Who then is this?

 

He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Mark 4:40-41

Jesus silenced a storm. The disciples who were in the boat with Him were genuinely afraid for their lives as they saw the waves crashing in and filling the fishing boat. Jesus arose from a nap, rebuked the wind and sea with His Creator's command: "Peace! Be still!" Suddenly the wind died and the sea was calm and the storm was no more. These men, most of whom grew up as fishermen on the lake they were sailing were astounded. They'd never seen anything like this. It was supernatural.

Their fear then changed. Jesus not only rebuked nature, but He also rebuked His fear-filled, faithless followers. He gets to the root of their fear with five one syllable words: "Have. You. Still. No. faith?" Each word in that probing questions echoes with the sudden new calm, even as the wind is still ringing in their ears and their legs are still unsteady from the pitching of the boat from the tempest.

The disciples then feared and respected what they saw in Jesus. It seems from the text He simply created calm where there was none. It wasn't that the storm moved on and died out normally at His command. It was that peace and calm suddenly appeared at His command. He created calm instantly from the chaos. No human could possibly command that kind of power. They were left wondering at divinity!

Who then is this Jesus? That is a question all followers of Jesus ought to be constantly asking as they encounter Him. Do I feel wonder, awe, even fear at His power and person? If not, I may be distant from Him with a low view of my Lord. But, if I am close enough to Him to be uncomfortable with Jesus as God, a little afraid of what I see in Him, I am right where my Master wants me to be in order to teach me Who He is.