How did Jesus calm the storm?

Could you imagine what it would have been like for a first-century boat traveling across the Sea of Galilee at night from Tiberias to Gadarenes? One of Jesus’ disciples, Matthew described the event as a great tempest. Mark and Luke, two other disciples, called it a windstorm. They would have navigated the boat themselves across the Lake. The boat must be large enough to hold Jesus and his disciples. In Mark 4:36, he mentions other little boats were also with Him. So not only were the 12 apostles with Him, but disciples and other people were also in other little boats. On an average summer day, winds on the Sea of Galilee average from 3-10 mph. On December 12, 2010, a storm broke out at Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, with wind gusts reported from 31-68 mph. To put things into perspective, Beauford’s Wind Scale, which calculates wind speed to wave height, would have a 13-19 feet high wave height effect.

At the time of the storm, Jesus was asleep at the stern of the boat as the storm persisted and became more violent, wave after wave bounced on and sprayed over the boat. The natural reaction for the disciples would have been to panic as they rushed to their savior in hopes of being rescued, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” Then Jesus arose from the stern of the boat, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace be still!”

And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm on the sea. But then Jesus said to them. “Why are you fearful? Where is your faith? The disciples marveled at what they saw. And said to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”