Alexander Moody Stuart
Matthew 8:18-27. Now, when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave commandment to depart unto the other side. . . . (See also Mark 4:35-41, Luke 8:22-25.)
Luke 9:57-62. And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto Him, Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. . . .
(1.) Christ’s sleep on the sea presents a remarkable illustration of the announcement He had made just before embarking: that the Son of man has not where to lay His head – an apt figure of the homeless state of Jesus on earth. The only occasion in all His life that we read of Jesus laying Himself down to sleep is on this pillow in the hinder part of the ship. In infancy He lay in the manger of Bethlehem; after His resurrection, we are invited to look within the tomb at the place where the Lord lay; but we have no record of His ever laying Himself down to rest except upon the bosom of the restless sea.
After He is risen from the dead, He stands on the shore of the Lake while the disciples are in the ship, because there is then “no more sea” to Him. But
1 A further section, as edited, of a chapter from Moody Stuart’s book, Capernaum. The previous section, last month, dealt with “the crossing of the lake”.
now He lays His head upon a pillow on the deep, as if to intimate that for Him in the day of His trial there is nothing but sea. He is laying the everlasting base of the city that has foundations, of the Kingdom that cannot be moved; He is Himself the immovable Rock on which it is built. But it is not of the earth, but spiritual and eternal; and the great Founder of all is a stranger in the world, a homeless wanderer through its cities: the Son of man, with no place to lay His head but a pillow while on the troubled waters.
(2.) This sleep is the holy rest of the weary workman after earnest labour. Jesus often wakes while others sleep. On the lonely mountain He watches all night when the world is sunk in slumber; now He is fast asleep when the world is awake and busy. The Son of man who sat upon the well at Sychar, wearied with His journey, is now wearied with the double work of mind and body in preaching and patient teaching; and He falls into sound and refreshing sleep.
Yet it is not slumber overcoming Him, but time purposely redeemed for sleep; whether eating or drinking, or whatsoever He does, doing all to the glory of God. The time is not suited for public work, not suited for secret prayer or watching, and Jesus redeems it for rest. It is so much time gained; the sleep that is taken on the brief voyage will save another hour for labour on the shore in meditation or in discourse. “So He giveth His beloved sleep.” What a childlike, quiet rest in the bosom of the Father! What a Sabbath of peace in the Son of Man! What a sweet and holy forgetfulness of the bitter cup that is to end all His labours! What a blessed resting of the Father’s eye on His beloved Son! What a wondering and admiring watch of the legions of angels who minister round their Lord on the deep!
(3.) Christ’s is a quiet sleep in the midst of danger, through the sudden storm that breaks out while they sail. The terrible tempest that is sometimes raised in that Galilean Sea will be understood by the following description: “To understand the causes of these sudden and violent tempests, we must remember the Lake lies low – 600 feet lower than the ocean; that the vast and naked plateaus of the Jaulan rise to a great height, spreading backward to the wilds of the Hauran, and upward to snowy Hermon; that the water courses have cut out profound ravines and wild gorges, converging to the head of this Lake; and that these act like gigantic funnels to draw down the cold winds from the mountains.
“On the occasion referred to, we subsequently pitched our tents at the shore, and remained three days and nights exposed to this tremendous wind. We had to double-pin all the tent ropes, and frequently were obliged to hang with our whole weight upon them, to keep the quivering tabernacle from being carried up bodily into the air. . . . The whole Lake, as we had it, was lashed
into fury; the waves repeatedly rolled up to our tent door, tumbling over the ropes with such violence as to carry away the tent-pins. And, moreover, these winds are not only violent, but they come down suddenly, and often when the sky is perfectly clear. I once went in to swim near the hot baths, and before I was aware, a wind came rushing over the cliffs with such force that it was with great difficulty I could regain the shore. Some such sudden wind it was, I suppose, that filled the ship with waves, ‘so that it was now full’, while Jesus was asleep on a pillow in the hinder part of the ship.”22
There is indeed no tempest when Jesus lays Himself down to rest, but the howling winds and beating waves, with the water rising round Him in the fast-filling ship, none of them disturb His quiet rest. Nor is it sleep that prevents agitation, for He is equally calm when awake, but the outward quiet is the image of the holy peace within. There are other billows around Him, darker and more furious than the waves of the sea. When Jesus awakes, He rebukes the wind; not with unmeaning reproof, but because the prince of the power of the air has stirred the tempest, and he is rebuked in the chiding of the winds, which have been moved by his malice. Jesus is about to assault the principalities and powers in their stronghold amid the tombs of Gadara. They are not ignorant of His approach, nor is He unaware of their enmity but, knowing all, He lays Himself down in quiet rest. He seems thus to place Himself in their power, but the Almighty God keeps Him safely, for His enemies are all in His Father’s hands.
“I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.” “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.” “I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.”
The rage of Satan is not only foiled, but the evil he threatens and attempts falls speedily upon himself. As, in the end, the death of Christ is the destruction of Satan, so now his legions are cast into that Sea, in which he seeks to overwhelm Jesus. When He reaches the shore, Satan is not only rebuked but cast out; into that same deep the maddened swine rush headlong, and the devils are sent back into their dreaded abyss below.
(4.) As He is weary at the well of Sychar – He who “fainteth not, neither is weary” – so He sleeps in the ship, who “shall neither slumber nor sleep”. The seamen marvel at Him afterwards, when He stills the tempest, but Jesus sleeping is the greater marvel of the two. The eternal Word made flesh was asleep on a pillow. In His Godhead He sleeps not, but He who is the Almighty God sleeps in His holy manhood. The body sleeps, but Jesus sleeps in that body prepared for Him, made one with Himself, part of His one undivided
22 W M Thomson, The Land and the Book, London, 1859, p 374.
Person for ever. It is not that one Christ sleeps and another Christ stills the tempest, but the same Christ sleeps on the waves who with His word bids the waves be still. It is not that the manhood sleeps and the Godhead quiets the wind, as if they were two persons; but the one Lord Jesus sleeps in His manhood, and by His Godhead rebukes the winds. Wondrous Holy One, God manifest in flesh, in two distinct natures, yet one Person for ever.
(5.) The sleep of innocence in Jesus presents a striking contrast to the sleep of guilt in Jonah. Jesus went into the hinder part of the ship; Jonah went “down into the sides of the ship”. Jesus lay and was asleep on a pillow; Jonah “lay and was fast asleep”. The disciples awake Jesus, calling, “Carest Thou not that we perish?” The shipmaster awoke Jonah, saying, “Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not”. There is a remarkable resemblance so far between the two cases, but with an infinite contrast. The one is the deep sleep of innocence; the other is the deep sleep of guilt. In the one ship, the only innocent One sleeps, and He sleeps because He is innocent; in the other it is the guilty man alone that sleeps, and he sleeps because he is guilty.
But how constantly the one is mistaken for the other. The world is fast asleep, asleep in the arms of the wicked one, in the snare of the devil, asleep in the midst of the sea, asleep while the waves of wrath are ready to swallow them up. Thousands in the church are so asleep, at ease in Zion, slumbering in false security, yet vainly fancying that all is well. They speak peace to themselves when there is no peace; they imagine that it is the peace of life and salvation, when it is only the peace of an unwakened conscience, for theirs is not the sleep of the innocent Jesus but the sleep of the guilty Jonah.
Yet Jonah is a type of Jesus, the type given by Christ Himself, a figure of Christ in His death and resurrection, a figure of Christ in one dying that the rest may be saved. The guilt of Jonah is personal, the guilt of Christ is imputed. Jonah is the one transgressor who is cast into the deep, and the waves of God’s anger are stilled. Jesus is made sin and curse for His people, is cast into the waves of God’s wrath, and they are quieted for His people; He is made sin, and His people are made righteousness; the wrath rests on Him and they have peace for ever. The waves that now surround the ship are quieted by the word of Jesus, without His being cast into the sea. But in the last sea of trouble it is both. Jesus is first cast into the deep gulf; then He speaks to them in almighty power, Peace, be still, and they enter into rest. But this anticipates the end of the storm, which we will notice next.