This chapter starts with Jesus teaching by the sea and huge crowds forming, so he gets in a boat and begins to teach the word. If there had been any doubt that this parable-speaking, crowd attracting Jesus was the anointed one, this scene should put any question to rest.
As this chapter ends and he has been teaching for a while, he wants to rest. So he tells his people they should take the boat to the “other side” of the sea where they would be away from people. He apparently falls right over asleep.
The description of the sea vessel is lacking. We’re going to have to assume that they were in something bigger than a rowboat, if Jesus and a dozen disciples are all on the thing. Presuming that the “dozen disciples” is a later interjection, we’re still talking about at least four other guys with room for one guy to reasonably sleep. I’m imagining a smallish sailboat, maybe in the 10-meter range as something a handful of men could reasonably manage. The Greek here is spare, so maybe it was a tiny rowboat that they could carry overland or pull with a rope along the coast, it’s simply not clear. In any case, the size of the boat isn’t the point.
The point is, of course, that this Jesus is the anointed one, the Messiah and the Christ with the authority of Caesar. His authority is so great, he controls the winds and the seas, even if he’s just been woken up from a nice nap. Being a witness to the fact that they were so near to such a powerful man disturbed the disciples in a way he was unable to soothe. But I suppose not being comfortable around Caesar was something they all probably worked to encourage.
There are several layers of meaning being presented here, including one that is repeatedly indicated to be deliberately obscure, and you have to ask – to what end? Why is Jesus shown “teaching the word” while at the same time always presenting the information as “parables”? Yet, to his students, he explains these parables in the context of yet other parables, so that they, too, are unable to understand. Is the reader supposed to understand? How many keys should the reader provide in order to unlock the meaning of these verses?
If we come to these words with an understanding about the history of conflict between Rome and Judea, then many of the keys are obvious. Much of this would not have been perceptible by the people in the stories – perhaps this fog of understanding is meant to represent that lack of understanding.