Matthew 8:24-26

[Guest]

Hi michelle-

mark's version is the only one that says the disciples implied that Jesus didnt care about them dying (of course they were being a little melodramatic!). But I think Jesus got on them for this attitude, implying "what did you guys think- that I was going to let you drown? have some faith in me!

regarding their ability to deal with the storm, i no longer think that jesus was getting on them about that. i think it was the fact that they approached him the way they did. they did seem a little sarcastic.

here's the Message version:

A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, "Teacher, is it nothing to you that we're going down?"
Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, "Quiet! Settle down!" The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: "Why are you such cowards? Don't you have any faith at all?"

Rae said that perhaps "rebuke" was too strong of a word. Possibly so, but almost all of the commentaries i checked out said that it was a rebuke. maybe a gentle one!

TK

[Guest]

Rae said that perhaps "rebuke" was too strong of a word. Possibly so, but almost all of the commentaries i checked out said that it was a rebuke. maybe a gentle one!

TK

Yeah, I know. I have several questions like this one, but they seem to go against the conventional wisdom, so I seldom ask them.

To me, for Jesus to rebuke the disciples just doesn't make sense. Storms on the water are scary; I've been in one and it wasn't pleasant, and I'm not an experienced boat-person. If the disciples were scared, they probably had good reason to be. If Jesus piled a rebuke on top of all that emotion, it just seems like overkill. Perhaps I'm projecting my own emotional make-up on the disciples, but the gospels record that their fear and amazement was a result of the miracle, not a rebuke. So, what purpose was served by chastising them?

It also seems odd that he would've expected their faith in him to have been stronger than it was. This was pretty early in his ministry, I think, and was just after the Sermon on the Mount. As I asked earlier, why would they expect him to affect the weather like that? Had he given an indication that he could?

To me the question, "How is it that you have no faith?" was more of an aside, meaning that they didn't yet realize who he really was. I think. I'm probably really wrong, however.

One more disturbing aspect, to me anyway, is that if Jesus was rebuking the disciples...like if he was very disappointed in their lack of faith, and here they were just finding out about him, just that day hearing the Sermon on the Mount and not yet having witnessed the transfiguration, resurrection, or the ascention; how must Jesus react to my lack of faith, who has all that to look back on? I'm always afraid that God is really disappointed in me. I struggle with thinking that if I truly knew what was on God's mind in regard to me, I would cringe with shame and humiliation. I'm reassured often that this is not the case, but the fear surfaces within me from time to time. What about this story would be reassuring if Jesus was upset with his disciples?

[Guest]

One thing that really formed my mental idea of what jesus was like is the DVD of the The Book of Matthew (The visual Bible). its a video depiction of the book of matthew using only the actual text. the actor who plays jesus, to me, probably comes very close to what Jesus was actually like. I cant remember for sure, but in this storm at sea episode I am pretty sure he was smiling at his disciples when he "rebuked" them.

I highly recommend this video- it is really excellent.

the amazon link is here:

http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Bible-Matt ... 446&sr=1-1

TK

[Guest]

Those are all good points. We may be much closer in our understanding than I at first thought. By this time in the ministry, Jesus had healed several people that no one else had apparently been able to help. Peter's mother-in-law was just one of multiple examples. From that, I extrapolated that the disciples at least knew he could do the unusual if not the miraculous. So, in the middle of the storm, he was their only possible hope. But, I'm not sure that that is a very accurate way to read the scriptures and I'm probably reading much more into that viewpoint than a good teacher would do. It may simply have been a figure of speech. If not, I'm back to faith in what or who.