the spirit and character of those who compose and who direct the Church. Is his truth, is he himself, preached and taught in our sanctuaries and our schools? Are his principles inculcated in our homes and illustrated in our lives? Is his spirit breathed by us in our intercourse with one another, and with "them that are without"? These are the questions we must answer satisfactorily if we would reply in the affirmative to that one vital question Is Christ with us or not?

IV A. REMINDER OF THE DIVINE PEACE-BRINGER TO THE HUMAN SOUL. There is something unspeakably grand in a storm in nature; we are affected, awed, subdued, by it. But in the estimate of Divine wisdom there is something of profounder interest in the unrest and perturbation of a human soul. Jesus Christ cares more to speak peace to one troubled human heart than to produce the most striking change in the whole face of nature. There are many sources of spiritual disquietude; but the most constant and the worst of all is guilt, the sin with which we have sinned against the Lord and the sense of his condemnation we carry in our hearts. It is that which takes the light out of our skies, the joy out of our homes, the beauty and the brightness out of our lives. The deepest question that wells from the human soul is this"Oh! where shall rest Be found Rest for the weary soul?

And in reply"The voice of Jesus sounds o"er land and sea; a voice which has brought and will ever bring peace to the aching, burdened, stricken heart; "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. C.

Vers. 22-56. A group of miracles.

The mother and brethren of Jesus had tried in vain to interfere with the important work in which he was engaged; he clung to his disciples as the real members of his Father"s family. And so we find his career as a merciful Miracle-worker continuing. We have here a group of notable miracles; it was, as Godet suggests, the culmination of his miraculous work. Nature, human nature, and death yield to his authority in their order.

I SAFETY IN THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. (Vers. 22-25) The disciples and Jesus had embarked to visit the country of the Gadarenes. His object in doing so, as we shall presently see, was to rescue from diabolical possession a single soul. But to rescue this soul they had all to pass through storms in crossing. It was surely worth all the risk they ran! The weary Saviour fell asleep soon after embarking, and it was while he was sleeping the storm arose in nature, and the storm of fear in the souls of the disciples. It argued little faith on their part to suppose that they were in danger when beside them is the sleeping Christ. Yet so it was. Jesus may lead his people into danger, but he always shares it with them, and leads them in due time out of it. No sooner do they appeal to him to save them from perishing, than he arises, rebukes the wind and the wave, so that, contrary to custom, there is an immediate calm; and then proceeds to rebuke the storm within their souls, and make all these also to be peace. In this way our Lord showed his sovereignty over nature, and his sovereignty over man. He can rebuke "the noise of their seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people". (Psa_65:7) No wonder that the strangers who were in the beat with the disciples were astonished at One who could command wind and wave, and they obeyed him!

II JESUS THE MINISTER TO MINDS DISEASED. (Vers. 26-40) In the greatest peace the disciples and their Master approached the shore. But here a more terrible storm confronted him the mania of the poor possessed one. "The beloved physician," who writes this Gospel, brings out the characteristics of the mania as a physician would. No sooner does the case present itself to Jesus, than he commands the devil to depart from him. No protest on the part of the unclean tenant avails; the spirit and his companions are compelled to prepare for departure. They bargain hard not to be sent "into the abyss" (eiv th), where their final doom awaits them, and, as an alternative, ask to be permitted to enter into an adjoining herd of swine. This association of evil spirits with animals is illustrated in the Edenic temptation, and it may account for the reign of terror in the geologic times. (f4) The possession of the animals may be different from that of a moral being like man, as Godet suggests; yet it shows surely the sensualism into which evil spirits can descend. The prodigal son only desired to satisfy himself with the swinish life; but these demons actually made the experiment. (cf. Luk_15:16) But now the swine, reinforced by the devils, rush madly onwards to the sea, and perish in the waters. The result is that one human being is delivered from his mania, while a herd of swine are sacrificed. If such an alternative is presented, there can be no doubt as to the decision. Better that all the swine in the world should perish, if as the result a single human soul is delivered from his mental disease. Hence the wretched souls, who came from the city and lamented the loss of the swine instead of rejoicing in the cure of the demoniac, show thereby that they deserved the judgment which had overtaken them. Jesus can "minister to minds diseased;" he can bring the maniac to his right mind again; and he can cure us of the insanity of sin and have us sitting clothed at his feet and anxious to be with him evermore. When, besides, the Gadarenes desire his departure, he can make arrangements for witness-bearing, so that when he returns after a time, the unwilling people shall be found to have renounced their unwillingness and to gladly welcome him. So may we all witness among our friends to the power of our Lord.

III THE TOUCH OF FAITH. (Vers. 43-48) We have next to notice the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. This was the solitary miracle where faith anticipates our Lord"s consent, and finds healing through the touch of his garment. Having presented herself so often to the physicians, she in this case refuses to obtrude upon his notice, but thinks she will escape in the crowd. But our Lord, perceiving that from his sacred Person healing power had flowed, inquires for the patient, who in due season comes and confesses all. But she has been brought before him that he might convey to her the lesson that it was her faith, and not a mere physical touch, which had saved her. That is to say, the process was moral, and not merely physical. And surely this case of the issue of blood is to represent certain aspects of sin. It is a drain upon the moral system which man cannot staunch. But once we look to Jesus by faith and touch the hem of his garment, we are instantly healed, and power begins again to rise within us. We ought not to let our vital power be undermined when such a Saviour is at hand to heal us!

IV THE AWAKENING OF THE DEAD. (Vers. 41, 42, 49-56) This case of resurrection-power presents Jesus in the culmination of his miraculous work. The command of nature and of human nature is important, but still more magnificent is the command of death, the power to enter into the gloomy realm, and there assert one"s authority. This is what Jesus does. He is humbly asked by Jairus to come to his dying daughter. He finds that he has to face the little daughter already dead. The father, ready to despair, is told to "believe only, and she shall be made whole." He believed, and lo! he found in Jesus One who could awake the dead! The resurrection is witnessed by the parents and three disciples chosen witnesses. And after she is raised, he gives directions that she should be fed, and then that they should be silent about the miracle. He did not desire to be overwhelmed by the miraculous part of his work, but that he might be able to give a due proportion of his attention to Teaching,similarly (f5) may each of us experience Christ"s resurrection-power in our souls now, and in our bodies afterwards. R.M.E.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matt. viii, 23; Mark iv, 35.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The Storm on the Sea.

v. 22. Now it came to pass on a certain day that He went into a ship with His disciples; and He said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.

v. 23. But as they sailed, He fell asleep; and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.

v. 24. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then He arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water; and they ceased, and there was a calm.

v. 25. And He said unto them, Where is your faith? And they, being afraid, wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for He commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey Him.

See Mat 8:23-34; Mar 4:35-41. It was at the close of a strenuous day that Jesus embarked in a boat with His disciples, and He gave the command to sail across the sea to the other side. The disciples, some of whom were expert navigators, having spent a large part of their life on the lake, immediately launched forth, setting sail for the center of the lake. Jesus was a true man, with all the physical needs of a true man. So now, fatigued as He was with the strain of teaching and probably also with the sultriness, He fell into a deep sleep, though there was no comfortable couch aboard. Suddenly a tornado-like storm came down upon the lake, accompanied with such a turbulent upheaval of the waters of the sea that they rushed in upon them from all sides, filling the boat and placing them all in the greatest peril of their lives. And yet Jesus slept. The powers of nature are in His hand. They may storm and threaten, but they cannot harm Him. Note: If a Christian has Jesus with him in all his work and in all his play, then he is secure in spite of all threatening of the enemies. Not a hair of his head may be harmed without the will of his Lord. The disciples were at their wits’ end. They rushed over to Him, they awakened Him with the anxious call that they were perishing. And He heard their frantic cry and gave them such an exhibition of His almighty power that they must have felt the greatness of their unbelief on this account more than by the reproving words of the Lord. For He arose at once and threateningly spoke to the wind and to the surge of the waters. And they paused in the midst of their fury. At once their unleashed fierceness was replaced with an absolute calm. And then came the rebuke from the mouth of the Master, chiding their lack of faith. The effect upon the disciples, who had seen quite a number of wonderful deeds at His hands, was peculiar. They were filled with fear in the presence of such evidence of almighty power. At the same time they wondered that He who ordinarily appeared a mere man, who had but a few minutes ago lain in their midst in the sleep of utter exhaustion, could command the winds and the water, and exact absolute obedience from them. Jesus, true man, is at the same time the mighty God from heaven, the almighty Creator of the universe. People that trust in Him are assured of safety in the arms of Him whose providence governs even the death of a sparrow.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Here observe, 1. Our Saviour and his disciples no sooner put forth to sea, but difficulties attend them, and danger overtakes them; a tempest arose, and that ship was covered with waves that Christ himself was in with his disciples.

Learn hence, that the presence of Christ itself does not exempt his disciples and followers from trouble and danger. Here was a great tempest about the disciples’ ears, though Christ himself was in their company.

Observe, 2. The posture our Saviour was in when this tempest arose: being wearied with the labors of the day, he was laid down to sleep; thereby showing himself to be truly and really man; and that he not only took upon him the human nature, but the infirmities of that nature also; he was subject to pain and weariness, to hunger and thirst.

Observe, 3. The disciples’ application made to Christ: they awoke him with a sad outcry, Master, master, we perish; here was faith mixed with human frailty. They believed that he could save them, but being asleep, they concluded he must be awaken before he could save them; whereas, though his human nature was asleep, yet his divine nature neither slumbered nor slept.

Learn hence, that the prevalency of fear in a time of great and imminent danger, though it may evidence weakness of faith, yet it is no evidence of a total want of faith; in the midst of the disciples’ fear, they believed Christ’s power and ability to save them: Master, save us, we perish.

Observe, 4. A double rebuke given by our Saviour, 1. To the winds. 2. To the fears of his disciples.

Christ rebuked the winds, and instantly they were calm: when the sea was as furious as a mad-man, Christ with a single word calms it.

Learn thence, that the most raging winds and outrageous seas, cannot stand before the rebukes of Christ; Christ as God lays a law upon the most lawless creatures, even when they seem to act most lawlessly.

Observe farther, Christ rebukes his disciples’ fears, and their want of faith: Why are ye fearfull? Where is your faith? No sooner was the storm up, but their fears were up, and their faith was down. They forgot that the lord-high-admiral of the ocean was now on board their ship, and were as much overset with their boisterous passions, as the ship was with tempestous winds; and accordingly, Christ rebukes the tempest within, before he calms the storm without; first he quickens their faith, then he quiets the seas.

Note from hence, that great faith in the habit may appear but little in act and exercise. The disciples’ faith, in forsaking all and following Christ, was great faith; but in this present act their faith was weak through the prevalency of their fears.

Oh the imperfect composition of the best of saints! Faith and fear will take their turns, and act their several parts while we are here: before long our fears will be vanquished, and our faith swallowed up in vision, our hopes in fruition. Then shall we obey with vigor, praise with cheerfulness, love without measure, fear without torment, trust without despondency. Lord, strengthen our faith in the belief of this desirable happiness, and set our souls a longing for the full fruition and final enjoyment of it.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LV. Jesus Stills the Storm].

LV. JESUS STILLS THE STORM. (Sea of Galilee; same day as last section) aMATT. VIII. 18-27; bMARK IV. 35-41; cLUKE VIII. 22-25.

b35 And that day, cone of those days, bwhen the even was come [about sunset], awhen Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. bhe saith unto them, Let us go over unto the other side. [Wearied with a day of strenuous toil, Jesus sought rest from the multitude by passing to the thinly settled on the east side of Galilee.] a19 And there came a scribe [Literally, one scribe. The number is emphatic; for, so far as the record shows, Jesus had none of this class among his disciples], and said unto him, Teacher, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes [caves, dens], and the birds of the heaven i have nests; but the Son of [341] man [Daniel's name for the Messiah-- Dan_7:10-13] hath not where to lay his head. [This scribe had heard the wonderful parables concerning the kingdom. He, like all others, expected an earthly kingdom and sought to have a place in it. Jesus so replied as to correct his false expectations.] 21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. [This disciple must have been one of the twelve, for these only were required to follow Jesus ( Mar_3:14). It may have been James or John, whose father, Zebedee, almost certainly died before Jesus did. He may have just heard of his father's death. *] 22 But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me; and leave the dead to bury their own dead. [Let the spiritually dead bury the naturally dead. This was a very exceptional prohibition, intended to show not that it was ordinarily wrong to stop for burying the dead, but wrong when in conflict with a command from Jesus. God bids us recognize the claims of filial duty, but rightfully insists that our duties toward him are superior to those due our parents.] c22 Now it came to pass that he entered into a boat, himself and his disciples; a23 And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him. cand he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake: and they launched forth. b36 And leaving the multitude, they take him with them, even as he was, in the boat. [They took Jesus without any preparation for the journey. The crowd, doubtless, made it inconvenient to go ashore to get provisions.] And other boats were with him. [The owners of these boats had probably been using them to get near to Jesus as he preached. They are probably mentioned to show that a large number witnessed the miracle when Jesus stilled the tempest.] c23 But as they sailed he fell asleep. [knowing his labors during the day, we can not wonder at this]: b37 And there ariseth cand there came down ba great storm of wind, con the lake; a24 And, behold, [342] there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves: band the waves beat into the boat, insomuch that the boat was now filling. cand they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. [These storms come with great suddenness. See McGarvey's "Lands of the Bible," page 519.] b38 And abut bhe himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion [The cushion was the seat-cover, which, as Smith remarks, was probably "a sheepskin with the fleece, which, when rolled up, served as a pillow." The stern was the most commodious place for passengers. The tossing ship has been accepted in all ages as a type of the church in seasons of peril]: a25 And they came to him, and awoke him, bthey awake him, and say unto him, asaying, Save, Lord; we perish. cMaster, master, we perish. bTeacher, carest thou not that we perish? [There was a babble of confused voices, betraying the extreme agitation of the disciples.] 39 And he awoke, aThen he arose, and rebuked the winds, bwind, aand the sea; cand the raging of the water; band said unto the sea, Peace, be still. cand they ceased, bAnd the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. [In addressing the winds and waves Jesus personified them to give emphasis to his authority over them. The calm showed the perfection of the miracle, for the waves of such a lake continue to roll long after the winds have ceased.] c25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? bWhy are ye yet fearful? have ye not yet faith? aO ye of little faith? [They had little faith or they would not have been so frightened; but they had some faith, else they would not have appealed to Jesus.] b41 And they feared exceedingly, cAnd being afraid they athe men marvelled, band said one to another, csaying one to another, aWhat manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? cWho then is this, that he commandeth even the winds, and the water, and they obey him? [Jesus' complete lordship over the realm of nature made his disciples very certain of his divinity.] [343]

* I do not concur in this statement.--P. Y. P.

[FFG 341-343]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

22–25. For notes on Stilling the Tempest, see Matt. 8:23–27 and Mark 4:35–41.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus and his disciples use a boat to cross Lake Genneseret. The disciples learn more about Jesus' power through the storm that arises.

the lake

This is the lake of Genneseret, which is also called the Sea of Galilee.

They set sail

This expression means they began to travel across the lake in their sailboat.

as they sailed

"as they went"

fell asleep

"began to sleep"

A terrible windstorm came down

"a storm of very strong winds began" or "very strong winds suddenly began to blow"

their boat was filling with water

The strong winds caused high waves which pushed water over the sides of the boat. This can be stated clearly. AT: "the winds caused high waves that started to fill up their boat with water" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

Jesus

disciple

Sea of Galilee

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

22–25. CHRIST STILLING THE STORM

22. ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν. ‘On one of the days.’ From Mar 4:35; Mat 8:18, we should infer that this event took place in the evening on which He began to teach the crowd in parables, and that—attracted by the beauty and novelty of His teaching they lingered round Him till, in utter weariness, He longed to escape to the secluded loneliness of the Eastern shore of the lake. Possibly the interference of His kinsmen may have added the last touch to the fatigue and emotion which imperatively demanded retirement and rest.

εἰς πλοῖον. St Matthew says ‘the boat,’ which usually waited on His movements; very probably the one which had belonged to Peter. Before the boat pushed off, we learn that three aspirants for discipleship came to Him, Mat 8:19-22 (Luk 9:57-62).

εἰς τὸ πέραν. The Peraean side of the Lake of Galilee has always been comparatively uninhabited, mainly because the escarpment of barren hills approaches within a quarter of a mile of the shore. Its solitude contrasted all the more with the hum of crowded and busy life on the plain of Gennesareth.

τῆς λίμνης. See on Luk 5:1.

ἀνήχθησαν. Such was His weariness and eagerness to get away that they took Him ‘as He was’—without even pausing for any food or refreshment—into the boat, Mar 4:36.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22-25.] Jesus, crossing the lake, stills the storm. Mat 8:18, Mat 8:23-27. Mar 4:35-41. The chronology of this occurrence would be wholly uncertain, were it not for the precision of Mark, who has introduced it by ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ὀψίας οὔσης,—i.e. on the same day in which the preceding parables were delivered. How it has come to be misplaced in Matthew, must ever be matter of obscurity. The fact that it is so, is no less unquestionable than the proof that it furnishes of the independence of the two other Evangelists.

22. ἐν μιᾷ τ. ἡμ.] This serves to shew that Luke had no data by which he could fix the following events. If he had seen the Gospel of Mark, could this have been so?

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22-25. The Stilling of the Tempest on the Lake of Gennesaret. This is the first of a pair of miracles which appear in the same order in all three Gospels (Mat 8:23 ff.: ; Mar 4:35 ff.), the second being the healing of the demoniacs in the country of the Gadarenes. To these two Mk. and Lk. add the healing of the woman with the issue and the raising of the daughter of Jairus, which Mt. places somewhat later. The full series gives us a group of representative miracles exhibiting Christ’s power over the forces of nature and the powers of hell, over disease and over death.

22. Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ αὐτός. All these expressions are characteristic, and exhibit Aramaic influence. See note at the end of ch. i., and comp. 5:1, 12, 17, 6:12. There is nothing like them in Mar 4:35 or Mat 8:23, and ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν is peculiar to Lk. (5:17, 20:1). Comp. ἐν μιᾷ τῶν πόλεων (5:12) and ἐν μιᾷ τῶν συναγωγῶν (13:10). Mt. tells us that it was the sight of the multitudes around Him that moved Jesus to order a departure to the other side of the lake; and Mk. says that the disciples “leaving the multitude, take Him with them, even as He was in the boat.” This seems to imply that He was utterly tired, overcome by the demands which the multitude made upon Him. For διέλθωμεν see on 2:15. The nautical expression ἀνάγεσθαι is freq. in Lk. and peculiar to him (Act 13:13, Act 13:16:11, Act 13:18:21, Act 13:20:3, Act 13:13, Act 13:21:2, Act 13:27:2, Act 13:4, Act 13:12, Act 13:21, Act 13:28:10, Act 13:11). Syr-Sin. omits καὶ ἀνήθησαν.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. Wyc. has, pass we over the standing water. On lake, see on ch. Luk 5:1.

Launched forth [ανηχθησαν] . See on ch. Luk 5:3. The verb literally means to lead up; hence to lead up to the high sea, or take to sea; put to sea. It is the word used of Jesus ' being led up into the wilderness and the mount of temptation (Mt 4:1; Luk 2:22); also of bringing up a sacrifice to an idol - altar (Act 7:41). Often in Acts in the accounts of Paul 's voyages.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.