4th Sunday after Epiphany – February 2nd, 2025
Trinity Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas
Rev. Joshua Woelmer
Text: Matthew 8:23–27
“Jesus Brings Us through the Storms of Life”
Theme: Jesus has power over the winds and the waves; our faith trusts in him, even when it seems like he’s sleeping.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Personal reading of the Bible is a good practice for every Christian to have. Indeed, whether it is one verse a day or a chapter a day, it is important to read God’s Word and make it part of your life. Portals of Prayer is a great way of doing this, but there are also other reading plans that you can follow to get into the Bible. One important thing that I want to focus on today is something called meditation on God’s Word. After all, it’s one thing to read some words on a page and have them go in one ear and out the other. God wants His Word to sink into your soul and your memory—and eventually that it would come out through your words and bless others.
But how do you meditate on God’s Word? Our Gospel text for today is a great reading to learn how to do this, especially when you read anything from one of the Gospels.
First, just read the text once through if it’s long, and twice through if it’s short. Glance at the context—what comes before or after it. In Matthew 8, for example, we have Jesus healing a leper, a centurion’s son, Peter’s mother-in-law, and many who were sick with various ailments. After the stilling of the storm, Jesus heals two men who were possessed by demons. So the context tells us that Jesus is doing many miracles to demonstrate his divine power and to help those in need. That is doubly true of the disciples in a storm on the Sea of Galilee.
Next, no matter what book of the Bible you’re looking at, find where God is acting. This is very, very clear in the four Gospels: it’s Jesus. It may not be as clear in other books, like the Old Testament histories. God is sometimes right there doing things for his people, but sometimes he’s in the background, offering judgment on bad kings or helping his people in subtler ways. Ask yourself: What is God doing, and why? Is he acting through the Law to give commands, critique his people, punish them, or guide them? Or is he saving them by military action, mighty acts, or by proclaiming his mercy and grace for sinners?
Second, look at the humans in the text. Sometimes they are good examples. When they are doing good, they often serve as a picture of Jesus or as an encouragement to us in how to live. Sometimes they are bad examples. We should not be like Jezebel or Ahab or Cain or Judas. Some people have redemption arcs in the Bible, where they stumble in sin but then are saved and redeemed by God. Peter denied Jesus but then was forgiven. Thomas doubted but then sees Jesus’s wounds.
There are several questions you should ask about these people. What are the challenges that they are facing? How are they reacting to those challenges? What might be going through their mind? Do those thoughts go through my mind? How can I see their struggles in my life or in the life of others I know? You might not be suffering from leprosy, but you can imagine the consequences of that disease—the isolation, sickness, and desperation. You might never have been on a boat in a storm on the Sea of Galilee, but you can put yourself in their shoes and understand how you would act similarly.
So, let’s meditate together on the Stilling of the Storm from Matthew 8. I’ve already given you the context for it. I will go ahead and read it again for you. Sometimes reading things multiple times helps with understanding. “When [Jesus] 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?”
First, where is God in this passage? That’s easy: it’s Jesus. We know and confess that he is true God. Even before we read what he does, we know what he’s capable of. But, there is something surprising about what Jesus is doing. That’s the important part of this parable: he’s sleeping! Why might Jesus be sleeping? One answer could certainly be that Jesus is also human. He’s a tired and worn out man after preaching and doing miracles and serving people constantly. Jesus is the sort of man who becomes tired and worn out for our sake.
But understanding Jesus also as God, we can also know that it can seem to us like God is sleeping—that he doesn’t care about our problems. After all, the disciples were probably working their tails off to save their own lives, and here Jesus is just sleeping! What is God doing, and why? God is inviting the disciples to wake him, to pray to him, to go to him in the time of their distress. That is what they do.
Let’s turn now to them, the humans in the Bible story. Here they are very relatable to us. Even if you’ve never been on a boat in the middle of the storm, your imagination can probably go wild with the chaos and fear. Not only are there plenty of boats-in-storms movies like “Perfect Storm,” but many of us would probably get seasick even in moderate waves, let alone violent storms. In a storm, you never know where the next wave is going to come from. A boat is tossed up and down, it’s pushed side-to-side, and water is getting everywhere. The disciples feel like they are going to die. Jesus is their last hope, the one they pray to in desperation.
Again, we can ask questions that tie them to us: How are they reacting to the challenges they are facing? Do their thoughts go through my mind too? The truth is, we would probably react exactly the same as them. Even if we are not in their exact situation, we certainly can feel chaotic in our minds as we deal with sin in the world, sin in our lives, problems in relationships, temptations and a whole host of other things. Sometimes they hit us one after another.
“O you of little faith,” fear not. Whether Christ your Lord stands up in answer to your prayers and calms the storms of your life, or whether he allows them to continue for a time, the wonderful lesson of this text is that He is with you through it all. He does not truly sleep, but he has allowed these storms in your life in order to strengthen your faith and draw you to pray to him and lean on him. Jesus did save these disciples for a time, but the wider context of their lives is that all but one would die far greater deaths than drowning. Many would be crucified, one flayed alive, another killed with a spear, and so on and so forth. They approached their martyrdoms without fear of pain or death, for they had learned to live by faith, that to die with Christ means that you do not truly perish, for there is more to the storm than meets the eye.
There is much more to every Bible story than meets the eye. As you study the Bible, ask questions of it. Not every question will have a quick and ready answer, but ask them important questions: where is God in this story, and what is he doing for man, for me? What are the humans doing? How can I identify with them—or avoid what they are doing? There are more, of course—we can ask what the Bible teaches us, how it might correct us, or rebuke falsehood, or guide us how to walk. In the end, the Bible strengthens our faith and trust in Jesus. May we too echo what the disciples learned after Jesus stilled the storm in their lives: “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (27).
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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