Where Is Your Faith?
“One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” ”
The events of Christ’s life were not random, and the documented events handed down from scripture often tell a deeper story than what we hear at the surface level. We are not a Maritime society, and so a real appreciation for bad weather out on the open water does not carry much weight with us. We are not soldiers going into battle at sea where if our ship is destroyed, we risk perishing with the ship or through exposure and eventual drowning at sea. We also do not make our living at sea as a fisherman would. A fisherman might be close enough to shore to hopefully swim back (if they know how to swim), but in a bad storm they could come to financial ruin as their way of making a living has been destroyed. We must look at this story through the lens of something much more severe than the occasional seasickness we’ve encountered in our lives. I can see two things in this story, and you might draw out some more things.
First, Christ solves the immediate danger of his disciples. We can pray for that; we can pray for God's supernatural intervention and believe in Christ’s ability to overcome whatever we might be going through. The effects of cancer, a wayward child, our current social climate, or a financial crisis are as out of our control today as the weather occurring in this story. Christ cares for his Church and will protect and build it up according to his will until he returns. We can count on it! However, this story also reminds me of another story of the ancient world. A famous story of a man who believed himself to be a god, and his interaction with the sea. Before Xerxes I and his army of Persians fought the Spartans in the famous battle of Thermopylae (premise for the movie 300), they encountered a much more formidable foe. Before getting to Greece, the Persians had to cross the Hellespont which is part of the body of water which divides Europe and Asia just south of modern-day Istanbul (also known as Constantinople). Long story short, knowing the current was strong and unpredictable in this area, Xerxes has his best engineers build pontoon bridges across the open body of water. Then, the current picks up and the pontoons are destroyed, killing soldiers, and delaying the invasion. Xerxes not only has his engineers beheaded, but more importantly to our story, he has the sea whipped for its insolence. Yes, you read that right. Xerxes, the man who believed himself to be a god, had the water receive 300 whiplashes, and then proceeded to brand it with red-hot irons as the soldiers helped shout at the water.
If that story sounds crazy to you, it should. It’s a crazy premise that a man could control what the water does. God has set physical laws over the water which allow it to do incredible things. Xerxes is proved foolish to the entire world through the retelling of that story throughout the centuries.
Conversely, Christ is glorified through the telling of that story. By faith we can trust all things in the Bible and glorify Christ through the faith we have. That is why Christ says, “Where is your faith?”
So, as you go about your day today and encounter the storms that may sink your ship, who will you have faith in? Xerxes was the greatest man of his day, and highly delusional, but by the parameters set by the world, he was the greatest. Christ was not the greatest man of his day by worldly terms, yet his life changed the course of the entire world.
Prayer
Lord, please give us perspective when reading your scripture. Please remind us that these are not just familiar stories we learned in Sunday School and now must recount as adults but give us perspective to really appreciate them. Give us the perspective of the people who were saved, healed, brought back to life, broken from their bondage, and ultimately forgiven! Amen.
