“Peace! Be Still!”

“And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing. And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:25-27 ESV).

Of all the recorded miracles of Jesus, His calming the storm is one of my all-time favorites. It was one of my very favorites before I had the opportunity to visit Israel and travel on a boat on the actual Sea of Galilee. My wife and I had the privilege to tour Israel with Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) in 2022. One of the activities on our schedule was to sail on the Sea of Galilee one morning. It is called a “sea”, but by today’s definition, we would call it a midsize freshwater lake. It is approximately 13 Miles long and 8 miles wide, for a total of about 64 square miles. After we all boarded the vessel, about 70 of us were underway. One of the advantages of going on a tour of Israel with a Christian group is that we had multiple opportunities to have devotionals at the very spots described in the Bible.

We were in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, and as the captain killed the engines, we all gathered on the deck while Dr. Mark Yarbrough, the president of DTS, gave a devotional about Jesus calming the Storm. A little breeze was picking up, and you could feel the cool air stirring on your skin. It was a beautiful morning, so clear we were able to see from shore to shore, both East and West, and North and South. But right as Dr. Yarbrough read from Mark 4:39, “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Peace! Be still! And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” Honestly, that slight breeze stopped, and the water became like glass. We all looked at each other and said under our breath, “Thank you, God, for allowing us to experience this!” It was one of those moments that just come along once in a lifetime. Now I can’t read about this miracle without seeing just how calm the Sea of Galilee can become. It really impressed on my heart just how great our Savior and God is.

But what does a passage from Mark have to do with the gospel of Matthew Chapter 8? As you are aware, the first three Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke —are collectively known as the Synoptic Gospels, due to their similar content and sequence of events. Matthew 8:25-27 and Mark 4:37-41 both describe the miracle of Jesus calming the storm. We see two fundamental aspects of our Savior in this story: His humanity and His deity are both on display simultaneously.

In Matthew 8:1-3 we read “When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.”, and Jesus healed the leper that came to Him with the request “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”, and Jesus’ reply “I will; be clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” What a beautiful picture of the mercy and grace of our Savior, by the way that same mercy (not giving us what we deserve) and grace (giving us what we don’t deserve) is available to anyone who will call upon Him for salvation. He always stands ready to offer eternal life and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Then we see Jesus in quick succession, healing the centurion’s servant with just His words: “And to the centurion Jesus said, 'Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.' And the servant was healed at that very moment.”. Next, we see that Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law simply by touching her hand, fulfilling a prophecy from Isaiah 53:4, which again proves He was the promised Messiah. So, Jesus had just performed three recorded miracles, and possibly many more that were not recorded, proving His deity and His control over everything in this world.

Now, as Jesus and his disciples get into a small fishing boat to travel the eight miles across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus falls asleep in the boat. He fell fast and hard asleep; he was exhausted from his travels and the miracles he had performed, revealing his complete humanity. Why is this important? Because Jesus was indeed the perfect human being, “He who knew no sin became sin for us.” It took a human to die on the cross, to pay the price for our sins, so that we could be reconciled back to God the Father. Jesus had to be completely human or His death on the cross would mean nothing. His life had to be blameless, free of sin, so that he could pay for our sins.

Jesus also had to be completely God, which He demonstrated by performing 37 separate miracles during His earthly ministry, of which His calming the storm was just one, proving everything was under His control. In Matthew 8:27, his disciples who were in the boat with him stated, “And the men marveled, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” That, my friend, is the same question you have to answer today. If nature itself obeyed Him, what manner of man must this be? Of course, the answer is clear: Jesus is the promised Messiah, the one who offers eternal life to all who would accept it. Remember Jesus’ statement in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus will calm the storms in your life, just as He did on the Sea of Galilee with just His word, “Peace, be still.” He has the authority, ability, and desire to save and to give you eternal life. Call upon Him, allow His peace to be your peace, be like the wind and sea, and obey the words of our precious Savior.

“Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"