1. Message of Matthew to the church

We are reading the Gospel according to Matthew in accordance with the Bible education program. Today we reflect on the passage known as ‘Jesus Calms the Storm.’ The story is about a storm which frightened his disciples with violent waves and strong winds. It happened when Jesus was heading to another side of the Sea of Galilee. Facing risk of drowning, the disciples were upset on the boat. So seeing Jesus calm the storm, they were strongly astonished by that miraculous power then wondered about Jesus’ real identity. We start from 8:23 in order to focus better on the issue, though the program indicates to read from the verse 8:18. The same story appears also in Mark and Luke and both of two writers gave almost similar contents. However Matthew interpreted the passage differently. We read the passage by comparing to those two Gospels.

Jesus had preached on the lakeside of the Sea of Galilee. When the evening came he let the crowd go and brought his disciples to another side of the lake. Matthew presents what then happened ; - Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!"(Matthew 8:23-25)

Mark and Luke used the Greek word ‘¦Ë¦Áῖ¦Ë¦Á¦×, (lah-ee-laps)’ for ’storm,’ which signifies ‘a tempestuous wind’ and ’squall.’ But Matthew chose ‘¦Ò¦Å¦É¦Ò¦Ìός, (sice-mos)’ which means not only ’storm’ but also ‘earthquake’. Matthew implies that way that the storm was so violent that the disciples felt as if the entire earth was shaken. Matthew though that it was an extraordinary phenomena because Peter and Andre, who were fisherman of Galilee and should be familiar to storms on the lake, were so fearful. They even cried, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ when the waves swept over the boat.

But, regardless of their agitation, Jesus was calmly sleeping. He might be very tired after the ministry of the day. Mark and Luke wrote the parallel phrases respectively, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mark 4:38) and “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” (Luke 8:24) whereas Matthew used the word ‘Lord’ there.
Matthew’s choice of ‘Lord’ gives the impression that they were praying Jesus as God. The reason is that Matthew wrote his Gospel not only to spread the Good News but also to encourage believers of the church with his own message.

We can suggest Matthew’s intention due to the double structure of the Gospel. The story of the storm happened in around 30 CE. And Matthew reported it 50 years later, in about 80 EC. The church was then under oppression of Jewish religious authority. So Matthew interpreting facts of the Gospel to empower church members to withstand the oppression. For example, ‘Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town’ (Matthew 23:34 ) implies that the church was menaced by hostile and aggressive environments. Thus believers were living in fear facing storms of persecution.

The cry of the disciples ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ was also written as that of believers of Matthew’s church. And he portrayed Jesus’ reaction this way ; - 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.(Matthew 8:26)

His disciples had listened to Jesus’ teaching and believed that he was the very Messiah. Nonetheless, encountering harsh difficulties of the real world their faith was easily destabilized. It is true that they had a certain faith in Jesus but it was not strong enough to sustain them under a violent storm.

But Jesus never ceased to support them. Matthew wrote ; - Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.(Matthew 8:26b)

‘Rebuke’ is ‘ἐ¦Ð¦É¦Ó¦É¦Ìά¦Ø,(ep-ee-tee-mah’-o)’ which is very often used to throw out Satan. (see Mark 1:25) Matthew thought that the storm was a tool of Satan and for that reason it was calmed down by Jesus’ rebuke to the weather on the lake. Then Matthew interpreted the fact into encouragement to believers. His won message is: ‘Though Stan orients Jewish authority to oppress the church, Jesus would be always with them and throw Satan out. This way, he tried to empower believers to resist against the persecution. So the early church chose ‘boat’ as their emblem.

Then Matthew continued ; - The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"(Matthew 8:27)

Here again we find another expression specific to Matthew, ‘The men.’ Mark and Luke used ‘his disciples - they.’ (see Mark 4:40-41 and Luke 8:25) The difference shows that Matthew indicated with this ‘The men’ believers of his church who would listen to his message. People under the menace of persecution must recognize and be amazed that Jesus was alive and staying with them. We can imagine easily that Matthew’s expression generated the astonishment among believers.

2. The message is for us too

As I said before, the same story was also reported by Mark and Luke. And it seems that they wrote it down just as they heard or read, without interpreting it personally. In contrast, Matthew edited it in order to embed his own message underneath. He needed to do so due to the critical situation of his church. Through Jesus’ teaching he wanted to send the message to church members as it was directly addressed to them. We try to listen to it by putting ourself in their place.

Jesus replied to his disciples, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ because they were strongly upset, regardless of presence of Jesus. And we must take it as a reproach to us too. It is true that we read daily the Bible and come to church every Sunday. We heard marvelous words of God and witnessed to Him. But, facing an incident symbolized with a storm, we easily forget that God is with and are upset. Different form us, Jesus could sleep tight in the middle of violent winds because he trusted totally in God. As a matter of fact, he said ; - Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.(Matthew 10:29)

All things on the earth are ruled by God’s will and even a little sparrow won’t die without God’s permission. Therefore Jesus asked, ‘Why are you, children of God, so fearful?’ A baby can sleep calmly in the bosom of the mother even during a violent storm. However, in reality, it is too difficult for us to trust our entity to God. When we live a comfortable life we are grateful to God and believe that He is always with us. But once we face a critical situation we are upset as if God’s presence were meaningless. It seems to us that God keeps silence or is in sleep at such a time.

Nobody can avoid earthy problems and difficulties throughout life. And hard experiences frighten and upset us, for example, dismiss from a working company, or diagnosis of a mortal illness. Finding a new job or being cured from a severe illness cannot be so easy. Death of loved one or divorce proposal also depresses us because loneliness is too heavy to bear. Under those situations, any prayers might seem powerless. So we cry for God in despair. And, despite our crying, if we are not given response from God it becomes very difficult to sustain the faith. We must reflect on whether we can remain faithful even in those situations.

But Matthew guided us to keep calling. Because Jesus will wakes up and rebuke the winds to save us.
Bedsides, even if we are disapproved afterwards, the experience must make our faith more mature. We often overlook our weakness when surrounding circumstances are favorable. Disciples of Jesus were the same. At the moment of getting into the boat, they might be confident of their faith. Nonetheless, facing the storm, they lost immediately the stable faith and were upset. Please remember what they said at that moment ; - ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ ( Matthew 8:25).

They almost blamed Jesus for not taking action to save them from apparent risk of shipwreck. They could not see anything but the danger in face. They were so fearful of drowning.

We cannot be changed only by listen to the Good News. To be newly born, we must live and practice God’s words. Then those spiritual experiences allow us to start a new life. The first step of the real faith is to recognized our nature. And harsh experiences alone make us acknowledge our faithlessness. Thus we begin to look for God. After that, God gives us a response. Each difficulty, illness, painful situation or natural calamity, for instance, has its own meaning. Through those difficulties God orients us to Him, as Job said ; - But those who suffer he delivers in suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction.(Job 36:15) We must know that even a violent storm can turn into a blessing of God.

3. Live by trusting in Him

Today’s invocation verse is 2 Corinthians 1:10 ; - He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.

Paul said it after surviving a deadly peril in Anatolia. We don’t know what it was precisely. It might be a risk of execution as a prisoner or a very severe illness. He should have given up all hope of life and was ready to die under an extreme pain. But he survived and learned from the incident that he should not have struggle with it by human ability. Because it was God who saved him from such a situation. Therefore he wrote previous to today’s verse ; - We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)

The authentic faith must be generated from a real life. Those who witnessed that God’ intervened to save them at a crucial moment can live afterwards in total confidence in God, regardless of any vicissitudes.

Jesus didn’t promise that his believers would be able to avoid all sufferings of illness, loss of loved ones or any other misadventures. Naturally, Christians also get sick, lose family members or involved in calamities. A boat that we would take might sink. But Jesus declared ; - “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"(John 11:25-26)

Our life is compared very often with a boat which sails on the sea. Due to unstable weather, its safety is vulnerable. A violent storm can overturn it and the bottom of sea must be like hell. But Jesus is with us on the boat. He will rebuke winds and calm rains. And we are guided to believe definitely that we are always protected by him spiritually with divine powers. That is the very Good News. Those who arrive to say sincerely, ‘God has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,’ are given the most precious treasure of life.