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Calming the storm

Matt 8:23–27; Mark 4:35–41; Luke 8:22–25 · Later ministry in Galilee

Scripture

Matthew 8:23–27

nd when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

King James Version · public domain

Mateu 8:23–27

dhe kur hyri ndë lundrët, i vanë pas nxënësit’ e ati. 24Edhe ja tek ubë një tërmet i-math ndë dett, kaqë sa po mbulonej lundra nga valëtë; po ay flinte. 25Edhe nxënësit’ e ati i erthnë përanë edhe e ngritnë atë, dyke thënë, Zot, shpëto-na, se po humbasëmë. 26Edhe ay u thot’ atyre, Përse jeni frikacarë, o besë-pakë? Atëhere ungrit e qërtoj erërat’ edhe detinë, edhe ubë bunacë e-madhe. 27Edhe njerëzitë çudite-shinë, e thoshinë, Ç’farë njeriu është ky që edhe erërat’ edhe deti e dëgjonjënë?

Kristoforidhi, Dhiata e Re Toskërisht 1879 · zotërim publik

Summary

Christ's sleep in the boat shows the truth of His humanity; His rebuke of wind and sea shows His divinity, for only God commands the waters, as the Psalms sing of Him who stills the raging sea and brings up from the deep those who go down to it in ships. The same Christ who sleeps as man rises and rules the elements as God; the Fathers see here both natures of the one Lord, undivided in one Person.

The Fathers note the manner of the miracle. Christ does not pray to have the storm stilled, as a servant might; He commands it with a word, and wind and sea obey their Maker. Chrysostom observes that the Lord let the disciples feel the danger so that, knowing first their helplessness, they might learn His power more deeply; He slept on purpose, that fear might drive them to prayer. So the rebuke of their "little faith" is also instruction: they believed enough to wake Him, but not to be calm while He seemed to sleep, and so were both reproved and saved.

The boat is read as the Church, tossed by persecution and temptation, in which Christ seems to sleep when trials press, until, awakened by the prayer of His own, He stills all with a word. So too the soul, when passions rise like waves, is not to despair but to cry out and rouse the Lord who dwells within. The tradition also sees in the wood that bears us through the world's waters a sign of the saving Cross. Cyril marks how the disciples' wonder, asking what manner of man this is, opens toward the confession that He who commands creation is its God, and that in every tempest the remedy is to call upon Him who never sleeps.

The Calming of the Storm (Matthew 8:23–27; Mark 4:35–41; Luke 8:22–25)

Public-Domain Patristic Commentary

Christ enters a boat with His disciples and falls asleep, and a violent storm comes down on the lake, so that the boat begins to fill and they are in danger. The disciples wake Him, crying, "Lord, save us, we perish." He rebukes them for their little faith, then rebukes the wind and the sea, and there is a great calm, and they marvel, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations, each Father from his own work, Chrysostom on Matthew and Cyril on Luke, together with passages preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew (St. Thomas Aquinas, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841). Nothing is paraphrased.

St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 28 (on Matthew 8:23–27) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10. Public domain. Full text: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200128.htm

On why Christ took only the disciples into this trial, which carried a discipline within it:

For great indeed were the former miracles too, but this contained also in it a kind of discipline, and that no inconsiderable one, and was a sign akin to that of old. For this cause He takes the disciples only with Himself. For as, when there was a display of miracles, He suffers the people also to be present; so when trial and terrors were rising up against Him, then He takes with Him none but the champions of the whole world, whom He was to discipline.

On His rebuking the disciples before He rebuked the sea, calming the soul before the water:

But He rebuked them before He rebuked the sea. Because as I said, for discipline these things were permitted, and they were a type of the temptations that were to overtake them. ... Therefore neither does He this in the presence of the multitudes, that they might not be condemned for little faith, but He has them apart, and corrects them, and before the tempest of the waters He puts an end to the tempests of their soul, rebuking them, and saying, Why are you fearful, O you of little faith: instructing them also, that men's fear is wrought not by the approach of the temptations, but by the weakness of their mind.

On the sleep that showed Him man and the calm that declared Him God, and His superiority to Moses:

While the sleep and the outward appearance showed man, the sea and the calm declared Him God. For because Moses had once done some such thing, in this regard also does He signify His own superiority, and that the one works miracles as a slave, the other as Lord.

St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (on Luke 8:22–25) Source: trans. R. Payne Smith, 1859. Public domain. Full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_04_sermons_39_46.htm

On why Christ purposely fell asleep, that His power might be the more manifest:

For that they might not ask aid of Him immediately when the tempest began to dash upon the ship, but when, so to speak, the evil was at its height, and the terrors of death were troubling the disciples; that so the might of His godlike sovereignty might be more manifest, in calming the raging sea, and rebuking the savage blasts of the wind, and changing the tempest to a calm, and that the event might thus become a means of improvement to them that were sailing with Him, He purposely fell asleep.

On the smallness of faith mixed with faith in the disciples' cry:

See here, I pray, smallness of faith united with faith. For they believe that He can save; and deliver from all evil those who call upon Him. For had they not so far had a firm faith in Him, they certainly would not have asked this of Him. And yet as having but little faith, they say, Save me, we perish. For it was not a thing possible, or that could happen, for them to perish when they were with Him Who is Almighty.

On faith tried by trials as gold is tried by fire:

For just as gold is tried in the fire, so also is faith by temptations. But the mind of man is weak, and altogether in need of strength and help from above, in order that it may be well with him, and that he may be able to maintain a steadfast course, and be strong, manfully to endure whatsoever befal. And this our Saviour taught us, saying; "Without Me ye can do nothing."

On Christ calming both the sea and the shaken faith of the disciples:

When, therefore, Christ had calmed the tempest, He also changed into confidence the faith of the holy disciples, which had been shaken along with the ship, no longer permitting it to be in doubt; and wrought in them, so to say, a calm, smoothing the waves of their weak faith.

St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the sleeping Christ prefigured in Jonah:

Of this miracle we have a type in Jonah, who while all are in danger is himself unconcerned, sleeps, and is awakened.

On all creation knowing its Creator and obeying the mind that commands it:

From this passage we understand, that all creation is conscious of its Creator; for what may be rebuked and commanded is conscious of the mind commanding.

On why those who marvelled are called "the men":

But if any shall content that it was the disciples who wondered, we shall answer they are rightly spoken of as 'the men,' seeing they had not yet learnt the power of the Saviour.

St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 310–367)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On Christ asleep within us through our own sloth, and hope that escapes danger by His watching might:

He sleeps, because by our sloth He is cast asleep in us. This is done that we may hope aid from God in fear of danger; and that hope though late may be confident that it shall escape danger by the might of Christ watching within.

St. Bede the Venerable (c. 673–735)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the boat as the Church crossing the sea of this world:

The boat is the present Church, in which Christ passes over the sea of this world with His own, and stills the waves of persecution. Wherefore we may wonder, and give thanks.

Note on other Fathers

Read together, these Fathers hold the same truths the miracle holds. Chrysostom and Cyril both insist on the storm's purpose: Chrysostom calls it a discipline reserved for "the champions of the whole world," a type of the temptations they would later face, and Cyril says Christ "purposely fell asleep" and let the danger reach its height so that His power would be unmistakable. Both read the disciples' fear gently and exactly: Chrysostom says their terror came "not by the approach of the temptations, but by the weakness of their mind," and Cyril sees "smallness of faith united with faith." And both find the two natures in the one scene, the sleep showing the man and the calm declaring God, with Chrysostom adding that where Moses once worked a like wonder "as a slave," Christ works it "as Lord." To these the Catena Aurea adds St. Jerome, who finds in the sleeping Christ a figure already given in Jonah and teaches that "all creation is conscious of its Creator"; St. Hilary, who reads the sleep inwardly, since Christ "is cast asleep in us" by our own sloth; and St. Bede, who sees the boat as "the present Church" crossing "the sea of this world" while Christ stills "the waves of persecution." The Catena also gathers passages under the name of Origen (in a homily not certainly his) and from later Western compilers such as the Gloss and Rabanus Maurus, which are not quoted here. Blessed Augustine and others likewise preach on the storm, often allegorizing the boat as the Church and the sleep as drowsy faith, but their treatments survive in English mainly in modern copyrighted translations. For verbatim public-domain English, the works above are the principal sources.

Patristic sources