The women that helped Jesus

8 After this, Jesus went to visit many towns and villages. He told people the good news about the kingdom of God. The 12 disciples were travelling with him. ² Some women also went with them. These women had been ill, but Jesus had made them well again. One of the women was Mary from Magdala. Jesus had sent seven bad spirits away from her. ³ Another of the women was Joanna, the wife of Chuza. Chuza had authority over all the people that worked in the house of King Herod. Another of the women was Susanna. There were also many others. These women were using their own money to help Jesus and his disciples.

A story about a farmer that planted seeds

⁴ Lots of people were coming to Jesus from many towns. A large crowd had already come together when Jesus told this story:

⁵ ‘A farmer went out to plant seeds in his field. While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path. Then people walked on them. Birds came down and they ate those seeds. ⁶ Some seeds fell on ground which had rocks. The seeds started to grow. But the young plants died because the ground was not wet enough in that place. ⁷ Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. Those bushes grew up with the young plants. They stopped the seeds from growing into strong plants. ⁸ But some seeds fell on good soil. Strong plants grew from those seeds. Each of these plants made 100 seeds.’

When Jesus finished the story, he said, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’

Jesus explains why he tells stories

⁹ Jesus' disciples asked him about this story. They asked him what it meant. ¹⁰ Jesus replied, ‘God has let you know what these stories mean. You understand how God rules in the lives of his people. But other people only listen to my stories. They look, but they do not really see clearly. They hear the words, but they do not really understand.’

Jesus explains the story about the seeds

¹¹ Jesus then said, ‘This is what the story means: The seeds are like the message from God. ¹² Some seeds fell on the path. That is like some people who hear the message, but they do not think about it. The Devil comes and he takes the message away from their minds. He takes it away so that they cannot believe it. Because they do not believe the message, God does not save them.

¹³ Some seeds fell on ground with rocks in it. This is like people who hear the message from God and they are very happy for a time. But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. They believe in God for a short time. But when they have problems, they stop believing.

¹⁴ Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like some other people who hear the message from God. But they start to have many troubles in their minds about how they will live. They want to get more money and more things. They think that this will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow into strong plants.

¹⁵ But some seed fell on good soil. This is like other people that hear the message from God. They understand the message and they keep it in their minds. They are good and honest. They continue to believe. These people are like a good plant that grows well and makes lots of new seeds.’

¹⁶ Jesus then said, ‘People do not light a lamp and then cover it. They do not put the lamp under a pot or under a bed. Instead, they put it in a high place. Then other people that come into the room can see the light from the lamp.

¹⁷ God hides some things now. But there will be a time when people will see them. God keeps some things secret now. But there will be a time when people will understand those things clearly.

¹⁸ So you should think carefully about what you hear. The person who has received some things will receive more. But some other people have nothing. They think that they have a little bit. But they will lose even that.’^[a]

The mother and brothers of Jesus come to see him

¹⁹ Then Jesus' mother and his brothers came to see him. But they could not reach him because of the large crowd of people who were there. ²⁰ Someone told Jesus, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside. They want to see you.’

²¹ Jesus replied, ‘I will tell you who my mother and brothers really are. My mother and my brothers are those people who hear God's message and do what he wants.’^[b]

Jesus stops a storm

²² One day, Jesus got into a boat with his disciples. He said to them, ‘We should go across to the other side of the lake.’ So they started to cross the lake. ²³ While they sailed in the boat, Jesus began to sleep. Then a strong wind started to blow across the lake. Water began to fill the boat and they were in danger. ²⁴ So the disciples went to Jesus and they woke him. ‘Master, master, we will die here in the water!’ they said.

Then Jesus got up and he spoke strongly to the wind and to the water. ‘Stop!’ he said. The wind stopped immediately and the water became flat. ²⁵ Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Why do you not believe in me?’

All this frightened the disciples and they were very surprised. They asked each other, ‘Who is this man? He even tells the wind and the water what to do. He speaks and they obey him!’

Jesus makes a man well

²⁶ Jesus and his disciples went to the place where the Gerasene people lived. This place is across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus got out of the boat there, a man from the town came towards him. Bad spirits were living inside him. He had not worn any clothes for a long time. He did not live in a house. Instead, he lived outside, among some graves. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he screamed. Then he went down on his knees in front of Jesus and said in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, you are the Son of the powerful God who is over all! What are you doing here? Please do not hurt me.’ ²⁹ He said that because Jesus had already said to the bad spirit, ‘Come out of this man.’

The bad spirit had often taken hold of the man, so people watched him carefully. They held his feet with metal chains. But when the bad spirit took hold of him, he often broke the chains. The bad spirit then caused him to go into the wilderness.

³⁰ Jesus asked the man, ‘What is your name?’ The man replied, ‘My name is Army.’ He said this because very many bad spirits had gone into him.^{[c] 31} These bad spirits asked Jesus not to send them away to the world below.^[d]

³² There was a large group of pigs there and they were eating on the hill. The bad spirits asked Jesus, ‘Let us go into the pigs.’ Jesus replied, ‘You can go into them.’ ³³ So the bad spirits came out of the man and they went into the pigs. All the pigs rushed together down the hill into the lake. They all died there in the water.

³⁴ The men who were taking care of the pigs saw this happen. They ran away. They told the people in the town and in the villages what had happened. ³⁵ So the people went out from these places to see what had happened. They came to Jesus. The man that the bad spirits had come out of was sitting there, beside Jesus' feet. Now he was wearing clothes and his mind was well again. When the people saw this, they were afraid. ³⁶ Some people had seen Jesus make the man well. They told the other people how he had done this. ³⁷ Then all the Gerasene people who lived in that place said to Jesus, ‘Please go away and leave us.’ They said this because they were very afraid. So Jesus got back into the boat to leave that place. ³⁸ Then the man that the bad spirits had gone out from said to Jesus, ‘Please let me come with you.’ But Jesus replied, ‘No. ³⁹ You must return to your home. Tell everyone about all that God has done for you.’

So the man went away. He went everywhere in the town and told all the people, ‘Jesus has done very good things for me.’

Jesus makes a young girl well

⁴⁰ When Jesus returned to the other side of the lake, the crowd was very happy to see him. They were all waiting for him to come back. ⁴¹ Then a man called Jairus came to see him. He was a leader at the Jewish meeting place. He went down on his knees at the feet of Jesus and said, ‘Please come to my house. ⁴² I have one daughter. She is 12 years old and she is very ill. She will die very soon.’

So Jesus went along. A crowd of people went with him. They were pushing against him. ⁴³ There was a sick woman in the crowd who had lost blood for 12 years. She had paid all her money to doctors and now she had no money. But nobody could help her to become well again. ⁴⁴ She came in the crowd behind Jesus and she touched the edge of his coat. Immediately she stopped bleeding. ⁴⁵ Jesus asked, ‘Who touched me?’

Everyone round him said, ‘It was not me. I did not touch you.’ Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, there is a big crowd round you. Many people are pushing against you.’

⁴⁶ Jesus said, ‘Someone did touch me. I know that something powerful went out from me.’ ⁴⁷ The woman knew that she could not hide herself. So she was very afraid. She came to Jesus and she went down on the ground in front of him. She spoke so that all the people could hear her. She said, ‘I wanted to be well again, so I touched him. When I did that, I became well immediately.’ ⁴⁸ Jesus said to her, ‘Young woman, you are well again because you believed in me. Go now and have peace in your mind.’^[e]

⁴⁹ While Jesus was still speaking, someone arrived from Jairus' house. ‘Your daughter is dead,’ he told Jairus. ‘Do not ask the teacher to come now.’

⁵⁰ Jesus heard what the man said. So he said to Jairus, ‘Do not be afraid. Just believe in me. Then she will become well again.’

⁵¹ When they arrived at the house, Jesus would not let everyone go in with him. He took only Peter, John and James. He also let the mother and father of the girl go into the house. ⁵² All the people there were crying loudly because they were very sad. ‘Do not weep,’ Jesus told them. ‘The child is not dead. She is only asleep.’

⁵³ But the people knew that she had died. So they laughed at him. ⁵⁴ But Jesus went and held the child's hand. He said to her, ‘My child, get up.’ ⁵⁵ Then she became alive again. Immediately she stood up. Jesus said to her parents, ‘Give her something to eat.’ ⁵⁶ They were very surprised. Jesus said to them very strongly, ‘You must not tell anyone about what has happened.’