Bible Text: “Lord! We are perishing, save us” Matthew 8.23-27
We are fond of people who have the ability to do bizarre things. We are amazed how a magician can quickly deceive our eyes. The hands of magicians are quicker than our eyes. We admired so much a person who can make a flower from a piece of fibre, a bird from the cap and make float a human in the air. We put off our hats for the spectacular actions rendered before us. We exclaimed WOW! And asked ourselves where did this guy get all these extreme talents that he had performed before us?
It likewise happened to the apostles when they were buffeted by strong wind in the lake. They were frozen by the enormous power of Jesus. He made the strong wind and high waves obey His words. They asked among themselves, what sort of man is this that even the winds and sea obey Him? When Jesus performed miracles He does not want people to extremely admire Him. Rather, he wanted to elicit faith. He is not a magician that He only uses some tricks to deceive us and for the purpose of entertainment. He is God performing real things; He can multiply five loaves of bread to feed five thousand men. He cured sick people. He can make a big catch of fish for exhausted fishermen. They are not deception but truthfulness. It is not a show but a reality. The purpose of His miracle is not to impress but to sow faith in us. Jesus is performing miracle because He wanted us to know that there is God who created. He wanted us to bring closer to God.
Our response to God’s miracle is not admiration but submission. It is all about to believe that God is the creator of everything that is why He has control over them. Submission to God means that we are nothing and God is everything. We have to feel that total humility about us. The disciples are very right when they exclaimed out of fear “Lord save us! This is what faith is all about, to believe that God has the power over our life. Faith is abandoning everything to God; it is our willingness to do His will because He alone can give us life.