8:23-25
All this had happened before they had actually left for the other side of the lake (8:18). They now got into the boat. As they went across the lake a furious storm blew up. The Sea of Galilee lay well below sea level and was surrounded by hills. This meant that it was prone to sudden high winds and the associated storms. Added to this, the boats were usually fairly small. The disciples were terrified and went to wake up Jesus, who was sleeping. They thought they were going to drown. Remember the disciples included some fishermen, so the storm must have been pretty severe.
8:26,27
“You of little faith”. Let’s look a little at the situation. There was a very serious storm, it was perfectly natural for the disciples to be afraid, you or I would have been equally afraid. Yet Jesus rebuked them for their attitude. Why? It was not that the situation wasn’t dangerous, it was. But Jesus was with them, God was not going to abandon them. Either the situation would not actually cause them harm, or God would intervene. Note also that Jesus was sleeping, it seemed that He was not caring for them. There can be times when it seems that God has forgotten about us, He has not. Then Jesus got up and rebuked the waves and all was calm. Jesus demonstrated His absolute power.
The disciples were amazed, for no one has power over the waves! This was a demonstration of His power. Any assessment that Jesus was just a good man or a good teacher really has to ignore at least half of what the gospels say.
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