1029 l Mark 5:13 ple also long for oth er things . All of these are the kinds of things that crowd out the mes sage . They keep it from pro ducing fruit . 20 And what is seed scat tered on good soil like ? The peo ple hear the message . They ac cept it . They pro duce a good crop 30 , 60 , or even 100 times more than the farmer planted .”
A Lamp on a Stand
21 Jesus said to them , “ Do you bring in a lamp to put it un der a large bowl or a bed ? Don ’ t you put it on its stand ? 22 What is hid den is meant to be seen . And what is put out of sight is meant to be brought out into the open . 23 Whoever has ears should listen .”
24 “Think carefully about what you hear ,” he said . “ As you give , so you will receive . In fact , you will re ceive even more . 25 Whoever has something will be given more . Whoever has nothing , even what they have will be tak en away from them .”
The Story of the Growing Seed
26 Jesus also said , “ Here is what God ’ s king dom is like . A farm er scat ters seed on the ground . 27 Night and day the seed comes up and grows . It hap pens wheth er the farm er sleeps or gets up . He doesn ’ t know how it hap pens . 28 All by it self the soil produces grain . First the stalk comes up . Then the head ap pears . Fi nal ly , the full grain ap pears in the head . 29 Before long the grain rip ens . So the farm er cuts it down , be cause the har vest is ready .”
The Story of the Mustard Seed
30 Again Jesus said , “ What can we say God ’ s king dom is like ? What sto ry can we use to ex plain it ? 31 It is like a mus tard seed , which is the small est of all seeds on earth . 32 But when you plant the seed , it grows . It be comes the larg est of all garden plants . Its branch es are so big that birds can rest in its shade .”
33 Using many stories like these , Jesus spoke the word to them . He told them as much as they could un der stand . 34 He did not say any thing to them with out us ing a sto ry . But when he was alone with his disciples , he explained everything .
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 When eve ning came , Jesus said to his dis ci ples , “ Let ’ s go over to the oth er side of the lake .” 36 They left the crowd be hind . And they took him along in a boat , just as he was . There were also oth er boats with him . 37 A wild storm came up . Waves crashed over the boat . It was about to sink . 38 Jesus was in the back , sleep ing on a cush ion . The dis ci ples woke him up . They said , “ Teach er ! Don ’ t you care if we drown ?”
39 He got up and or dered the wind to stop . He said to the waves , “ Qui et ! Be still !” Then the wind died down . And it was completely calm .
40 He said to his dis ci ples , “ Why are you so afraid ? Don ’ t you have any faith at all yet ?”
41 They were terrified . They asked each oth er , “ Who is this ? Even the wind and the waves obey him !”
Jesus Heals a Man Controlled by Demons
5
They went across the Sea of Gal i lee to the area of the Ger a senes . 2 Jesus got out of the boat . A man con trolled by an evil spir it came from the tombs to meet him . 3 The man lived in the tombs . No one could keep him tied up any more . Not even a chain could hold him . 4 His hands and feet had of ten been chained . But he tore the chains apart . And he broke the iron cuffs on his an kles . No one was strong enough to con trol him . 5 Night and day he screamed among the tombs and in the hills . He cut him self with stones .
6 When he saw Jesus a long way off , he ran to him . He fell on his knees in front of him . 7 He shout ed at the top of his voice , “ Jesus , Son of the Most High God , what do you want with me ? Swear to God that you won ’ t hurt me !” 8 This was because Jesus had said to him , “ Come out of this man , you evil spir it !”
9 Then Jesus asked the de mon , “ What is your name ?”
“ My name is Le gion ,” he re plied . “ There are many of us .” 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area .
11 A large herd of pigs was feed ing on the nearby hillside . 12 The demons begged Jesus , “ Send us among the pigs . Let us go into them .” 13 Jesus al lowed it . The evil spir its came out of the man and went into the pigs . There were about 2,000 pigs in the herd . The whole herd rushed down the steep bank . They ran into the lake and drowned .