Joshua Francis

3/5/2015
NT305
file 262

The Stilling of the Storm

All three of the synoptic Gospel authors record Jesus stilling of the storm. In

each gospel account, the event occurs in the midst of Jesus Galilean ministry, though

Matthew describes the event in a slightly earlier context than do Mark and Luke. All

three describe the confrontation with the Gerasene Demoniac immediately after the

stilling of the storm. In studying the parallel accounts, it is clear that the event is

conceptually very similar in each, though the vocabulary the evangelists use to describe it

is surprisingly varied. In fact, as will be seen, the conceptual similarities are so similar,

that the three records must be speaking of the same, single event. The account is found in

Matthew 8:23-27, (with the introduction to the section moved forward to verse 18), Mark

4:35-41, and Luke 8:22-25.

Luke 8:22:
,
.

In this first verse, it is found that boat and to the other side are both triple

tradition, though Matt. 8:18 must be included in order to have the other side attested in

all three accounts. Matt and Luke have in common the explicit inclusion of Jesus

disciples, while Mark speaks at first of they and them and then other boats being

with Him. Luke is the only one to speak of the lake, Matthew and Mark calling it a

sea later on. Matthew and Mark add more detail than Luke in that they speak of Jesus

leaving the crowd or a great crowd (Matt 8:18), and Mark alone tells us that this

occurred in the evening. In all three, it is Jesus who initiates the move to cross over to
the other side. Linguistically, Luke has much more in common here with Mark than he

does with Matthew.

Luke 8:23: .
.

In Lukes second verse, he comments that they set sail, and that Jesus fell asleep.

Neither of the others mention this detail until after the conflict arises. After noting that

Jesus fell asleep, Luke brings in the storm, and again, the vocabulary matches Mark more

than Matt, though the sentence itself is expressed in widely varying ways between the

three authors. Matt speaks of a great storm () on the sea, and the boatbeing

swamped by the waves, while Mark says a great storm () of wind arose and the

waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. Luke shares the description

of a storm of wind, but he says it came down on the lake, and they were filling with

water, and were in danger. Each evangelist uses different verbs to speak of the effects of

the water on the boat, each to express that it was quickly filled with water and

overwhelmed. Mark and Matthew, after describing the turbulent storm, then explain that

he was fast asleep in the boat. Mark adds more detail than either Matthew or Luke,

telling us that Jesus was in the stern of the boat, and was lying on a cushion. The tone

seems to convey in both Matthew and Mark, that it was surprising that Jesus could lay

sleep through such a storm, though they may also mean to point to the concept that the

one person who could do anything about the storm was asleep and presumably didnt

know there was a problem to solve.

Luke 8:24: ,
.
.
 From here on, as the evangelists get to the pronouncements in the account, their

grammar and vocabulary become much more similar. All three speak of the disciples

waking Jesus, and crying out to Him that we are perishing. Each evangelist frames the

address differently though. Whereas Luke writes Master, Master (), Mark only

has them addressing Him as teacher (), and Matthew uses the more common

Lord (). Only Matthew uses the additional cry save, while Mark alone frames

the address as a question, dont you care that we are perishing? All three have the

disciples exclaiming we are perishing. In Lukes address, there is room for one to

conclude that the disciples are only warning Jesus of their shared fate. In Mark, one

might conclude that the disciples are shocked that Jesus is not as panicked as they are at

their shared fate. Matthew however, leaves no room to doubt that the disciples are crying

out to Jesus in the hope that He will intervene and save them all; save Lord! We are

perishing!

In the next instance, Mark is in agreement with Luke that Jesus rose (or awoke)

and rebuked the wind. Luke says rebuked the wind and raging water, while Mark

alone includes the content of Jesus rebuke, adding and rebuked the wind and said to

the sea, Peace! Be still! Luke then says that they ceased, and there was a calm. Mark

specifies that the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

8:25 ;
,

After the sea is calmed, Luke has Jesus turn to His disciples, He said to them,

where is your faith? Mark has He said to them, Why are you afraid? Have you no

faith? Matthew differs from Mark and Luke, in that after the disciples go to wake Jesus,
before arising and calming the storm, Jesus rebukes the disciples; And he said to them,

Why are you afraid, O men of little faith? Only then does Matthew have Jesus turn His

attention to the storm; Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a

great calm. Thus, the triple tradition describes Jesus rising and rebuking the wind, as

well as the result of a calm (or great calm in Matthew and Mark).

All three include Jesus questioning of the faith of the disciples, but each in a

unique way. Lukes where is your faith? compared to Marks Have you no faith? and

Matthews O men of little faith? Luke differs from the other two in that he doesnt have

Jesus saying anything about fear, though he shares in common with Mark a description of

the disciples fear immediately after the rebuke. Luke says, And they were afraid and

marveled, while Mark has something more akin to they feared [with] a great fear, or

they were greatly afraid. Matthew only mentions fear in Jesus rebuke, and then shares

with Luke the description of the disciples, the men marveled.

Then, all three speak of them turning and saying to one another some variation of

who is this man? Mark is the most similar to Luke, differing only in that Mark uses an

Imperfect indicative of to say while Luke uses the Present participle of the same, Mark

uses singular nominative nouns for wind and sea, while Luke uses a plural dative for

wind and singular for water, and consequently a plural conjugation for the later verb

obey, and Luke includes the verb he commands, while Mark sees it as unnecessary.

These differences are minor here, showing a very strong similarity between the two

accounts. Matthew too is not far from these accounts. He adds the distinction that it is

the men who marvel, rather than using embedded pronouns, uses the same verb form

for to say as Luke does, uses the word what sort of [man] rather than the who that
Mark and Luke use, uses a nominative plural for wind and agrees with Mark over

sea, and agrees with Luke over the plural conjugation of obeys. While there is much

in this last verse that is very similar in the three accounts, the word order continues to be

very fluid.

Overall, the accounts are remarkably similar, differing in minor details, word

order, and some choices of vocabulary. Some of the most significant differences (though

significant is probably too strong a word) are a) that Mark alone mentions other boats

being present, b) each author has the disciples crying out to Jesus in a different manner,

c) Matthew describes Jesus as rebuking the disciples lack of faith before he rebukes the

wind and water, d) each author quotes Jesus a little differently, and e) Marks more vivid

depiction of the disciples fear. It really should not be a surprise that Mark includes the

mention of other boats (a), as he often includes more detail than the others, as is seen also

in his lone inclusion of Jesus sleeping in the stern of the boat upon a cushion and his

lone inclusion of the content of Jesus rebuke to the storm.

Whether the disciples called Jesus , , or , is really a moot

point (b). It could be that there were a few disciples crying out to him and each used a

different word and phrase, or in their fear they reverted to Aramaic so that each author

had to translate and did so differently, or each evangelist simply chose the term that he

felt best captured the spirit of the disciples at that moment. What does seem significant is

Matthews record, that the disciples cried save, Lord. As such he really communicates

that edge of panic, and he makes it abundantly clear that the disciples were waking Jesus

in the hope that He would somehow save them, whereas Luke seems to leave it as more

of an assumption and Mark seems to be suggesting a degree of fearful petulance on the

part of the disciples, do you not care? We are left to wonder what exactly the disciples

hoped Jesus would do, as they are clearly surprised by what He does do when He stills

the wind and waves, they marveled, saying to one another, Who then is this, that he

commands even wind and water and they obey him?

It seems that Matthew had a great interest in juxtaposing the disciples and Jesus

(c). The disciples are so overwhelmed that they cry out their imperative without taking

the time to complete the thought save, Lord, rather than save us, Lord. Jesus though,

markedly takes the time to rebuke them for their fear before turning to the storm that has

been described as already filling overwhelming, and swamping the boat (by the

various authors). This emphasis of Jesus complete confidence, control, and faith in His

Fathers mission for Him seems to be at the root of Matthews rearranging of the events.

Whatever Jesus said to the men (d), it is clear that He was rebuking them for their

fear in the face of the storm, and challenging them to look within themselves for the faith

that He expects them to exhibit. The evangelists were well within the accepted methods

of ancient quotation when they each record Jesus saying, O men of little faith, Have

you no faith, and Where is your faith?

True to his normal form, Mark depicts the disciples as just a little more worried

and panicky than the other two evangelists. He alone quotes the disciples as questioning

whether Jesus cares that they are perishing. Though surely they knew He did care, the

very fact that Mark can record the event in this way suggests that their fear had escalated

to the point of being petulant toward their Rabbi. Their great fear is highlighted further by

Marks terminology; . Only Mark speaks of them as

fearing with a great fear. Thus, Mark once again portrays the disciples in a slightly

more negative light, emphasizing their slowness in grasping the true nature of Jesus.

Of course, in the end, the passages main lesson is seen in the final

pronouncement, which is so strongly supported by all three evangelists, with the least

amount of variation. The lesson was two-fold; that Jesus has authority over Creation, and

that the disciples didnt quite understand what that meant yet. Conceptually, the passage

is the same in all three accounts, though Lukes telling is a little more straight forward;

the bare-bones if you will. Matthew emphasizes the drastic difference in the panicky

cry of the disciples and the patient inverted rebukes (first of the disciples, and then of the

storm) of Jesus. Mark adds just a little more flavor, giving a little more emphasis to the

slowness of the disciples, even after the many miracles theyd already witnessed.

On the highlighting my yellow highlighter didnt show up too well once I scanned in the document.
Sorry for the difficulty there. Also, there are a couple of green marks near the end of the passage; they are
supposed to be blue. The problem is that I had them mislabeled at first, and when I went over it with blue, it
turned green. It only looked a LITTLE green on paper, but VERY green once scanned.