Jesus Calms the Storm

One day Jesus had been teaching a huge crowd beside the Sea of Galilee. It's really a big lake, and Jesus had been speaking from a boat so that everyone on the shore could hear him.

That evening, Jesus told his disciples to take the boat across the lake. So they left the crowd behind and set off with Jesus in the boat. Other boats went along with them.

Out on the water, a fierce windstorm came up. Storms can come quickly on that lake, because winds rush down from the hills around it. The waves crashed over the sides, and the boat began to fill with water. Some of the disciples were fishermen who knew the lake well, and even they were frightened.

And where was Jesus? He was at the back of the boat, sound asleep, with his head on a cushion.

The disciples woke him up. They called him Teacher, and asked whether he cared that they were about to drown.

Jesus got up. He spoke sternly to the wind, and he commanded the sea to be quiet and calm. At once the wind stopped blowing. The water became completely smooth.

Then Jesus turned to his disciples. He asked them why they were so afraid, and whether they still didn't have faith.

Now the disciples felt a different kind of fear, a holy wonder. They whispered to one another: who was Jesus, if the wind and the water did what he told them?

That was exactly the right question. In the Bible, only God rules the wind and the sea. Jesus was showing them that he is not only a man; he is the Son of God, with God's own power.

Jesus didn't promise his friends that there would never be storms. But he was right there in the boat with them. When we are afraid, we can call out to Jesus too. He is with us, and nothing is stronger than he is.