21. When Jesus had crossed in the boat back to the other side, a large crowd met him at the lakeside.
22. And there on the shore, something unprecedented happened...from out of the crowd, one of the rulers of the synagogue came up to Him, Jairus by name...but this religious leader wasn't there to discuss the Law, or to confront Him about some perceived infraction of it. On the contrary, when this man saw Him, he prostrated himself at His feet.
23. And he begged Him earnestly, saying, "Sir, my little daughter is at death's door...please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she may be healed and live."
24. And, without question, Jesus went with him, the whole crowd tagging along, pushing and pressing in, almost suffocating Him in their excitement and desire to see, up close, what was going to happen.
25. And while they were en route, there appeared a woman who had suffered from a debilitating condition of hemorrhaging for twelve years.
26. A long succession of physicians, including some quack doctors, had treated her, to no avail. Not only were they all incompetent...powerless to help her...they also had taken advantage of her desperate vulnerability...taking all her money, bleeding her dry, financially, and leaving her worse off than before she had the condition.
27. But when she started hearing the reports about Jesus, she was energized with hope...and when she realized that He was actually in close proximity to her, a sense of faith motivated her to come up behind Him in the throng and touch His garment.
28. So she started thinking and saying out loud to herself, "I believe that if I can just put my finger on his robe, I will get well!" And the more she said it, the more she believed it...and the more she believed it, the more she said it.
29. The words she kept speaking built her confidence, and increased her physical strength, enabling her to push through the mob of people and finally make a connection with Him, both physically and spiritually. And, on contact, her constant flow of blood was immediately dried up at the source. It was undeniable...she could feel the change, and knew, instantly, that her long nightmare was over and done with.
30. Interestingly, at the very same moment, Jesus felt healing power discharging from Him...He sensed when His flow of energy stopped her flow of blood. So He turned around to the crowd and asked, "Who just touched my robe?"
31. His disciples said, "Are you kidding? How can you possibly ask 'Who touched me?' when hundreds of hands are all over You in this mass of people?!"
32. But He wouldn't let it go. He kept on asking about it, knowing that something very unusual had just happened. He stopped in His tracks and just stood there, looking intently through the crowd until He finally zeroed in on the woman.
33. But she, finally feeling the full impact of it all, just fell down before Him, and emotionally gave him the whole story.
34. When she finished giving her testimony, Jesus compassionately continued the miracle by calling her "Daughter" in front of the whole crowd...and in that one word, He reversed the stigma, spelled out in Levitical Law, that was attached to the kind of female reproductive problem that she had dealt with for over a decade. Reconnecting her to a world that would have normally ostracized her, He said, "Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and it has paid off for you! You're healed, and more than that...you're whole! Live well, be blessed, and be continually healed of your plague."
35. But while He was virtually in mid-sentence, some people came from the house of Jairus and said to him, "We have bad news...your daughter is dead. Come with us...why bother the Teacher any more?"
36. But Jesus, overhearing what they said, looked straight at Jairus, and before he could react to the news...before he could say a word...before he responded with any emotion, whatsoever...Jesus said to him, "Jairus...look at Me...don't say anything...don't feel anything...don't grieve...don't cry...don't be seized with alarm or struck with fear. Do one thing, and one thing, only...only believe!"
37. And from that point, He permitted no one to accompany Him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James.
38. And when they arrived at the house of the ruler of the synagogue, He looked around at the large number of people who had already gathered there...family, friends, and even the professional mourners...all weeping and wailing loudly together.
39. And He was very direct with them, even abrupt, saying, "What's all this drama about? Everyone needs to settle down right now...this child isn't dead...she's just sleeping!"
40. And the people in the room switched, almost automatically, from crying to laughing...laughing at Him, that is...jeering at Him, and sarcastically telling Him that He was out of touch with reality.
41. But He was unfazed by their negative reaction to His creative words, and He ran them all out of the house. Then, taking the child's father and mother, and those who were with Him, He went into the room where the little girl was lying.
41. And, gripping her firmly by the hand, He said to her in His native tongue, "Talitha cumi"...which translated is, "Sweetheart, or, Little girl, I say to you, arise!"
42. And at these simple words, this girl of twelve was up and walking around! Her family, understandably, were all amazed and beside themselves with joy.
43. But as they were rejoicing and embracing their living daughter, He gave them strict orders that no one was to know what had taken place in that room. Then He said, "All right now, go find this precious one something to eat."
1. They arrived some time later on the other side of the lake, in the country of the Gerasenes.
2. And as soon as He stepped out of the boat, a madman under the influence of a rebel spirit came right up to him from out of the cemetery.
3. This man actually lived outside among the tombs, and no authority could subdue him any more, even with chains.
4. In an effort to control his violent and antisocial behavior, he had been bound on many occasions with handcuffs and shackles on his feet, but every time he wrenched the cuffs apart, and broke the shackles in pieces. No one seemed to have the strength to restrain or tame him, so they just left him alone to live in the graveyard.
5. Night and day he was out there among the tombs on the mountainside, shrieking and screaming, and mutilating his naked body with stones.
6. But when he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees before Him in reverent submission...the spirit controlling him recognized Jesus, as the spirits always did, and true to form, its first instinct was to bow before Jesus in worship.
7. And, crying out with a loud voice, the spirit spoke through the man, saying, "What business do You have here with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High? Why has the Son of God come here? I beg you not to torment me!"
8. Jesus immediately recognized that the worship and honor was coming from the dis-embodied spirit, and not from the man, so He said, "Come out of this man, you controlling spirit!"
9. And He asked him, "What is your name?" And the spirit responded simultaneously in the singular and in the plural, because in the spirit realm they are most always the same. And, mixing his pronouns he said, "'My' name is Legion, for 'we' are many!"
10. Being typically resistant to change or movement as rebel spirits usually are, he kept begging Him urgently not to send him/them away out of that region.
11. Now an enormous herd of hogs was grazing there on the hillside while this exchange was happening.
12. So "Legion" begged Him, saying, "Please, Sir, grant us permission to go to the hogs, that we may go into them!"
13. So He did give them the permission, being fully aware that they could do nothing without it. And the spirits came out of the man, and entered into the hogs. And the entire herd, numbering about 2,000, immediately rushed headlong down the steep slope into the lake, and were drowned in the water.
14. Terrified, the hog feeders ran away, and told everyone they met in the town and in the country about the bizarre incident. And practically everyone they told came to see what it was that had taken place.
15. And they came to Jesus and looked with amazement at the man who had been previously controlled by the spirits, just sitting there, clothed, calm, and completely lucid...the very same man who had been controlled by the Legion of spirits called demons...and they were seized with alarm and struck with fear.
16. And those who had seen it related in full what had happened to the man who had lived in the cemetery, and to the hogs.
17. And they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood.
18. So He did, and when He had stepped into the boat, the man who had been liberated kept begging Him that he might go with Him and be with Him...now worshipping Him on his own accord, and not under the influence of any other entity.
19. But Jesus said to him, "No, friend...you'll be more effective if you go home to your own family and friends, and tell them all that the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you. They need to see for themselves what has happened to you!"
20. And the man departed and immediately began to publicly proclaim in Decapolis, or the region of the Ten Cities, how much Jesus had done for him...and his testimony was, indeed, very effective, for all the people were astonished and marveled when they heard him!
1. Again Jesus went back to teaching by the lake, and a huge crowd gathered around Him. So once again He got into an offshore boat in order to sit in it on the water, and everyone either stood or sat along the lakeside on the shore.
2. And He taught them many things that day in His signature story-telling style, using illustrations and comparisons, and in His teaching He said,
3. "Listen to this! One day a sower went out to plant seeds in his fields.
4. And as he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and the birds came and ate it right up.
5. Some other of the same kind of seed fell in the gravel, where there wasn't much soil...and it just sprang right up, but didn't put down roots because it had no depth capability;
6. So in the heat of the sun it was scorched, and because it had not taken root, it withered away just as quickly as it had come up.
7. Other of the same kind of seed fell among the weeds, and the thistles grew and pressed together and suffocated the life right out of it, and it became utterly useless.
8. And still other seed of the same kind fell into good, healthy soil, and produced grain, growing up and increasing, yielding up to thirty times as much in some spots...and sixty times as much in other areas...and even a hundred times as much as had been sown in some places."
9. And He said to them, "If you have an ear to hear what I'm saying, then hear it...consider it...comprehend it!"
10. As soon as He was alone with the Twelve after the session had ended, they began to ask Him about the illustration.
11. And He said to them "You've been given insight into the mysteries of God's Kingdom...a revelation of its inner workings...an understanding of its day-to-day operation. But those who can't see it yet are intrigued by My stories, but that's all they are to them at this point...stories...illustrations without introspection...metaphors without meaning.
12. These are the ones spoken of in the Scriptures...they indeed look and look, but they do not see and perceive...they hear the words over and over again, but do not grasp and comprehend them. But as soon as they open their hearts to the light, they will turn to Me and be forgiven of their willful rejection of the truth."
13. Then He said to them, "Surely you understand this story...I mean, if you don't get this one, how are you going to understand any of them? The whole truth is incrementally revealed in prophetic pictures...sort of like a puzzle put together piece by piece. Do I really need to spell it out for you?
14. All right, then...the sower sows the Word.
15. The ones along the roadside are those who have the Word sown in their hearts, but when they hear it only with their intellect, the Adversary comes immediately and steals the message that was sown in them.
16. And in the same way, the ones sown on the gravelly ground are those who, when they hear the Word, are at once sort of infatuated with it, and have an emotional response to it;
17. But they have no real root in themselves...no sense of covenant relationship to the Word...and so they endure for a little while, but when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately become resentful and basically fall apart.
18. And the ones sown among the thorny weeds are others who hear the Word with some real comprehension;
19. But the daily cares and anxieties of the world just sort of wear them out, and so they get distracted by the illusions of the age, looking for pleasure and false glamour elsewhere, being deceived by the empty promises of riches...and so, without even noticing it, the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and strangle the Word, and it becomes fruitless in their lives.
20. And, finally, those sown on the good, well-prepared soil are the ones who hear the Word and openly receive it, accepting the personal responsibility for their own soil-maintenance. They welcome it and have a mature relationship to it, and so they bear fruit...for some it's thirty times as much as was sown...for others it's sixty times as much...and for still others who fully embrace these concepts, it's even a hundred times as much!"
21. Then He went on to say, "Look...does anyone bring a lamp home and then put it under a basket, or hide it under the bed? Of course not! The lamp's purpose is to be put up high somewhere...like on a lampstand where everyone can benefit from its light.
22. The mysteries of the Kingdom are hidden temporarily...they must be sought first as a revelation or a new birth. But the bottom line is this...there is no hidden spiritual truth that won't eventually be revealed...every part of the truth is meant to be known, either now or later.
23. So again I say...If you have a spiritual ear to hear, then listen deeply, and perceive and comprehend these things."
24. Then He added, "You really need to pay attention to everything you are hearing. Guard the gate, because the ear is a major gate to the understanding...the measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear will be the measure of Kingdom-life you manifest. That's why I say 'if you have an ear' (singular)...not 'if you have ears' (plural). It's not just what you hear, but how you hear it that determines the reality that is ultimately created in your life.
25. Let Me put it this way...to him who has will more be given...and from him who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. Hear this only with your spiritual ear, and you will understand it."
26. Then He said, "Here's something else you should know about how the Kingdom of God works...think of it as being like a man who scatters seed upon the ground,
27. And then he releases it...he doesn't sit there in the field, looking at the spot where he planted the seed, waiting and worrying about how and when it's going to produce something. In fact, in a way he forgets about it...continuing to sleep and rise night and day, while the seed just naturally does what it was destined to do...it grows! And the man doesn't try to overthink the laws of nature...he just embraces the mysterious wonder of it.
28. Meanwhile, the earth produces by itself...living and thriving alone on the original word that created it in the first place. And the miracle of the seed is then manifested through a process...first a simple, inedible blade of grass appears...then a bud with only the promise of grain comes...then the full, mature grain eventually ripens, and is then ready to be harvested.
29. Then and only then the man returns...still not fully understanding how it all worked, but recognizing a potential harvest when he sees it. And then he eagerly puts in the sickle and reaps what he sowed.
30. Now, let's see...what other picture of the Kingdom can I paint for you? What other story can I tell you that will make you see it from another perspective?
31. How about this? It's like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth;
32. Yet after it is sown, defying all natural logic, it grows up and becomes the greatest of all garden herbs, and puts out huge branches...so big that even eagles come and nest in it!"
33. And with many other such stories or word-pictures Jesus spoke the Word to them, as they were able to really 'hear' it...or as was fitting to their experience or maturity level.
34. In fact, He basically explained everything like this to them in story form...but privately to His disciples He interpreted the meaning of each story or illustration, making sure that they didn't overlook the deep profundity housed in the elemental simplicity of each of them.
35. On that same day when evening had come, He said to them, "All right...that's enough story-telling for one day. Let's go over to the other side of the lake now."
36. And leaving the throng, the disciples piled into the boat in which He was sitting, and, along with some other boats, they all launched out into the deep.
37. But when they got out into the middle of the sea-like lake, a furious storm of hurricane proportions unexpectedly arose, and the waves started beating into the boat so violently that it filled up with water in just a few minutes.
38. Meanwhile, Jesus had disappeared from their company into the stern of the boat, and had fallen into a deep sleep there on a leather cot. The frantic men found Him and woke Him up, saying, "Master! Does it even matter to You in the least that we're all about to die?!"
39. And, giving no response to their indicting question, He calmly stood up and ordered the wind to settle down, and said to the sea, "All right...hush now! Be still!" And immediately the wind ceased its raging, and there was a great calm...an entirely different scene, with clear, peaceful skies, and a lake that looked as if it was made of glass.
40. Then He turned around and looked at His astonished staff, and said to them, "Why are you so fragile and fearful? You're not strangers to the sea or to storms...how is it possible that you sometimes seem to have no faith at all?"
41. And this just took their awe of Him to a whole other level. Stunned, they stood there in the quiet peacefulness, and could think of nothing to say to Him in their defense. But as He went back to finish His nap they looked at one another and said, "Who is this? What kind of Man gives orders to the wind and the water...the storm and the sea...and gets them to obey Him?"
1. Once again Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man was there who had a disabled hand.
2. And the Pharisees, who by this point were closely watching His every move, were just waiting to see whether or not He would heal the man on the Sabbath. The possibility of this happening was of great interest to them, particularly because of Jesus' claim that He was the Lord of the Sabbath. Their plan was to catch Him in an infraction of the law concerning the Sabbath, so that they might discredit Him, and have a charge to bring against Him, formally.
3. And, sure enough, Jesus didn't waste any time walking right into a confrontational situation. He boldly said to the man with the deformed hand, "Stand up and walk out here where everyone can clearly and plainly see you."
4. Then, with the same air of confidence He said to the Pharisees, "Let Me ask you...is it lawful and right on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil...to save life or to take it?" But they were deathly silent.
5. And He stared for a few moments at each of them, waiting for at least one of the religious leaders to make some kind of intelligent or insightful statement. And when they didn't, He began to experience an intense emotional mix of anger and sorrow...anger at their lack of openness to the truth, and sorrow at how insensitive religion had made them to the suffering of humanity. Then, getting past His feelings, He said to the man, "All right...hold out your hand!" And he held it out, and when he did the use and appearance of his hand was completely restored.
6. Then the Pharisees rushed out and went immediately to hold a consultation with the Herodians...those who supported Herod, the King...discussing how they might come up with a legal means to exterminate Him.
7. After this occurrence, Jesus took His disciples to the lake to just get away with them and relax, but a great throng of people from Galilee who were constantly aware of His whereabouts followed Him there. But there were also people following Him from Judea...
8. And from Jerusalem, and Idumea, and from beyond the Jordan River, and from the area around Tyre and Sidon...in a word, His fame had now taken on a life of its own, and vast numbers...hordes of people who were hearing all the time about all that He was doing...came to Him, wanting to see for themselves if what they had heard was true.
9. So He told His disciples to have a little boat ready for Him so that He could escape, in the event that mass hysteria set in and the crowd literally crush Him.
10. The throngs now were regularly so massive that they were basically becoming unmanageable...the people were being more and more physically aggressive with Him, especially those who were very sick and in need...and on occasion some were so intent on personally touching Him that they were out of control.
11. And more and more rebel spirits were recognizing and acknowledging Him, and when they did, they fell down before Him and kept screaming out, "You are the Son of God!"
12. But Jesus was persistent in His refusal to allow these spirits to fully reveal Him, so again and again He made them shut up in public.
13. When things calmed down a bit, He climbed a mountain and invited those He wanted to officially work with Him, and they accepted the invitation and climbed up, too.
14. Out of all those who were following Him, He settled on twelve, and, designating them Apostles, or special messengers, He sent them out to preach the Good News of the Gospel,
15. And to have authority and power to heal the sick, and to expel rebel spirits.
16. And these are the twelve: Simon, who He later called Peter;
17. James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James. He gave these two a very special name..."Boanerges", which literally means "Sons of Thunder";
18. And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, also known as Nathaniel, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, Judas, (not Iscariot), and Simon the Canaanaean, also called "Zelotes", or "The Zealot", because of his radical political persuasions and underground connections,
19. And Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed Him. These men, including Simon, who came from a group of anarchists and assassins, and the infamous Judas Iscariot, were all called and authorized to be Apostles...preachers...healers...deliverers...by Jesus, Himself.
20. After this He went to someone's house for dinner, but a throng heard about His visit and converged on the house, literally shutting down any possibility of a social occasion. The people were so demanding that night that Jesus and His disciples couldn't even eat.
21. And when His family (who was already concerned about how His popularity was getting out of hand and was becoming completely uncontrollable) heard about this, they felt that they were forced into taking some kind of action. So they got together and planned an emergency intervention, with the expressed intention of having Him committed. They rationalized that He was their responsibility, saying, "He's clearly lost His mind by buying into and encouraging this mania, and it's up to us to do something about it...we have to put Him away!"
22. And to make things worse, the Scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub, 'the Lord of the Flies', and with the help of demons He is casting out demons and practicing black magic!"
23. But Jesus this time called a meeting with them to do a little damage control, and to confront their superstitious slander with an illustration, saying, "Tell Me..how can demons drive out other demons?
24. Furthermore, if a kingdom rebels against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25. In the same way, if a house is divided, or split into factions, that house will not be able to last.
26. And if the Adversary is adversarial to the Adversary, he will ultimately self-destruct!
27. Look...no one can go into a strong man's house, if he's home, and walk off with his possessions, unless he first ties up that strong man...but if he does tie the man up, then indeed he may thoroughly plunder his house.
28. These are all authority issues, and, speaking of authority, here's another thing you should know. Every sin and blasphemy can be automatically forgiven people because of the mercy extended to the limited flesh;
29. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, your words become so authoritative and effective that they literally create your reality. So when you speak things out of your mouth which are contrary to the purpose and nature of the Holy Spirit, you actually speak blasphemy against Him; and He can’t forgive you in order to prevent those words from coming to pass, because He has empowered you to have what you say. You’ll just have to deal with the consequences of whatever you’ve said, whether for good or for evil. The words that you speak against His nature in you will have to stand just as you said them. They will not be erased through forgiveness in this dimension, or in the one to come, and in that sense they bear eternal consequences.
30. Jesus went out of His way to explain all of these things because they persisted in saying, "He has an evil spirit."
31. Then, while He was still talking about this, His mother and His brothers came for the intervention that they had discussed. They stood outside and sent word to Him, calling for Him.
32. And some of the people who were there heard them and said to Him, "Your mother and Your brothers and Your sisters are outside asking for You."
33. And, intuitively sensing the alienation from His natural family, even without actually hearing them say that they thought He had lost His mind, He replied, "Who, really, are My mother and My brothers?"
34. And looking around at those who were there in support of Him, He said, "See! Right here are My mother and My brothers and My sisters...";
35. And, completely ignoring His family's demand for a meeting with Him, He went on to say, "For whoever does the things that God wills is My real brother and real sister and real mother!"
