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.’
