Who Is This? – Luke 8:22-25

The title of today’s sermon comes from the disciples’ response when Jesus “got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm… But they were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?” (v 24b-25). As Jesus calms the sea and demonstrates his supreme power as Creator God, Luke’s account will reveal more of who Jesus Christ is.

The setting takes place in the Sea of Galilee (today known as Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth). It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth located in Israel with mountains all around. The geology of the Sea of Galilee region is prone to sudden violent storms due to its low-lying position in the rift valley, surrounded by hills. As Jesus and his disciples are sailing across the sea to get to the other side, they find themselves in the midst of a storm. Jesus is asleep when the disciples wake him up as they surely thought they would perish. Even though most of the disciples were experienced fishermen familiar with the storms that often happen, they were fearful for their lives in this particular storm and cried out to Jesus.

In God’s sovereignty, Jesus demonstrates his divine providence as he wakes. Divine providence asserts that God is in control of all things and provided through Jesus Christ. The purpose of God’s providence is for the greater good of God’s glory and for the Christian’s benefit. The best way Jesus demonstrates his special providence is when he provides the gift of repentance and faith to the sinner. Christ’s gift of repenting grace rescues the sinner who is lost and promises to eternally provide through his interceding.

Christians are able to maximize and experience God’s daily provision through obedience and seeing everything through the eyes of God. Christians are able to entrust everything in the Creator because Jesus is impassible. Whatever the circumstances, Jesus is sovereign as he is God. And is it especially true in suffering when Christians might feel discouraged or even doubt their faith when Jesus, who is impassible, will rescue the perishing as he is near.