Verse of the Day for March 19

A storm comes down on the lake, the boat is filling with water, and Jesus is asleep on a cushion in the stern. The disciples wake him with a question that is really an accusation: carest thou not that we perish?

And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Rebuked is the word used elsewhere for what he says to demons. He speaks to the weather the way he speaks to something with intent.

Then he turns to them: why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? — which sounds harsh until you notice what he had said before they set out. Let us pass over unto the other side.

He had told them the destination. The storm did not revoke the sentence.

And the calm is described as great, using the same word as the great storm. Whatever the storm was, the calm matched it exactly.

Fear in a storm is rarely about the weather. It is about whether the person who said let us go over meant it.

The calm was as great as the storm. It was measured against it.