Reflective Bible Study

Part of me wonders if Jesus had fun pushing and challenging the disciples’ faith. Up to this point in the miracles we have looked at, Jesus has healed people, cast evil spirits out of people, and in our last episode, we discovered that Jesus raised a dead boy back to life. With all these miraculous events, I believe the disciples were getting more and more confident in Jesus’ God-given ability to help those who were hurting.

However, having a firm grasp of healing and health is one thing. But in our event for this episode, the disciples’ faith is tested on an entirely new level. Also, following this event, the disciples had at least one more reason to be amazed and in awe regarding Jesus.

Let’s read about what happened. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 8, and we will be reading from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 23, Matthew tells us that:

²³ Jesus’ disciples went with him as he left in a boat. ²⁴ Suddenly, a severe storm came across the sea. The waves were covering the boat. Yet, Jesus was sleeping.

Let’s pause briefly because what we just read is amazing to me. The last two statements we just read were that waves were covering the boat, and that Jesus was sleeping through it. This wasn’t just a rocky storm, this was a severe storm that could easily end a sailor’s life. While we don’t know if there was any rain with the wind and waves, reading that the waves were covering the boat makes me amazed that Jesus was able to sleep through this.

It would be illogical to think that in this entire event, Jesus didn’t get wet. In my mind’s eye, this passage describes Jesus sleeping through wave after wave as it covers the boat and drenches Him with water. I doubt I could sleep through that, but this is likely what happened. I don’t think there is evidence for boats in that day being like what we have today with a cabin below deck that is shielded from the elements. It is much more likely that Jesus and the disciples were exposed to the wind, waves, and rain if rain was also present.

The first thing in this passage that amazes me is the level of trust and faith Jesus displays in God. Through one of the worst flash storms the lake experiences, Jesus sleeps through it. This could only happen because Jesus had complete trust and faith in God. Jesus knew His live was not going to end at the bottom of the lake, so He knew God would keep Him safe. It’s also likely that Satan was behind this storm in an attempt to stop Jesus from reaching the cross.

Let’s continue reading to discover what happens next. While the wind is raging and the waves continue crashing into the boat, filling it with water, and Jesus continues sleeping, we pick back up in verse 25 where Matthew tells us:

²⁵ So they woke him up, saying, “Lord! Save us! We’re going to die!”

²⁶ Jesus said to them, “Why do you cowards have so little faith?” Then he got up, gave an order to the wind and the sea, and the sea became very calm.

²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”

As I read this event, I wonder what Jesus is actually challenging the disciples’ faith on. Many of these disciples were experts on the water, and this storm had them scared for their lives. On one hand, Jesus could be challenging them regarding their faith in God’s protection. I’m not sure if the disciples remembered or understood that they had protection because they were with Jesus, and that the Old Testament extended protection to Jesus’ followers that none, except the one who would betray Jesus, would be lost.  

But Jesus could have challenged the disciples’ faith from a different angle. This other angle challenges the disciples’ faith regarding the idea that they could challenge the wind and waves in Jesus’ name to be still. While Jesus had not sent them out in pairs to preach and heal others yet, the disciples did have enough evidence to have at least tried to ask God to help them.

I wonder what would have happened if one of the disciples had tried to challenge the wind and waves in Jesus’ name. Would that have displayed enough faith for a miracle? Or I wonder what would have happened if the disciples had cried out to God to calm the storm for them. Would God have answered the disciples’ prayer while Jesus was sleeping?

While we can only speculate about what these alternate outcomes might have been in the disciples’ case, we can learn from these alternate paths when we face challenges and problems in our own lives. When faced with something challenging or impossible, we can lose heart and give up, or we can cry out to God for help!

However, in this event, we discover how the disciples fall into a trap that we are capable of falling into, even if their situation is a little different from ours. The disciples fall into the trap in this event believing someone else has a better connection to God than they did, and more specifically, that God is more willing to answer this other person’s request than He would be if they asked it.

While in the disciples’ case, this Someone is Jesus, and Jesus does have an excellent connection with the Father. However, I don’t believe for an instant that God the Father would only answer Jesus’ prayers while Jesus’ best friends on earth were in trouble. Jesus did have a better connection with God than the disciples did, but that does not mean that God would be less willing to answer their prayers or cries for help.

In our own lives, we might not have as great of a relationship with Jesus as we see other people having. We might even look back and wish we lived during the first century and could have walked and talked with Jesus personally. However, while there is always the temptation to think that someone else is better connected with God than we are, we should never let this fear affect our faith that God loves us and that He really does want to answer our prayers.

It is easy to be tempted that someone else’s prayers are more valuable than your own, but this temptation is a lie from Satan. God loves you and He wants to help you when you ask for help. While God answers prayers from a different perspective than we are in, God’s goal is saving us for eternity; even if that means that the answer He gives us in this instant doesn’t appear to be helpful.

We can trust that God has our best, eternal interests in mind, and that He is more than willing to help us when we pray to Him!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first and place your hope, faith, trust, and belief in Him. Know that God loves you and that He is more than willing to listen and answer your prayers. Never doubt God’s love or believe Satan’s lie than another person’s prayers are more valuable than yours are. God loves you and He wants a close relationship with you personally!

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow personally closer to God and to learn what He wants to teach you. While a pastor, author, speaker, or even a podcaster can give you ideas to think about, be sure to filter everything through what you read in the pages of God’s Word.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we move through our year focusing on Mark’s gospel, let’s jump over one of Jesus’ most famous miracles and focus in on a miracle that happened on a much smaller scale, but a miracle that may have stood out in the minds of the disciples a little more. Part way through Mark, chapter 6, we find Mark sharing the only miracle that all four gospel writers include. This is the miracle of the feeding a crowd of over 5,000 people.

After this miracle has taken place, we jump into our event that we’ll be focusing in on for our time together this episode. This means that our passage for this episode will come from Mark’s gospel (which is no surprise there), chapter 6, and we will read from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 45, Mark wraps up the miracle of feeding the 5,000 by telling us:

⁴⁵ Jesus quickly made his disciples get into a boat and cross to Bethsaida ahead of him while he sent the people away. ⁴⁶ After saying goodbye to them, he went up a mountain to pray. ⁴⁷ When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.

⁴⁸ Jesus saw that they were in a lot of trouble as they rowed, because they were going against the wind. Between three and six o’clock in the morning, he came to them. He was walking on the sea. He wanted to pass by them. ⁴⁹ When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought, “It’s a ghost!” and they began to scream. ⁵⁰ All of them saw him and were terrified.

Immediately, he said, “Calm down! It’s me. Don’t be afraid!” ⁵¹ He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped blowing. The disciples were astounded. ⁵² (They didn’t understand what had happened with the loaves of bread. Instead, their minds were closed.)

Let’s pause reading here briefly because I want to point out what Mark has just told us. While Mark mentions that the disciples were astounded at Jesus and that the wind stopped blowing at the instant Jesus stepped into the boat with them, Mark also includes an interesting side note. Verse 52 tells us that the disciples didn’t understand what had happened with the loaves of bread because their minds were closed.

As I think about this side-note Mark included in his gospel, part of me wanted this verse to read that the disciples’ minds were closed because God wasn’t ready for them to fully understand the significance of what Jesus had done. However, nothing like this is suggested in this passage or in this context.

Instead, the context is the disciples fighting the storm and Jesus walking to them on the water. At the end of what had occurred that night, it wouldn’t surprise many people that the events of the miraculous feeding of a huge crowd was diminished in the minds of these disciples who were likely very sleep deprived while also making very little progress crossing the lake.

Part of me wonders if the disciples had closed off their own minds to Jesus and to the significance of this earlier miracle because they were simply overwhelmed with what they had just been through.

This detail reminds me of the truth that our current problems will always appear to be bigger than our past problems, and the further in the past a problem is, the less significant it appears. It is the same when we look at something that is far away. It always appears smaller than when we are right next to it. When we have a lot of distance between a problem we once faced and where we are today, that problem will always appear less significant than the challenges in our lives today.

While it is crazy to think about, someone who had been homeless for several months a decade or more ago might be more stressed out tomorrow morning about what they will wear from a closet of clean clothes then about their homelessness, even though their homeless state was significantly more stressful at that time of their lives.

With the disciples, while their stomachs had been satisfied through the miracle of food multiplication, they had moved on to the most immediate challenge and their minds were closed to the significance of this miracle.

If the disciples missed the significance of the miracle where Jesus fed the huge crowd, is it possible we too can miss what God is doing in our lives today?

Are our lives so full of distractions that we miss seeing all the amazing miracles that God is doing in the world around us?

Are our lives so focused on screens that we miss the beauty of creation?

While I cannot answer these questions for you, I can certainly say that God has been challenging me at this point in my life with busyness and intentionally staying connected with Him. I will be the first to say that I probably miss more than I should with regards to what God is doing in the world around me.

However, I know that passages like this and specifically challenges like this help me refocus my life onto Jesus.

Before ending this episode, I want to draw our attention onto what happened after Jesus and the disciples reach the far shore. Picking back up in verse 53, Mark tells us that:

⁵³ They crossed the sea, came to shore at Gennesaret, and anchored there.

⁵⁴ As soon as they stepped out of the boat, the people recognized Jesus. ⁵⁵ They ran all over the countryside and began to carry the sick on cots to any place where they heard he was. ⁵⁶ Whenever he would go into villages, cities, or farms, people would put their sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch the edge of his clothes. Everyone who touched his clothes was made well.

In these few summary verses, I get a clear reminder that even simple faith in Jesus is enough to work miracles in our lives. Those people living in that area had the faith that simply touching Jesus’ clothing would be enough to make them well. This is amazing faith, and it is also simple faith. I see this passage challenging me to step out of the busyness of my life and back into being better connected with God! Perhaps it can be the same sort of challenge for you too!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to place your hope, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus. Intentionally make time to step out of the busyness we all face and intentionally take the time to rest with God. God promised us regular rest in His daily and weekly cycle for our lives, and following His pattern for our lives is what ultimately works the best for our health and wellbeing.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. A strong relationship with God will help us face the trials that come into our lives, and a strong relationship with God helps our minds be open to seeing and understanding what He is doing in the world today.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!