Jesus and his disciples are crossing the sea of Galilee when the waves and wind rise up against them in a storm. The disciples ask Jesus to save them, he calms the sea with words, and these men are amazed. They ask one another, “Who is this man, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (Matt 8:27)
At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he selected 12 men who were his inner circle. They were His helpers, they were His students, they would become His apostles: traveling their world to spread His gospel. But their realization of who He is came slowly.
By the time we get to the events of Matthew 8, Jesus has been traveling the region with his disciples for some time. He has healed many people – probably many hundreds of people – of all manner of sicknesses. He has cast out demons. He has worked miracles. These men have been right there and seen it all. And yet, after all they have witnessed, these men, of all men, don’t know ” who is this man “!
But, we look at these men from the perspective of a modern day Christian, having access to a complete Bible. We must remember that these men held a different viewpoint.
For one thing they were Jews. The one thing that set Judaism apart from the pagan religions was their monotheism. They focused on ONE God where the pagans had several. Some sects had hundreds of gods. Israel has one God. Jewish children were taught from infancy their shema which included Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (NKJV). In this passage, the word “all” means “without exception”. They were to love no other gods.
But along comes this Jesus, who asked them to love Him as they love God because He is the son of God. It was hard for them to wrap their heads around that.
Also, these men were (for the most part) uneducated. They did not have a background of studying the Torah and being familiar with all the prophesies concerning the Messiah. They undoubtedly knew of the promised Messiah, but probably not the specific prophecies that Jesus was fulfilling right before their eyes. At least, not yet, He educates them on this later.
When Jesus died on the cross, His disciples ran off and hid themselves in fear that they would be next to die. Jesus had told them several times that He would be put to death and rise again, yet they lamented that their teacher was dead. It wasn’t until the resurrected Jesus appeared before them that the Apostles finally “got it”. Then they truly accepted that Jesus is the Son of God and their Savior.
In our modern world, many would degrade Jesus from Savior and Judge of all the universe to being a good man, a popular teacher, and an historical figure. Many will worship God but spurn Jesus. Do not make that mistake. It is Jesus the Christ, not God the Father, who will be Judge over all in the last days (2 Timothy 4:1; Matthew 25:31-46)
To know Jesus is more than just knowing OF Him. To follow Him we must be obedient of His commands. Too many twist His instructions to their own gain. Matthew 7:22-23 quotes Jesus as saying, “22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (NKJV)
Study your Bible, read for yourself what Jesus said. Then do your best to follow His instruction. Obey as you learn, and He will give you more understanding. Do not risk standing before Jesus and hearing the words, “depart from me, I never knew you” because you do not know ‘ who is this man ‘”.
