4 Feb. Jesus calms a storm
"That evening, Jesus said to his followers, 'Let's go across the lake.' Leaving the crowd behind, they took him in the boat just as he was. There were also other boats with them."
"A very strong wind came up on the lake. The waves came over the sides and into the boat so that it was already full of water."
"Jesus was at the back of the boat, sleeping with his head on a pillow. His followers woke him and said, 'Teacher, don't you care that we are drowning?'"
"Jesus stood up and commanded the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' Then the wind stopped, and it became completely calm."
"Jesus said to his followers, 'Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?' The followers were very afraid and asked each other, 'Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him.'"
(Mark 4:35-41)
One evening in the autumn of 28AD, Jesus and his disciples set off across the Sea of Galilee in a wooden fishing boat in order to escape from the crowds.
The lake is subject to sudden squalls, especially during the autumn. Winds blow from the west, funnelling between the hills and whipping the lake up into a fury of waves.
A sudden storm threatened to sink the boat while Jesus was asleep. The disciples were terrified and woke Jesus. They were even more amazed when he rebuked the waves and the storm calmed down.
"Who is this?" they asked, "Even the wind and the waves obey him." (Mark 4:41)
To us, the answer would probably be, "It's Jesus - a remarkable man!" But to his Jewish followers, who were steeped in the Jewish scriptures, the answer was amazingly different!
To Jews in Jesus's day, this 'calming of the storm' would immediately bring to mind the words of Psalm 107:
"Others went out to sea and did business on the great oceans. They saw what the LORD ['YHWH' = God] could do, the miracles he did in the deep oceans."
"He spoke, and a storm came up, which blew up high waves. The ships were tossed as high as the sky and fell low to the depths. The storm was so bad that they lost their courage. They stumbled and fell like people who were drunk. They did not know what to do."
"In their misery they cried out to the LORD [God], and he saved them from their troubles. He stilled the storm and calmed the waves." (Psalm 107:23-29)
This puts a completely new light on Jesus's stilling of the storm. To a Jew, storms were sent by God, and only God could calm a storm. The conclusion was clear: Jesus, the man who could calm a storm, was God.
The photo shows a boat on the Sea of Galilee built in the style of a 1st century fishing boat.
You can read more about the discovery of a 1st century fishing boat similar to this @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/…/jesus-crosses-the-sea-of…/