On the surface, there was nothing about last week that made it worse than any other week. However, I came across an unusual number of people in deep crisis. Although they were all deeply committed Christians, they were being buffeted by "storms" that were in some cases life threatening, and in others threatened to ruin their career.

In one of the Bible passages I was reading last week, I could not help noticing the relevance of the passage (Matthew 8:23-27) to what these folk experiencing. Jesus' disciples were overwhelmed by a "furious storm", as they were crossing the Sea of Galilee and feared for their lives, but Jesus was sleeping through the whold drama, until they woke him in fear. In Mark's version of the incident the disciples actually accused Jesus of being unconcerned at their plight, saying: "Don't you care?"

That is certainly how we feel often when we encounter one of the inevitable "storms" of life, our prayers seem to go unanswered and the storm gets worse, rather than better. When Jesus seems to be doing nothing about the problem that is causing us so much distress, we easily jump to the conclusion that he "doesn't care."

Jesus' first rebuke is directed to his disciples, not for waking him up, but for their fear: "Why are you so afraid?" This question seems strange to us, because we can understand their fear. Most of us would be scared witless by the prospect of being overwhelmed by the storm's fury.

Some of Jesus' disciples were experienced sailors. Their past experience, their perception of the current circumstances and their common sense all told them that they were in a desperate and dangerous situation. The one factor that was different was that Jesus was with them! However, they had no experience of Jesus handling that kind of situation. Healing sickness and driving out demons was, on the surface, vastly removed from coping with a furious storm of nature.

Jesus, of course, can and did quieten the storm with a single word, and the disciples' reaction was to ask "What kind of man is this?" That is really the heart of the matter, and the challenge to us in relation to our faith. It is not about what we perceive as to the nature of the problem that we face, nor our past experience, nor the experience of others. It is not whether we have experience of Jesus dealing whth such a problem in the past, nor even whether he seems to be "awake" to our problem. The real issue is how we answer the question "What kind of man is this?"

So long as Jesus is with us, and he has assured us that he will never leave, we can be assured, on the basis of his character that we do not need to be afraid of any storm, no matter how high the waves may be, or even how much water is getting into the boat...He is that kind of man!

It is worth noting, for it is an important dimension to any problem that we face, that there are suggestions in this story that there was demonic power at work in the storm. That is certainly the case in the following story in Matthew of the demon-possessed men. The recognition of the reality and power of demonic forces at work in the world is an important first step in our gaining the victory over them. When we understand that we are engaged in a struggle against "the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms", rather than against "flesh and blood", we can better understand why people behave so strangely. But we also need to recognise that Jesus had authority over the lot! He is that kind of man!

Jesus never promised that those who followed him would have lives free from stress, strain and danger. In fact, he promised the very opposite! Even though he himself had supreme authority and power, Jesus was attached and tempted by the devil and his demonic assistants throughout his brief career. And he assured us that his disciples could expect the same kind of treatment. In the world we will encounter trouble, but we are to be of good cheer, because he has overcome the world. He is that kind of man.

John Davies
21July 2002