Back on the beach, the crowds had grown larger... all of them wanting to hear Yeshua teach.
So he stood in a big boat, and the crowd stood at the edge of the water while he taught.
In his teaching he would often tell stories to illustrate what he wanted to say.
"Listen. A farmer was sowing seeds and some of them fell on the road. Birds came and ate them.
"Some fell on rocky ground with very little dirt. They sprouted quickly but there was not enough soil for roots to develop.
"When the sun came up it scorched the plants, and they withered away.
"Some fell among weeds and the weeds choked the plants so that they never produced any fruit.
"But others fell on good ground. They sprouted, grew, and produced fruit
"some 30 times more than the original seed, some 60 and some a hundred.
"Can you hear what I'm saying? If you can, then you you need to think seriously about what it means for you personally."
When the crowd had left, a few stragglers who had stayed back with him and the twelve asked about the parable.
"I'm going to tell you some secrets about the invisible Kingdom that I'm building
"but it will all just be weird stories to those who are not meant to understand it.
"Like one of the prophets said, 'They will see and hear but they will not understand
"'because they don't want to change, and they refuse to see their need for forgiveness'.
"Okay so you're having a problem with understanding this story.
"I'll help you so that you can get a better idea of how to understand all of my stories.
"What the farmer was sowing are my teachings.
"The road on which the seeds fell is like people who start to listen, but then they let the devil distract them from my teachings.
"And the rocky ground are people who get excited about what they hear, but they are shallow and emotional.
"As soon as they face a little opposition or discomfort because of what I've told them, they get offended and give up.
"Then there are those who are full of weeds.
"They hear me and grow but are just too damn busy with all the business of the world
"with the deceitfulness of wanting to make money, and with their love for other things besides listening to me.
"All of these weeds choke the words which I've spoken. And so these people never bear genuine spiritual fruit.
"But now look at the ones who are good ground. They, too, hear my teachings and receive them.
"But they do more than that.
"They act on what they have heard, and so they grow until they eventually produce fruit... some more than others.
"That's how it always is with the truth. It needs to be shared.
"You don't buy a candle to stick it under your bed or to throw it into a box to be forgotten.
"You buy a candle so you can put it on a candle holder. Then everyone can see the light.
"Sooner or later the truth will be known.... whether you are children of the light or whether you are just fakes.
"Every secret will be brought out into the open. Do you hear what I'm saying?
"If you do, then start acting like you've heard me.
"What you do with what I have said will make all the difference in whether or not I show you more.
"If you use what I tell you, I'll give you more.
"But if you do not act on it, I'll take away from you what little truth you already have."
Yeshua explained how truth will just naturally grow if we are faithful with it.
"This kingdom that I'm building is like a man planting seeds.
"Day after day he sees the seeds growing, almost magically.
"Everything that the plant needs is present there in the seeds, right from the start.
"It sprouts up out of the ground, then branches appear, and then a crop appears on the branches.
"It all happens quite naturally. All the farmer has to do in the end is just reap the harvest.
"How best can I illustrate for you this new invisible world of faith that I'm building?
"It's like a tiny seed... a mustard seed, for example.
"The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds in the garden
"but then it grows up into a bigger plant than all of the other spices.
"The mustard plant sends out branches that can give shade enough for birds to walk under it."
Yeshua told many other similar stories
in an effort to communicate his message to those who were able to hear what he was saying.
He rarely said anything without such illustrations
and he would explain them privately when he was alone with those who truly believed him.
That same evening, he suggested that they crossed the lake in a boat.
There were several boats all traveling together
so they got into one of them after they had sent the crowd away.
But out on the sea, a fierce storm arose, causing waves to swamp the boat.
Yeshua was in the back of the ship, sleeping on a pillow.
"Hey, Yeshua, wake up. We're about to drown! How can you sleep at a time like this?"
"Peace! Do you hear me? Be still!
"Now what were you so worried about? Don't you have any faith?"
"Did you hear that?"
"Did you SEE that?"
"He told the wind to stop, and it did!"
"Yeah, and even the waves obeyed him!"