On that day, when evening came, He said to them, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still!" And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" They became very much afraid and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"
In ancient times, the sea was not just a body of water, nor was the wind just moving air. They were realms of authority that was ultimately controlled by the Most High God, Yahweh, but these realms were controlled by other spirit-beings that were powerful and frighteningly dangerous. The sea was controlled by a huge spirit-monster called Yom, who in turn was under the authority of a spirit-dragon called Leviathan. Both Yom and Leviathan were destroyers of humans, barely kept under check by Yahweh, the Most High God. The winds were instruments of judgement as well, controlled by angelic spirit-beings who are appointed to destroy the earth and humanity. (Exodus 14:21-22; Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 59:19; Jeremiah 5:22; Amos 9:6)
Thus, when the winds and sea rose up against the boat, the disciples did not see it as a force of nature—they understood the storm as spiritual warfare attacking them. They were not afraid of wind and water, they were afraid of the spirits and monsters that were attacking them. Jesus also saw the storm as being spiritual powers attacking them. But he saw this as just one large exorcism. He rebuked the wind, just as he would rebuke an unclean spirit. He told the sea to shut up just like he told an unclean spirit to be quiet (Mark 1:25). The disciples felt that because the spirits of the sea and the wind were so much more important that Jesus could not command them. Their faith was lacking because they did not understand that Jesus has authority, no matter what the size of the situation or the authority of the spirits. If Jesus has authority in what is small, then he has authority in what is big. Yet the disciples were still amazed that Jesus had so much authority. They felt that casting out personal demons is one thing, but to know that Jesus has authority over the great spirits of the world is almost unbelievable.
Jesus did not rebuke his disciples for giving the spirit world too much power. He didn't tell them, "Don't you know that it's just sea and waves? All you have to do is figure out the rhythms of the waves and winds and we'll make it through." Instead, Jesus rebuked the disciples for not giving the spirit world more power than they realized.
The disciples could see the power of the Sea, but they couldn't look past it to see the Creator of the Sea. God's power is so mighty, so magnificent that a paltry lake is nothing to him. And if God's power can overcome a lake, certainly He can overcome a government, a bank, a parent or a grumpy official. Why do we fear such paltry things as armies and guns and finances? God owns all of that, and if we remain on God' side, doing His work, then what need we be fearful of anything?
Instead, as Jesus said, let's have faith and entrust ourselves to God's power, God's guidance, God's wisdom. Let nothing stand in our way.
No comments:
Post a Comment