After this, Jesus traveled from town to town and village to village, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager; Susanna; and many others. These women were supporting them out of their own means.[1]
4 A large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to him from town after town. He spoke to them with a parable:
5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled down, and the birds of the sky ate it up. 6 Some fell on rock, and when it grew up, it withered because it had no moisture. 7 Some fell in among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a crop a hundred times over.” As he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
9 His disciples began asking him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it comes in parables, so that
‘they may look and never see, and listen and never understand.’[2]
11 “Now this is what the parable means: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who hear, but then the devil comes and takes the word away from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. But these have no root. They believe for a while, but in a time of testing they fall away. 14 And what fell into the thorns — these are the ones who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life, and they do not bring fruit to maturity. 15 But the seed in the good soil — these are the ones who, with a good and honest heart, hear the word, hold it fast, and bear fruit with patient endurance.
16 “No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a lampstand, so that those who come in can see the light. 17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be brought into the open, and nothing concealed that will not be known and come to light. 18 So pay attention to how you listen. For whoever has, more will be given to him; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.”
19 Now his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” 21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are these — the ones who hear the word of God and do it.”
22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out. 23 And as they sailed, he fell asleep. A fierce windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. 24 They came to him and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to die!”
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging water. They stopped, and there was a calm. 25 Then he said to them, “Where is your faith?”
But they were afraid and amazed, and they said to one another, “Who then is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him!”
26 They sailed on to the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.[3] 27 When Jesus stepped out onto the land, a man from the town met him — a man who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but among the tombs.
28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said in a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!” 29 For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him. He would be kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the restraints and be driven by the demon into the desert.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
He said, “Legion” — because many demons had gone into him.[4] 31 And they kept begging him not to order them to go into the abyss.
32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged him to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran off and reported it in the town and in the countryside. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at Jesus’ feet — clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been saved.
37 Then the whole crowd from the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were gripped with great fear. So he got into the boat and went back.
38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to stay with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Go back to your home, and tell everything God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole town everything Jesus had done for him.
40 When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41 And look — a man named Jairus came forward. He was a ruler of the synagogue. He fell at Jesus’ feet and kept begging him to come to his house, 42 because he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying.
As Jesus went, the crowds were pressing in on him. 43 And there was a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years. She had spent all she had on doctors, but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the tassel of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.[5]
45 Jesus said, “Who touched me?”
While everyone was denying it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are pressing and crushing against you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, because I know power has gone out from me.”
47 When the woman saw that she could not go unnoticed, she came trembling and fell down before him. In front of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been healed at once. 48 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
49 While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue ruler’s house and said, “Your daughter is dead. Don’t trouble the teacher anymore.”
50 But when Jesus heard this, he answered him, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved.”
51 When he arrived at the house, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, James, and the child’s father and mother. 52 Everyone was crying and beating their chests for her. But he said, “Stop crying. She is not dead — she is sleeping.”[6]
53 And they laughed at him, knowing she was dead. 54 But he took her by the hand and called out, “Child, get up.” 55 Her spirit returned, and she stood up at once. And he told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them to tell no one what had happened.
Notes
Note 1. Chuza was Herod Antipas’s “epitropos” — his household manager or steward, a trusted administrator of the ruler’s estate and finances. That places Joanna inside the tetrarch’s court, a woman of means. ↩
Note 2. The lines are Isaiah 6:9–10, words spoken when the prophet was first commissioned to a people who would hear and still refuse to turn. The same Isaiah passage is echoed repeatedly across the New Testament. ↩
Note 3. The manuscripts disagree here, reading “Gerasenes,” “Gadarenes,” or “Gergesenes.” The puzzle is geographical: the story needs a steep bank running down into the lake, yet the best-known city of Gerasa (modern Jerash) lay about 35 miles inland. This is why some copyists and readers have preferred Gergesa (modern Kursi), a site right on the eastern shore that better fits a herd rushing into the water. ↩
Note 4. A legion was the largest unit of the Roman army, in the first century numbering roughly five to six thousand soldiers. ↩
Note 5. Kraspedon — the tassel, tzitzit in Hebrew, that Israelite men were commanded to wear on the corners of the outer garment (Numbers 15:37–41). ↩
Note 6. The Greek verb (“ekoptonto”) describes loud, physical lament — beating the breast, wailing aloud. In first-century Jewish practice mourning began at once, often with hired mourners making a public display of grief, since burial followed quickly after death. ↩