Chapter 8

W¹hen Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. ²Suddenly a leper came and knelt before Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” ³Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. ⁴Then Jesus instructed him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift prescribed by Moses, as a testimony to them.”

W⁵hen Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came and pleaded with Him, ⁶“Lord, my servant lies at home, paralyzed and in terrible agony.” ⁷“I will go and heal him,” Jesus replied. ⁸The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes. I tell my servant to do something, and he does it.” ¹⁰When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those following Him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹²But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! As you have believed, so will it be done for you.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

W¹⁴hen Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever. ¹⁵So He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve Him. ¹⁶When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to Jesus, and He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. ¹⁷This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

W¹⁸hen Jesus saw a large crowd around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other side of the sea. ¹⁹And one of the scribes came to Him and said, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” ²⁰Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” ²¹Another of His disciples requested, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” ²²But Jesus told him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

W²³hen He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was engulfed by the waves. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” ²⁶“You of little faith,” Jesus replied, “why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm. ²⁷The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey Him!”

W²⁸hen Jesus arrived on the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, He was met by two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. ²⁹“What do You want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have You come here to torture us before the appointed time?” ³⁰In the distance a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹So the demons begged Jesus, “If You drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” ³²“Go!” He told them. So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and died in the waters. ³³Those tending the pigs ran off into the town and reported all this, including the account of the demon-possessed men. ³⁴Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their region.