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No.16.
8: 21 - 9: 23.
pp. 21 - 25
Here, for the first time, the Lord describes Himself as the Son of Man, a title He uses
over 80 times, 33 of these occurring in Matthew's Gospel. Its first occurrence in the
Bible is in Psa. 8: referring to the type, Adam, and his dominion over the earth. The
title as used by the Lord stresses His perfect humanity and is used by no one but Himself.
How significant that the One Who made the earth (and the whole universe), when He
came to it should have no permanent home! At His birth, there was no room for Him at
the inn, only a cattle stall! And when adult He had no settled place to lay His head! As
Dr. Plummer states, His life began in a borrowed stable and ended in a borrowed tomb!
Here was humbling indeed. Yet all judgment has been committed unto Him because He
is human as well as Divine (John 5: 22, 27), and the time is coming when He shall reign
over this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords; where He was once rejected.
To the other disciples, the Lord's enigmatic reply could only mean one thing,
following Him meant putting Him first in everything, even before funerals, "Let the dead
(i.e. spiritually) bury their own dead" (8: 22). Following Christ means service for Him
which must always have the first place. This is a lesson for all of us and probably the
most important one. It certainly has the greatest challenge to all who profess to believe
and fully follow the Saviour.
The second triplet of recorded miracles deal with the Lord's almighty power over
natural, supernatural and spiritual forces, storm, demons and sin. He had apparently
taken refuge from the crowds in a boat, and being wearied, possibly exhausted, He falls
asleep and is unconscious of the severe storm which quickly followed. The disciples,
accustomed as they were to the weather conditions on the lake, being fishermen,
nevertheless were terrified at its violence, which was swamping the boat. They awaken
the Lord, crying out, "Save us, we are perishing (or being destroyed; note the vivid
present tense)". And the One Who recently marveled at the great faith of the centurion,
has now to marvel at the smallness of His disciples' trust in Him. He said to them, "You
of little faith, why are you so afraid?" It was not that He did not realize the severity of
the sudden storm, but He was amazed at their lack of trust in Himself.
Though they did not realize it, they had the Creator of the winds and waves in their
midst!
"Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm"
(8: 26, N.I.V.).
This result amazed them (verse 27). Experienced men as they were, they had never
seen anything like this before. Even if the wind suddenly stopped of its own accord, that
would not at once calm the raging sea. The Sea of Galilee is 680 feet below the
Mediterranean Sea and sudden squalls can come down from the summit of mount
Hermon with terrific force. Both Mark and Luke term it a whirlwind (lailaps). Not only