Jesus is in our boat and we will get to the other side - Luke 8:22-56
[6th April 2025]
22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, 23 and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. 24 And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marvelled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”
Some of the disciples were professional fishermen and were used to the Sea of Galilee, so this one must have been very unexpected and severe to frighten them.
This wasn’t an accident. Jesus knew in advance exactly what was going to happen. Jesus had a clear intent to go to the other side of the lake for a specific purpose – to cast the demons out of a severely possessed man named Legion, which he ultimately did. He was not going to be deflected. Jesus was free to sleep until they got to the other side - he knew he would get there and his disciples with him. Jesus is with us in the boat and we will get to other side. Little did the disciples know that they had God the Son in the boat with them.
This story is the first of four encounters in succession recorded in Luke ch8 in which Jesus transforms supernaturally four very different, unpleasant situations which the disciples were going to encounter with Jesus. They are messy situations alien to the Kingdom of God. Out of each one Jesus emerges victorious:
Firstly they meet a storm which Jesus rebukes and stops in a few words - a frightening threat in the natural world; then they encounter the demons in the demon-possessed man Legion which are cast out at Jesus’ command - spiritual wickedness; then they meet the desperate woman with a haemorrhage who is healed merely by touching the hem of Jesus’ garment - physical disease; and finally they encounter the dead body of Jairus’ daughter whom Jesus raises from the dead by taking the dead girl’s hand - death.
This was an apprenticeship for the 12 disciples, they were being taught that the world is a messy place currently, with many things working against what God wants for his Kingdom. Jesus confronts and defeats every one of these broken anti-Kingdom of God dimensions: natural disaster, the demonic world, painful disease and death.
Now we know that in the end God wins … I’ve read the end of the book.
Rev 21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”
All four non-Kingdom elements: the sea, the source of natural disaster, the demonic, physical disease and death, are listed as defeated in these verses of Revelation 21. These “former things” of our present life will pass away, defeated at the cross.
I think Jesus was wanting his disciples, and us, to learn how to cope with these troubles with a victorious mindset, in Jesus’ power and victory that is. Jesus has defeated all of them.
In Acts 14:22, Paul tells new Christians: “Through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God.”. This is a spiritual law, whose purpose I don’t yet fully understand, but which we know is true in lived experience. This wasn’t said by Paul to discourage those new Christians, but to encourage them to persevere. We are entering God’s Kingdom, a realm of total victory. We must remember however that we pass through all tribulations in this life accompanied by the Lord, because Jesus is with us in the boat as it were.
How do we follow? The Christian can cope with the difficulties of the Christian life because we know of Christ’s final victory. In these four encounters with Jesus … we catch glimpse of what is to come.
And we can be reassured because Jesus is with us in the boat even when he seems to be sleeping. This our faith and hope. We will reach the other side, defeating even death.