Part 14

008:008 But some of the seed falls into good ground, and grows up and yields a return of a hundred for one." While thus speaking, He cried aloud and said, "Listen, every one who has ears to listen with!"

008:009 The disciples proceeded to ask Him what this parable meant.

008:010 "To you," He replied, "it is granted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God; but all others are taught by parables, in order that they may see and yet not see, and may hear and yet not understand.

008:011 The meaning of the parable is as follows. The seed is God's Message.

008:012 Those by the way-side are those who have heard, and then the Devil comes and carries away the Message from their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

008:013 Those on the rock are the people who on hearing the Message receive it joyfully; but they have no root: for a time they believe, but when trial comes they fall away.

008:014 That which fell among the thorns means those who have heard, but as they go on their way, the Message is stifled by the anxieties, wealth and gaieties of time, and they yield nothing in perfection.

008:015 But as for that in the good ground, it means those who, having listened to the Message with open minds and in a right spirit, hold it fast, and patiently yield a return.

008:016 "When any one lights a lamp, he does not cover it with a vessel or hide it under a couch; he puts it on a lampstand, that people who enter the room may see the light.

008:017 There is nothing hidden, which shall not be openly seen; nor anything secret, which shall not be known and come into the light of day.

008:018 Be careful, therefore, how you hear; for whoever has anything, to him more shall be given, and whoever has nothing, even that which he thinks he has shall be taken away from him."

008:019 Then came to Him His mother and His brothers, but could not get near Him for the crowd.

008:020 But He was told, "Your mother and brothers are standing on the edge of the crowd, and want to see you."

008:021 "My mother and my brothers," He replied, "are these who hear God's Message and obey it."

008:022 One day He went on board a boat--both He and his disciples; and He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the Lake." So they set sail.

002:023 During the passage He fell asleep, and there came down a squall of wind on the Lake, so that the boat began to fill and they were in deadly peril.

008:024 So they came and woke Him, crying, "Rabbi, Rabbi, we are drowning." Then He roused Himself and rebuked the wind and the surging of the water, and they ceased and there was a calm.

008:025 "Where is your faith?" He asked them. But they were filled with terror and amazement, and said to one another, "Who then is this? for He gives orders both to wind and waves, and they obey Him."

008:026 Then they put in to shore in the country of the Gerasenes, which lies opposite to Galilee.

008:027 Here, on landing, He was met by one of the townsmen who was possessed by demons--for a long time he had not put on any garment, nor did he live in a house, but in the tombs.

008:028 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him, and said in a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of God Most High? Do not torture me, I beseech you."

008:029 For already He had been commanding the foul spirit to come out of the man. For many a time it had seized and held him, and they had repeatedly put him in chains and fetters and kept guard over him, but he used to break the chains to pieces, and, impelled by the demon, to escape into the Desert.

008:030 "What is your name?" Jesus asked him. "Legion," he replied-- because a great number of demons had entered into him;

008:031 and they besought Him not to command them to be gone into the Bottomless Pit.

008:032 Now there was a great herd of swine there feeding on the hill-side; and the demons begged Him to give them leave to go into them, and He gave them leave.

008:033 The demons came out of the man and left him, and entered into the swine; and the herd rushed violently over the cliff into the Lake and were drowned.

008:034 The swineherds, seeing what had happened, fled and reported it both in town and country;

008:035 whereupon the people came out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus, and they found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were terrified.