Thank you for the interpretative question on Matthew 8:23–26, “According to Matthew 8:23-26, how did “a great storm” test the disciples’ faith?”
Here are some thoughts for one’s consideration that the great storm tested the disicples’ faith.
In the beginning of Matthew 8, the disciples saw a leper asked Jesus to heal him, a Centurion came and asked Jesus to heal his faithful servant, and the disciples saw Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and others. The disciples saw men and women expressed faith in Jesus.
Now it was the disciples’ turn to express faith in Jesus. The disciples possibly in two boats faced a sudden storm. The waves were so strong that it overflow into the boat. More and more water was coming into the boat. They couldn’t bail the water out fast enough. Certainly their eyes saw the dire circumstances of their boat sinking.
They couldn’t swim to the other boat for probably that boat was in the same situation as theirs. And definitely, if they got into that boat, the additional weight would swamp the boat for sure.
They panic. They forgot what Jesus did earlier in the day when he was able to heal the sick. All the disciples saw was the dire circumstances and Jesus just in a deep sleep.
The disciples should be able to reason that the Lord selected them to be his disciples. Would God allow them to drown? The disciples need not panic for would God allow this man, Jesus, whom they were following to drown with them? Could the example of the other men and women expressing faith despite their impossible illness should be an model for them to express faith as well?
The disciples’ fear was warranted but their reaction was unwarranted. They didn’t have to scream in desperation, shaking him from his deep slumber. Their fear was so great that they thought that would die in the next few minutes.
Jesus is not saying that they do not have faith, but that their faith is small. They believed that Jesus could save them, but they have not yet learn to express faith in the name of Jesus. Jesus was beginning to teach his disciples that nothing is impossible with God.
Faith doesn’t look at the circumstances. Faith looks to the One who controls the circumstances. The disciples realized that they were allowing the circumstances to control their belief, not their belief controlling the circumstances.
SUMMARY: The great storm showed that the disciples were relying on their own abilities to overcome their circumstances instead of relying on God who controls the circumstances of life.