Mark 3:19 l 1028
and James , son of Alphaeus . And there were Thaddaeus and Si mon the Zeal ot .
19 Ju das Is car i ot was one of them too . He was the one who was lat er going to hand Jesus over to his en e mies .
Jesus Is Accused by Teachers of the Law
20 Jesus entered a house . Again a crowd gath ered . It was so large that Jesus and his dis ci ples were not even able to eat . 21 His fam i ly heard about this . So they went to take charge of him . They said , “ He is out of his mind .”
22 Some teach ers of the law were there . They had come down from Je ru sa lem . They said , “ He is con trolled by Be el ze bul ! He is driv ing out de mons by the pow er of the prince of de mons .”
23 So Jesus called them over to him . He be gan to speak to them us ing sto ries . He said , “ How can Sa tan drive out Satan ? 24 If a king dom fights against it self , it can ’ t stand . 25 If a fam i ly is di vid ed , it can ’ t stand . 26 And if Sa tan fights against him self , and his help ers are di vid ed , he can ’ t stand . That is the end of him . 27 In fact , none of you can en ter a strong man ’ s house un less you tie him up first . Then you can steal things from his house . 28 What I ’ m about to tell you is true . Every one ’ s sins and evil words against God will be forgiven . 29 But whoever speaks evil things against the Holy Spir it will never be forgiven . Their guilt will last forever .”
30 Jesus said this be cause the teach ers of the law were say ing , “ He has an evil spirit .”
Jesus ’ Mother and Brothers
31 Jesus ’ moth er and broth ers came and stood out side . They sent some one in to get him . 32 A crowd was sitting around Jesus . They told him , “ Your moth er and your broth ers are out side . They are looking for you .”
33 “ Who is my moth er ? Who are my brothers ?” he asked .
34 Then Jesus looked at the peo ple sitting in a cir cle around him . He said , “ Here is my moth er ! Here are my broth ers ! 35 Any one who does what God wants is my broth er or sis ter or moth er .”
The Story of the Farmer
4
Again Jesus be gan to teach by the Sea of Galilee . The crowd that gathered around him was very large . So he got into a boat . He sat down in it out on the lake . All the peo ple were along the shore at the water ’ s edge . 2 He taught them many things us ing sto ries . In his teach ing he said , 3 “ Lis ten ! A farm er went out to plant his seed . 4 He scat tered the seed on the ground . Some fell on a path . Birds came and ate it up . 5 Some seed fell on rocky places , where there wasn ’ t much soil . The plants came up quick ly , be cause the soil wasn ’ t deep . 6 When the sun came up , it burned the plants . They dried up be cause they had no roots . 7 Oth er seed fell among thorns . The thorns grew up and crowd ed out the plants . So the plants did not bear grain . 8 Still oth er seed fell on good soil . It grew up and pro duced a crop 30 , 60 , or even 100 times more than the farm er planted .”
9 Then Jesus said , “ Who ev er has ears should listen .”
10 Later Jesus was alone . The 12 disciples asked him about the sto ries . So did the oth ers around him . 11 He told them , “ The se cret of God ’ s king dom has been given to you . But to outsiders everything is told us ing sto ries . 12 In that way ,
“ ‘ They will see but never know what they are seeing . They will hear but never understand . Otherwise they might turn and be forgiven !’ ” ( Isaiah 6:9,10 )
13 Then Jesus said to them , “ Don ’ t you understand this story ? Then how will you un der stand any sto ries of this kind ? 14 The seed the farm er plants is God ’ s message . 15 What is seed scat tered on a path like ? The mes sage is plant ed . The peo ple hear the mes sage . Then Sa tan comes . He takes away the mes sage that was plant ed in them . 16 And what is seed scat tered on rocky plac es like ? The peo ple hear the mes sage . At once they re ceive it with joy . 17 But they have no roots . So they last only a short time . They quick ly fall away from the faith when trouble or suffering comes be cause of the mes sage . 18 And what is seed scat tered among thorns like ? The peo ple hear the mes sage . 19 But then the wor ries of this life come to them . Wealth comes with its false promises . The peo