On that day, when evening had come, He told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” So they left the crowd and took Him along since He was already in the boat. And other boats were with Him. A fierce windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him up and said to Him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?”

He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Then He said to them, “Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?”

And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (Mark 4:35-41)

The disciples went from being afraid of a storm to being afraid of Jesus. After leaving a crowd of people, Jesus and his disciples got in a boat and headed across the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is a harp-shaped, freshwater lake in the northern part of Israel about seven hundred feet below sea level. Thirteen miles long, It is surrounded by hills over a thousand feet high. Because of them, abrupt temperature shifts occur, leading to sudden and very violent storms on the lake. Just such a storm blew up while Jesus and his disciples were attempting to cross the water.

The storm scared the disciples. They were experienced fishermen who had spent their lives on the lake and they knew that many men had perished in its deep waters. But when they awakened Jesus, rather than joining their panic, he simply made the storm stop.

Where they had been terrified of the storm, they suddenly became terrified by Jesus. The disciples knew from the Old Testament that only the creator of the world had the ability to start and stop storms. For the disciples, it was their first realization that Jesus was more than human. Jesus wondered at their lack of faith. The disciples realized with his spectacular miracle that Jesus had good reason for his wondering. Faith comes from understanding, from knowing, who or what we are putting our faith in. Fear was the beginning of such knowledge for Jesus disciples. The longer they were with Jesus, the more their faith would grow. The same will happen to us, too.

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