Sunday School Lesson, Oct.
13, 2002
JESUS CALMS THE STORM
Matthew 8
23
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Without warning, a furious storm
came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The
disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
26
He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the
winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27
The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves
obey him!"
I. Introduction
We’ve been studying some books in the Old Testament. We studied some of the Wisdom Books
and then the Major Prophets. Before talking about the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament, we
are going to jump ahead to the New Testament and look at the gospels.
Matthew is the first of the four gospels. He was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. Each of the
gospels tells the story about Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection. So why do we need four
separate gospels? It is because each gospel tells the story in a different way. Sometimes the
book will include a few stories about Jesus that were not included in the others. Other times, the
same events are described but the author describes it from a different point of view, or he adds
details that aren’t in the other stories.
And each gospel has an overall emphasis or focus on Jesus that is different from the others. So
Matthew focuses on the fact that Jesus is the King of Kings. We see an emphasis on Jesus’
authority and on his spiritual kingdom. Mark, on the other hand, seems to look more at Jesus as
a servant—the most humble man of all. He was such a servant that he laid down his own life
for everybody else, even though he was a better person than anyone else. Luke fixes our
attention on Jesus’ holiness and perfection. Jesus was 100% pure and did not have even the
tiniest sin in him—even though, for a time, he was a human being just like you and me. And
John’s gospel centers around Jesus’ great love for us.
II. Jesus Calms the Storm
We think of kings as having a lot of power. In this passage we see just how powerful Jesus is.
This was no ordinary storm. It was a “furious” storm. Imagine a tiny boat in the midst of a
humongous sea (the Sea of Galilee). And then imagine that the sea was angry at the little boat.
It seems like the boat would have no chance. And it came upon the boat all of a sudden. A boat
is only good if it stays on top of the water. But here the waves swooshed in over the top of the
boat and threatened to sink the ship. It was being tossed about like a little toy.
Sometimes the world around us can seem like an overwhelming ocean, and we are just a tiny
thing floating in it. And then a storm can come to top it all off. Maybe it is a bad situation in our
home or school, which makes us scared. Maybe the bad things happening in the news make us
afraid.
So why was Jesus sleeping? It is because Jesus is the King. The storm does not control him, he
controls the storm. This King is so powerful that he stops the raging storm—with a giant laser
beam? A super vacuum that sucks up the storm? No, he doesn’t need anything like that. The
King stops the storm with his Word. Jesus simply put the weather back in its place by speaking a
word. Jesus spoke a word against the storm, and the entire sea became completely calm. Then
the boat and the disciples were safe.
In this same chapter of Matthew, just a few verses before, it says that Jesus miraculously healed
many people. How did he do it? It says “with a word”. The words of Jesus the King have
power. He is the boss of everything. He has authority over everything. He accomplishes what
he wants to do in the world, in the Work, in our lives—with his words. Jesus’ words have
power.
Jesus’ sleeping reminds us of the rest that he came to give us from this world. In the book of
Hebrews Paul tells us that Jesus is our “Sabbath rest”. The Sabbath was the 7th day of the Jewish
week, when no Jew was supposed to do any work. And Paul tells us that our salvation is like
this. After Jesus came we didn’t need just one day to have our rest—Jesus became our rest every
day of the week. Each and every day we can rest and have shelter from this world and its
troubles by having Jesus in our hearts.
The disciples were safe as long as they were in the boat with Jesus. If we want the power of
King Jesus in our lives, we need to stay close to him. The boat is like the church—with all of the
believers and Jesus inside. You can come to the Lord in this boat and ask him to help you. He
will do it. He is the King and his words have power. Jesus tells us not to be afraid. We can trust
in him because we have faith in his power. Jesus can give us peace and rest no matter how big or
angry the storm. And with a word, Jesus can take away our biggest worries.
