Matthew 8:1–17

Jesus Cures a Man with a Skin Disease—Mark 1:40–45; Luke 5:12–16

¹When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. 

²A man with a serious skin disease came and bowed down in front of him. The man said to Jesus, “Sir, if you’re willing, you can make me clean.”^a

³Jesus reached out, touched him, and said, “I’m willing. So be clean!” Immediately, his skin disease went away, and he was clean. 

⁴Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone about this! Instead, show yourself to the priest. Then offer the sacrifice Moses commanded as proof to people that you are clean.” 

A Believing Army Officer—Luke 7:1–10

⁵When Jesus went to Capernaum, a Roman army officer came to beg him for help. ⁶The officer said, “Sir, my servant is lying at home paralyzed and in terrible pain.” 

⁷Jesus said to him, “I’ll come to heal him.” 

⁸The officer responded, “Sir, I don’t deserve to have you come into my house. But just give a command, and my servant will be healed. ⁹As you know, I’m in a chain of command and have soldiers at my command. I tell one of them, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and another, ‘Come!’ and he comes. I tell my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 

¹⁰Jesus was amazed when he heard this. He said to those who were following him, “I can guarantee this truth: I haven’t found faith as great as this in anyone in Israel. ¹¹I can guarantee that many will come from all over the world. They will eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹²The citizens of that kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness. People will cry and be in extreme pain there. 

¹³Jesus told the officer, “Go! What you believed will be done for you.” And at that moment the servant was healed. 

Jesus Cures Peter’s Mother-in-Law and Many Others—Mark 1:29–34; Luke 4:38–41

¹⁴When Jesus went to Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law in bed with a fever. ¹⁵Jesus touched her hand, and the fever went away. So she got up and prepared a meal for him. 

¹⁶In the evening the people brought him many who were possessed by demons. He forced the ⸤evil⸥ spirits out of people with a command and cured everyone who was sick. ¹⁷So what the prophet Isaiah had said came true: “He took away our weaknesses and removed our diseases.”