Calming the Storm

The Sea of Galilee Boat is an ancient fishing boat,  an archaeological find that was discovered at the edge of the Sea of Galilee in 1986, after a dry season when the lake was very low.  It had been buried in the mud along the shore south of Capernaum for around 2000 years! After a lengthy excavation and a 7 year chemical preservation process it was transferred, and is now exhibited in a special museum in Kibbutz Ginosar, or Gennesaret. The boat has been dated to between 40 BC and 50 AD.  The remains of the boat are 27 feet long and 7.5 feet wide, with a preserved height of 4.3 feet. It is constructed primarily of cedar planks, but is also made up of 10 different wood types, indicating it may have undergone repeated repairs. The boat was rowable, with 4 staggered rowers, and also had a mast allowing the fishermen to sail it.

I love knowing this; I can “see” Peter, Andrew, James, and John on boats like this one when Jesus called to them from the shore to come follow Him.  And I love being able to picture a similar boat when I re-read the story told by Matthew of being in a boat crossing the sea of Galilee with other disciples and Jesus one evening when a great storm arose.

Here’s how the apostle Matthew remembers it in Matthew, Chapter 8:
This particular day had already included quite a bit of activity he wasn’t used to seeing. Earlier in the chapter he tells us of a leper whose skin is eaten up with sores. The man shows amazing faith by saying to Jesus, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus just reached out his hand and said “I am willing. Be clean,” and immediately the leper  was cured.  

Then Matthew tells about a Centurion (a Roman military officer in charge of 100 soldiers) who has a servant near death at home, “paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”  The Roman soldier believes so strongly in Jesus’ power that he says “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” So Jesus said, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And it was!

The next thing Matthew witnesses is the miraculous healing of his friend, Peter’s, wife’s mother. When they got to Peter’s house that day, his mother-in-law was in bed with a fever. Jesus touched her hand and the fever immediately left her. She got up and began to wait on Him.  Then others were brought to Him; he drove out evil spirits with a word and healed ALL the sick! 

Next Matthew tells us that people were still crowding around Jesus, until He got into a boat to cross to the other side of the lake (Sea of Galilee.)  The disciples followed him onto the boat. As they crossed the lake, without warning, a furious storm came up, with the high waves crashing over the sides of the boat and filling it with water. Now Matthew himself wasn’t a fisherman by trade; he may not have ever been in such a situation before, but at least 4 of the others present were experienced in navigating these waters, which have always been subject to sudden squalls. However, there was nothing they could do. The storm was too great. And so was their fear. Matthew remembers the terror of those moments. But Jesus was asleep. They were afraid for their lives, so they woke him saying, “Lord, save us! We are going to drown!”  Jesus replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and the storm immediately quit raging. Matthew and the others were amazed, wondering what kind of man this was, that even the winds and the waves obeyed him. 

Really??  Why would they wonder? These men have spent the day, and many days previous, watching Jesus heal lepers with rotting, missing fingers and feet. They had watched as he healed friends and strangers with a touch or a word.  They had heard him commend some of these people for their great faith.  Didn’t Matthew and the others on the boat have faith?  Sure they did, but I think I know how they felt.  In the middle of that life-threatening storm, and in their extreme fear they probably couldn’t recall any of the miracles they had seen that day. How often do we feel that way? That Jesus is asleep in the midst of our storm? Does he even know we are in a terrible storm? 

I can imagine Jesus waking up, slowly like you do when you’re sound asleep, and saying with a sigh and a shake of his head, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”  But as I studied this story this time, and as I tried to put myself in Matthew’s place on that boat, I noticed that the scripture doesn’t say Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith. He rebuked the winds and the waves, bringing an immediate calm to the frightening situation.  The storms in my life come in all sizes and intensities.  Sometimes they are expected; sometimes they seem to come out of nowhere.  But I know this: When I feel like my life is capsized, turned upside down, and I’m drowning, Jesus is with me in the storm. He answers my cries for help. 

Jesus, sometimes I get so scared when the storms of life rock my boat. Thank you that you are in the boat with me, and that you answer my cries for help. Forgive me for sometimes thinking I have to get myself out of the storm; for calling on you only after I have worn myself out with worry and fear. Thank you for your love and comfort and intercession. Amen 

Lynn Ann Hughes

Stephenville, Texas