10When the elders returned to the head soldier, they found the servant well.
THE SON OF A WIDOW
11Not long after this, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and the ones who walked the road with him went to Village of Harmony (Nain). A large crowd of people trailed behind him. 12As he came near the village gate, a man who had crossed over was being carried, wrapped in a blanket, to a burial site. He was the only son of his mother, a widow. A crowd of people from the village were walking with her. 13When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw her, he felt pity for her and said, “Do not weep. The Great Spirit has seen your tears.”
14He walked up, opened the blanket, and laid his hands on the young man. The ones carrying it stopped and waited to see what he would do. “Young man,” he said out loud, “rise up!” 15To the amazement of all, he sat up and began to talk. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) then gave him back to his mother.
Her weeping turned to joy as she threw her arms around her son and kept kissing his face.
16Great fear and trembling fell on the crowd. They gave honor to the Great Spirit and said, “A great prophet has been sent to us! The Giver of Breath has come to visit his people!” 17News about this traveled far and wide throughout the Land of Promise (Judea) and into the surrounding villages and territories.
ARE YOU THE ONE?
18Followers of Gift of Goodwill (John), who performed the purification ceremony,21 told him what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had done. 19He sent two of his followers to ask the Wisdomkeeper a question. 20When they found Creator Sets Free (Jesus), they asked him the question from Gift of Goodwill (John), “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for someone else?”
21The messengers watched as he healed many who were sick and tormented by evil spirits, and gave sight to the ones who were blind.
22He told them, “Go back to Gift of Goodwill (John) and tell him about the things you have seen with your own eyes and heard with your own ears. The blind can see again, the lame can walk, the ones with skin disease have been healed and ceremonially cleansed! Ears that cannot hear have been opened and the poor have been told the good story! Even the dead have come back to life again!”
Creator Sets Free (Jesus) sent them back to him with these last words:
23“Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who do not stumble and leave the path because of me.”
A TRUE PROPHET
24When the messengers left, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) spoke to the people about Gift of Goodwill (John). “What were you looking for in the desert wilderness? A frail reed blowing in the wind? 25Did you see a man in costly garments? No! The ones who wear costly clothes and buy whatever they want live in grand houses. 26Were you looking for a true prophet? Yes! He is a true prophet but also much more! 27He is the one spoken of in the Sacred Teachings, ‘Look! I am sending my messenger ahead of you. He will make a clear path.’22
28“Listen closely, no one born of a woman has ever been greater, but now the smallest one who walks Creator’s good road is greater than he is.”
29When the people and tribal tax collectors heard this, they agreed that the ways of the Great Spirit were true and right, for they had received the purification ceremony23 of Gift of Goodwill (John). 30But the scroll keepers and Separated Ones (Pharisees) turned away from the Great Spirit’s plan for them, for they had refused the ceremony of Gift of Goodwill (John).
31“This generation, what can I compare them to?” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) told the crowd. 32“They are like children at a trading post, teasing each other, saying, ‘You did not dance when we played the drum! You did not cry when we played a sad flute song.’
33“Gift of Goodwill (John) did not feast or drink wine, but you say, ‘He has an evil spirit.’ 34The True Human Being comes feasting and drinking and you say, ‘He eats too much and is a drunk, a friend of tribal tax collectors and outcasts with broken ways!’ 35But wisdom is proved right through the behavior of her children.”
A MEAL WITH A SPIRITUAL LEADER
36A spiritual leader from the Separated Ones (Pharisees), named Man Who Listens (Simon), invited Creator Sets Free (Jesus) to a meal. So he went to his house and joined the guests at the table.
37There was a woman in the village, an outcast with broken ways, who heard that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was eating with the spiritual leader. So she went to the house and brought with her a small pottery jar of sweet-smelling ointment. 38She came up behind Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and began to weep at his feet. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them with her hair. Then she kissed his feet and rubbed the ointment on them.
39When the spiritual leader saw this, he thought to himself, “If this man were a true prophet he would know who is touching him. He would see what kind of woman this is—an outcast!”
40Creator Sets Free (Jesus) knew what he was thinking and said to him, “Man Who Listens (Simon), I have something to say to you.”
“Wisdomkeeper,” he answered, “say what you will.”
41“Two men were in debt to the same person. One owed him five hundred horses, the other two buffalo hides. 42Neither of them had enough to pay him back, so he released them from their debt. Which one do you think will love him the most?”
43“I suppose it would be the one who owed him the most.”
“You have answered well,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) told him.
44Then he turned to the woman and said to Man Who Listens (Simon), “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not welcome me with a kiss, but this woman is still kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has rubbed sweet-smelling ointment on my feet. 47I tell you, she is forgiven and set free from her broken ways because of her great love. But small is the love of one who has been forgiven only for small things.”
Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked at her with kindness in his eyes.
48“You are forgiven!” he said to her.
49The other guests at the table began to grumble to each other and say, “Who is this man who thinks he can forgive wrongdoings?”
50Creator Sets Free (Jesus) ignored them and said to the woman, “Your faith in me has healed your broken ways. Go in peace.”
WOMEN OF HONOR
1After this, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) began to walk from one village to another telling stories about Creator’s good road. The twelve he had chosen were with him 2and also some women who had been healed and set free from evil spirits. One was Strong Tears (Mary) from the village of Creator’s High Lodge (Magdala), who had been set free from seven evil spirits. 3Another was Woman of His Goodwill (Joanna), the wife of Vision Seer (Chuza), the headman of the household of Chief Looks Brave (Herod). And then there was Water Flower (Susanna). These women and many others helped out with their own goods.
FOUR KINDS OF SOIL
4The people began to gather in crowds as they came from village after village to Creator Sets Free (Jesus). As the crowds gathered, he told them a story.
“Listen!” he said. 5“A seed planter went to plant some seeds and began to scatter them about on the ground.
“Some seeds fell on the village pathway, but people walked on them, and the winged ones pecked at the seeds and ate them all.
6“Some of the seeds fell on the rocks, where there was only a little dirt. The plants grew, but they dried up because they had no water.
7“Other seeds fell into the weeds, and thistles sprouted around the seeds and choked the life out of them.
8“But some seeds fell on good ground, grew strong, and gave a harvest of one hundred times what was planted. If you have ears to hear, you will understand this story.”
BLIND EYES AND DEAF EARS
9But his followers did not understand, so they asked him for the meaning of the story.
10He answered them, “To you the honor has been given to understand the mysterious ways of Creator’s good road. This honor is not giv
en to those who are not ready for it. I speak to them in stories because ‘even though they have eyes to see, they do not see, and even though they have ears to hear, they fail to understand.’24
MEANING OF FOUR KINDS OF SOIL
11“This is what the story means,” he told them. “The seed in this story is the teaching from the Great Spirit about his good road.
12“The village pathway represents the ones who hear, but then Accuser (Satan), the evil snake, sneaks up and steals the words out of their hearts to keep them from believing the teaching and being set free.
13“The rocky ground represents the ones who hear and receive the teaching with glad hearts, but because they have no roots, their faith is shallow and does not last. As soon as the teaching brings them trouble or opposition, they stumble and fall away.
14“The weeds and thistles represent the ones who have heard the teaching, but they are too busy worrying about their earthly possessions, so the teaching is choked and their faith stops growing good fruit.
15“The good ground represents the ones who hear the teaching with good and pure hearts, hold on tightly to it, and never let go until it grows good fruit in their lives.
16“No one after lighting a lamp hangs a blanket in front of it. Instead, they would put it on a table so everyone can see. 17The ones who have ears to hear will understand this teaching.
18“But they must listen carefully, for the ones who understand will gain wisdom and be ready for more—much more. But the ones who do not listen wisely will lose even the little they think they understand.”
ALL MY RELATIVES
19The mother of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and his brothers came to see him. They were unable to get to him because of the great number of people gathered there. 20Someone told him, “Your relatives are here, waiting to see you.”
21Creator Sets Free (Jesus) smiled and told the messenger, “The ones who listen to the teachings of the Great Spirit and walk in his ways are all my relatives—my mother, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters.”
POWER OVER VIOLENT STORMS
22On another day Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to his followers, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” They climbed into a large canoe and pushed off from the shore.
Tired from a long day, 23Creator Sets Free (Jesus) fell into a deep sleep.
His followers let him sleep and continued to paddle across the lake. A windstorm came up suddenly and began to move over the waters. They paddled harder, trying to get to shore before the storm hit.
Soon the storm overtook them and threatened to sink the canoes. 24In desperation they woke him from his sleep and cried out, “Wisdomkeeper! Wisdomkeeper! We are all going to drown.”
He woke up from his sleep, stood up, and spoke sharply to the wind and the raging water. At his words the wind stopped blowing and the waves calmed down. Great peace fell upon the surface of the waters. 25He turned to his followers and said to them, “Where is your faith?”
Amazed and afraid, they shook their heads and whispered to each other, “Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves listen to him!”
POWER OVER EVIL SPIRITS
26When they finished crossing, they came to the territory of the people of Honored in the End (Gadarenes), across the Lake of Circle of Nations (Sea of Galilee). 27As soon as he stepped from the canoe, a man from the village was there. This man had been tormented with evil spirits for a long time. His clothes had worn off him, and he was homeless, so he lived in the local burial grounds.
28When the man saw Creator Sets Free (Jesus), he fell to the ground in front of him. The evil spirit cried out through the man, “Creator Sets Free (Jesus), Son of the One Above Us All, what do you want with me? I beg you not to torment me!” 29He said this because Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had ordered the evil spirit to leave the man.
In the past this evil spirit had often taken hold of the man, so the villagers had kept the man bound with chains and under close watch. But the man had broken the chains, and the evil spirit had forced him out into the desert.
30Creator Sets Free (Jesus) asked, “What is your name?”
“Many Soldiers,”25 he answered, because thousands of spirits had entered into him. 31They begged him not to send them into the deep dark pit of the world below.26
32There was a large herd of pigs feeding on a nearby mountainside, so the spirits begged him to permit them to enter the pigs. 33When he gave them permission, the evil spirits left the man and entered into the herd of pigs. Then the whole herd stampeded down the mountainside headlong into the lake and drowned.
34The ones who were watching over the pigs were scared to death and ran away. They went to the nearby village and told them everything that had happened. 35As word spread, people came from the villages and the countryside to see for themselves. There they found the man whom the evil spirits had come out of, sitting quietly at the feet of Creator Sets Free (Jesus). He was clothed and in his right mind. This filled the hearts of the people there with awe and fear.
36The ones who had seen what happened told the people how the man with evil spirits had been set free. 37Then the people from the territory of Honored in the End (Gadarenes) begged Creator Sets Free (Jesus) to go away from their land.
38As Creator Sets Free (Jesus) entered the canoe to return to the other side, the man who had been set free from the evil spirits begged him to take him along. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) would not permit it and said to the man, 39“Return home to your family and friends.” He told the man, “Tell them all the powerful things the Great Spirit has done for you.”
The man went his way and told his story in the villages, telling everyone the great things Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had done for him.
A DESPERATE REQUEST
40Creator Sets Free (Jesus) canoed back to the other side of the lake. A great crowd, waiting for him at the lakeshore, welcomed him with glad hearts. 41A man named He Gives Light (Jairus), the headman of the local gathering house, pushed his way through the crowd and fell down on his knees in front of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and begged him to come to his house. 42He had an only daughter, about twelve winters old, who was dying.
As Creator Sets Free (Jesus) went with the man, the crowd also trailed along, pressing in around him from all sides.
WHO TOUCHED ME?
43There was a woman in the crowd who had been bleeding in an unusual way for more than twelve winters.
Under tribal law this woman would be considered unclean. She was also required to warn people nearby of her condition by saying out loud, “Unclean! Unclean!” Instead, she pushed her way through the crowd to get to the Wisdomkeeper.
She spent all she had on medicine men who were not able to heal her. 44She came up close behind him, reached out her hand, and touched the fringe of his outfit, and right away the blood stopped flowing.
Creator Sets Free (Jesus) stopped, turned, and looked around the crowd.
45“Who touched me?” he asked.
The ones who heard him shrugged their shoulders and began to look around also.
When no one came forward, Stands on the Rock (Peter) said to him, “Wisdomkeeper, the crowds are pushing, shoving, and touching you, what do you mean?”
46“Someone touched me,” he said again. “I felt power go out from my body.”
Fear took hold of the heart of this woman, for she had not announced herself as unclean, and even worse, she had touched a spiritual leader. The crowd might turn against her or even have her stoned to death.
47The woman knew she could hide no longer. She came forward, trembling with fear, and fell down before him. In front of all the people she told the story of why she touched him and how she was healed right then.
48Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked at her with kindness in his eyes and said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
POWER OVER DEATH
49As they continued on, a messenger from the home of the headman of the gathering house came. With sadness on his
face he said to He Gives Light (Jairus), “There is no need to trouble the Wisdomkeeper any longer. Your little girl has died.”
The man’s heart fell to the ground, and grief began to creep over him.
50Creator Sets Free (Jesus) overheard and quickly said to him, “Do not fear, simply trust me and all will be well.”
51When they came to the house, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) did not permit anyone to go in with him except the child’s parents and his most trusted followers—Stands on the Rock (Peter), He Shows Goodwill (John), and He Takes Over (James).
52All the people there were crying for the little girl. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to them, “Do not cry. The child is not dead. She only sleeps.”
53They mocked him and laughed, for they knew she was dead. 54So he sent them outside, and then, taking the little girl by the hand, he said, “Little girl, stand up!” She drew in a deep breath as 55her spirit returned to her body, and she stood up. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had them give her some food.
56Her father and mother stood there, amazed beyond words, weeping for joy. Their little girl was alive! Then he firmly told them not to tell anyone what had happened.
MESSAGE BEARERS SENT OUT
1He then gathered his twelve message bearers together. He gave them the authority over all evil spirits and the power to heal all kinds of sickness and disease. 2He then sent them out to tell the story of Creator’s good road and heal the sick.
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