Reflecting on Luke 8:22-25
"In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this?" (Luke 8:25)This is the most important question for us to ask.
Put aside your Sunday School and Catechism answers for now.
Get into the boat in the storm, and experience this moment with Jesus.
Feel to fear and the amazement you would feel if you were there.
My fear is that we have become to familiar with Jesus.
And not in a good way, but in a way that blinds us to Who He is.
This applies not only to the ‘extreme’ miracles of Jesus.
Stopping a storm, raising the dead, multiplying food, walking on water.
Many reject these as the overactive imaginations of religious devotees.
As religious myths made up to make Jesus look divine.
But what if we listen again to His radical teachings?
His message and His Way itself are enough to make Jesus look divine!
The real miracle to me is His message about radical love and compassion.
Jesus’s teaching was the truly ‘extreme’ thing.
In fear and amazement, His message makes me ask, Who is this???
I don’t believe in Jesus because of the extreme miracles.
I believe in Jesus because of the extreme teaching.
It is this radical message that makes it easy for me to accept the miracles.
His message is so obviously NOT HUMAN, it must be from God.
And if so, then the miracles are not impossible for God.
Our world is being swamped by gale force selfishness, lust, cruelty, greed.
We’re sinking because of our own lack of love, compassion, kindness, generosity.
Jesus is a living rebuke of the chaos and misery, and brings peace.
Jesus teaches and embodies love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness…
Gentleness, faithfulness and self-control… the storm killers!
While the world is frantic in the storm, Jesus is calm, at peace and rest in God.
Jesus is the Way to experience calm in the storm.
And by the Way, I mean the Way He lived and loved and embodied goodness.
When we face storms and crises in this world, we react like the disciples.
We frantically try to control them, to overcome the chaos with force.
Our actions and reactions only magnify the problem, make the storm worse.
We do not trust Jesus and the Jesus Way of love, joy, peace, etc.
We can learn from Jesus, if we have faith in Him, and stay calm, be at peace.
Remain focused on love, joy, peace, etc, even when evil comes.
For though this may seem weak, it is the weakness of God.
And God’s ‘weakness’ is still stronger than any force or power.
I am comforted by the calm, peaceful way of Jesus in the storm.
I am convicted by it too, because that is now how I respond.
I am compelled by it, I want to experience His peace, His calm in the storm.
I want to live in and out His gracious, loving, compassionate Way.
Do I trust (have faith in) Jesus and the Jesus Way?
Will I rebuke the gales of selfishness, cruelty, violence, and greed?
Will I do so with the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness of Jesus?
Jesus invites me to find my peace and calm in Him.
This is how we will calm the storms and overcome the chaos of sin.
It is not because of His extreme miracles that I believe in Jesus.
It is because of His extreme message that I believe in Jesus.
His message convinces me that He is not just another human teacher.
His radical call to and example of love is what compels me to say:
Who is this… this can only be God with us!
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, You have calmed more than the weather around me, You have calmed the storm in me. And You have convinced me that Your Way - God's Way - is the most extreme and radical force on earth. I believe in You and Your Way. Help me to live it out through whatever storms I encounter.