According to Nelson’s Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible, there were two mountains in Galilee that were formed by earthquakes. They are Mount Tabor and Mount Arbel. We climbed the gentle rising ascent to Mount Arbel on all five of our tours of Israel. On the top of Mount Arbel, we can see the whole lake of Galilee. The view is simply magnificent! From this perspective, you can see the arena of Jesus’ ministry: the valley of Gennosar, the Mount of the Beatitudes, Capernaum, the blue waters of the Sea of Galilee, and the Golan Heights beyond. This rise is known as the Arbela. Across from it is the Golan. It’s a rise as well, and these two, the Golan and the Arbela, according to one commentator, “are responsible for creating the winds that blow over the lake and produce ferocious storms. The lake is 690 feet below sea level; it is 15 miles long and six miles wide.” Because of the hills surrounding the lake, which produce wind tunnels, it is prone to violent storms that come upon it quickly. Several of Jesus’ disciples made their living as fishermen on this lake. They feared these storms that were not uncommon.
In Matthew 8:23-27 we read about one of these storms overcoming the boat in which Jesus and his fishermen disciples were. As the storm increased in intensity, the disciples cried out to Jesus for help. Jesus was resting peacefully in the boat and sleeping soundly. No storm could shake Him! The disciples woke Jesus and pleaded for help. Jesus rebuked them for two things. They were afraid, and they lacked faith. Butler says, “First, the rebuking of their fear. ‘Why are ye fearful?’ The word translated as fearful in meaning ‘denotes cowardice and timidity and is never used in a good sense’ (Vine). The disciples’ fear was an insult to Christ. Our fleshly fears dishonor God. Second, the rebuking of their faith. ‘O ye of little faith.’ Christ’s evaluation of their faith was doubtless not what they thought about their faith. We have a tendency to evaluate ourselves much higher than God does. They probably thought they had great faith, but Christ says they had ‘little faith.’ Faith is important to God. ‘Without faith, it is impossible to please Him’ (Hebrews 11:6). We all need more faith, and if the disciples only had ‘little faith,’ how much greater would Christ rebuke us who are far less spiritual than the disciples.”
Don’t we have Jesus with us? Isn’t He in our boat? We have nothing to fear! Every storm in life is under His control. Jesus takes care of storms. He not only rebuked the disciples for their fear and lack of faith, but He went on to rebuke the storm itself. Verse 26 says, “He…rebuked the winds and the sea.” Knowing humans and being one myself, the rebuke to the natural world was more effective than the rebuke for being afraid and lacking faith in us. Christ ordered the storm to stop. The emphasis here is on God’s authority over nature. Christ spoke, and it was done. There followed, as the text says, “…a great calm.” But, humans, unlike the natural order, have been gifted, or cursed, with some sense of free will. We don’t have to obey or take rebukes to heart. I struggle with this, don’t you? In my life, fear is always the result of little faith. There are so many passages in the Bible where God directs us to “fear not.” Yet, I find myself afraid of a lot of things in life. One example is in 1 Chronicles 28:20. It says, “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you.” Christ told his disciples that he would be with us until the end of the age. May that truth bring a “great calm” to our lives during the storms we experience in this life.