Lent For Everyone Reading Plan
This is Thursday of the first full week of Lent. The reading is Matthew 8, with an emphasis on 28-34. (If you want to listen, scroll to the bottom of that page for the audio player.)
The incident in the boat (calming the sea) and the incident on the far side of the sea (casting the demons out of the man/men and into the pigs) both demonstrate the sovereignty of Jesus, who does only what God can do. Wright interprets both of them as also demonstrating that Jesus is doing battle with the ruler of this world and winning. Wright says “But the heart of it is this. Not only the question we felt on the lake: Who is Jesus? But the question we now can’t avoid: Is this what it looks like when God’s kingdom begins to arrive on earth as in heaven? Does it mean that some sort of cosmic battle is now in progress, with the storm on the one hand and the evil spirits on the other trying as it were to attack Jesus, to stop him bringing heaven’s rule to bear on this dangerous and distracted world of ours? What’s that going to mean for us? What’s it going to mean for him?”
There are many good songs about being with Jesus in the storms of life:
