Answering Him, Christ compared one who walks on the path to eternal life to a plowman. The ploughman who has taken hold of the plough must look forward so that the animals harnessed to the plough pull evenly, without falling off the furrow, and that the plough goes straight at the proper depth; Only if such conditions are met, the ploughing will be good and the ploughman's goal will be achieved. And if he looks back, the animals will be knocked out of the furrow, and the plough will jump out; and through this the ploughman will not achieve his goal. In the same way, a person who has decided to follow the path outlined by Christ must keep a sharp eye on the front, must constantly have before him the goal of his journey, and only then can he hope to enter those narrow gates of the Kingdom of Heaven that stand at the end of his path. But if there is still a struggle in him, if he cannot renounce temptations, if he looks back at them from time to time, then he is not reliable for the Kingdom of Heaven, moreover, he is not reliable for the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:62) here on earth.

The Evangelists are silent about what these two disciples did: whether they followed Jesus, or whether they succumbed to temptation. It must be assumed that if they had gone home, Jesus would have preached to the Apostles on this matter, but since the Evangelists are silent about this, it is likely that these disciples followed the Lord.

Calming the Storm

After that, Jesus entered the boat with His disciples and ordered them to sail to the other, that is, the eastern, side of the lake. They obeyed the order and sailed away. Other boats sailed with Him, as Mark testifies, but it is probable that these other boats lagged behind or took a different direction, since they are not mentioned in the rest of the narrative.

Exhausted, Jesus fell asleep in the stern. A terrible storm arose, the waves hit the boat and began to flood it, but He slept peacefully. The disciples, almost all the fishermen of this very lake, accustomed to struggle with its storms and bad weather, are exhausted and in despair wake up the sleeping Teacher. The words with which the Apostles and disciples addressed Jesus are conveyed by the Evangelists in different ways. According to the story of Mark, they asked: Teacher! Is there no need of Thee that we are perishing? In these words one can hear both a reproach to the Teacher for not paying attention to the fate of His disciples, and a hidden confidence that He can prevent their death if He wishes. Luke conveyed only cries of despair: "Master! Mentor! we perish (Luke 8:24). And according to Matthew, the disciples, waking up Jesus, turned to Him with a prayer: Lord! save us, we perish (Matt. 8:25). In such a difference in the exclamations of Jesus' disciples, one cannot see a disagreement in the narratives of the Evangelists; in a moment of general despair, the disciples could not speak with one voice, by prior agreement; on the contrary, each of them was in a hurry to speak, each in his own way hastened to ask Jesus for salvation, so it must be admitted that everything transmitted by the Evangelists was actually said by different disciples, and each of the three Evangelists wrote down those words that were better known to him.

So some of the disciples said, "Teacher! Is there no need of Thee that we are perishing? Others cried out in despair: Master! Mentor! We are dying. And still others prayed to Him: Lord! Save us, we are perishing.

When Jesus had heard them all, he said to them: "Why are you so fearful, you of little faith? Is the testimony of John and all the miracles I have performed before you not enough for you to finally know who I am? Do you really think that you can perish in the waves of your native sea? You whom I have chosen to preach My teachings to all the world? And then, rising and standing in the stern, He turned to the raging hurricane and the furious sea, and in an authoritative, commanding voice said, "Be still, be still." Instantly the wind subsided, and there was a great silence. Turning again to the disciples, He said to them with sadness, "Where is your faith? (Luke 8:25).

This was the first test of the faith of the Apostles, and they turned out to be of little faith: sailing with Jesus Christ, they were frightened by the storm and imagined that they could perish, and when the wind and the sea instantly obeyed the command of Christ, they were perplexed in great fear and asked one another: Who is this, that both the wind and the sea obey Him? According to Matthew, this was said by people, probably boatmen, who were not among the disciples of Jesus according to the stories of Mark and Luke, and so did the disciples.

"You swim across the sea of this life (says Augustine), and the wind rises, storms and temptations overtake you. Why is this, if not because Jesus falls asleep in you? If He had not slept in you, you would have enjoyed inner silence. What does it mean that Jesus falls asleep in you, if not that in your heart the faith of Jesus is dormant? What must you do to deliver yourself? Awaken Him and say: Teacher! We are perishing! He will awaken, that is, faith will return to you and abide in you. When Christ awakens, then even in the midst of stormy turmoil the water will not flood your ship, your faith will command the winds and waves, and the danger will pass."

The Healing of the Possessed in the Land of the Gadarenes

Continuing to sail to the other side, Jesus and his disciples sailed to the land of the Gadarenes, lying on the eastern shore of the lake. This country Luke calls the Gadarene country, after the city of Gadara that was located in it, and Matthew calls it the country of Gergesene, after the name of another city of Gerges; both of these cities were among the cities of the Decapolis.

Those who came ashore were met by a demoniac man, a man possessed by an unclean spirit. The Evangelists Mark and Luke speak of one demon-possessed, and the Evangelist Matthew of two (Matt. 8:28). In this, in the opinion of Chrysostom, there is no disagreement: the disagreement between the Evangelists would arise only when Mark and Luke said that there was only one demonic, and there was no other; but when one speaks of two, and the others of one, this is not a sign of disagreement, but only shows a different way of narration.

Considering the narrations of all the Evangelists to be absolutely true, we must admit that there were two demon-possessed, but since one of them was especially ferocious, and the other, in comparison with the first, remained barely noticed, Mark and Luke mention only one, as the most remarkable. He possessed extraordinary, inhuman strength: he broke chains and broke fetters; Many times he was bound with fetters and chains, but each time without success, as a result of which he was left to the mercy of fate. He lived in mountain caves called coffins, because in such or similar artificial caves the dead were buried. In terrible agony he cried out day and night, in despair he beat himself against the stones, and with his frantic cries he struck such fear into all the inhabitants of the neighbourhood that no one dared to go the way by which he could meet him.

What did this sufferer do when he saw Jesus and His disciples coming out of the boat to the shore? The Evangelist Matthew, who speaks briefly about this event, testifies that two demoniacs, seeing Jesus, cried out: "What have we to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Thou hast come hither before the time to torment us. The Evangelist Mark narrates the same event in the following way: when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshipped Him, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, "What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure Thee by God, do not torment me! For, the Evangelist explains, Jesus said to him: "Come out, you unclean spirit, out of this man." The Evangelist Luke recounts this event in full agreement with the Evangelist Mark: when He saw Jesus, He cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, "What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beseech Thee, do not torment me. (Luke 8:28). For, Luke also explains, Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of this man (Luke 8:29).