Jesus Christ as the Son of God, was given great power by God the Father to heal many sick people, those who were lame, or had diseases like leprosy and those who were blind people, so they could see.

“One man who was paralysed on his bed and could not walk, wanted Jesus to pray for him and ask God to heal him, but there was too big a crowd in the building”, says Grandad. “So, do you know what he did to get to see Jesus?”  (Mark 2:3-12)

He asked his friends to take the tiles off the roof of the house and lower him down on his bed by ropes.  When Jesus saw him He said to the man: “Your sins have been forgiven you.”

When the bad Pharisees heard Him say that, they criticised Jesus: “Why does this man speak such blasphemies. Who has the power to forgive sins except God?”

The Pharisees did not realise that Jesus was God’s son on Earth and like God the Father, Jesus as God too, had the power to forgive sins.

Jesus wisely answered them: “Which is easier to say to this paralytic man: ‘Your sins have been forgiven you’? or to say: ‘Arise, and take up your stretcher and go to your house’?”

Immediately the man was healed. He picked up his bed stretcher and carried it home, so happy he had been healed.  Everyone else who saw this miracle were so happy too, and they told many others about Jesus.

The Pharisees were people who made up all sorts of man-made rules of do’s and don’ts that God had never given to us to obey.  But the Pharisees had deceived a lot of people into thinking their philosophy of Judaism was the right way to worship God.

One time the disciples were walking past the corner of a wheat field on the Sabbath day, two weeks after they had kept the Feast of Pentecost. (Matthew 12:1-8)

They were very hungry, so they simply pulled off some ripe heads or ears of wheat, rubbed the chaff off and ate the fresh grains.  They were allowed to do this by God’s law. (Leviticus 19:9-10)

But the self-righteous Pharisees said, what the disciples were doing was against their Pharisaic man-made laws on the Sabbath day.

Jesus told them there was nothing in the scriptures about this being a sin. He gave them the example of David, who was allowed to eat the holy loaves of showbread in the Temple when he and his men were very hungry and there was no other food to eat at that time.

The Pharisees had no answer. Christ told them: “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of God is also the Lord of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28)

He explained to them that God made the Sabbath a day of rest and enjoyment for us as human beings. It’s like having a holiday on the 7^th day after a busy week of 6 days of school or work. The Sabbath is a day to enjoy good food and fun with our family and to worship God and be happy before our God, in thankfulness.

Of course we know that Jesus Christ is Lord over the Sabbath day. After all, Jesus was the One in the God Family who wrote the 10 commandments on the stone tablets and gave them to Moses.

Another time the wicked Pharisees were angry with Jesus, because on a Sabbath day he healed a man with a withered hand and made it completely whole again. (Mark 3:1-5, Matthew 12:11-12)

Jesus said to them: “Is it lawful to do good or to do evil on the Sabbaths? To save life or to destroy it?”  Obviously God has no law against doing good on His Sabbath day.

Once again, the self-righteous Pharisees who had their own silly rules, did not know what to say.

PARABLES were often used by Jesus to tell about how we should prepare for God’s Kingdom now in our lives. Many people do not understand these parables today, because they do not understand the wonderful plan of God for saving all human beings, who seek God.  (Matthew 13:10-11, Mark 4:11-12, Luke 8:9-10)

Christ said if we hear God’s sayings and do them, we will be wise.  (Matthew 7:24-27)

We will be like a wise person who built their house upon a rock. The rain came in a flood, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, but it did not fall down because its footings were on the rock.

He said if anyone hears God’s sayings, and does not do them, they will be like a foolish person who built their house upon the sand.

Then rain came like a flood, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell down.

“What do we learn from this parable of Jesus?” says Nanna.

Another time Jesus told the parable about the sower who sowed seed in his field. (Mark 4:1-9)

Some of the seed that he cast fell off his field and the birds came and quickly ate it up. Some of the seed fell on rocky ground and the seed sprouted quickly but quickly withered in the hot sun, because the soil was not deep enough. Some of the seed fell on weedy ground and the weeds choked the seed when it tried to grow. However, some seed fell on good ground and the crop grew well. Some parts of the crop brought 30 fold, some 60 fold and some even a 100 fold yield.

“What did this parable mean, our child?” says Grandad. “Jesus explained it meaning about people seeking God and God’s truth and growing in conversion, helping many people to prepare to be in the coming Kingdom of God on this Earth.”

The seeds that fell off the field, where the word of God is sown; are like the people who hear about God and God’s truth, but when they have heard, they want to follow Satan and the ways of this world, and they do not seek to understand and live by God’s word and laws of how to live.

The seeds sown on stony ground are like the people who, when they have heard the word of God, immediately receive it with gladness. But, they have shallow roots in wanting to love God and keep His commandments, so they follow God for a short time. Afterwards when they have some testy trials or persecution because of their beliefs, they just give up and stop following God and God’s laws.

Those seeds sown on weedy ground are like the people who hear the word of God, but the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke out their understanding of God’s word. So they foolishly give up and are of no good value to God.

However, the seed sown on good ground, are those people who also hear the word of God. But they learn all about God by studying what God says in the Bible.

They pray to God and learn to love God and to keep God’s commandments and laws. They come to repentance and are baptised and they receive God’s Holy Spirit in them.

Then they go on to become converted with the same mind as Jesus Christ.  These are the profitable faithful people of God who love God and serve God and their fellow human beings.

Some of these people produce good fruits of conversion and are profitable servants of God who spiritually develop good Godly character. 

They contribute together to doing the Work of God of preaching the Gospel of the good news about God’s coming Kingdom, helping to produce some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred fold.  (Mark 4:13-20)

“These are the faithful people who love God and keep God’s commandments and laws.  God by His loving grace, will allow these faithful people to be in God’s Family as sons and daughters, in God’s Kingdom on this Earth, when Jesus Christ returns”, says Grandad. (Revelation 22:14-15, 2 Corinthians 6:17-18)

To be continued in Chapter 18...