Humanity and Deity

Observations From My Study (Matthew 8:23-27)

So while I was doing my daily Bible reading, I came to the famous story of Jesus calming a storm:

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:23-27)

What strikes me about this passage enough to post it on the blog is that it displays both Jesus' humanity and deity in the same passage.

To start, look where Jesus is when the storm comes: "he was asleep" (v. 23). Sleep is, in my opinion, one of the biggest markers of human weakness there is. We spend one-third of our whole lives asleep. We can barely make it a full day before we need to fall asleep to restore our energy. Cars can go longer without needed to refuel than a human can before he needs to sleep. Here is Jesus, the Son of God, the Creator of the universe, giving himself up to such a human weakness as the need to sleep.

Then the storm hits. It doesn't wake him up. I wonder if he was so tired that the storm simply couldn't wake him, or if he was just that unafraid of it that it wasn't a big deal to him. The text doesn't say. But he remains asleep when the storm hits until his disciples, fearing for their lives, wake him up.

Then comes a startling and powerful sign of his deity. "He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm" (v. 26). Jesus, the man who was asleep only moments before, commands the sea to calm down. And it obeys.

I suppose one could just say Jesus was a great miracle worker, that this is not proof of deity at all. But, in the Old Testament, power over the sea was attributed to God and God alone:

For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
     which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
     their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men
     and were at their wits' end.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
     and he delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
     and the waves of the sea were hushed. (Ps 107:25-29; see also Ps 29:3-4; 89:9; 93:4)

Humanity and deity. Fully God and fully man. The Son of Man, Jesus the Messiah.