The Way of the Seekers

Seeking Jesus is what the latter part of Luke 8 is all about.

The people gathered ‘round Him to hear His Word. They were stirred and hungry for the Message.

This news reached Jesus’ human family. What they heard bothered them. They were worried about His well-being. “And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, He is out of his mind” (Mark 3:21).

Simply put, Mary came after Jesus. She wasn’t coming for the right reasons. She and His brothers were poised to stage an intervention. They showed up at one of His teaching sessions and were stuck outside.

He was so popular that getting close to Him was not easy. The crowds pressed near to listen. He was introducing a new type of dynamic on earth. Something fresh and holy was coming.

The family sent word to the Son. The message reached Jesus, His response surely caught them, and everyone there, by surprise. “My mother and brothers are those who hear the Word of God and do it” (Luke 8:18).

There is a lesson for us here about closeness to Jesus and our expectations. We can try to live for Him in natural ways and expect Him to respond naturally, reasonably. And His family members related to Him on the natural level. He stood among the crowd of His followers and said what he said.

Hope in the Storm

Imagine the disciples hearing this. They were likely still trying to process the meaning of it when Jesus announced:  “Get the boat. We’re going to the other side.”

Hear the Word. Do the Word. That’s life in the faith family of Jesus. And so I see them as they rushed to the shore and set sail.

Then things got interesting, even for the onetime fishermen in the group. These men knew the sea and its character. Wild swings of weather could happen on these waters.

Jesus? He decided to take a nap.

As He slept, the ominous clouds rolled in. The winds began to batter the boat. Rain fell hard and fast. The vessel began to take on water, too much water.

Jesus was still at rest in the back of the boat. Sleeping, He was, as if everything was under control. Of course, it was under control, His control.

He was unmoved by the atmosphere until panic seized the disciples. They only knew one thing to do at this point:  Go to Jesus.

Let’s give them credit for that, shall we? They did go to Jesus, shouting to Him, in essence, “Lord, we’re all gonna die!”

That was the gist of their prayer, and it was a prayer — the desperate kind we all pray sometimes. Such prayers are just as holy as any other kind of prayer. In fact, these may be the holiest kinds of prayers because they are the most honest.

When we’re facing dire straits, we don’t really take time to dress up our prayers. Every pretense is crushed by our absolute need. The writer of Psalm 119 said that it was good for him to be afflicted that he might learn the statutes of God (Psalm 119:71). God chided Israel for their pretend prayers. They flattered God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him (see Psalm 78:36-37).

“Lord, we’re all gonna die!” These kinds of supplications are found throughout the Scriptures. David howled in Psalm 13 about how forgotten by God he was feeling. There was no sense of the Presence of the Lord. He couldn’t feel God and he let God know this. By the close of that short psalm, David sang of the mercy and salvation of the Lord.

“Lord, we’re all gonna die!” How long did it take them to reach this point? Did they furiously bail the water until they couldn’t keep up any longer?

Does God seem to us to be asleep sometimes? Sure, He does. We grow agitated over why He allows situations to linger. We wonder about His goodness. We may enter “Doubting Castle” and face “Giant Despair”(see Pilgrim’s Progress).

Our God has perspective, perfect perspective from every angle. His perspective is as the One who is in Heaven, the One whose Kingdom shall come, the One whose will shall be done, regardless of present appearances.

As the Son, Jesus gained the fullness of perspective by living out life under the sun. He learned obedience through the things He suffered (see Hebrews 5:8). Fast forward to the Cross and we hear Jesus crying, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He knows the depths of all loneliness; He hurt with every manner of hurt that we feel and endure.

Jesus had said, “Let’s go to other side.” He was certain that they would get there.

Where is Your Faith?

The disciples had yet to believe this power about His Word. Their faith was being tried and tried hard. They were in crisis mode, and they needed Jesus to see the state of things.

He answered their cries. He did not dismiss them.

The Savior stood up and spoke to the winds and the waves. “Peace, be still.”

He addressed the storm and then He addressed the disciples. “Where is your faith?”

Notice the structure of that statement. He knew that they had faith. He had spent careful days and months helping them to believe; now He gave them something to help their unbelief. And that’s what we need to learn in the midst of our unbelief — just go to Jesus. Wake Him up with every complaint and groan you have in you. Job did this and you can do it, too.

“Where is your faith?” Two things we see here in this question. The faith they needed was there and it was theirs. The moment on the sea was a moment of choice.

Where? It is the question of placement, location, direction, position. Share on X

Where? It is the question of placement, location, direction, position.

Faith is a possession for everyone. People who choose to ignore the reality of God are making a faith wager. They are resting their hopes and dreams and futures on their own understanding. That is the “where” of their faith.

The thing that activates faith is the object that we place it upon. “On Christ the Solid Rock, I stand. All other ground in sinking sand.”

“Where is your faith?”

Enough Faith to Fall at His Feet

I want to finish with the account from the other side. There, Jesus is met by a man infested by demons; a legion of them had claimed control over him. Still, this man came right down to the shore from the graves and tombs he had been living among. Everything about his life was death, and then the Savior showed up. “When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him and said with a loud voice, ‘What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’” (Luke 8:28).

I love this story because it reveals that no one is too far gone. Something in this man brought him to the feet of Jesus. Just a thread of hope was in him for deliverance. I don’t think it was the demons who were talking at first. They were allowed to talk once Jesus addressed them.

Perhaps, magicians and pagans had tried to bring relief with their spells and chants and potions. He wanted no more torment of false hope.

“What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son for the Most High God?” It was his prayer. He sought Jesus and Jesus set him free. And the Son made him a missionary right then and there:  “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.  And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him” (Luke 8:39). Sometime later Jesus would return to this very place and crowds would seek Him and the healing and liberty He offered.

Seek Jesus — no matter what kind of storm swirls around you or in you. Don’t seek Him due to natural attachments. Seek Him from the heart. Share on X

Seek Jesus — no matter what kind of storm swirls around you or in you. Don’t seek Him due to natural attachments. Seek Him from the heart.

For we know that at Calvary, Jesus faced the ultimate storm of all storms, the hurricane of wrath abiding on all people. He could not say to the fury of the Cross, “Peace, be still.” He Himself had to dive into the waves of death.

And Jesus got to the other side, making a way for the liberty of Resurrection Life.

“Where is our faith?” It must be in the truth of His triumph.