1 AND he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.

2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,

3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:

4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.

9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.

11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery [ Mystery in Greek is "Musterion" which means: The counsels of God once hidden but now revealed, in the gospel or some fact thereof; the Christian revelation generally; particular truths or details of the Christian revelation. When we say "mystery" we might as well say ordinances. This is from Greek Mysterion (usually in plural mysteria) "secret right or doctrine (known and practiced by certain initiated persons only) consisting of purifications, sacrificial offerings, processions, songs, etc." from mystes "one who has been initiated," Myein "to close shut" (see nute(adj.)); perhaps referring to the lips (in secrecy) or to the eyes (only initiates were allowed to see the sacred rites). (Online Etymology Dictionary) So mystery as we know it today has been perverted to resemble something in a mystery novel when it came from the ancients to mean sacred rights, and initiations. So as we find in the scriptures that the word mystery is always tied to some form of Salvation and or sacred rights. ] of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:

12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?

14 ¶ The sower soweth the word.

15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.

18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

21 ¶ And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?

22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.

23 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

24 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.

25 For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.

26 ¶ And he said, so is the kingdom of God, [Church of Jesus Christ] as if a man [Any legal administrator sent to preach the gospel] should cast seed into the ground; [Preach the gospel. But that is the extent of what a missionary can do. Conversion cannot be forced upon a person anymore than a man can force a seed to grow,The power that causes the seed to grow is beyond the power of the sower it is in the hands of God]

27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.

28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.

29 But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

30 ¶ And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?

31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth:

32 But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls ["The fowls are the angels. Thus angels come down, combine together to gather their children, We cannot be nade perfect without them, nor they without us; when these things are done, the son of Man will descend, the Ancient of Days sit; we may come to an innumerable company of angels, have communion with and receive instruction from them." History Of The Church 3:388-389] of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.

33 And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.

34 But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.

35 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. [Or he is going to sail to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. So Jesus and the disciples get into ships to avoid the sign-seeking crowd - he really just wants to preach the gospel to those that are interested - he is not looking for popularity. This is why they got in the boats in the first place Matt 8:1]

36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.

37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: [ Original word was -> proskefalaion = probably means a little bed, or hammock, such as are common in small vessels. ] and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? [ This is more than just doubt it is do you even care about us at all. Like since you are not doing a thing about our situtation it must be because you just don't care. Are we that way? When we are in our greatest perils and it appears as if God is nowhere how do we respond? Our advice might be that there is really nothing to be alarmed about. There is a little story behind the story here. The disciples are fisherman, they are on the lake, their home turf, they have this as they have a thousand times before. The waves come and they still let Jesus sleep. They don't bother to ask for his help until things become critical, their backs are against the wall, they are afraid. Are we like that, we don't invite the Savior to help us until things are really bad, on the everyy day things well, we have it. Do we not invite him to keep Jesus alert in our daily activities, the stuff we have done a hundred times ourself, we just don't ask him we let him sleep. when we think we can do something on our own God usually lets us try, and then we turn around and ask God why he did not help us. ]

39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. [ What do you feel when you here these words? ] And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. [ On the water but in their hearts as well. ]

40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? [ What do you suppose the Saviors was trying say here? Why fear I am with you - I am hear too - nothing is going to happen. ] how is it that ye have no faith? [ What might the Savior be implying with this comment? you have seen all the things that I have done and yet you still don't get it. the disciples are stunned, and rightly so. Here is a man who controls the nature, something only God can do! Hence their astonishment. How could this man do such a thing unless he were God? He couldn't, so he must be God. To put this in context we have to compare what Jesus does with the other OT prophets who have dealings with nature control. Take Elijah for example. Elijah pronounces droughts and later supplies rain, all in the Lord's name. Here, Jesus does not do it in the Lord's name, he simply speaks and it is done. Failing to acknowledge the Lord as the source of the power in doing such a thing would be blasphemy (e.g., Moses and the water from the rock, cf. Num. 20:10-12, Deut. 32:51), unless the speaker was the Lord. But, who could imagine such a thing, standing in the presence of the incarnate Lord?]

[ Also of note: the other boats which started out with them are not mentioned as to have reached the other side as did Jesus' boat. Did they turn back at the sight of an impending storm, were they sunk, or just thrown to a different shore we aren't told. We do know that Jesus was trying to separate from them, and apparently as a result of the storm they accomplished there mission. What then is the purpose of the storm? To separate the more faithful from the less faithful, with the less faithful being turned away and the more faithful witnessing a miracle and being taught a lesson on faith.]

41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? [ To put this in context we have to compare what Jesus does with the other OT prophets who have dealings with nature control. Take Elijah for example. Elijah pronounces droughts and later supplies rain, all in the Lord's name. Here, Jesus does not do it in the Lord's name, he simply speaks and it is done. Failing to acknowledge the Lord as the source of the power in doing such a thing would be blasphemy (e.g., Moses and the water from the rock, cf. Num. 20:10-12, Deut. 32:51), unless the speaker was the Lord. But, who could imagine such a thing, standing in the presence of the incarnate Lord?

Also of note: the other boats which started out with them are not mentioned as to have reached the other side as did Jesus' boat. Did they turn back at the sight of an impending storm, were they sunk, or just thrown to a different shore we aren't told. We do know that Jesus was trying to separate from them, and apparently as a result of the storm they accomplished there mission. What then is the purpose of the storm? To separate the more faithful from the less faithful, with the less faithful being turned away and the more faithful witnessing a miracle and being taught a lesson on faith.]