Read: Matthew 8:23-34
What kind of man is this? (v. 27 NIV)
It’s one of Jesus’s most famous miracles—stilling the storm on the sea of Galilee after his disciples rouse him from sleep in their boat (vv. 23-26). The application for other followers of Jesus proceeds in almost lockstep fashion: Jesus will still the storms of your life too. Except he doesn’t always do so! Of course, we can always blame someone’s lack of faith, but Jesus berates his disciples for their meager faith here and yet works the miracle anyway.
I remember some Christian song lyrics several years ago that were more encouraging: “Sometimes He calms the storm / And other times He calms His child.” The songwriter recognized that God doesn’t always remove difficult circumstances. Yet he doesn’t always enable us to cope, at least not easily, either. Let’s look at how Matthew brings this short narrative to its climax. When the disciples see Jesus’s power, they ask a different kind of question: what kind of man does such things? (v. 27)
Jewish men steeped in their Scriptures would readily have recalled Psalm 107:29: “He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed” (NIV). Jesus has just done what only Yahweh, God of Israel, can do. “What kind of man is this?” He is a fully divine as well as fully human man. Our response should not be to ask when he will calm our storms but to fall at his feet and worship him.
As you pray, ask for help in understanding Jesus’s identity better and in worshiping him more fully.
Craig L. Blomberg is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Denver Seminary. He has written or edited more than 30 books, including a recently revised and expanded commentary on Matthew. He teaches regularly in churches, including his home church of Centennial Covenant in Littleton, CO. He and his wife Fran have two daughters and three grandchildren.
