HEALING AT VILLAGE OF COMFORT
1After many days Creator Sets Free (Jesus) went back to Village of Comfort (Capernaum), but word got out that he had returned home. 2So many people had gathered in the house that there was no more room. Even the entrance was blocked. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) began to teach the people there 3when four men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat, 4but they could not get past the crowd. In their desperation, they climbed up to the rooftop and broke through the roof right above Creator Sets Free (Jesus). They lowered the paralyzed man down, sleeping bundle and all.
5When he saw their faith in him, he said to the paralyzed man, “Young man, you are released from your broken ways and the things in your heart that are not true to Creator’s good road.”
WHO CAN FORGIVE BROKEN WAYS?
6There were some scroll keepers there who began to wonder in their hearts, 7“Who is this man to speak against the Great Spirit with such disrespect? Who but the Maker of Life can release a man from his wrongdoings?”
Under tribal law the only way to be forgiven for broken ways or wrongdoings was to go to the sacred lodge and have a ceremony performed by a holy man. By releasing this man from his broken ways, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was claiming to have the right to do this himself, which, to the spiritual leaders, was wrong.
8In his spirit, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) knew right away what they were thinking and said to them, “Why are your hearts full of these thoughts? 9Is it easier to tell a paralyzed man, ‘Get up and walk,’ or to say to him, ‘You are released from your wrongdoings’?”
The room became quiet as he waited for an answer from them.
10“This is how you will know that the True Human Being has the right to forgive bad hearts and broken ways on this earth.”
11He turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Get up, roll up your sleeping bundle, and walk home.”
12Right away the man stood up, and, in front of them all, he rolled up his sleeping bundle and walked out.
Great amazement filled the hearts of all who were in the house as they gave praise to Creator.
“Who has ever seen this kind of mysterious and powerful medicine?” they asked.
EATING WITH OUTCASTS
13After this, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) went once again to walk by the lake shore. A large crowd followed him there, so he was teaching them. 14As he walked the shore, he saw a tribal tax collector named He Brings Together (Levi), the son of First to Change (Alphaeus) sitting at his tax booth.
“Come,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to him, “and walk the road with me.”
He Brings Together (Levi) got up from his tax booth, left that life behind him, and became a follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus).
Tribal tax collectors were often Tribal Members who were given the right to collect taxes for the People of Iron (Romans). They could force their own people, under the threat of violence, to pay them. To make a living, they would take more than the People of Iron (Romans) required. But many of them became greedy and took even more than they were permitted. They were hated and looked down on by the people.
15Creator Sets Free (Jesus) went to a feast at the home of He Brings Together (Levi) and sat down to eat with the guests. There were many other tribal tax collectors and other outcasts also sitting with Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and his close followers, for many outcasts had become his followers.
16When the Separated Ones (Pharisees) and the scroll keepers saw Creator Sets Free (Jesus) eating with outcasts, they complained to his close followers, saying, “Why does your wisdomkeeper keep company with tribal tax collectors and other outcasts?”
17Creator Sets Free (Jesus) overheard them and said, “People who are well do not need medicine. I have not come to the ones who are already walking the good road, but to help the bad-hearted and broken ones find the way back home.”
NEW WAYS FOR OLD
It was a common practice among the tribal people to go without food to help their prayers and for other spiritual reasons. Sometimes it was done out of sadness and sorrow for a friend or a family member’s troubles.
18Some of the followers of Gift of Goodwill (John) and the Separated Ones (Pharisees) were ceremonially going without food, so they came to Creator Sets Free (Jesus).
“Why do your followers feast,” they questioned him, “instead of going without food and praying often like we do?”
19“Do you expect wedding guests to be sad and go without eating when the groom is hosting a feast?” he answered. “No! As long as the groom is there with them, they will feast! 20But the time will come when he is taken from them. Then they will be sad and go without eating.”
They still did not understand, so he gave them a wise saying.
21“No one uses a new piece of cloth to patch an old garment, for it would shrink and make the tear worse. 22No one puts new wine into old wineskins, for the new wine would burst the skins. New and fresh wineskins are what is needed.”
CHIEF OVER THE DAY OF RESTING
23On a Day of Resting, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and his followers were walking through a field of grain. The men were hungry, so as they walked, they plucked some grain to eat.
24When the Separated Ones (Pharisees) saw what they were doing, they said to him, “Why do your followers do what is not permitted on the Day of Resting?”
25He answered them, “Have you not heard about the time long ago when the great chief Much Loved One (David) was hungry? 26How he and his followers went into Creator’s ceremonial lodge, when Father of Plenty (Abiathar) was the chief holy man, and ate the ceremonial bread? Only the holy men are permitted to eat this bread.
27“Human beings were not made for the Day of Resting. Instead, the Day of Resting was made for human beings. 28So then, the True Human Being is Chief over the Day of Resting!”
DOING GOOD ON THE DAY OF RESTING
1Creator Sets Free (Jesus) then went to their gathering house to teach. A man was there with a shriveled and useless hand. 2The Separated Ones (Pharisees) kept a close eye on Creator Sets Free (Jesus) to see whether he would heal the man on the Day of Resting, so they could accuse him.
3Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to the man with the useless hand, “Stand up and come forward.”
4Then he turned to the Separated Ones (Pharisees) and asked, “On the Day of Resting, is it permitted to help or to harm, to rescue life or destroy it?”
They just glared at him and said nothing.
5There was fire in his eyes as he looked around the room. His anger turned to sorrow when he saw their hearts of stone. He turned to the man and said, “Stretch out your hand.”
He stretched it out, and it was the same as his good hand!
6The Separated Ones (Pharisees) stormed out right away and went straight to the Friends of Looks Brave (Herodians) to conspire with them about how to do away with Creator Sets Free (Jesus).
CREATOR’S CHOSEN SERVANT
7Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and the ones who walked the road with him left that place and went to the lake. 8Word about him drew large crowds from Circle of Nations (Galilee), Land of Promise (Judea), and Village of Peace (Jerusalem). They also came from Red Land (Idumea), from the territory beyond the river Flowing Down (Jordan), from Rock Land (Tyre) and Hunting Grounds (Sidon).
9He asked his followers to keep a canoe close by, in case the crowd pressed in too close and crushed him. 10His reputation as a healer had made the sick desperate to reach out and touch him.
11When the ones with evil spirits saw him, they would fall down at his feet and wail, “You are the Son of the Great Spirit!”
12But he warned them over and over again not to tell anyone who he was.
TWELVE MESSAGE BEARERS
13Creator Sets Free (Jesus) went up the mountain and gathered to himself some of his followers. 14-15He chose twelve of them to learn his ways by being with him, so he could send them out to tell the good story and to have the power to force out evil spirits. He called them his message bearers
.
16Here are the names of the twelve he chose:
Stands on the Rock (Peter), the name he gave to One Who Hears (Simon); 17He Takes Over (James) the son of Gift of Creator (Zebedee) and his brother He Shows Goodwill (John), whom he also called Sons of Thunder; 18Stands with Courage (Andrew); Friend of Horses (Philip); Son of Ground Digger (Bartholomew); Gift from Creator (Matthew); Looks Like His Brother (Thomas); He Takes Charge (James) the son of First to Change (Alphaeus); Strong of Heart (Thaddaeus); One Who Listens (Simon) the Firebrand (Zealot); 19and Speaks Well Of (Judas), the one who would betray him.
HE HAS LOST HIS MIND
20Creator Sets Free (Jesus) then returned to his house in Village of Comfort (Capernaum). Just like before, a large crowd gathered there—so many that he and his followers were not even able to eat. 21When his relatives heard about this, they tried to take him away from there, because the people were saying, “He has lost his mind!”
ACCUSED BY THE SPIRITUAL LEADERS
22The scroll keepers from Village of Peace (Jerusalem) were there also.
“He stands with Worthless Ruler (Beelzebul),” they accused him, “for his power to force out evil spirits comes from the one who rules over them.”
23So Creator Sets Free (Jesus) gathered them around himself and spoke to them with wise sayings such as these:
“How can Accuser (Satan), that evil trickster, force out evil spirits? Can he defeat himself? 24If a nation wars against itself, that nation cannot stand. 25A family that fights against itself will fall. 26In the same way, if Accuser (Satan) rises up against himself, then how will he continue to rule?
27“No one can enter the house of a strongman and take away his goods, unless he first defeats him. Then he can take away his goods.
28“I speak from my heart, humankind will be released from all their wrongdoing and evil speaking, 29but whoever speaks evil of the Holy Spirit will not be released. This wrongdoing will follow them into the world to come and to the end of all days.”
30He said this because they were saying of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), “He has an evil spirit.”
ALL MY RELATIVES
31Then his mother and brothers came to him outside the house and sent word to him to come out to them. 32The crowd that was sitting in a circle around him said, “Look, your relatives are outside looking for you.”
33“Who are my relatives?” he asked them 34as he looked around at the circle of people. “Here they are! 35The ones who walk in the ways of the Great Spirit are all my relatives—my mother, my brothers and my sisters.”
SEED PLANTER STORY
1Creator Sets Free (Jesus) returned to the lakeshore and once again a very large crowd gathered around him. They pressed in so close that he got into a canoe and pushed out a little way from shore, while the people stayed at the shoreline. 2He then began to tell them stories to teach them about the ways of Creator’s good road.
3“Listen!” he said. “A seed planter went to plant some seeds and began to scatter them about on the ground.
4“Some seeds fell on the village pathway, but people walked on them, and the winged ones pecked at the seeds and ate them all.
5“Some of the seeds fell on the rocks where there was only a little dirt. The plants sprouted up quickly, 6but when the sun came out, they dried up because the roots were not deep enough.
7“Other seeds fell into the weeds, and thistles sprouted around the seeds and choked the life out of them. None of these plants grew for a harvest.
8“But some seeds fell on good ground, grew strong, and gave a harvest of thirty, sixty, and even one hundred times as much.”
9Then he said, “Let the one who has ears hear the meaning of this story.”
THE REASON FOR STORIES
10Later, when the twelve message bearers and other followers were alone with him, they asked why he taught with stories.
11He answered them, “To my close followers the honor has been given to understand about the mysterious ways of Creator’s good road. This honor is not given to those who are not my close followers. The stories are to help them, 12because, ‘When they look, they cannot see clearly what is in front of them. When they hear, they do not understand the meaning. If they did, then they would return to Creator and be released from their broken ways.’4
MEANING OF THE SEED PLANTER STORY
13“If you do not understand this story, then how will you understand any of my stories?” he answered.
14“The seed in this story is the message about Creator’s good road.
15“The village pathway represents the ones who hear but do not understand the message. Accuser (Satan), the evil trickster snake, sneaks up and snatches it away from them.
16“The rocky ground represents the ones who hear and receive the message with a glad heart, 17but because they have no roots, their faith is shallow and does not last. As soon as the message brings them trouble or opposition, they stumble and lose their way.
18“The weeds and thistles represent the ones who have heard the message, 19but they are too busy worrying about their earthly existence. This makes them stray away from the good road, wanting more and more possessions, thinking this will make them happy. The message is choked, and their faith stops growing.
20“The good ground represents the ones with good and pure hearts. When they hear and understand the message, they hold on tightly to it until it grows into a harvest—thirty, sixty, and even one hundred times as great!
LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS
21“No one hides a torch behind a blanket or under a sleeping bundle. No! A torch belongs up high on a pole, where it can give light to everyone. 22Nothing that has been hidden can stay a secret, and what has been covered up in darkness will be exposed by the light. 23The ones who have ears—hear this!”
24Then he added, “You must listen with an open heart. 25The ones who do so will gain wisdom and be ready for more—much more. But the ones who close their hearts to my teaching, even what little they have will be taken away.
MORE STORIES ABOUT THE GOOD ROAD
26“Here is another way to see Creator’s good road,” he said. “It is like a man who plants seed into the earth. 27Day or night, awake or asleep, the seed grows without the man knowing how or doing anything. 28The earth makes the seed grow without any help. First the stem, then the head, and finally the grain appears. 29Once it is ripe, the time has come, and right away it is harvested.
30“What is Creator’s good road like?” he asked. “What can I compare it to? What story will help us see its meaning?
MUSTARD SEED WISDOM
31-32“It is like a single grain of mustard seed,5 one of the smallest of seeds. But when planted in a garden, it grows larger than all the other plants and takes over the garden. It becomes a great tree with many branches, large enough for the winged ones who soar in the sky to find lodging in its shade.”
33So Creator Sets Free (Jesus) taught the people with many stories like these. He would tell them as much as they were able to hear. 34He would only use stories to teach the crowds, but then in private he would tell the full meaning to the ones who walked the road with him.
POWER OVER STORMS
35On that same day, as the sun began to set, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to his followers, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.”
36So they left the crowd and climbed into the canoe with him and pushed off from shore along with some other canoes. 37A storm was moving in, and a fierce wind drove the waves into the canoe and threatened to swamp it.
They paddled harder, trying desperately to keep the canoe from sinking, but the wind and waves were too much for them. They were filled with fear and about to sink and needed help from their Wisdomkeeper.
38But Creator Sets Free (Jesus), weary from a long, hard day, was in the back of the canoe—sleeping on a soft blanket! They shook him awake and cried out loud, “Wisdomkeeper! Do you not care that we are fighting for our lives?”
39He stood up and spoke
sharply to the wind and said to the raging waters, “Calm down and be still!”
Right then and there the wind died down, and a great peace fell upon the surface of the water.
40He then turned to his followers and said to them, “Why have you given yourselves over to fear? Where is your faith?”
41They all began to tremble with fear. They shook their heads with wonder and whispered to each other, “Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves do what he says!”
TERRITORY OF MANY SPIRITS
1When they finished crossing the lake, they came to the territory of Many Spirits (Gerasenes). 2As soon as Creator Sets Free (Jesus) stepped from the canoe, a man who was tormented by an unclean spirit came up to him. 3This man had been living at the local burial grounds, and no one could bind him, not even with iron chains.
4The people of the village had tried to capture the man and tie him down, but he would tear their ropes and break their chains. No one was strong enough to overpower him. 5Day and night he wandered about the burial grounds and into the mountains. He would never stop wailing and cutting himself with sharp stones. 6When the man saw Creator Sets Free (Jesus) from a distance, he ran up to him and fell down before him.
7“Creator Sets Free (Jesus), Son of the One Above Us All, what are you going to do with us?” the unclean spirits cried out through the man. “Promise me by the Great Spirit that you will not torment us.”
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