LESSON II.--OCTOBER 9.

THE TEMPEST STILLED.--MATT. 8:18-27.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith.--MATT. 8:26.
      TIME.--Either A. D. 27 or 28.
      PLACE.--Sea of Galilee and the coasts thereof.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Matt. 8:14-17; Mark 4:37-41; Luke 9:57-62; Luke 8:22-25; John 6:15-21.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. Following Christ; 2. The Stormy Sea; 3. The Tempest stilled.

INTRODUCTION.

      Matthew inserts this group here; Mark (4:35) and Luke (8:22) at a later point. We accept the chronology of Mark, who says that the Lord crossed over the sea on the evening of the day that the parable of [275] the sower was delivered. The events of this day were recorded more fully than those of any other of the ministry in Galilee. The order of Matthew is probably owing to his desire to group together important miracles.--Schaff.

      It had been a busy day; our Lord had first healed a demoniac (Matt. 12:22), then encountered the accusation of his family (Mark 3:20, 21); afterwards the accusation of the Pharisees (Mark 3:22-30; more fully in Matt. 12:24-45), when his mother and brethren sought him (Mark 3:31-35; Matt. 12:46-50); then after some discourses narrated by Luke only (ch. 11:37-12:59), departing to the seaside, had given the long discourse, parts of which are recorded in Mark 4 and Matt. 13, then encountered half-hearted followers (Matt. 8:16-22), and in the evening crossed the lake. After such exhausting labors it is not strange that he fell asleep, even amid the storm.--Schaff.

      I. FOLLOWING CHRIST.--18. Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him. The multitudes had gathered to listen to his teaching, or to behold his miracles. See verses 16, 17. They were eager and excited, and when evening came (Mark 4:35) the Lord was weary with the busy labors of the day and directed his disciples to carry him to the other side of the sea that he might escape the throng and be at rest. The sea was only six miles wide and the Savior often crossed it in order to secure retirement. There is no recess in the eastern hills; no towns along its banks corresponding to those in the plain of Gennesareth. Thus this wilder region became a natural refuge from the active life of the western shores.--Stanley's Sinai and Palestine.

      19. A certain scribe said . . . I will follow thee. Though this scribe belonged to a class which, as a body, rejected Christ he was disposed to be a disciple (see verse 21), but had not counted the cost of giving up all and following the Lord. This offer was to attach himself to the company who attended the Savior's footsteps. It frequently happens that we may learn the true character of persons admitted to the Lord's presence, not so much by their declarations or questions, as by his answers. For he saw their hearts, and in their hearts read the real meaning and motive of their words. This man was "a scribe," and he probably had an eye to some post of high honor and worldly distinction in Christ's kingdom; hence the discomfiture of his ambitious hopes in the meek and lowly disclaimer. [276]

      20. Jesus saith unto him. He rejects not this man's offer, nor refuses him the liberty to follow him, only he will have him know what he is doing and "count the cost." He will have him weigh well the real nature and the strength of his attachment, whether it be such as will abide in the day of trial. If so, he will be right welcome, for Christ puts none away; but it seems to be plain that in this case that had not been done. From the first he had held out no rewards, but predicted only privation and suffering to his disciples, but these were closer at hand than they had been when he called the Twelve. To follow him had come to mean, literally, to leave all, and to make up one's mind to the worst. The Son of man. It is the name by which the Lord ordinarily designates himself as the Messiah--the Son of God manifested in the flesh of Adam--the second Adam. And to it belonged all those conditions of humiliation, suffering, and exaltation, which it behooved the Son of man to go through.--Alford. Not where to lay his head. Overdrawn portrayals of our Lord's poverty are always out of place, yet he who as the "Son of man" was "the crown of creation" did not possess what the humbler animals claim, a home.--Schaff. Learn, hence, that such men will find themselves miserably mistaken, and greatly disappointed, who expect to gain anything by following of Christ but their soul's salvation. It was a common opinion among the Jews that the disciples of the Messiah should get wealth and honor by following him.

      21. And another of his disciples, said. One who recognized him as a great and wonderful teacher and was anxious to learn of him, but had not yet learned to give up all for him. Suffer me first to go and bury my father. There are two views. 1. That his father was already dead and he wished only to attend the funeral and properly observe the last rites. If this view is correct the Savior meant to teach by this lesson, not that we should be wanting in respect to our parents, but that no earthly duty must be permitted to come into conflict with duty to himself. The duty to the Lord is higher than any earthly duty and when one has to yield to the other it must be the lower one. 2. The view is also held that the disciple asked that he might be permitted to remain at home until his father's death and burial and then follow Christ. This is the more probable view. It was a case of "loving father or mother more than me." Probably the person next mentioned, who was a disciple, (Matt. 8:21), while he professed so much duty toward his deceased father, was rather looking to his share in the patrimony, and was actuated by the love of money, as the other by the love of worldly advancement.--J. Ford. [277]

      22. Follow me. The highest of all duties, now discharged by becoming his disciple, obeying him and making his life our example. It, also, when he was on earth in person implied to follow his footsteps and attend upon his person. As the Twelve were his personal companions this disciple was probably one of the twelve. Let the dead bury their dead. Like all the other paradoxical sayings of our Lord, the key to it is the different senses--a higher and a lower--in which the same word "dead" is used; there are two kingdoms of God in existence upon earth: the kingdom of nature and the kingdom of grace; to the one kingdom all the children of this world, even the most ungodly, are fully alive; to the other only the children of light. The reigning irreligion consists not in indifference to common humanities of social life, but to things spiritual and eternal: fear not, therefore, that your father will in your absence be neglected, and that when he breathes his last there will be no relatives and friends ready enough to do to him the last offices of kindness. Those spiritually dead will attend to the last rites of those among them who have died naturally. Let the dead bury their dead.

      II. THE STORMY SEA.--23. And when he was entered into a ship. Boat is a better rendering. It was a small open row boat, large enough for the Savior and the Twelve apostles, the disciples who accompanied him. We know from Mark that night had set in when they departed upon the sea.

      24. There arose a great tempest in the sea. Mark says, "A great storm;" Luke, "There came down a storm of wind;" the word used by Matthew implies a tornado. The Greek word denotes a sudden and violent gust of wind, such as frequently bursts on the lake, which is surrounded by mountains with deep ravines.--Cook. The Sea of Galilee lies 600 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. The snowy peaks of Lebanon are directly to the north. The heated tropical air of the valley is a constant invitation to the cold and heavy winds from the north, which sweep down with great fury, and in sudden storms, through the ravines of the hills which converge to the head of the lake, and act like gigantic funnels.--Abbott. These winds are not only violent, but they come down suddenly, and often when the sky is perfectly clear. I once went into swim near the hot-baths; and, before I was aware, a wind came rushing over the cliffs with such ferocity that it was with great difficulty I could regain the shore. At another time, when on the eastern side, the sun had scarcely set when the wind began to rush down toward the lake; and it continued all night long with constantly [278] increasing violence, so that when we reached the shore next morning the face of the lake was like a huge boiling caldron. We had to double-pin all the tent-ropes, and frequently were obliged to hang with our whole weight upon them to keep the quivering tabernacle from being carried off bodily into the air.--W. H. Thomson. The waves dashed over the vessel and Mark says they beat into it until it was full. He was asleep. He is emphatic.

SEA OF GALILEE.

While all the rest were awake and filled with terror, he himself was in the stern, the back part of the vessel, sleeping.--Clark. The stern in ancient ships was much higher than the prow; and this form continued even to the last century in England, while it is still the fashion in Egypt. The high stern made a safe and sloping place, where our Savior slept in the storm.--.John Macgregor. Asleep: he needed sleep like other men. He was wearied out with the arduous labors of that busy day.

      25. Lord, save us: we perish. It is curious and significant that, while each of the three evangelists reports the words with which Christ was awakened, [279] they do not agree. Matthew's report is, Lord, save us, we perish; Mark, Teacher, carest thou not that we perish? Luke, Master, Master, we perish. The difference is not merely verbal; there is also a difference of tone in the three appeals. The first is the language of appeal, the second that of reproach, the third that of importunity aroused by imminent danger.--Abbott. The sense of the disciples waking the Lord and seeking to be saved is one and the same; nor is it worth while to inquire which of these three was really said to Christ. For whether they said any one of these three, or other words which one of the evangelists has mentioned, but of similar import as to the truth of the sense, what matters it? Though it may be, also, that when many were calling upon him, all these may have been said, one by one, another by another.--Augustine.

      III. THE TEMPEST STILLED.--26. O ye of little faith. According to Matthew he characterizes them as of "little faith; " according to Mark he asked, How have ye no faith? according to Luke, Where is your faith? The spirit of the rebuke is the same in all the amounts; very probably neither has preserved Christ's exact words. That he first stilled the tempest, and then addressed his admonition to the disciples seems to me most probable; for during the howling of the storm his admonition could have had but little effect.--L. Abbott. Next to none, or none in present exercise. Faith they had, for they applied to Christ for relief; but little, for they were afraid, though Christ was in the ship. Faith dispels fear, but only in proportion to its strength.--D. Brown. Rebuked the winds and the sea. This seems to have been almost, so to say, our Lord's formula in working miracles. The fever (Luke 4:39), the frenzy of the demoniac (Mark 9:25), the tempest, are all treated as if they were hostile and rebel forces that needed to be restrained.--Ellicott. Mark gives the very words of the rebuke: "Peace, be still." Peace, be still. Literally, be dumb, be muzzled, as though the howling wind was a maniac to be gagged and bound.--Ellicott. It is a solemn, a wonderful moment in the gospel history. We have read this story so often, and read it so carelessly, that this moment in the life of Christ fails to make its due impression. The Lord rises, confronting the storm, speaks as the Master of the elements that are raging about him,--and the result is immediate.--Dean Howson. A great calm. The calm was great from the completeness of the stillness, and great from the contrast with the previous storm, and great as the product of a wonderful power. And with it the terrors of their hearts, the winds and waves within the soul, were composed. So when the fearful sinner resorts to Christ his word of forgiveness allays the storm, and there is a great calm.--Whedon. [280]

      27. But the men marvelled. That his disciples should be astonished at the miracle accords with what is said of them on other occasions (Matt. 16:6, 7; Mark 6:52; John 6:5-9; 20:25).--L. Abbott. They expected, indeed, that he would save them; but they were overwhelmed with the majesty and ease with which he issued his orders to the elements, and at the submission with which they, like living intelligences, are hushed by his word.--Whedon. Such a miracle, wrought before those to whom the terrors of the lake were the highest natural danger, was best adapted to convince them of his power to save the soul. By it he also taught a lesson of faith, and warned against unbelief as well as attested to the mere lookers-on his divine power. All his miracles are displays, not only of power, but of love to lost men.--Schaff. What manner of man. The words in Mark are naturally those of the disciples, and can easily be explained, not as expressing any ignorance or doubt as to the person of their Master, but unfeigned astonishment at this new proof of his control, not only over demons and diseases, but also over winds and waves, which they had seen, like human slaves, obey him at a word.--J. A. Alexander.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      FOLLOW ME.--Followers of Jesus must forsake the fondest ties when their Master calls to his work. Followers of Jesus must show decision and determination in their loyalty to his cause. When William Burns offered himself as a missionary to India, he was asked, "When will you be ready to go?" "To-morrow." "But how will you inform your parents, and bid them farewell?" "I will write to them." As he stood on the deck of the vessel, he held his Bible on high above his head, and his upraised Bible was the last object seen as the ship sailed away. When Hindus are converted and are about to be baptized, their parents often plead with them to pay them one more parting visit before taking a step that will cut them off from home altogether; and those who yield to these parental entreaties to go home for a visit never return, or do so only after a season in which they abandon Christianity, and conform to heathen religion again. This fact is the best possible commentary on, and explanation of, a passage which has seemed to some a hard requirement on Christ's part.

      THE SHIP.--Ours is a ship on a voyage, not a ship in a harbor, so that the storms blow over us; but it is a ship in progress, battling with the winds and the waves. It is not the absence of danger, but the presence of Christ, which re-assures us. Our confidence is simply this: that Christ is in the ship, and that, when he is pleased to rebuke the tempest, the wind and the sea will obey him.--MacDonald. So often has Christ preserved his Church in danger, from the storms of persecution and worldliness and false [281] doctrine, and so often has she ridden triumphant over her enemies, that in every danger and trial that comes we feel assured that Christ will in due time again utter his "Peace, be still." But it is only the Church with Christ in it, the divine Savior, that is safe.

      THE STORM OF LIFE.--This lesson is the type of the soul in the storm of life. We are sailing in this life as through a sea; and the wind rises, and storms of temptation are not wanting. What shalt thou do to be delivered? Arouse him, and say, Master, we perish. He will awaken; that is, thy faith will return to thee, and abide with thee always. When Christ is awakened, though the tempest beat into, yet it will not fill, thy ship: thy faith will now command the winds and the waves, and the danger will be over.--Augustine. Carrying out this allegory, we may observe: (1) Christ's presence does not prevent our ship of life from being endangered; but, if he is with us, it cannot be shipwrecked. (2) Our unuttered but often heartfelt reproaches of a seemingly indifferent Christ, "Carest thou not that we perish?" are always unjust. (3) To timid disciples, who imagine, because of sudden and serious storms, that all is lost, for themselves, their children, the nation, or the Church, Christ still says, "Why are ye fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" (4) He does not always bring the help he might, nor as soon as he might (comp. Mark 6:48. John 11:6). But he asks us to trust him that be will deliver.

      SIN TEMPESTUOUS.--Sin always raises a storm, as it did in Jonah's case. All the diseases, oppressions, cruelties, gnawings of conscience, lives without hope, and hearts without rest, are a part of the tempest raised by sin. But the greatest fury of the storm is in the future. In this world we see but the little cloud, compared with the tornado and hurricane yet to come. There is no human escape from this storm. No earthly voice can bid the winds and waves to cease. But Christ, by his forgiving love, says, "Peace, be still," for all that call on him, and arches over all the bow of peace.--P.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      The lesson to-day is a parable in action. It teaches us as did the scenes in the house of the Interpreter, in "Pilgrim's Progress." It was a symbol of THE TEMPEST OF SORROW, OF SIN, OF OUTWARD DIFFICULTIES, AND THE WAY TO FIND PEACE. (1) Note first the storm (Mark 4:35-37), and how sin brings a storm; how the opposition to every good cause, to the Church, is like a storm; how trouble is often like a storm, while life is like a sea. (2) Christ is asleep in the storm (ver. 38). As he often seems hidden in hours of danger. But every soul or cause is safe if Christ is really in it. Mark how this teaches Christ's human nature, as his "Peace, be still," does his divine nature, and draw out the lessons of comfort and trust which each fact brings. (3) Going to Christ in trouble ( vers. 38, 40). They were afraid because they had so little faith: they went to Christ because they had some faith. Christ the only one to go to. (4) Peace (vers. 39-41). Christ's power over nature, because he was the creator of nature (John 1:3). Therefore he can make all things work together for our good (Rom. 8:28). Jesus will [282] bring every soul that trusts in him, and every cause in which be is, safely out of every tempest. Bring together the promises to this effect.--Peloubet. (6) Note still further that the only way of safety is to follow close to Jesus, and to do this we must leave every hindrance to follow him. (6) The place of safety is to be where Jesus is, in the same boat with him, every interest the same. Away from Jesus when the storm comes we will go down.

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: