Week 1: Thursday
Devotional
Let's go on that boat and think what it was like. It's a small lake, as lakes go, but sudden storms come sweeping down from the hills. All of us in the boat know of people who've been drowned there, of whole boats that have been swamped and gone to the bottom, of sad homes back in Capernaum or Magdala where there are widows and small children dependent on relatives because the father and his sons didn't come home from a night's fishing.
So we are right to be afraid, aren't we? You can't deny that! And Jesus, who was doing such great things a minute ago on land, is . . . asleep. How can he do that? Doesn't he care? Should we wake him? Well, why not? If he can't help us, who can? Then it happens. He wakes up and looks at us, a bit cross but not, it seems, because we've woken him but because of something else. We haven't got enough faith, he says. Well, we've sailed this lake often enough and we know that it isn't faith that gets you across, it's hard work with the oars and sails! But then he is saying something again — this time, loud and clear, not to us but to the wind and the sea. He's telling them to shut up! Who does he think he is? This is crazy!
Only it isn't. The wind dies down. The sea becomes very, very still, like a screaming child suddenly pacified. And our question 'Who does he think he is?' turns into a different question: Who is he? What sort of man is this?
We've heard the old stories about God telling the wind and the sea to open up a way for his people to pass over. We've heard about Jonah, about Noah. We know the ancient, mysterious story about God making the world in the first place by replacing the waters of chaos with his new creation. We've always wanted this God to come back to rescue us. But we never thought it would be like this. And we never thought we'd have to wake him up to make it happen. But — wait a minute? Isn't that in the old scriptures, too? Didn't the Psalms some- times shout to God to wake up and sort out the mess?
When we get to the other side, it's someone else doing the shouting. A madman — actually, two of them; and they're yelling at Jesus. Something's got into them. We don't under- stand it but that's the only explanation. Maybe it's because we're off Jewish territory, this side of the lake. That's why there's a herd of pigs over there; you'd never get that in proper Jewish farms, of course. But now the men are begging Jesus — or rather, it seems to be the strange voices that are coming from the men — to send them into the herd of pigs. There must be evil spirits in there, doing the talking. And Jesus tells them to go. A sudden cold wind, and then it's all stamping and snorting and off they go — over the steep hill and down into the lake. Not surprisingly, the lads in charge of the pigs take to their heels as well. For two pins I'd go too; this is getting too scary for words.
But the heart of it is this. Not only the question we felt on the lake: Who is Jesus? But the question we now can't avoid: Is this what it looks like when God's kingdom begins to arrive on earth as in heaven? Does it mean that some sort of cosmic battle is now in progress, with the storm on the one hand and the evil spirits on the other trying as it were to attack Jesus, to stop him bringing heaven's rule to bear on this dangerous and distracted world of ours? What's that going to mean for us? What's it going to mean for him?
TODAY
Lord of wind and sea, help us to follow you, whatever the questions, wherever you lead.
Matthew 8
1 When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him, 2 and there was a man with a skin disease who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be made clean!” Immediately his skin disease was cleansed. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.” 8 The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me, and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” 10 When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and will take their places at the banquet with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.” And the servant was healed in that hour.
14 When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; 15 he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. 16 That evening they brought to him many who were possessed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and cured all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
18 Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 A scribe then approached and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21 Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 A windstorm suddenly arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a dead calm. 27 They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
28 When he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two men possessed by demons came out of the tombs and met him. They were so fierce that no one could pass that way. 29 Suddenly they shouted, “What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now a large herd of swine was feeding at some distance from them. 31 The demons begged him, “If you cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” 32 And he said to them, “Go!” So they came out and entered the swine, and suddenly, the whole herd stampeded down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the water. 33 The swineherds ran off, and, going into the town, they told the whole story about what had happened to the men possessed by demons. 34 Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their region.