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After that, Jesus and his twelve disciples traveled around through various cities and villages. As they went, Jesus preached to people, proclaiming the good news that God would soon reveal himself as king.
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Also traveling with them were several women whom he had healed from evil spirits and sicknesses. These included Mary from the village of Magdala, out of whom he had forced seven evil spirits;
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Joanna the wife of Chuza, who was one of King Herod Antipas’ managers; Susanna; and many others. They were providing some of their own funds to support Jesus and his disciples.
The Parable of the Sower
(Matthew 13:1–23; Mark 4:1–20)
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One day a very large crowd was gathering, because people were traveling to see Jesus from many different towns. Then he told them this story:
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“A man went out to his field to plant some grain seeds. As he was scattering them over the soil, some of the seeds fell on the hard pathway. Then people walked on those seeds, and birds ate them.
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Some of the seeds fell on rocky ground which had very little soil. Therefore, as soon as the seeds grew, the plants dried up because there was no moisture.
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Some of the seeds fell on ground that contained seeds of thorn plants. The thorn plants grew up together with the young grain plants and crowded them out so that they could not grow.
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But some of the grain seeds fell on fertile soil, and grew so well that they produced a crop that had a hundred times as many seeds.” After saying these things, Jesus called out to them, “All of you should think carefully about what you just heard me say!”
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Then Jesus’ disciples asked him to tell them the meaning of the story.
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And he said, “To you has been granted the privilege of knowing the hidden things about how God will rule as king. But I speak to everyone else only in parables, so that, ‘Although they see, they may not perceive, and although they hear, they may not understand.’
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Now, this is what the story means: The seeds represent God’s word.
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The seeds that fell on the pathway show what happens when people hear God’s word, but afterwards the devil comes and takes that word away from their minds and hearts. As a result, they do not believe it and are not saved.
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The seeds that fell on the rocky ground show what happens when people hear God’s word and receive it joyfully, but they do not have deep roots. As a result, they only believe for a short time. As soon as difficult things happen to them, they stop believing God’s word.
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The seeds that fell among the thorny plants show what happens when people hear God’s word, but then as they go on in life they allow such things as the worries, riches and pleasures of this life to crowd out God’s word from their life. As a result, they do not become spiritually mature.
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But the seeds that fell on the fertile ground show what happens when people hear God’s word and receive it with an honorable and upright heart. They persevere in believing and obeying the word, and so they produce good spiritual fruit.
The Lesson of the Lamp
(Mark 4:21–25)
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After lighting a lamp, people do not cover it with a basket or put it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a lampstand, so that everyone who enters the room can see by its light.
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This illustrates that everything that is hidden now will someday be made visible. And everything that is secret now will someday be brought out into the open.
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So make sure that you are listening carefully to what I tell you, because God will enable those who believe his truth to understand even more. But God will cause those who do not believe his truth to not understand even the little that they think they have understood.”
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers
(Matthew 12:46–50; Mark 3:31–35)
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One day Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they could not get near to him because there was such a large crowd around him in the house where he was.
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Then someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers have been standing outside, wanting to see you.”
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But he replied to them, “Those who hear God’s word and obey it are as dear to me as my mother and my brothers.”
Jesus Calms the Storm
(Psalm 107:1–43; Matthew 8:23–27; Mark 4:35–41)
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On another day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples. He said to them, “I would like us to go across to the other side of the lake.” So they started to sail across the lake.
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But as they were sailing, Jesus fell asleep. Then a powerful windstorm came down on the lake. Soon the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger.
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So Jesus’ disciples came to him and woke him up. They said to him, “Master! Master! We are going to die!” He then woke up and commanded the wind and the violent waves to be still and they became still. Everything became calm.
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Then he said to them, “Why is your faith so weak?” The disciples were alarmed and amazed because of what had just happened. They kept saying to one another, “Who is this, that he is able to command even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”
The Demons and the Pigs
(Matthew 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–20)
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Jesus and his disciples continued sailing and came to the region where the Gerasene people lived, on the opposite side of the lake from the district of Galilee.
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After Jesus stepped out of the boat onto the land, he was met by a certain man from the town in that area. This man had demons in him. For a long time this man had not worn clothes and did not live in a house. Instead, he lived in the burial caves.
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When he saw Jesus, the man cried out, lay face down before him, and said with a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me!”
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The man said this because Jesus had just commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. Although the man had been bound with chains on his wrists and ankles while people guarded him, many times the evil spirit would suddenly seize him by force. Then the man would break the chains and the demon would make him go out into deserted places.
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Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Thousands.” He said that because many demons had entered that man.
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The demons kept begging Jesus not to command them to go into the deep pit where God punishes demons.
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There was a large herd of pigs grazing on the hillside nearby. The demons begged Jesus to allow them to enter the pigs, and he allowed them.
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So the demons left the man and entered the pigs, and the herd of pigs rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
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When the men who were taking care of the pigs saw what happened, they ran away! They reported what they had seen to people in the town and in the countryside.
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Then the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to where Jesus was, they saw that the man from whom the demons had gone out was sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to him. They saw that he had clothes on, and that his mind was normal again, and they became afraid.
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The men who had seen what had happened told the people who had just arrived how Jesus had healed the man who had been controlled by demons.
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Then many people from the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave their area because they were very afraid. So Jesus and the disciples got into the boat to go back across the lake.
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Before they left, the man from whom the demons had gone out begged Jesus saying, “Please, let me go with you!” But instead, Jesus sent him away by saying to him,
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“No, go back to your house and tell people how much God has done for you!” So the man went away and told people throughout the town how much Jesus had done for him.
The Healing Touch of Jesus
(Matthew 9:18–26; Mark 5:21–43)
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Then Jesus and the disciples went back across the lake to Capernaum. A crowd of people was waiting for him there, and they welcomed him.
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Just then a man named Jairus, who was one of the leaders of the synagogue there, came near to Jesus and he lay face down before him. He pleaded with Jesus to come to his house
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because his only daughter, who was about twelve years old, was dying and he wanted Jesus to heal her. But as Jesus went, many people were crowding around him.
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Now in the crowd there was a woman who had been suffering for twelve years from a disease that caused continual bleeding. She had spent all her money to pay doctors to help her, but none of them was able to heal her.
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She came behind Jesus and touched the edge of his robe. At once her bleeding stopped.
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Jesus said, “Who touched me?” As everyone around Jesus was saying they had not touched him, Peter said, “Master, there are many people crowding around you and pressing up against you, so any one of them might have touched you!”
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But Jesus said, “I know that someone deliberately touched me, because power has gone out of me to heal that person.”
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And when the woman realized that she could not hide, she came trembling to him and she lay face down on the ground before him. As the other people were listening, she told Jesus why she had touched him and that she had been healed immediately.
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And Jesus said to her, “My dear woman, because you believed that I could heal you, you are now well. Now go on your way, and may God’s peace be with you.”
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While he was still speaking to her, a man from Jairus’ house came and said to Jairus, “Your daughter has died. So do not bother the teacher anymore!”
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But when Jesus heard that, he said to Jairus, “Do not be afraid. Just believe in me and she will live again.”
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When he arrived outside the house, Jesus did not allow anyone to go in the house with him, except for Peter, John and James, and the girl’s mother and father.
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And all the people there were crying loudly to show that they were very sad because the girl had died. But Jesus said to them, “Stop crying! She is not dead! She is just sleeping!”
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And the people laughed at him, because they knew that the girl was dead.
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But Jesus took hold of her hand and called to her, saying, “Child, get up!”
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And immediately her spirit returned to her body and she got up. Jesus told them to give her something to eat.
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And her parents were amazed, but Jesus told them not to tell anyone else yet what had happened.
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