Failed Faith – Matthew 8:23-27

I remember the first time I went on a boat so far out into the ocean that I couldn’t see any land anywhere. It was a weird feeling to think I was totally dependent on the integrity of that boat to keep from dying. Or was I? Why didn’t I think in that moment that I was totally dependent on Jesus to keep me from dying?

This next miracle of Jesus challenges this immediate failure of faith in believers.

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 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 8:23-27 ESV)

Matthew launches into his account of another triad of miracles, at the end of which there will be another discipleship pronouncement.

The disciples have been seeing miracle after miracle performed by Jesus but when confronted with a violent storm and their near swamping of their boat, they are genuinely terrified that they will drown. Did they believe Jesus would perish, also? They cry out to Jesus to wake up and rescue them.  So they have faith that he can rescue them.  But Jesus rebukes them for being afraid and having little faith.  Can we really have enough faith in God’s sovereignty over our lives that we wouldn’t cave in to fear in a threatening situation? Jesus seems to think so for his disciples.

Their faith is not enough to rid them of fear in the face of death.  Can anything happen to them that is outside the will of God?  Of course not!  Would it or could it ever be God’s will for them to die?  Of course!  But, since all of our life is subject to His will, we trust that He knows what He is doing even if it means death is the next step for us.

Though the disciples ask Jesus to rescue them they are not prepared for the way he does it.  It blows their minds, makes them marvel, that he merely needs to speak a rebuke and the wind and waves obey him.  We find ourselves astonished also when Jesus works so powerfully.  We believe at times that he is figuratively sleeping, not attending to us, maybe not even caring for us, until he does something so amazing to reorder our lives that feel we learn something new about him.  Our faith is little, immature, not yet full and robust. It is not yet like Abraham’s faith when he took his son Isaac to be sacrificed, or like the Centurion when he knew Jesus merely needed to speak a command and it would be so.

That’s the kind of faith Jesus wants us to have. So before he rebukes whatever is threatening us, he may need to rebuke us.