MAMMA’S SUNDAY TALK.
MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR:
STILLING THE TEMPEST.
In our last Sunday talk I told you how our Saviour healed the man with the withered hand: and how angry the Pharisees were at His doing so on the Sabbath. You understand, my children, that Christ was not teaching us to regard the Sabbath with less reverence, but He showed us by His example that works of mercy and kindness are consistent with the holiness of Sunday. Christ said, “It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day.” To attend the sick, comfort the afflicted, teach the young and ignorant,—these are all good works; and to do these is “to do well.”
The Pharisees and Scribes were always on the watch for something, either in the doctrines that Christ taught, or in His acts, which might serve as a ground for arresting Him and bringing Him to trial. But besides the open enmity of these men, our Saviour had a difficulty to contend with in the want of thorough and perfect faith even in those who dearly loved Him—His own disciples; and some of the miracles He performed had for their object chiefly to confirm and strengthen the faith of His followers. The miracle I am going to tell you of—the stilling of the tempest—was one of these, and was witnessed only by the disciples who were with Him in the ship.
Not only was faith necessary for the disciples in order to give them confidence in the protection of God while they helped our Saviour in His work, or when they should have to continue it after Him, but perfect faith was needed before they could acquire the power of performing miracles. On one occasion, when some of them had attempted the miraculous cure of a boy, and failed, they asked Christ the reason of their failure. He replied: “Because of your unbelief. If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you.”
The apostles—that is, the chosen few, who continued the mission of our Saviour after His crucifixion—had the power of working miracles conferred upon them. We may assume therefore that their faith was perfect. But let us come to the miracle I have to tell you of today.
Our Saviour had been teaching the people all day from a boat on the lake of Galilee; the people being ranged along the shore, so that they could all hear without crowding in upon Him. When evening came on, He desired the people to return to their homes, and bade His disciples put their boat from the land, and depart to the other side of the lake. As they left the shore, the water was smooth and calm, and the cool air blew gently from the mountains. Christ, tired out with the exertion of the day, lay down to rest and fell asleep.
The boat bore them over the rippling waves, and the disciples conversed most likely about the teaching of our Saviour which they had heard that day. They thought very probably that their faith in Him was quite strong: but it was soon to be tried. A terrible storm arose suddenly; the wind blew furiously; the great waves arose around the little vessel, and broke over its sides; the sail was torn, the mast broken. Then the disciples, in terror, rushed to our Saviour to wake Him, saying, “Lord, save us! we perish.”