So he went and worked for ¹  one of the citizens of that country, who ²  sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ³ 

“Now his older son was in the field. As ¹  he came and approached the house, he heard music ²  and dancing.

“Would any one of you say ¹  to your slave ²  who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’? ³ 

As ¹  they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, ²  who was coming in from the country. ³  They placed the cross on his back and made him carry it behind Jesus. ⁴ 

He gave ¹  them another parable: ²  “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed ³  that a man took and sowed in his field.

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

The field is the world and the good seed are the people ¹  of the kingdom. The weeds are the people ²  of the evil one,

And whoever has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much ¹  and will inherit eternal life.

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, ¹  there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel

who will not receive in this age ¹  a hundred times as much – homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with persecutions ²  – and in the age to come, eternal life. ³ 

But one after another they all ¹  began to make excuses. ²  The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, ³  and I must go out and see it. Please excuse me.’ ⁴ 

On that day, anyone who is on the roof, ¹  with his goods in the house, must not come down ²  to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back.

And wherever he would go – into villages, towns, or countryside – they would place the sick in the marketplaces, and would ask him if ¹  they could just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Now the day began to draw to a close, ¹  so ²  the twelve came and said to Jesus, ³  “Send the crowd away, so they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging ⁴  and food, because we are in an isolated place.” ⁵