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Matthew 8:23–27
“The men marveled, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?’ ” (v. 27).
Since the Enlightenment—the turn in the West from confidence in divine revelation to confidence in human reason—some of the most important thinkers have been committed atheists. Metaphysical naturalism—the assumption that the physical universe is all that there is and that everything can be explained by physical processes—now holds sway in most academic disciplines. Western culture has embraced a virulent secularism that might be OK with references to God in the most general sense but certainly does not want to be accountable to them.
One might expect that these currents would have eliminated religion altogether. Yet while participation in organized forms of religion has been on the decline, strong religious impulses remain. Even in the secularizing West, human beings remain incurably religious. This has raised all manner of questions for those who are metaphysical naturalists, most notably this one: If God does not, in fact, exist, how do we explain the persistence of faith in Him?
Several naturalistic explanations for this have been offered. Sigmund Freud, for instance, argued that belief in the supernatural arises from mankind’s fear of natural phenomena that we cannot control. In order to deal with this fear, human beings personalized natural forces such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and so forth, inventing gods behind these destructive events that they could attempt to placate and so bring the natural world under control. Over time, Freud said, this evolved into monotheism, and men and women began trying to appease one God who directs all the phenomena that we fear.
Human beings do fear natural disasters and the havoc they wreak, but Freud’s explanation falters because they fear the presence of a holy God more. Today’s passage illustrates this beautifully. While Jesus and the disciples traveled on the Sea of Galilee, a violent storm threatened their boat and the disciples feared for their lives. Our Lord was sleeping, and the disciples woke Him up. Jesus quickly dealt with the problem, rebuking the storm and causing it to cease and the water to be still. Yet the fear of the disciples increased, only this time they were afraid of Jesus (Matt. 8:23–27).
The disciples feared Christ because they recognized that He was a perfectly holy man, and over time they realized that Jesus was also the holy God. They trusted in Him for reconciliation with the Lord and the privilege of receiving His love as His children (1 John 4:13–18).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
People will always be incurably religious because deep down we all know that there is a God and that we are estranged from Him by our sin (Rom. 1:18–32). But none of our works or piety can reconcile us to Him. Only the righteousness and holiness of Christ can accomplish that, and we receive it by resting only in Him for salvation. If you have not trusted in Christ, now is the time to do so.
For Further Study
- Proverbs 28:1
- Luke 5:1–11
- 1 John 3:5
- Revelation 1:9–18