STILLING THE TEMPEST.
IN our last lessons we have been studying some of the parables given by our Lord. These parables were intended to help all people to understand God's plan for saving men, and bringing them into the kingdom of heaven. It is probable that Jesus gave other parables besides those that are recorded in the Bible, and some that are recorded are not intended so much for youth as for men and women. Our dear Lord seemed very anxious that the way should be made so plain that every one might follow it if he would.
About the time when he was giving the parables that we have been learning, Jesus cried out, saying, "Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when it is sown in the earth is less than all the seed that be in the earth; but when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches, so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it?"
"And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world; the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
The teaching of Jesus was very different from anything the people had heard before; and they would stand or sit on the shores of the Sea of Galilee from morning till night, listening to the precious words of the Master, who made the truth so plain that a child could understand it. The people were often so interested that it was hard to get them to go home long enough to get food, and take needed rest. They were often unwilling to go away even at night; and Jesus sometimes had to go up into a lonely place among the mountains, where the people could not follow him. This might have been partly because he and his disciples needed rest and quiet; but it was probably more out of regard for the people; for if they became too weary, they could not so well understand and remember the good things he wanted to tell them.
One day, as evening came on, and great multitudes were still pressing around him, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed, he fell asleep;" "and behold there arose a great tempest in the sea; insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves."
"And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then he arose and rebuked the wind, and the raging of the water; and they ceased, and there was a calm. And he said unto them,
Where is your faith? And they, being afraid, wondered, saying one to another,
What manner of man is this! For he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him."