Where Is Your Faith?

In Luke 8:22-25 (see also Matt. 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41), Jesus was crossing the Sea of Galilee with His disciples. During the trip, Jesus fell asleep in the boat. A fierce windstorm arose, causing waves to crash over the boat. Even as the boat was being tossed and overwhelmed by the waves, Jesus continued sleeping. Panicked, the disciples roused Jesus and looked to Him for help. They cried out, “Master, Master, we’re going to die!” Jesus “got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves. So they ceased, and there was a calm” (Luke 8:24). Then, significantly, He gently rebuked His disciples by asking them, “Where is your faith?” (v. 25).

It’s interesting to note that in each of the three accounts of this miracle, Jesus’ challenge to His disciples regarding their faith is framed slightly differently. This is exactly what we would expect in a courtroom where multiple eyewitnesses testified regarding the same event. If they gave identical reports, their testimonies would not hold up, because it would be clear they colluded and concocted their story. But similar stories with slight variations validate one another. Why? Eyewitnesses have different perspectives and remember different details. Yet if they’re all being truthful, their stories are remarkably consistent. So it is with Matthew’s, Mark’s, and Luke’s reports of this miracle. In the paragraph above, we cited Luke’s account of what Jesus said.

• Matthew reported, “But He said to them, ‘Why are you fearful, you of little faith?” (Matt. 18:26).
• Mark wrote that Jesus asked, “Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40).

This was not the only time Jesus challenged people regarding their faith.

• He did so in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:30. Later, in a different context, He made a similar statement (see Luke 12:28).
• He challenged Peter regarding his faith in Matthew 14:31.
• He gently rebuked His hearers for failing to understand that His warning to be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees wasn’t about bread. Their lack of faith apparently was an issue in their failure to understand this (see Matt. 16:1-12).
• In an encounter with a man who asked Jesus to help his son—a boy suffering from demon possession and seizures—Jesus issued several statements challenging people to exercise faith (see Mark 9:14-29, esp. vv. 19,23-24,28-29; also see Matt. 17:14-21; Luke 9:37-43).

Jesus’ words challenge us to exercise faith in Him today. May we echo the prayer of the man who came to Jesus to ask Him to help his demon-possessed son: “I do believe! Help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).