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Calming the Storm

Jesus and his disciples were on one of their many trips on the Sea of Galilee, when the Gospels say they were hit by an unexpected and violent crisis. In fact this part of the story does appear to be accurate because Eastern storms do blow up regularly on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples were struggling for their lives. But by comparison Jesus' reaction was bewildering. He's said to have been asleep. And when awoken, his response couldn't have been less reassuring.

"Why are you afraid? O men of little faith."

But what the disciples didn't know was that they were about to receive help in a way that they could never have imagined. Jesus stood up and rebuked the wind and sea. [And the weather calmed] The disciples must have wondered who on earth Jesus was; this man who appears able to control the elements.

But just as with other miracles, what amazed them was not just what Jesus did, but what it revealed about his identity. They would have known ancient Jewish prophecies, which said very clearly, that there was only one person who could calm the stormy seas – God.

One passage from the book of Psalms recalls an occasion where God had shown his power to save his people from distress, in exactly the same way as Jesus had, on the Sea of Galilee, by stilling a storm.

The similarities would not have been lost on the disciples. Jesus' actions seemed to say that he had the power of God himself. And that's certainly the traditional Christian view. For centuries the Church has taught that Jesus is divine and that the miracles like the stilling of the storm prove it.

But many scholars have argued that this miracle never even happened, that it's so spectacular that it must have been invented by the Gospel writers to suggest that Jesus was the Son of God. It's difficult to know where the truth really lies. But I want to look beyond the official teachings of the Church to work out who Jesus himself thought he was. Could he have believed that he was the Son of God? And that means looking at both his words and his deeds, and examining some of his less contentious miracles.

It's not going to be easy because Jesus is constantly ‘talking in riddles’ and acting symbolically. But when you look at the Gospels there are signs, right from the very beginning of his ministry he was consciously acting in a forbidden way. Which suggests that he believed his relationship with God was unlike that of any other Jew in history.

Miracles of Jesus

Part 2   Signs of Divinity?  3

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