The Questions of Jesus-Why are You So Afraid?
Mark 4, Luke 8, and Matthew 8, all tell the same boat story about Jesus and the disciples. In Luke’s telling of the story, he says in Luke 8:22 that Jesus said to the disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” When Jesus told his disciples to get into a boat with Him, it’s because Jesus had a destination in mind. Jesus never set His sights on a destination He did not reach.
Matthew’s rendering begins with verse 23 and says, 23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.
The disciples had already made a decision about the trustworthiness of Jesus. If He said, “It’s time to move,” they followed. So, when He said, “We’re going to the other side of the lake,” they simply demonstrated their trust in His leadership once again. They knew they could follow where He was leading them. They didn’t even question His decision.
Friends, Jesus has a destination for you.Discipleship, at its core, is followship. You can trust when He gives you direction about where He is taking you.
24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat.
Can you testify that sometimes storms come up suddenly? You go for a check-up and the doctor says, “There is something suspicious going on inside you.” You feel fine. It’s hard to consider that something could even be wrong, but more tests are being ordered. You show up for work, and there is an unexpected meeting called where news of downsizing is shared. You were in the last batch that was hired. Your security is suddenly threatened. Someone gets a hold of your identity, your credit card information, your social media account, and all kinds of havoc is created in a hurry. One minute, things are good, and the next you are left to deal with a complex and anxiety-producing situation. That relationship, the one you were sure was “the one” ends abruptly, and you never saw it coming. We live in a world where things can change suddenly.
What I want you to understand is that Jesus purposely led the disciples into a situation that would require them to go through a sudden storm with Him.
Some of you may be thinking, “That’s not cool! Why would He do that? Isn’t He supposed to protect them?” Yes, He was their protection for sure. That’s why He was with them when the storm came up. Yes, Jesus can protect us FROM storms by diverting us from trouble and even by diverting the storm out of our way, but there are times when storms are part of His plan for us so that we can experience Him in ways we cannot when life is simply smooth sailing. We seek Jesus differently when we are in a storm, and we see Him differently when we are in a storm.
When Jesus protects us FROM storms, we learn He is all-knowing. We learn He is omniscient. We learn He knows what is going to happen before it happens and can divert us away from impending trouble. That is a great level of understanding about Jesus. That is great revelation about Jesus, but when Jesus protects us IN the storms of life, we experience Him as all-powerful. That’s a whole other level of knowing Jesus.
We also see in this story that it’s not a little storm. The text calls it a “furious” storm. The Greek word is “seismos,” from which we get the word, “seismic.” It was a huge storm. Even though many of the disciples were experienced fishermen and have had storms come out of nowhere before, like they often did on the Sea of Galilee, this one threatened their wellbeing. They had met their match with this one. It wouldn’t take too long before their boat was under water.
Next, we see a huge contrast in the text. Matthew wants us to know that even though there was a raging storm, at the same time, there was a restful Savior. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, maintained a posture of peace no matter what the situation looked like.
Matthew 8:24b says, “But Jesus was sleeping.”
Why was He asleep? Well, He was tired. Ministry was demanding. Preaching, teaching, taking care of the needs of crowds of people, traveling…it was all exhausting. We know Jesus was fully human, and here is a glimpse of the humanity of Jesus. He needed to sleep.
But I would submit to you, however, that Jesus wasn’t only sleeping because He was fully human. He was also sleeping because He was fully Divine. Follow me. Jesus knew what was next, and it wasn’t His death. He had more ministry to perform. His time to die for the sins of the world hadn’t come, and He wasn’t going to die at sea in a random accident. He could be at rest even while a storm swirled because He was fully Divine, and He knew God’s plan, and He knew that every storm would be subject to Him.
Every storm is subject to Jesus. That ought to give us both comfort and confidence. The One to whom all storms are subject is in the boat with us, and He isn’t panicked about the rate at which water is rushing into our boat.
25 The disciples went and woke him,
I like the strategy. Waking Jesus was a smart move. He had proven to be helpful, resourceful, and powerful in previous moments, but notice what they didn’t do when they woke Jesus. They didn’t express a confident faith.
The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
You could argue that they were saying, “Lord, if you don’t save us, we’re going to drown,” but that isn’t the way Jesus interpreted their words. 26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”
They were talking out of both sides of their mouth. “Lord, save us. Lord, deliver us. Lord, we need You,” was followed with, “We’re doomed. We’re not making it out of this alive. We’re toast.” That is double-minded thinking. That is wishy-washy faith. I’m not sure you can call it faith when it is mixed with doubt about how it would all end.
They were in turbulent waters, but their main problem was that they possessed a turbulent faith. The condition of their faith impacted the way they experienced their storm. Their faith was small. Their doubt was great, and because of that, their fear took over.
As disciples of Jesus are we ever guilty of being double-minded? Do we live with a double-minded confession? Do we express belief that Jesus can save us but then go on to confess the worst possible scenario? Would Jesus ask us the same question He asked His disciples that day? “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”
Before Jesus rebuked the winds and waves, He rebuked His disciples. In that moment, the storm wasn’t the most pressing thing for Jesus. It was dealing with His disciples’ spiritual lives. He called the condition of their faith into question, and He asked them why they were so afraid? Listen Believer, the sudden storms of life don’t alter God’s plan for your boat, for your life.
I submit to you that fear gets a hold of us when we forget that God has a plan for us.
Where was their focus? It was on their circumstances. I like that He didn’t just ask them why they were afraid, but He inserted the two-letter qualifier, “Why are you SO afraid?” It is human nature to be afraid. Right? We were created with a fight or flight instinct when we sense danger. Our blood pressure immediately goes up when we feel threatened. It’s one thing to feel pressure. It’s another thing to panic. Believer, you never have to panic. Ever!
The problem wasn’t that they were afraid. The problem was that their fear had been elevated over their faith. You see all throughout Scripture that fear and unbelief often go together. Where you find unbelief, you will find fear. A small faith will give way to magnified fears.
We’re not so different from the disciples, are we? Sometimes we forget God has a plan. Sometimes we forget the promises God has made to us. Sometimes we forget how God has provided for us in the past, and we let fear override our faith.
Had the disciples exercised faith in that moment instead of giving in to fear, they would have had a different reaction during the storm. They would definitely have had a different confession. They would have been able to see the peace of Christ as He was asleep in the boat and could have taken note that if the storm wasn’t overtaking Jesus, it wouldn’t overtake them because they were with Him. They would have had security in the way things would end because of Jesus’ presence and because of what Jesus had told them about where they were headed.
Fear is natural. Faith is supernatural. Fear is what comes upon us because we are human. Faith is what we can exercise because we follow Jesus, the One who cannot fail. Listen, if you don’t believe the outcome for every situation in your life is victory, you aren’t walking by faith. I know we can have a realistic and logical bent, and at times we need to. I know God has given us a mind that can process facts and predict outcomes, but the Bible says that God leads us into victory. Jesus asked them about their fear to get them to contemplate their faith.
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!”
In this story, Jesus wasn’t teaching His disciples about storms; He was teaching them about Himself and why they didn’t have to be afraid of anything, ever. In that moment, it was plain to them that every area of existence was totally under the authority of Jesus.
Are you living with fear? Fear that isn’t just part of the human experience, but fear that has overshadowed or maybe even canceled your faith? Here is why you can choose faith over fear this morning:
You can choose faith over fear because Jesus knows when the storms of your life will come, and He has a plan.
You can choose faith over fear because if you are following Jesus, He is in the boat with you and everything you face is subject to Him.
You can choose faith over fear because Jesus has the power to calm every storm or to take you through it unharmed.
