Sunday July 15, 2007 | Greg Boyd
One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we're going to drown!"
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."
They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee.
We live in a war-torn world of pain, hurt, violence and death. This is not how God intended creation to look. The Good News is God has sent his Son, Jesus, to defeat the powers of death, and to begin reconciling and redeeming the world unto God. When Jesus rebukes the storm mentioned in Luke 8:22-26, he is giving us a foretaste of the ultimate victory and restoration that is to come.
We live in a war-torn world of pain, hurt, violence and death. This is not how God intended creation to look. The Good News is God has sent his Son, Jesus, to defeat the powers of death, and to begin reconciling and redeeming the world unto God. When Jesus rebukes the storm mentioned in Luke 8:22-26, he is giving us a foretaste of the ultimate victory and restoration that is to come.
In the beginning, God created the world and it was good (see Genesis 1). However, humanity disobeyed and rebelled against God, bringing about a curse on the world and on humankind. God’s creation became polluted, twisted and distorted by the principalities and powers of Satan. The earth became a war-zone where, as C.S. Lewis said, “Every square inch of this cosmos is at every moment claimed by Satan and counter-claimed by God.” Death and destruction, which were not part of God’s original plan, became a “natural” part of our world.
However, the Good News is that it won’t always look like this. Jesus came and died on the cross to reconcile us to God and to give us the gift of eternal life, where there is no more death and sorrow.
“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus), and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:19-20).
God promises that his creation will again be restored (see Isaiah 11:6-9). God will defeat the principalities and powers and reconcile all things to him. He will restore and renew humanity and all of creation. Even in the storms of life, we can live with a peace that passes understanding, and be assured that we are saved and that it’s going to be okay.
It is in the ministry of Jesus that we see glimpses of what is to come. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus confronts and rebukes sickness, death, and the forces of nature. As followers of Christ in the midst of this war-torn world, we can have hope and faith to begin living-out this reality today. By the Holy Spirit’s power, we can help to reverse the curse on this world by revealing Christ’s love and peace. Whether that’s praying against sickness and disease, helping at a local homeless shelter, feeding starving children in an impoverished country, or treating patients as a doctor, we are doing spiritual warfare.