Jesus expected his disciples, those who followed him, to trust him. He expected them to have faith. When Jesus talks about faith in these verses, he is not referring to some kind of feeling or emotion but to the idea of trust.
The disciples should have known that Jesus cares for them and has the power to keep them safe. Instead of calmly asking him for help, they panicked and feared for their lives. After they saw Jesus stopping the waves, they were even more fearful because they realized that Jesus has God’s power. He is not someone they can control. At this moment in time they were still unsure about who he truly is, unsure about whether or not he really has their best interests at heart, unsure about whether they could trust him completely.
Thankfully, we do not read the Gospels today with the same veil over our eyes. We know from the beginning that Jesus is the Lord who has come to destroy the works of Satan to free us from slavery to sin and death. We know that he is the Lord who not only controls creation, but he came into our world, took on human flesh, and died on a cross so that our sins can be forgiven and so that we can come into God’s presence without being destroyed.
The result is that we can know that God really does care for us. We do not need to be unsure like the disciples. We know Jesus cares for us because being fully human, he is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. We know Jesus cares for us because he has visibly demonstrated his love through his death on the cross. We know Jesus cares for us because he has sent his Spirit to guide, strengthen, and dwell in us (John 14:15–18).
Consider the example of the apostle Peter. Despite seeing Jesus’ power over the wind and water, he would fear for his life and deny Jesus three times (see Mark 14:1 – 15:47). But after Jesus’ death and resurrection—when he came to understand the depths of God’s love for him and when he was empowered by God the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2:1–47)—Peter would boldly testify in Jerusalem that Jesus was the Messiah. The rest of his life would be spent preaching and teaching about Jesus. According to the testimony of the early church, he would later die in Rome—crucified upside down for his faith in Christ.
Through his Spirit, Jesus transformed Peter so that he could have faith in the midst of fear. And Jesus wants to do the same thing for us today. He wants us to have faith in the midst of fear. He is not going to remove us from the storms of life. He is not going to give us the life of our dreams and desires and make sure that everything happens according to our plan. When we come to faith, we are not immune from the trials and sufferings of life in this world. In fact, Jesus is going to continue bringing us into difficult situations. But he does that in order to test our faith, in order to grow our faith in him. Jesus does not save us from trials and suffering, he saves us through them.
When we experience times of crisis, we should continue to trust God. God is in control of this world; he is in control of whatever situation we might find ourselves in. We do not have to panic as if our situation is outside of God’s control. God who made the world has also shown his love for us. He has demonstrated that he has our best interests at heart. We can therefore trust him to continue caring for us and to know what is best for us even if we do not understand why he allows us to suffer or why he brings us into difficult circumstances.
35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”