Matthew 8
Jesus makes a man with a skin disease well again
1 Jesus came down from the hill and a large crowd followed him. 2 A man with a bad skin disease came to meet him. He went down on his knees in front of Jesus and he said, ‘Sir, if you want, you can make me well again. Please do it.’
8:2The man's disease was called leprosy, but it may be a different skin disease from the one we call leprosy today.
3 Jesus put out his hand towards the man and touched him. He said, ‘I do want to help you. Be clean again.’ Immediately, the man's skin was clean again.
4 Then Jesus said to the man, ‘Listen. You must not tell anyone about this. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Give the offering that Moses taught people to give after this kind of disease. This will show everyone that you are now well again.’
8:4Moses was a great leader of the Israelites. He gave God's laws to the people.
A Roman army officer trusts Jesus to help him
5 Jesus went into Capernaum. An officer in the Roman army came to meet him. He asked Jesus to help him. 6 He said, ‘Sir, my servant is lying in bed at home. He cannot move his legs and he has a lot of pain.’
8:5Rome ruled Israel at that time. The officer had authority over about 100 soldiers. He was not a Jew. Rome was an important city in the world at the time of Jesus. It was a powerful city and it had a strong army. The Romans ruled many other countries and they made the people obey the laws of Rome. They made them pay taxes to Rome.
7 Jesus said to the officer, ‘I will go with you to your house and I will make your servant well again.’
8 But the officer answered, ‘Sir, I am not good enough for you to come into my house. Instead, speak your command. I know that my servant will then be well again. 9 In my work, someone has authority over me. I also have authority over other soldiers. I say to one soldier, “Go!” and he goes. I say to another one, “Come!” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it.’
10 Jesus heard what the officer said. He was very surprised. He spoke to the crowd that was following him. ‘I tell you this. I have never found anyone like this man in all of Israel. Nobody else believes in me as well as he does. 11 I tell you, many people will come from all over the world to take their place in the kingdom of heaven. There they will sit down to eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 12 But other people who think that God's kingdom belongs to them will not be there. God's angels will throw them into the dark places that are far away from God. There those people will weep very much. They will bite their teeth together.’
8:12Jesus was talking about Jews who did not believe in him. Biting their teeth together may have shown that they were angry. Or it may have shown they were in much pain.
13 Then Jesus said to the officer, ‘Go home. You believed that I would make your servant well again. So I will do it for you.’ At that moment, the officer's servant did become well again.
Jesus makes many people well at Peter's house
14 Jesus went into Peter's house. There, he saw the mother of Peter's wife. She was lying in bed. She was ill and her body was very hot. 15 Jesus touched her hand and immediately she was well again. So she got up and she prepared food for Jesus.
16 That evening, people brought to Jesus many people who were ill. Many of them had bad spirits in them. Jesus spoke a word so that the bad spirits left them. He made everybody who was ill well again. 17 Jesus did this so that the words of the prophet Isaiah would become true:
‘He took away everything that makes us weak.
He carried away our diseases.’
People who want to be with Jesus
18 One day, Jesus saw a large crowd of people around him. So he told his disciples, ‘We should go across the lake to the other side.’
19 A teacher of God's Law came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Teacher, I will go with you everywhere that you go.’
20 Jesus replied, ‘Wild animals and birds have their own places to live. But I, the Son of Man, have no place of my own to lie down and rest.’
21 Another man who was one of Jesus' disciples said to him, ‘Sir, I want to come with you. But first, let me go home and bury my father. Then I will come with you.’
22 Jesus said to him, ‘No! You must come with me now. Let those people who are dead themselves bury their own dead people.’
Jesus stops a storm on the lake
23 Then Jesus got into a boat. His disciples also went with him. 24 Immediately a great storm began to blow across the lake. Water began to go into the boat and fill it. Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went to him and they woke him. They said, ‘ Lord, save us! We will die here in the water!’
26 Jesus said to them, ‘You should not be so afraid. You should trust me more than you do!’ Then he stood up and he spoke strongly to the wind and the water. He said, ‘Stop!’ Then the wind and the water became quiet again.
27 The disciples were very surprised. They asked each other, ‘What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the water obey him!’
Jesus sends bad spirits into a group of pigs
28 Jesus arrived at the other side of Lake Galilee. He came to a place where the Gadarene people lived. Two men who had bad spirits in them came to meet him. These men lived outside, among some graves. They were very strong and dangerous. People were too afraid to walk that way because of them. 29 When the two men saw Jesus, they immediately shouted at him, ‘You are the Son of God! What are you doing here? Have you come to punish us before the right time comes?’
8:28This place is on the east side of Lake Galilee.
30 A large group of pigs was eating there, not very far away. 31 The bad spirits said to Jesus, ‘If you make us leave these men, please send us to those pigs. Let us go into them.’
32 Jesus said to the bad spirits, ‘Go!’ So the bad spirits came out of the men and they went into the pigs. All the pigs rushed together down the hill into the lake. They all died there in the water.
33 When this happened, the men who took care of the pigs ran away. They went into the town. They told people there everything that had happened to the men with the bad spirits in them. 34 So everybody came out of the town to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they said, ‘Please go away. Leave our part of the country.’
