In Greek the disciples’ cry is compressed into just a few words: Lord, save, we are perishing. This is not a prayer composed in advance. It is the prayer you scream. They do not even specify what they want to be saved from. The verb “perishing” is in the present...
With the boat filling and seasoned fishermen panicking, Matthew gives us four startling words: “but he was asleep.” The first reason is simple. Jesus was exhausted. Matthew 8 has walked us through one of the longest days of his ministry: the leper, the centurion’s...
Matthew places this storm immediately after two men approach Jesus on the shoreline with promises about following him. One promised too much and the other promised too little, and Matthew never tells us what became of either one. Instead he tells us about the men who...
Step back and see the whole scene. A great crowd on the shore. A King who gives orders to cross over. One man who promises too much and another who offers too little; one too fast, the other too slow. Matthew never tells us what became of either of them. He leaves the...
These are strong words, and they need to be handled carefully, especially by anyone who has recently buried a parent. Jesus is not saying funerals do not matter or that grief is unspiritual. Later in Matthew he rebukes the Pharisees for finding religious loopholes to...
