The Calming of the Storm / Matthew 8:23-27

Back into the Gospel of Matthew

It is great to be with you. We are back in the book of Matthew! We’ve been away for a little while, so I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 8. It’s an exciting text that we have the privilege to look at today. A special welcome to those of you joining us this weekend via video—we are so glad you’re here with us as well.

We’ve been journeying through the book of Matthew for a number of weeks—months, actually—and we have seen a couple of significant sections thus far. In chapters 1 through 4, we saw His genealogy and His early story as Matthew pens it. Then in chapters 5 through 7, we witnessed the greatest sermon ever preached: the Sermon on the Mount.

Now, in chapter 8, Matthew begins recording miracles. He groups these not necessarily in strict chronological order, but in order to demonstrate a clear point. The first three miracles we saw in chapter 8 all dealt with the issue of healing, specifically disease. Matthew showed us a Jewish man—a leper—who was cleansed. Then a Gentile slave healed through the faith of his master, a Roman centurion. And finally, a woman—Peter’s mother-in-law—healed at the culmination of that first trio of miracles.

Miracles authenticate the message and the messenger. In order for Jesus to demonstrate to the Jewish people—the primary audience to whom Matthew is writing—that He is indeed the long-awaited Messiah, these miracles stand as undeniable proof.

What Is True Faith?

What is fascinating about those first three healing miracles is the common thread Jesus weaves throughout each story: the issue of faith. Jesus commends the faith of people we would never expect to have great faith. A leper comes and says, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” He knows Jesus has the ability, and Jesus commends his faith and says, “I am willing; be cleansed.” The Roman centurion says, “Lord, You don’t even need to come to my house. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Jesus marvels and says He hasn’t found faith like this even in Israel. A Gentile believes when others doubt!

This issue of faith is rising to the surface: Do you truly believe who I say that I am?

Up to this point, the disciples have been watching from the sidelines. They have seen other people in desperate need step forward in faith. But they haven’t yet been put in a situation where they personally had to demonstrate their view of Christ. That is all about to dramatically change. Jesus is going to place the Twelve in a circumstance where they must live out the reality of faith.

That begs the question: Biblically speaking, what do we mean when we talk about faith?

Scripturally, faith is a strong confidence or reliance on someone or something. It involves both the head and the heart, but it also involves the hands. It is something you believe intellectually, but it is also something that moves you to action. True faith is never merely intellectual; it is action-oriented. It will always be demonstrated by what you do.

Getting in the Wheelbarrow

On September 14, 1860, Charles Blondin became the first person to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. People traveled from all across Canada and the United States to watch this incredible feat. A man walking across a tightrope, 160 feet above the raging falls! And he didn’t just do it once; he did it several times. To up the ante each time, he walked across in a sack, on stilts, riding a bicycle, in the dark, and even blindfolded. The crowds were absolutely astonished by his skill and courage.

On one occasion, to take it to another level, he pushed a wheelbarrow with a sack of potatoes across the tightrope. The crowd went wild. As the story goes, he turned to the cheering audience and asked, “How many of you believe that I can carry a human being across in this wheelbarrow?”

The crowd enthusiastically shouted, “Yes! We believe you can do it!”

Then Blondin asked the poignant question: “Who is willing to get in the wheelbarrow?”

Silence. Nobody raised a hand. Not a single person volunteered that day. You see, they said they believed, but their actions proved otherwise. Faith isn’t just believing it’s possible; faith is getting in the wheelbarrow.

Well, the Twelve are about to have their opportunity to get in the wheelbarrow.

Leaving the Shore: Entering the Storm

Our story begins in Matthew chapter 8, picking up in verse 23. But the context really starts back in verse 18. After a long day of teaching and ministry, Jesus sees the crowd around Him and gives orders to go over to the other side. He tells the disciples they are leaving Capernaum on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee to head toward the Decapolis—the ten Gentile cities on the eastern side.

As a Jewish boy, you didn’t venture over to the east side. The north was home to Jewish communities, but the east was pagan territory. Yet Jesus says, “We’re going to the other side.” After a brief encounter with a scribe regarding the cost of discipleship, we read what happens next.

Matthew 8:23 (NASB)

When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.

They get into a first-century Jewish fishing boat. In 1986, during a severe drought in Israel, archaeologists discovered a preserved vessel on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee—now known as the “Jesus Boat”—that would have been nearly identical to the one they used. It was about 27 feet long, seven and a half feet wide, and about three feet deep. A small, simple wooden boat with a mast, sails, and oars. Scholars believe it could hold about fifteen men—crammed in tightly without much comfort.

Matthew writes that “His disciples followed Him,” but Mark’s gospel adds a fascinating detail. In Mark chapter 4, it says, “Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was.”

Mark 4:36 (NASB)

Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.

Think about why Mark would phrase it that way. The sea, boats, fishing—this was the disciples’ home turf! Jesus was a carpenter from Nazareth, an inland hill town. But these men grew up on the Sea of Galilee. Eleven of the twelve disciples were Galileans. At least four or five of them—Peter, Andrew, James, John, and likely Philip—were professional fishermen. This was their trade, their expertise. The water was where they felt completely in control.

In a sense, they are saying, “Jesus, You’re a wonderful rabbi. You preach incredible sermons. But when it comes to boats and the water, sit back and take a rest. We’ve got this.”

Don’t we do the exact same thing in our lives? We carve out sections of our life and say, “Jesus, You handle Sundays. You handle church, my prayer time, and my spiritual life. But Monday through Saturday? That’s my career. That’s my finances. That’s my relationships. That’s my expertise. I’ve got this handled.”

Whenever we adopt that mindset, Jesus loves us enough to push on our self-reliance and teach us true dependence.

The Unexpected Tempest on Galilee

Matthew 8:24 (NASB)

And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep.

Matthew writes, “And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea.” The word “behold” signals something sudden and shocking—literally out of nowhere, a massive storm hits.

I don’t know what you envision when you think of the Sea of Galilee. Growing up in Texas, I spent my childhood on big lakes like Lake Texoma and Lake Ray Hubbard. We fished and water-skied, and there were times when dusk set in and the shoreline disappeared because the water was so vast. When I visited Israel for the first time in 2011, I was blown away by the history, but if I’m being completely honest, I was a little underwhelmed by the size of the Sea of Galilee. It’s really a freshwater lake, about thirteen miles long and eight miles wide. Standing on the water, you can almost always see the surrounding shores. The water seemed calm and serene, like the perfect place for a quiet devotional time. I found myself wondering, How do life-threatening storms suddenly appear on a body of water like this?

Then, in 2016, I returned to Israel and had a very different experience. Our tour group boarded a boat in the late afternoon to cross from the west side to the east side. In the distance, we saw a few clouds, but nothing looked concerning. A gentleman stood up to lead a devotional, and as he was reading Scripture, the wind began to pick up. Before we knew it, dark storm clouds rolled over the western mountains and swept down into the basin of the lake. The wind started howling, the rain poured down, and waves began slamming against the side of the boat.

Nobody was listening to the devotional anymore! I’m the kind of person who watches the flight attendants when there’s turbulence on a plane; if they aren’t panicking, I figure everything is fine. Well, I looked over at our boat captains, and there was legitimate concern in their eyes. We were on a large, modern motorized vessel with sixty people, and the crew was scrambling because the waves were crashing over the deck. That storm came out of nowhere. And for the first time, it clicked for me: This is what the disciples experienced—except they didn’t have a modern boat with an engine. They were in a small, wooden fishing boat.

The word Matthew uses for storm is seismos, the Greek word typically translated as “earthquake.” It describes a violent shaking. The boat was being tossed violently, completely swamped by the waves. Luke tells us they were in great danger. Mark notes that the boat was already filling with water. These seasoned, veteran fishermen were terrified because they were sinking fast.

Sleeping in the Storm

And where was Jesus? Verse 24 tells us: “He was asleep.”

The Creator of the universe, the One who holds the oceans in the palm of His hand, is fast asleep in the back of the boat on a cushion. What an incredible contrast! The expert fishermen are losing their minds in sheer panic, and Jesus is resting peacefully in the middle of a raging tempest.

Matthew 8:25 (NASB)

And they came to [Him] and woke Him, saying, ‘Save [us], Lord; we are perishing!’

The disciples rush to Him, shake Him awake, and cry out, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” Mark records their desperate plea as: “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

Mark 4:38 (NASB)

Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’

Have you ever been there? When you are walking through an intensely difficult trial—not because of a self-inflicted mistake, but just because life hit you hard? A sudden diagnosis, the loss of a job, a broken relationship, a family tragedy. You find yourself in the middle of the storm, and the cry of your heart is, Lord, where are You? Do You not care what is happening to me?

Author Carolyn Custis James writes powerfully about this in her book, When Life and Beliefs Collide. She says:

“God brings us here to feel such pain and through it to know the depths of our need for Him. He uses our struggles to help us realize that we don’t actually know Him nearly as well as we think we do and to draw us closer to Him. Difficult as it is to be here, this is where we do our best learning. Not theoretical learning, but the deep personal learning to trust our God when He doesn’t fit our expectations.”

Jesus intentionally led the disciples into that storm. He was bringing them to the end of their own strength and self-sufficiency to test and grow their faith.

This is God’s pattern throughout Scripture. God promised Abraham a son at age 75, and then waited twenty-five years before fulfilling that promise, stripping away every human effort until Abraham had to rely entirely on God. Jacob, the master deceiver, was sent to live with Uncle Laban—the one man who could out-trick him—so God could refine his character. David was anointed king as a teenager, yet spent nearly two decades fleeing in the wilderness before taking the throne.

Think about Jesus’ ministry: roughly one-third of His recorded miracles took place around the Sea of Galilee. Seven of them specifically involved fish, water, wind, or waves—feeding the 5,000, feeding the 4,000, two miraculous catches of fish, finding the coin in the fish’s mouth, walking on the water, and calming the storm. Why did Jesus perform so many miracles in that specific arena? Because that was where the disciples felt most capable and self-reliant. Jesus met them right in their area of strength to show them, “You need to trust Me with every single area of your life.”

The God Who Overcomes the Storm

Notice that it wasn’t the crashing waves or the howling wind that woke Jesus up. It was the desperate cry of His followers: “Lord, save us!”

Matthew 8:26 (NASB)

He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?’ Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.

Before Jesus calms the weather, He addresses their hearts: “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”

He lets them sit in the tension for a moment. The phrase “little faith” doesn’t mean they had no faith at all—after all, they ran to Jesus for help—but it means their faith was incomplete or insufficient. They had seen Him heal others, but they weren’t yet convinced He could preserve them in the middle of the sea. They forgot what He had promised back on the shore: We are going to the other side. He didn’t say, “We are going to go halfway and drown.”

Then Jesus stands up. He rebukes the raging winds and the churning sea. Mark tells us He spoke three simple words: “Peace! Be still!”

Mark 4:39 (NASB)

And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Hush, be still.’ And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.

Instantly, the wind ceased, and there was a great, perfect calm.

When a strong wind stops blowing on a lake, the waves usually continue to roll and churn for hours. But at the command of Jesus, both the wind and the water flattened into glass immediately. Absolute stillness.

Sometimes in our lives, we experience a verse 26 moment. We pray, we cry out to God, and He miraculously ends the trial. The cancer goes into remission. The job offer comes through. The relationship is restored. The storm ceases.

Yet, there are other seasons when God chooses not to calm the storm around us immediately, but instead promises to be with us through it. God never promised that we would avoid every storm, but He did promise that we would never face a single storm alone.

John 16:33 (NASB)

‘These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.’

Jesus told His disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” On the cross at Calvary, Jesus faced the ultimate storm of judgment and death for our sins. He didn’t walk away from that storm; He endured it so that we could be reconciled to God forever.

A Faith That Endures to the End

Matthew 8:27 (NASB)

The men were amazed, and said, ‘What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?’

Look at how the passage concludes: “And the men marveled, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?’”

They were left in utter awe, their jaws dropping. They knew He was a gifted teacher, a prophet, and a healer. But watching the physical elements of creation instantly submit to His voice revealed His true divine identity.

Jesus was preparing these men for what lay ahead. A day was coming when Jesus would no longer be physically present in the boat with them. In the book of Acts and throughout church history, these twelve men would face severe persecution and hardship for the sake of the gospel.

Church history tells us how their journeys concluded:

• Matthew was impaled by spears in Ethiopia.
• James the son of Alphaeus was thrown from the temple heights and beaten to death.
• Jude was crucified in Persia.
• John was exiled to the island of Patmos after surviving intense persecution.
• Matthias was stoned and beheaded.
• Philip was martyred in Asia Minor.
• Peter was crucified upside down in Rome.
• Thomas was pierced with a spear in India.
• James the son of Zebedee was executed by the sword in Jerusalem.
• Simon the Zealot was crucified in Persia.
• Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross in Greece.
• Bartholomew was martyred in Armenia.

Crucified, impaled, stoned, beheaded, and exiled. Through every trial, their faith matured from the trembling panic in that boat to an unshakeable confidence in the risen Christ. They learned to remain in the wheelbarrow no matter how high the tightrope was.

Step Into the Wheelbarrow

Where are you today on your faith journey?

For some of you, getting in the wheelbarrow means stepping into true saving faith for the very first time. You might have grown up in church or lived with an intellectual understanding of Jesus. You believe about Him, but you have never fully entrusted your life to Him. True faith is placing your whole weight upon the finished work of Jesus Christ—His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins.

For others of you, you are already followers of Jesus, but you are in the middle of a violent storm right now. We have to choose to step into that wheelbarrow daily.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I received an email from a woman in our church family. She went in for a routine checkup, and doctors discovered a malignant lump. She was diagnosed with breast cancer, and the road ahead is uncertain. Yet, as she wrote to our staff, she filled her message with Scripture, expressing complete and unwavering trust in God. She didn’t choose the storm, but she chose to say, “Lord, I trust You. You are good, You care for me, and I am putting my life entirely in Your hands.”

May we be a church marked by that kind of faith. When the storms of life hit and the waves crash over the sides, let us not panic as those who have no hope. Let us remember who is in the boat with us.

Let’s pray.

Father, thank You for Your Word and for the truth of this story. While our storms may not take place on literal boats in the middle of the sea, we all experience trials, heartaches, and overwhelming seasons in this life. Father, forgive us for the moments when we doubt Your goodness or question Your care. Grow our faith. Help us to move beyond mere intellectual belief into deep, active reliance on You. Give us the courage to step into the wheelbarrow and trust You completely, knowing that You are with us through every storm. We love You, Lord, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.