“And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.” (Lu 8:25 AV)
A piercing question to be sure! Although I am not so sure given the same set of circumstances, that I wouldn’t react the same way. The master is asleep. The ship upon which they rode was close to breaking apart. Their lives hung in the balance. Yet there was Jesus, asleep in the hull. Being rocked to and fro like a baby in a cradle, our Savior was sound asleep with no concern regarding the future of the ship or His twelve. The twelve should have taken a que. If the master is unconcerned and asleep, perhaps they should relax. Easier said than done. What we do know is that Jesus corrects them for having no faith. They should have. Even though they possessed little to no faith, the LORD took mercy on them and calmed the seas. When our lives are turned upside down, we can ask the same question. Where is our faith? The question above is a good one. Especially for an unsettled heart. It could be that Jesus is not so much rebuking them as He is teaching them. At a time when they should have had faith, they did not. Perhaps the above question is a challenge. Perhaps Jesus is asking, and then rhetorically answering it with a miracle. Perhaps His question could be understood in the following: “where is your faith? I will show you where your faith should be. Now, have faith.”
My wife and I used to watch cooking shows. We watched all sorts of them. We particularly liked the competition-based shows. We enjoyed watching contestants use their imagination to come up with a dish the judges would like. The shows we liked best were the Master Chef Kitchen series. There were different themes each night, and after the evening was over, one or more chefs were disqualified. Sometimes, there were specific dishes each chef had to prepare. One particular beginning round was frying the perfect egg. The more the chef could do, the less likely he or she was eliminated. The dishes that were most difficult seemed to be the sweets, or the baked goods. There was the time each chef had to make a sleeve of macaroons. Then there was the challenge to assemble croquembouche. But the one that was featured the most was baking a souffle. They are extremely finicky desserts. Once in the oven, faith in the recipe and process is paramount. If the souffle falls, regardless of its taste, is seen as a failure. Take the dessert out of the oven one minute too soon or late, and the dessert could taste like a million dollars, but it would still be considered a disaster.
Faith is not easy to come by. It comes by a process. The process starts with learning the truth. Then is begins to mature as the truth is examined and verified. Then it must be tested. That is the hard part. It is hard knowing things by experience and not merely academically. One can look at a rollercoaster and know that it is engineered with safety in mind. Not until one rides it is he sure. We can only imagine what it must have been like for the disciples. They were tossed around like a pinball. There was no logical guarantee for their safety. To see one wave after another breach their hull, bailing out water all night, and rowing in any direction to reach land, they had every right to be frightened. The difference was that Jesus was in the boat with them. He was not destined to die by drowning. He had an appointment with a cross. As long as He was safe, they were as well. But there is only one way to know for certain. One must go through storms. One must pray to God. One must stay in the boat with Jesus. One must call upon the LORD for help. One must hang on until the duration. One must be at the conclusion and not just the beginning. Where is our faith? It is growing. It is there, but not sufficient. Where is our faith? Under the care of the Master who controls all things.
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