NOTES for Мф 8:26
Against the background of the catastrophes that pursue humanity, these words both expose and bring hope. Can the terrible disasters falling upon the world really be explained by such a simple thing? Are the death and suffering of people the result of God's wrath at our little faith? And why does the Lord say this, really to frighten us?
And if we were not of little faith, then what? Christ's words about our fearfulness imply that catastrophes, in their causes, depend little on us. Otherwise why would we be afraid? Therefore the Lord is not saying that disasters are sent as retribution. Nevertheless, we are called to such faith that we can take responsibility for the world in which we have been placed and resist the forces of decay. And our little faith is, in essence, a refusal of this calling.
But no less important is that the Lord says this not so much about things that have already happened as about "the future." In practice this means for us that faith, that is, trust in God, can make us invulnerable to these causeless, "entropic" disasters. We have in our hands a means of resisting them: trust, prayer, and love for people. This gives hope, because these means are truly available to us.