A Story about a Farmer

(Mark 4.1-9; Luke 8.4-8)

13 That same day Jesus left the house and went out beside Lake Galilee, where he sat down to teach.^{[a] 2 (A)} Such large crowds gathered around him that he had to sit in a boat, while the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he taught them many things by using stories. He said:

A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. ⁴ While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds. ⁵ Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn't very deep. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have deep roots. ⁷ Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants produced 100 or 60 or 30 times as much as was scattered. ⁹ If you have ears, pay attention!

Why Jesus Used Stories

(Mark 4.10-12; Luke 8.9,10)

¹⁰ Jesus' disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you use stories to speak to the people?”

¹¹ Jesus answered:

I have explained the secrets about the kingdom of heaven to you, but not to others. ^12 (B) Everyone who has something will be given more. But people who don't have anything will lose even what little they have. ¹³ I use stories when I speak to them because when they look, they cannot see, and when they listen, they cannot hear or understand. ^14 (C) So God's promise came true, just as the prophet Isaiah had said,

^16 (D) But God has blessed you, because your eyes can see and your ears can hear! ¹⁷ Many prophets and good people were eager to see what you see and to hear what you hear. But I tell you they did not see or hear.

Jesus Explains the Story about the Farmer

(Mark 4.13-20; Luke 8.11-15)

¹⁸ Now listen to the meaning of the story about the farmer:

¹⁹ The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message about the kingdom, but don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts. ²⁰ The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it at once. ²¹ But they don't have deep roots, and they don't last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.

²² The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. ²³ The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. They produce as much as 100 or 60 or 30 times what was planted.

Where To Offer Sacrifices

17 The Lord told Moses ² to tell Aaron, his sons, and everyone else in Israel:

^3-4 Whenever you kill any of your cattle, sheep, or goats as sacrifices to me, you must do it at the entrance to the sacred tent. If you don't, you will be guilty of pouring out blood, and you will no longer belong to the community of Israel. ⁵ And so, when you sacrifice an animal to ask my blessing,^[a] it must not be done out in a field, ⁶ but in front of the sacred tent. Then a priest can splatter its blood against the bronze altar and send its fat up in smoke with a smell that pleases me. ⁷ Don't ever turn from me again and offer sacrifices to goat-demons. This law will never change.

⁸ Remember! No one in Israel, including foreigners, is to offer a sacrifice anywhere ⁹ except at the entrance to the sacred tent. If you do, you will no longer belong to my people.

Do Not Eat Blood

The Lord said:

^10 (A) I will turn against any of my people who eat blood. This also includes any foreigners living among you. ^11 (B) Life is in the blood, and I have given you the blood of animals to sacrifice in place of your own. ¹² That's also why I have forbidden you to eat blood. ¹³ Even if you should hunt and kill a bird or an animal, you must drain out the blood and cover it with soil.

¹⁴ The life of every living creature is in its blood. That's why I have forbidden you to eat blood and why I have warned you that anyone who does will no longer belong to my people.

¹⁵ If you happen to find a dead animal and eat it, you must take a bath and wash your clothes, but you are still unclean until evening. ¹⁶ If you don't take a bath, you will suffer for what you did wrong.

Forbidden Sex

18 The Lord told Moses ² to tell the people of Israel:

I am the Lord your God! ³ So don't follow the customs of Egypt where you used to live or those of Canaan where I am bringing you. ⁴ I am the Lord your God, and you must obey my teachings. ^5 (C) Obey them and you will live. I am the Lord.

⁶ Don't have sex with any of your close relatives, ⁷ especially your own mother. This would disgrace your father. ^8 (D) And don't disgrace him by having sex with any of his other wives. ^9 (E) Don't have sex with your sister or stepsister, whether you grew up together or not. ¹⁰ Don't disgrace yourself by having sex with your granddaughter ¹¹ or half sister ^12-13 (F) or a sister of your father or mother. ¹⁴ Don't disgrace your uncle by having sex with his wife. ^15 (G) Don't have sex with your daughter-in-law ^16 (H) or sister-in-law. ^17 (I) And don't have sex with the daughter or granddaughter of any woman that you have earlier had sex with. You will be having sex with her closest relatives, and that would make you unclean. ¹⁸ As long as your wife is alive, don't cause trouble for her by taking one of her sisters as a second wife.

^19 (J) When a woman is having her monthly period, she is unclean, so don't have sex with her.

^20 (K) Don't have sex with another man's wife—that would make you unclean.

^21 (L) Don't sacrifice your children on the altar fires to the god Molech. I am the Lord your God, and that would disgrace me.

^22 (M) It is disgusting for a man to have sex with another man.

^23 (N) Anyone who has sex with an animal is unclean.

²⁴ Don't make yourselves unclean by any of these disgusting practices of those nations that I am forcing out of the land for you. They made themselves ²⁵ and the land so unclean, that I punished the land because of their sins, and I made it vomit them up. ^26-27 Now don't do these sickening things that make the land filthy. Instead, obey my laws and teachings. ²⁸ Then the land won't become sick of you and vomit you up, just as it did them. ^29-30 If any of you do these vulgar, disgusting things, you will be unclean and no longer belong to my people. I am the Lord your God, and I forbid you to follow their sickening way of life.

The Law of God Makes Sense