Where is Your Faith?

 June 19, 2022

Pastor Roy preached this morning on Luke’s account in chapter 8 of the healing of the Gadarene demoniac, with a number of thoughts well worth repeating. I’ll only share a couple here. 

“It happened on a certain day that he got into a boat with his disciples. ANd he said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side.” So they launched out.”  —Luke 8:22

A storm blew in, and it must have been a doozy, because these experienced fishermen thought they were going to capsize. Jesus was sleeping, but the storm got so violent they woke him up. “We’re going to drown!” they shouted above the wind. Jesus spoke to the storm, it suddenly became calm, and he asked them, “Where is your faith?” (v.24).

That’s a good question for us today. Where is our faith? Jesus had told them they were going to the other side of the lake, which means he had no intention of only going halfway. The obvious answer to his question was that what faith they had was primarily in their own skills, which weren’t adequate for the storm they faced. Their faith was certainly not in Jesus’ word.

We expect when Jesus invites us on a trip that it will be pleasant sailing. We can relax with our coffee and snacks, enjoying the view and the breeze. Storms are not on our radar; after all, isn’t Jesus with us? Doesn’t he protect us from such things? When life’s storms crash in upon our little vacation, upsetting our plans and threatening to swamp our boat, we do what the disciples did; we work harder, applying our skills to the storm. Our faith is in our abilities, or that of the doctors, or lawyers, or counselors, instead of the word of Christ.

The disciples didn’t drown that day. There was a drowning, but it wasn’t the disciples. They landed safely on the other side. No; it was a herd of pigs suddenly tormented by the demons that had infested the poor Gadarene at Jesus’ command. The Word of Christ is powerful, if we will but believe it instead of what we see happening around us. If they aren’t already raging, storms are brewing, calling out to us in their fury, “Look at us! We are going to destroy you!” They don’t have that power when Jesus Christ has spoken, calling us to the other side. We only have to answer his question, “Where is your faith?”