Biblical commentary on the New Testament - The Christian ...

358 . Matthew
VIII. 18-24.
§ 9. Jesus Stills the Sea.
(ilatth. viii. 18-27 Mark iv. 35-41 ; Luke viii. 22-25.)
;
Mattliew apparently connects tlio following event Avith the
healing of Peter's mother-in-law yet really with a situation (viii.
18) which cannot have immediately succeeded that event. Mark
conjiccts it directly with the parables of the sower, lamp, and cornfield
; in Luke it is attached to the preceding context merely by
the loose expression, iv jxia rojv v/juepwv, on one of the days. The
first verses of this section in Matthew (viii. 19-22) arc, moreover,
parallel with a passage in Luke (ix. 57, fi*.), separated from the first
passage (viii. 22, ff.) by a wide interval. Further, the words Matth.
viii. 19-22, are rather an introduction, than an integral 2:)art of the
narrative. Luke introduces them at a later period (ix. 57, ff.) in a
more precise connexion, and in a^more complete form. For the interpretation
of them we refer, therefore, to that passage. Matthew
seems to have inserted them here in the section which treats of the
miracles of Jesus, to bring out the contrast with the all-commanding
will of Jesus ; and to make apparent, that the greatness of the
requirement to follow him who had not where to lay his head, is, on
the other hand, modified by the fact that he governs the elements.
With respect to the fact itself, it exhibits Christ as the Lord of
nature in a new aspect, and as calming and pacifying its throes and
convulsions. Sin, which, in its fearful effects, disturbed even the
physical portion of existence, is thus represented as overcome by the
Prince of Peace in the most various forms of its manifestation. (Isa.
ix. 6.) In so far as what is external is always a mirror of what is
internal, this, and similar events in the evangelical history, express
the analogous power of the Saviour over the agitations of the inward
life. (See note on Matth. xiv. 21, 22.) The Saviour in a ship,
accompanied by his disciples, tossed on the waves of the sea, is a
natural antitype to the ark containing the representatives of the in-
cipient human race, and a jjrefiguration of the church in its relation
to the sea of evil {-tXayog KaKiaq) in the world.
Ver. 23, 24.—Our Lord, intending to pass over to the eastern
shore of the lake (ver. 18), entered the ship, and fell asleep. Mark,
with his usual care, finishes the picture more minutely. On the
one hand he observes, that in company with that one ship other
smaller ones crossed (iv. 36), and on the othe^, he describes precisely
the Saviour's position. (He was lying in the hinder part of the
vessel [jTpvjiva. Acts xxvii. 29, 41], resting his head. lipoaKe^dXaiov
is probably a support to lean against ; in other cases, generally a
" pillow.") While Jesus slept, a sudden hurricane arose. (Instead