Hello and welcome to Fridays podcast. Thank you for joining in this week. It has been great to read the Bible together and look to apply what we are hearing.

REFLECTION:

Today we are continuing to see the story of Jesus unfold as he performs signs and wonders. It is literally awe inspiring. Each miracle story is given that we might know something about who Jesus is and what he came to do. Like yesterday we have 3 more action packed stories.

We’ll be focussing on Jesus calming the storm. So here it is, reading from Matthew 8:23-27.

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”  He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.  The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Again, this is a story all about the power of Jesus. It leaves the followers of Jesus asking a very important question. Did you spot it? “The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this?” Who on earth is Jesus?

We’re going to try and look at that question together today and look at the 3 things Jesus does. 1. He sleeps.

2. He replies to the disciples.

3. He rebukes nature.

The first point might be the most important for us to hear today. Jesus slept. I wonder if there are some of us out there that need to be reminded of that today. There is an American church leader called Rick Warren, who wrote a best-selling book a few years back called “the Purpose Driven life”. One of my favourite quotes from Rick Warren is this: “sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap.” In other words, how is our work rest balance tight now? Mines a little out of kilter. We’re at the start of the academic year, we are planning a move and Lucy returned to work a few weeks back. In preparing this reflection I can hear Holy Spirit bringing a gentle challenge. Even Jesus slept. It is important because there will always be work that needs to be done. There will always be people that need to be helped. But we are not God, I am not the Messiah and intentional rest reminds us of that. But even God rests! I won’t unpack here the implications of Sabbath in the Bible but there are some fantastic resources out there such as Garden City and The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. Have a search online or talk it through in clusters if you feel God is speaking to you about this.

The second thing Jesus does is he replies to the disciples. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”  The Sea of Galilee is 700 feet below sea level and just 30 miles to the north is Mount Hermon, 9,200 feet high. Within 30 miles, you have 10,000 feet high down to below sea level.

What that means is you have constant clashing of the cold air from the mountains and the warm air coming up from the Sea of Galilee, and as a result, the Sea of Galilee was a place with lots of storms, lots of squalls, lots of thunder-boomers. Of course, anyone who was a fisherman, like the disciples, who were professional fishermen on the Sea of Galilee … They certainly were used to them, but this must have been an incredible storm because as experienced sailors they were, they thought they were going to die. There must have been legitimate cause for concern.

If we are a Christian, new to all of this or a season professional, and we have the idea that once we give our life to Christ things are going to go well in your life, that once we give your life to Christ things will fall into place … That’s a delusion. The Bible nowhere says anything like that.