1.) Jesus did not rebuke them for their request. (Matthew 8:5 .) Church. FAITHFUL Matthew 8:23-27 INTRODUCTION It is hard to amaze people today. 24-25. For the exposition, see the notes at Mark 4:35. 5-13 Compare Luk_7:1-10. Behold the He is also listed among the twelve, but without identification of his background, in Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13. As He lay asleep He showed the weakness of manhood; but He woke to manifest the power of indwelling Divinity. But gradually as we learn more and more in the faith, as the disciples did over several years, we will become bolder and more confident in the Lord (look at the confidence of the disciples in Acts 2-4). The disciplesapparently with some reluctanceenter a ship. They came and wakened him. Each gospel writer includes some of the things that happened there in the boat. Of course, in the Old Testament, this is descriptive of the LORD God. Context Summary. MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH. Matthew 8:23. St Mark, as usual, adds some interesting details: it was mountain gorges, are notor Matthew 8:1. He is saying essentially the same thing that Matthew said. meaning It is helpful to keep that in the back of your mind. And so their question is What kind of man is this? It too is a rhetorical question, not designed to be answered, but to express the idea that there is no one like this. It hearkens back to what He told them recently in the Sermon on the Mount. Should they not, in any case, wake Him out of His sleep? At its deepest it is about 160 feet deep, depending on the fluctuation over the years. It is how we refer to the first three Gospels that have the same basic presentation of the account of Jesus, although with variations. Now viewing scripture range from the book of Matthew chapter 8:23 through chapter 8:27. 12). 1. As had previously been pointed out to the would be disciples, those Matthew 8:23 - 8:27. [2.] A question that may very well have been accompanied by others. 23. Jesus gets into the boat to go to the other side of the sea and His disciples follow Him. The readiest is that he found these associated with the Gadara incident, his main concern, in his source or sources, the whole group in the Apostolic . ENTERED INTO A CHAPTER 8 Peace, Be Still (Matthew 8:23-27) One of the best known stories in the Gospels is that of Jesus' calming the storm on the lake. When I was four, a tornado went through our subdivision. In the document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Create a website or blog at WordPress.com, hermeneutics /hmnjutks/ (n.pl. [2.] As a sense of danger and need is a choice argument when we deal with Christ for help; so is it an ordinary forerunner of deliverance and help.7. The first part is the storm on the sea and the disciples words to Jesus. Now the boat would not be a large one. Matthew 8:23-27 demonstrates Jesus' authority over nature. As they cross the sea, a great storm arises and threatens to sink their boat and drown them all. And that is certainly true here, for without the speeches we have a storm, the disciples panic, Jesus calming the storm, and the disciples amazement. But Matthew used a word that means of little faith while Mark says do you still have no faith? Mark did not mean to imply that the disciples had no faith at all--he has already described their following Jesus. Matthew showed Jesus authority by what he taught in Chapter s 5-7. DISCIPLES IN DANGER . Somewhere away from those navigating the vessel (note the word came in Matthew 8:25)somewhere, St. Mark says, as would be natural in such a storm (see above), in the hinder part of the vessel, with His head on a pillowHe was buried in sleep To us this is an affecting evidence of the true humanity of the Master, and of the serious effects of His many labours at times upon it. The lake is in the famous rift valley, a natural fault line that runs from this region in the north down the Jordan River Valley to the Dead Sea and in fact all the way to Africa. It is a beautiful illustration of His ways of dealing with those that are His. 2. He was likely tired from the long day of preaching, dealing with the crowds, healing, and casting out demons. prayer 25 And they went and woke him up, saying, "Lord, save us! The Cleansing of a Leper. in any co Matthew 8:16. Jesus Healed a Paralytic CLOSER READING: In verse 24, the storm that happens is literally a quake the Greek word that gives us our words seismograph and seismic. Then He calls them a name: oligopistoi meaning little faiths. This moniker is translated here as you men of little faith. He shares three examples of Jesus miraculously healing people during His ministry in Capernaum. 27 The men were amazed and asked, What kind of man is this? Throughout these episodes we see Jesuss power over sickness, His power over a storm, and His power over the spiritual realm. And behold, there arose a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the . beat into the ship He . In fact, archaeologists found a first century fishing boat of this kind a few years ago. WISE DISCIPLES - Vs. 23. Read with me in Mark 4, beginning in verse 35. This text - Matthew 8:23-27 - is not in the lectionary, but that doesn't mean this story is one of those things you wouldn't know about the Bible if . Just from a simple reading of the few verses we would rightly conclude that the account demonstrates Jesus authority over the elements of nature, and, the disciples weak faith for being afraid. At the end of His denunciations, He calls them "snakes" and "brood of vipers" (verse 33). 5:20; Luke 8:22-39). Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee knowing that a storm would threaten His safety and the safety of those entrusted to His care. for the Savior and the Twelve apostles, the disciples who accompanied LOVE IN ACTION (Matthew 8:1-34) So, taking the three gospels together we get a wonderful reflection of their fear and the chaos in the boat. It provides another significant part to the portrayal of the King: He is not just a king over the people of Israel; rather, He is king over all nature as well. He can carry Himself as one asleep, to the end He may be awakened by their prayers.6. In Matthews gospel, it is also followed by Jesuss calling Levi, and subsequently identifying the twelve. So, in this version, we dont seem meant to assume that Levi/Matthew was in the boat when this happened. The disciples fear and panic is contrasted with Jesus sleeping on the boat. As our evangelist is giving a collection of healing incidents, the introduction of Matthew 8:18-22, disciple interviews, and even of Matthew 8:23-27, a nature miracle, needs an explanation. And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?(Matthew 6:25-27). This one truly has authority. Let's pray together as we look at Matthew 8:18-22. While it may seem obvious in this instance that His disciples were not asking Jesus to save their spirit from Hell to Heaven, whenever we encounter sozo or a similar salvation passages, it is important to always use the context to answer these three questions to make sure we are interpreting it correctly. The other rebuke was but the sequel to this; its complement, as it were. I have always been frightened by tornadoes. Either way, the peril was great. And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 2. Decapolis was a Upon arrival he casts out two demons. Required fields are marked *. 26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith . And Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead." -Matthew 8:21-22. This was the Messiah, the one everyone believed would be the Lord of all the earth. It was the sleep of physical exhaustion after a hard days work. What is it being saved to? Jesus was tempted, like a man, but rebuked Satan (Matt. Jesuss rebuke of the disciples serves as a wakeup call to them. A gracious response.For gracious it wasmost graciousthough in the form of rebuke. That idea was important in the Bible, for the seas were always the symbol of chaos. Here we see the power of His word over nature. Then, after standing up, He reprimanded the winds and the lake, and they became incredibly calm. The man was saying that someday he wanted to follow Jesus, when his father was dead and when he would be free to go. had given them wise instruction. So it is always in His life, where, side by side with the signs of humiliation and participation in mans weakness, we ever have tokens of His Divinity breaking through the veil. Contrasts. Jesus is the second Adam, as the Bible expresses it, beginning another racethe righteous seed. Matthew 8:23-27. Matthew 8:28-34. The peril and perplexity of the disciples in this voyage; and in this appeared the truth of what Christ had just now said, that those who follow him must count upon difficulties, Mt 8:20. These narratives make a large leap forward in the You would discover them right away when you read the account in the three synoptic1_ftn1 gospels: Matthew 8:23-27 of course; Mark 4:37-41; and Luke 8:23-25. . study questions So when you come upon apparent discrepancies in the narratives (and some interpreters like to exploit these as errors), remember that the writers have a certain amount of freedom to put things in their own words, or to summarize, or to select only parts of the event for their book. I would not make too much of their following Him (some folks make a spiritual point out of some common statements), because the word is used even for the crowds of unbelievers who followed Him where He went. And here Jesus is tired and sleeping, but He has control over nature (Matt. One student asked another, What did he say? And the answer was, He said, dont write on the back. Well, if we were looking for a dictated or recorded transcript, that is not what I said. This story is similar to Matthew 8:23-27, where a storm threatened to sink the boat while Jesus slept. Out on the Sea of Galilee in a boat, Jesus is sleeping soundly. Being weary, He falls asleep.4. Their words are interesting: Lord, save us. In their experience this was a simple and urgent request. . The church is tossed with tempests (Isa 54:11); it is only the upper region that enjoys a perpetual calm, this lower one is ever and anon disturbed and disturbing. The disciples wake Him and ask Him to save them. CHAPTER 8 That will be a primary focus of the study. Storms in the voyage-even when sailing according to the He was exhausted from His ministry with the crowds, and so in the boat He was asleep during the storm. grace It had not been much about, if he had gone by land; but he chose to cross the lake, that he might have occasion to manifest himself the God of the sea as well as of the dry land, and to show that all power is his, both in heaven and in earth. examples of its benefits. We might remember Matthew emphasizes the way Jesus fulfills scriptural prophecies, and structures the narrative around long teaching passages interspersed with narrative sections, which especially emphasize Jesuss authority. Jesus rebukes the disciples for their lack of faith and calms the storm. (1.) Christ may sleep when his church is in a storm, but he will not outsleep himself: the time, the set time to favour his distressed church, will come, Ps 102:13. All Scripture quotes, unless otherwise indicated, are from the New King James Version.) Bible an opportunity presented itself of displaying miracles, thereb JESUS GOT INTO THE BOAT. Sea INTO A SHIP - This was on the Sea of Tiberias. St Mark, as usual, adds some interesting details: "it was they sailed was probably a small open boat with sails, such as was While the disciples were with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee, a great storm arose. Gospels; but St. Mark and St. Luke place them, as we have seen, after By faith we might see through the storm to the quiet shore, and encourage ourselves with hope that we shall weather our point. He shows them and us the reason for overwhelming fear as being the deficiency in our faith. [3.] The storms obey when Jesus says "Peace, be still. The best authorities omit the definite article. Our Lord, of set purpose, will lead His disciples into dangers, for the stirring up and trial of their faith, and for evidencing His own glory.2. That strange blending of opposites is often repeated by us. (1.) The reason for this is the account of the calling of Matthew is reported in Matthew 9:9, but it would have to have been before these events on and around the sea for the simple reason that Matthew was there. All motion was gone. _When he was come down from the mountain, great Matthew 8:23-27 Mark 4:35-41 Luke 8:22-25. 25 The disciples went and woke Him, saying, Lord, save us, were going to drown!. On the way He quiets a terrible storm. IV. On the part of the Saviour a gracious response. church This seems to be in response to the press of the crowd, and makes sense of the otherwise sudden reference to the boat in verse 23. multitudes followed him. Structure. 4). We never read of Christs sleeping but at this time; he was in watchings often, and continued all night in prayer to God: this was a sleep, not of security, like Jonahs in a storm, but of holy serenity, and dependence upon his Father: he slept to show that he was really and truly man, and subject to the sinless infirmities of our nature: his work made him weary and sleepy, and he had no guilt, no fear within, to disturb his repose. 23. We have already noted how the speeches give us the meaning of the flow of the story. What other person can speak and have the winds and the waves obey His voice? hope GADARENE DEMONIACS Before Jesus calms the storm in the seas, He wants to calm the storm in your heart. INTRODUCTORY WORDS tempest arose, The Storm on the Lake. Luke both place the incident after the series of parables which St. A vessel making for the East would be especially exposed to that wind; and the waves raised by it would naturally drive over its prow so as to cover the decks of such a boat where it had them, and fill it where it had none (Matthew 8:24; Mark 4:37). faith Your email address will not be published. Jesus was accused of having a demon, but He cast out demons (Matt. It is a simple word made up of syn, with, and optics, vision, sight. thinking about the Bible Mighty God, who speaks a word of peace to calm our troubled sea; Caring God, who nudges us away from fear and toward faith; Ever-present God, who fills us with awe but also raises many questions without easy answers; Even though there are so many things in life that threaten our lives and cause us to fear, the more we know the Lord and His power, the less we will be afraid. 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