March 20: The Peace Speaker

Jesus Tells the Parable of a Lamp on a Stand

Mark 4:21-29

Jesus Tells the Parable of the Mustard Seed

Mark 4:30-34

Matthew 13:31-35

Luke 13:18-21

Jesus Tells the Parable of the Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30

Matthew 13:36-43

Jesus Calms the Storm

Mark 4:35-41

Matthew 8:23-27

Luke 8:22-25

The account of Jesus’ calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee is found in all three Synoptic Gospels. What I found of interest is how the three writers recorded Jesus’ actions and words in actually calming the sea and wind.

Matthew 8:26, "Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm."

Luke 8:24, "He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm."

Mark 4:39, "He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!'"

Mark is the only writer who actually recorded the words that Jesus said in calming the seas. Like the rest of the New Testament, the Gospel of Mark was originally written in Greek. The tense of the original language implies that before Jesus had even spoken the words, the miracle had occurred simply by his will.

The Sea of Galilee was then and is still now known for its great storms that would quickly come up unexpected. So it seems that even quicker than the storm arose, Jesus was able by his words – and even more so by his sheer will – to calm that storm!

The same can happen in the storms of your life.  Jesus is there with you, and he is more than willing and able to calm those raging seas.