New Testament 136

Rembrandt Galilee storm — “Storm on the Sea of Galilee”
(Rembrandt, 1633)
The boat is surely somewhat more elaborate than the one that Jesus and his fishermen-apostles actually used, and the storm may perhaps be more dramatic than that recorded in Luke 8.

Compare Matthew 8:18

One of the most memorable stories in the gospels.

“What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Indeed.

Jesus shows in this episode that he possesses the powers that had once been ascribed to the ancient storm god Ba‘al, who had been such a temptation to the ancient Israelites but was now defunct and essentially forgotten.

Lake Tiberias, Kinnereth, or the Sea of Galilee is prone to storms, for reasons explained here. They may not be quite as spectacular, typically, as that depicted by Rembrandt in the painting above. But then, the boat in which Jesus and his disciples were traveling was almost certainly a more humble thing, too. And, to make things worse, the disciples may have been unable to swim. (Surprisingly, many pre-modern sailors couldn’t.)

The so-called "Jesus boat" — Some years ago, the remains of a fishing boat from roughly the time of Jesus were found when the level of the lake had dropped during a season of drought. These remains are now on display in the Yigal Alon Museum at Kibbutz Ginosar, on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
(Click to enlarge.)

Here and here are amateur videos (each roughly a minute long) of stormy days on the Sea of Galilee, which is normally quite a placid lake.