MATTHEW 8:23 – 9:17

                (Daniel 7:1-14)

- Perhaps you remember seeing the Dalai Lama on the TV when he was in Australia a few years ago. When he was here, he appeared at huge meetings all over the country.

- What kind of man is this?

- He’s mysterious, isn’t he? Is he man, or god, or a bit of each?

- They call this man ‘His Holiness’. That fairly obviously means that they consider him to be extra special, at the very least.

- According to the official website, Tibetans believe that the Dalai Lama is an enlightened being, who has chosen rebirth as a way of being of benefit to all living beings.

- He has millions of followers. When he escaped from Tibet into India in 1959, approximately 80,000 Tibetans followed him across the Himalayas into exile. Many have made that same trip since, and many have died on the way.

- What kind of man is this?

               - That’s exactly the question that the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth asked so long ago. We read about that from the Gospel of Matthew today:

 Ch. 8 v. 27,

"What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"

- What had happened to prompt them to ask this question?

Matthew ch. 8 vv. 23-27,

“Then (Jesus) got into the boat, and his disciples followed him.   Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.  The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"   He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.   The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"

 - If you and I had been there, I’m sure that we would have asked the same question.

 - So, what kind of man is this?

(1) The disciples called him ‘Lord”.

 v. 25,

"Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"   

- Now, it’s possible that they were just saying something like “Sir, save us!”, but it’s much more likely that they were applying to Jesus the same form of address that was used by Jews of Jehovah, (Yahweh) the God of Israel.

 - Perhaps you remember us reading from ch. 7 2 weeks ago when Jesus said:

 “Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (v. 21)

- That passage clearly links the New Testament ‘Lord’ with the Old Testament ‘Lord’.

 - So, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is portrayed as ‘Lord’, which suggests to Jews a very close link with the God of the Old Testament.

 - What kind of man is this?

(1) The disciples called him ‘Lord”

but perhaps some are still wondering?