Jesus' Power over a Stormy Sea

Jesus even amazed His closest disciples by calming the Sea of Galilee, when its raging, stormy waters threatened to overwhelm their boat.

Several of Jesus’ followers made their living as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, a freshwater lake that is part of the Jordan River system. This below-sea-level lake, surrounded by hills, experiences abrupt temperature shifts and violent storms when clouds dive from the sheer cliffs down to the lake.

One day, late in the afternoon, Jesus invited His followers to make the 10-kilometer trip across the lake's other side. So they clambered into a boat and started out. Other boats joined them. A huge storm developed quickly. Water poured into the boat as waves washed over them. The boat was sinking!

Where was Jesus? In the stern, sleeping soundly on a pillow! His followers shook him. “Teacher, we’re dying! Don’t you care?”

Jesus woke up and spoke sternly to the wind and water: “Hush! Calm down!” It was as if the wind ran out of breath! The lake became like glass! Then Jesus turned to his followers.

“What’s wrong? You’re afraid? Don’t you have any faith?”

They were awestruck, dumbfounded. “Who is this man? He speaks and the wind and water listen!”

On another evening when clouds could quite possibly be seen forming over the hills, Jesus insisted that His followers get in the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side while He dismissed a crowd. When the last person had left, Jesus climbed the mountain so He could be alone to pray. He prayed late into the night.

While He was praying, His followers in the boat had gotten far from land, and the wind and waves were beating against them. Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus walked on the water right up to them. This scared them more than the storm. “A ghost!”

Jesus wasted no time in comforting them. “It’s okay; it is I, Jesus. No need to fear.”

Peter gained some courage. “Master, if it’s really you, help me walk on the water, too.”

“Okay. Come on.”

Peter went over the side and actually walked on the water toward Jesus! But as he walked, he noticed the tempestuous wind and waves and lost his courage. He started to sink and cried for help. “Save me, Master!”

In an instant, Jesus grabbed him. Then He said, “You don’t have much faith! You were doing well; why did you doubt?”

They both climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. Jesus’ followers had watched the whole thing, and now they worshiped Jesus. “Now we know for sure! You are God’s Son!”

This was the very first time any of Jesus’ followers called Jesus God’s Son. They had seen Jesus perform many miracles before, but these experienced fishermen, who were accustomed to storms on this lake, had been terrified by these storms. But when Jesus came along walking on that tumultuous, terrifying, seemingly out-of-control sea, He showed them that He was in control. They saw that Jesus was definitely more powerful than nature. He was supernatural. They may have been thinking of Psalm 89, which attributes the ruling of the oceans and the subduing of storm-tossed waves to God. Or maybe they thought of Psalm 107, which tells the story of sailors crying for help and God stilling the waves to a whisper. Jesus was doing things that only God could do.

Jesus’ followers were beginning to understand how he could control the laws of nature. Later, one of them wrote this about Him: He “was God . . . everything was created through Him; not one thing came into being without Him.”